For Whom the Axe Falls: The Profile of the Outplaced Executive

Abstract

Fired — Outplaced — Dehired — Terminated … there are few life events more stressful to the modern executive than the unplanned loss of a job. Coming as it often does in the mid‐30 to mid‐40 year age group, job loss, while being painful at any time, is particularly so during this stressful period which has often been associated with midlife crisis. Feelings such as “Life is passing me by”, “I'm a failure”, and “Why me?” are common initial reactions to this recurrent phenomenon. There are many reasons for unplanned job loss incompetence, corporate reorganisation with resulting redundancy, amalgamation, or takeover. A true picture with respect to executive job loss is hard to pin down. Many organisations do not keep detailed records or are reluctant to release information. As well, many terminations are masked by a forced “resignation”.

Citation

Scissons, E.H. (1980), "For Whom the Axe Falls: The Profile of the Outplaced Executive", Personnel Review, Vol. 9 No. 3, pp. 19-21. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb055412