FEATURE
A Recession’s Hidden Costs You are More Than Your Paycheque
Alberta, of course, is far from being alone in coping with suicide. The World Health Organization puts the number on Planet Earth at about 800,000 a year. That’s more than the number of people who die each year from war and homicide combined. The numbers here tend to correlate with the economy. Alberta experienced a 20 per cent spike in suicides in 2015. It’s almost certainly not a coincidence that the province was also deep into the
help those affected determine what they wanted to do next, whether it was finding a new job or a new career, retiring, or a combination of those things.” That kind of help to relieve stress, whether or not a company is laying off staff, is the right thing to do, Ms. Adcock says. “I've always been fortunate to work for organizations that are able to give people access to resources like an employee family assistance program for immediate, confidential help.” Ms. Adcock recalls how the
worst recession the province has experienced since the early 1980s. For each one per cent increase in unemployment, there’s a corresponding 0.79 per cent increase in suicides, says Mara Grunau, Executive Director of the Centre for Suicide Prevention in Calgary.
recent downturn took Albertans by surprise. “When things got really bad in 2014, we didn't see the upswing in the market immediately afterwards that we had experienced in previous years. Severance packages or Employment Insurance benefits were running out and job prospects were minimal.” The effect of layoffs is not only on the suddenly jobless and their families. It ripples
“There was a palpable paranoia at every company.”
ROSS GILKER. Outplacement Transition Counsellor Calgary
“It can take up to two years before we see the increase, as people typically exhaust their personal resources first, before finding themselves completely hopeless,” Ms. Grunau adds. Deaths by suicide in the province numbered 547 in 2014, reveal data from the Office of Chief Medical Examiner in Alberta. The total was 662 in 2015, and the total returned in 2016 to a more historically representative number, 539. Rochelle Adcock, now with Alberta Health, worked in the human resources department of a major engineering consulting company in Alberta when layoffs occurred there in 2014. She says transition support from employers is important. “We were able to provide outplacement services for a period of time, usually around three to six months, to
through the worksite and office, too, where the ones with jobs sometimes suffer survivor guilt. “You have to consider that the ones who are laid off are often known at work on a personal level,” says Ms. Adcock. “Those still working may feel as though it should have been them laid off, not the 57-year-old who’s close to retirement and whose job prospects are not great.” Even the fear of losing your job can trigger depressive thoughts. Stress levels were particularly elevated in Calgary, where professionals and others endured repeated rounds of layoffs. The tension was thick, reinforced by the expressions on people’s faces, the empty seats on the CTrain, and the vacated offices of colleagues.
60 | PEG SPRING 2018
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