Effectiveness of employee assistance programmes after organisational downsizing

M.Comm.Organisations downsize for various reasons. Some organisations downsize to increase profitability and remain competitive, whilst others downsize for survival. Recently in South Africa, the financial industry had to downsize due to the global financial crisis. Research has shown that downsizing not only has a negative affect on those employees who leave the organisation, but also on those who remain employed and they often end up becoming disengaged. The literature refers to this phenomenon as survivor syndrome. Research has shown that people who remain in the employ of an organisation after downsizing are showing symptoms such as low level of loyalty, being less motivated and less commitment to the organisation; and often losing trust in management and feeling less secure about their jobs. In an attempt to combat the negative effectives of downsizing, managers often implement Employee Assistance Programmes (EAP’s) in aim of re-engaging the remaining employees. The focus of this study is on the effectiveness of these EAPs. The EAPs consist of continuous communication from senior management; face-to-face meetings with superiors; the availability of the human resources personnel to counsel employees; the availability of a helpline; and the availability of psychologists to counsel after the downsizing. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used to collect the data in this study by interviewing with line managers and human resource practitioners to establish what management interventions - also known as EAP’s they had introduced based on their observations of the behaviour and job performance of those employees who remained employed after the downsizing process. After conducting these interviews, a questionnaire was constructed and distributed to 150 employees in five divisions of one of the largest banks in South Africa with the aim of determining the impact of the EAP’s on employee loyalty, motivation, commitment, trust and job security. From the study it was found that the majority of the respondents agreed that the continuous communication from top management made them feel loyal, motivated, committed and that they could trust management. The respondents deemed face-to-face meetings with superiors of high importance in order to ensure job security. This study further recommends which EAP’s are most effective to boost employee loyalty, motivation, commitment, trust and job security post downsizing. In conclusion, recommendations for future research are made. As the study was conducted using a small sample of employees in the banking sector, it is therefore impossible to make generalised statements about the rest of the banking population in South Africa