Layoffs make subsequent job quits more likely, according to Cornell University ILR Assistant Professor Paul Davis, who discussed his research in an April 13, 2017 webcast.
Layoff victims are 65 percent more likely to quit a job that follows a layoff, and for those laid off multiple times, the number goes higher, presenting implications for organizations hiring from a labor pool with a growing segment of workers who have experienced layoffs.
Workers in post-layoff positions often face lower pay, fewer hours and depressed job satisfaction, but those factors are not the primary cause of the increased quits. Rather, it is an altered sense of loyalty that frees layoff victims to pursue better job opportunities, he said.
Davis, nevertheless, cautions managers against shunning job applicants who have layoffs in their past. To do so not only ignores an increasingly substantial segment of the national labor pool, but discounts a group expected to seek new skills and improve on past performance as a measure of protection against the trauma of additional layoffs, he said.