How layoff survivors at European scale-ups are quietly burning out behind record growth numbers - Silicon Canals

"When a European scale-up cuts 20% of its workforce and then posts record quarterly growth, the board sees validation. The remaining team sees a mandate: do more, say less, and be grateful you still have a job. This dynamic has a name in organisational psychology - survivor syndrome - and it's been studied since the 1990s."

"A Gallup study found that employees who remain after layoffs experience a 41% decline in job satisfaction and a 20% decline in job performance. That's not a minor dip. That's a structural drag on exactly the growth these cuts were supposed to protect."

"When those same companies execute layoffs with corporate-sanitised language and then expect survivors to absorb the workload of departed colleagues without acknowledgment, the psychological contract doesn't just bend - it snaps."

European scale-ups executing layoffs while posting record growth create a paradox where surviving employees experience significant psychological harm. Survivor syndrome manifests as reduced job satisfaction (41% decline) and performance (20% decline) according to Gallup research. Companies founded on people-first values often execute layoffs with corporate language while expecting survivors to absorb departed colleagues' work without acknowledgment, breaking the psychological contract. The neurological impact of witnessing layoffs and inheriting responsibilities keeps survivors in chronic threat detection, elevating cortisol and impairing strategic thinking and creativity. This dynamic contradicts the mission-driven branding these organizations maintain publicly.

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