Anxious about losing your job?

Why the worry runs all day

Not knowing is often harder than bad news. Your mind tries to settle the uncertainty by running through every outcome, again and again. It feels like preparing, but an hour later you're no clearer than when you started.

The worry also goes looking for evidence. A two-word reply from your manager becomes a sign, and so does a meeting invite with no agenda. A few weeks of this and every working day feels like a test.

In a 2016 experiment at University College London, Archy de Berker and colleagues had 45 volunteers play a game where turning over a rock might reveal a snake, and with it a small electric shock. People were most stressed when the odds of a shock were about even, and least stressed when they could be sure either way.

Check how real the risk is

Write down what you actually know, and keep it apart from what you're afraid of. Has the company announced anything? Are there cuts in your team, or only in the headlines? Rumours in the team chat don't count.

It's worth keeping a record. The psychologists Lucas LaFreniere and Michelle Newman had 29 people who worried a great deal write down their worries for ten days and then track what actually happened. More than nine in ten of the worries didn't come true (the study came out in 2020).

Then take the worst case and follow it all the way through, past the frightening moment. Say you were let go next month. What happens in the first week? How long would your savings last, and who would you call first? Followed to the end, the worst case is often hard but manageable, and seeing it whole takes some of the noise out of it.

If AI is part of the worry, look at your own job instead of the headlines. Which of your tasks could a tool do today? Which depend on judgement, or on knowing how things really work where you are? Put your energy into the second kind.

Put a plan B on paper

A written plan quiets the what-ifs better than reassurance from other people. It doesn't need to be long.

Work out how many months your savings would cover, and pick one or two costs you could cut quickly if you had to.

Update your CV now, while nothing depends on it. Add this year's work before you forget the details, with numbers if you have them.

Write down five people you'd contact about work, and message one or two of them this month just to catch up. Asking for help later is much easier with someone you spoke to recently.

Pick one skill that would make you easier to hire and give it an hour a week.

If it never happens, you've spent a few evenings on it. If it does, you won't be starting from a blank page.

Getting through the working week

Give the worry 15 minutes in the evening, with a notebook, and keep it out of bed. When it turns up at 11 in the morning, write one word down and save it for later. The idea goes back to a 1983 study by the psychologist Thomas Borkovec and colleagues: people who saw themselves as worriers put off their worries to a daily half-hour slot, and after four weeks they reported worrying less each day.

Each day, do one piece of work you'd be glad to have done whatever happens. It keeps your attention on the part you control, and it gives you something concrete to point to in any review.

If you can, ask. A calm question to your manager about priorities for the next few months often tells you more than weeks of reading between the lines.

Watch the late-night scrolling. Layoff news and job ads at midnight keep the loop going. Swap the last half hour before sleep for something that has nothing to do with work, even if it's only a podcast.

When the worry is too much

Job worry is common when the economy is shaky, and it usually eases once you have a plan and more facts. Talk to your GP or another qualified professional if it's there most days for weeks, or if you can't sleep or concentrate. If the future starts to feel hopeless, or you're in danger now, call your local emergency number.

If you've already lost your job, look up the support your country offers people out of work, and tell someone close to you this week.

Sources

• de Berker, A. O. et al. (2016). Computations of uncertainty mediate acute stress responses in humans. Nature Communications, 7, 10996.
• LaFreniere, L. S. and Newman, M. G. (2020). Exposing worry's deceit: percentage of untrue worries in generalized anxiety disorder treatment. Behavior Therapy, 51(3), 413-423.
• Borkovec, T. D., Wilkinson, L., Folensbee, R. and Lerman, C. (1983). Stimulus control applications to the treatment of worry. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 21(3), 247-251.