Burnout After Downsizing

Introduction

I work for a company that collects performance music royalties domestically and internationally and pays those royalties out to the songwriters and their publishers. I work on the operations floor in a small internationally focused department. Operations also includes: a cue sheet processing department, performance identification, document imaging, and works registration. A couple of years ago my company downsized by using a combination of early retirement and layoffs. The email that was sent out by our CEO was interpreted by the majority of employees to imply that if you were offered early retirement and chose not to take it, that you would most likely be laid off. In response, nearly everyone given the option of early retirement accepted the offer and left the company. Chaos ensued as the company scrambled to fill positions that they didn’t intend to vacate. Amidst the chaos, people walked off the job because they were expected to continue “business as usual” with limited staff. We lost entire job processes because the knowledge that those people contained within themselves was never documented. What was left was a limited workforce with limited resources. The surviving employees, in some cases, were not thrilled with their new management teams or the increased workloads they were expected to handle in the same amount of time. Pressures mounted and we continue to this day to hear about “keeping the numbers up.” Furthermore, my company takes on new initiatives on a regular basis. The number of meetings, training, and projects increases steadily and we are still expected to complete our normal work. What hasn’t increased, are the hours we work each week or the number of employees in our departments. In some cases, as...

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