While at work, Lourdes Rodriguez got the phone call moms dread: A feverish child needed to be picked up from school. But this time, Rodriguez insisted her daughter go back to class.
“Right now, anyone who misses work could end up without a job,” said Rodriguez, an administrative assistant.
As the ranks of the nation’s unemployed grow, more Americans are changing the way they behave at work and at home.
With deep waves of layoffs and experts predicting joblessness will continue for at least another six months, fear, uncertainty and anxiety are taking hold. Worried workers are afraid to take time off, some even sinking into depression. Others are canceling vacations, working longer, dressing better, getting more training and accepting all business travel requests.
“There’s more fear about what might happen than what’s actually happening,” says Steve Zaffron, CEO of the Vanto Group, a global consulting firm. “Workers who still have a job are worried about when the other shoe is going to drop.” On maternity leave, Miami labor attorney Grace Mora can’t help but feel some concern. Attorney layoffs have become an industry standard recently, with at least 50 of the nation’s top law firms ushering practitioners out their doors and into a torpid job market, according to The National Law Journal.
Six weeks into her maternity leave at Hunton & Williams, Mora began checking in with the office and her clients and getting work FedEx’d to her home. Back in August, she decided to limit her leave to 12 weeks and postpone four weeks’ vacation.
“Certainly, all the layoffs reaffirm I have to get back,” Mora says. “I don’t feel like my job is in jeopardy, but you never know.”
Most significantly, people’s sense of job entitlement has evaporated as unemployment figures rise. Workers at all levels are more afraid to say no to business travel, demanding assignments or taking on the work of those who were laid off. Michael Goldberg, a shareholder at Akerman Senterfitt in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., says young associates at his firm are working harder and no longer asking for raises. “They have less options than before, so they are taking it more serious.”
My neighbor, a real-estate attorney, gave up his morning power walks to get in early. He told me he wants to be known as the guy who puts in long days if layoffs at his firm continue. Recently, I noticed increased comments on dad blogs — working fathers saying they were postponing vacations until they feel more secure in their jobs.
Small-business owners say fear is driving them harder, too.
Earlier this month, on Presidents’ Day, Sharon Thompson was in the office instead of at home, as in years past. Thompson, founder of Thompson Legal Services in Miami, feels increased pressure to be “accessible and available” for clients to whom she provides personnel staffing.
“It’s harder to find time for a personal life,” she says. “I’m working harder than ever to make not even as much. The stress level is not pleasant, but I’m making the best of it.”
Even more, fear of unemployment appears to be speeding up the resurgence of power clothes. In Coral Gables, Fla., Christian Garcia, bespoke tailor of high-end suits, says formality has returned to workplaces. He’s seeing more executives trying harder to dress for success, wearing white shirts and classic quality suits.
“They feel the need to look good, more serious and less flashy.” To impress the boss and clients, employees also are taking courses, getting additional training and networking more. “These are things people should have been doing anyway. They knew they should, but there was not a pressing need,” says career/life coach Deborah Brown-Volkman.
For families, the trend presents challenges at home as the economy’s downward spiral forces parents to adjust their workloads. In some cases, an unemployed spouse is able to take over home responsibilities. For others, it means more juggling.
Brown-Volkman says people have to recognize that things run in cycles. “Work/life is going to be crazy a little bit, but not forever. This, too, shall pass.” Zaffron, co-author of “The Three Laws of Performance,” works with companies to help energize their staff and keep them productive. He encourages employers to listen to worker fears. “For some employees, fear takes over and lowers their performance and well-being.” Managers, he says, should have straight conversations with workers at all levels.
Meanwhile, Rodriguez doesn’t dare miss even an hour of work. The fragrance company at which she works already has had layoffs. She fears more are ahead. “There are people who are there all the time. I feel like if I’m the one who misses, I can end up without a job.”
——— (Cindy Krischer Goodman is a workplace columnist for The Miami Herald and weekly television guest on Miami’s CBS station.
