The Sunday News
THE sudden termination of a worker’s contract could lead to massive depression which can degenerate into mental illness and possible suicide, experts have said.
A recent Supreme Court ruling that companies can give three months’ notice to terminate workers’ contracts even without benefits, opened floodgates as several companies have since dismissed workers.
However, according to a clinical psychologist, Dr Lazarus Kanjawu, at the University of Zimbabwe College of Health Sciences, the termination of employees’ contracts en masse was supposed to be carefully planned for.
“When the authorities planned to do such a venture there was supposed to be pre-planning on their part because the after effects of sudden loss of employment are detrimental on the human mind,” he said.
Dr Kanjawu said the failure to plan causes immense depression on the person who has been fired and it equally affects his or her dependants in the same manner.
“People who were fired need to have had pre-counselling to help them understand the new life they are going to experience before they are even served with letters to terminate employment. If this had taken place then they would have had some coping mechanisms that would help them move on,” he added.
The clinical psychologist said the sudden effects of being fired, especially when one has not gone against the employer’s code of conduct was a sure move that was going to lead to suicide.
“If termination of employment is sudden, the impact definitely can lead to suicide as the person will have plunged into depression and they have no options especially in these economic situations,” he said.
Last week a 25-year-old Sizinda man who was unceremoniously fired from the National Railways of Zimbabwe committed suicide by hanging himself as he could not stomach being fired suddenly.
Dr Kanjawu said it was the responsibility of the employer to do follow-ups on all the workers that would have been fired to assess their situation.
“As the employer has terminated contracts they should visit the individuals to see how they are coping because they are the cause of the unemployment. They have to identify those that are in need of psychological help because they are definitely going to be there,” he said.
He said the reason for follow-ups was to help those that would have failed to cope with such drastic changes in their lives.
He said many of the fired workers would suffer mental illness in the long run as there had been no professional help offered to them.
Dr Kanjawu said the employers must realise that the economic situation in the country was going to change for the better and employers would need to re-engage some of the workers so they had to cater for their well-being.
“One day these employers may need to re-engage some of the workers so they should not abandon them at this hour but ensure that they are recovering well from their ordeal,” he added.
He, however, noted that it was only logical for companies to plan for the effects of job cuts as it was also not their wish to fire people but the economic situation which was forcing them to make changes until the economy recovers.
He said human capital needed to be protected by all means as it was needed all the time for the development of any nation.
Another psychologist from Bulawayo Ms Tinashe Dube said the new lifestyle that a jobless person assumed needed a lot of coping mechanisms.
“A person changes from enjoying a lot of luxuries to a point where he has literally nothing so that has effects on the mind of that person and their families as they have to adopt a new lifestyle which is difficult to do,” she said.
She said some people could not adjust to a new “lower” life style and this caused aggression and frustration such that domestic violence could soar and children could be affected too.
Acute stress also comes about and personality disorders begin to show.
“Personality disorders will soon begin to show in the affected workers, drug and alcohol abuse will definitely take place. A troubled person does this in a bid to numb the pain of being sacked from their livelihoods,” she said.
She said the affected people would try to limit pain by all means but limit it by using harmful substances that may lead to mental problems.
However, the psychologists have urged families and relatives of the affected persons to be patient and supportive of them so that they feel they are still worthy.
“Families have to encourage their loved ones to believe in themselves and also they have to seek counselling so that they understand their new life and adjust to it,” Ms Dube said.
The Minister of Small and Medium Enterprises Development, Cde Sithembiso Nyoni, said her ministry was eager to tap into the “new experts that have flooded the market”.
“I have set up a committee that is looking at how to accommodate the workers and to rehabilitate them back into a working society. We are looking into how to benefit from this massive labour force of experts that are available since the job cuts,” said Cde Nyoni.
She said she had already had a brief discussion with the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Cde Prisca Mupfumira, on the way forward for the distressed workers.
She further said she would soon have a clear road map on how the workers were going to be assisted in getting economically active again.
