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Downsizing is a very pervasive organizational process. At these critical junctures many organizations do little to prepare their employees for a mass layoff. The main purpose of this study is to examine how the incorporation of job counseling and professional retraining programs during a period of downsizing affected the responses of both the employees who were dismissed and those who remained in the organization.

The study was conducted in a large metalwork factory in Isreal that underwent significant downsizing as a result of a major crisis. Interview data were collected from a sample comprising employees selected randomly from a list which the human resource department prepared. The analysis is based on a data set that included 229 employees.

Results indicate that that guidance and training programs have a two‐fold effect: first, dismissed employees who participated in these training programs had a more positive reaction to their dismissal than dismissed employees who did not participate in such training. Second, employability factors as well as personal and demographic attributes do not affect the participants' responses.

It is suggested that an appropriate downsizing process could produce effective responses on the part of the dismissed workers. Preparing individuals through participation in appropriate programs significantly promotes employee morale and reduces negative affective responses through consideration of the individual cost caused by the downsizing process. With appropriate downsizing plans, survivors' emotional reactions will not necessarily comprise only negative emotions but they may, under certain circumstances, also experience some positive emotions.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how employers can ease the job loss situation for employees.

The paper reviews an article on the subject.

The paper finds that job counseling and training programs may influence different levels in the labor market. At the macro level, such programs can be vehicles shifting human resources to where they are needed in the labor market. On the organizational level, they can enhance human resource utilization, decrease perception of psychological contract breach, and minimize internal strains and organizational conflict. On the individual level, they appear to be an efficient way for dealing with the dismissed or remaining workers and helping them in their quest for a new job or retraining. Consequently, many of the psychological, familial, and social disturbances brought on by the dismissals, or the organizational crisis, may be avoided.

The paper provides useful information on