It’s stressful enough to lose your job, but Spanish researchers have found that even the fear of being laid off can have an impact that stretches far beyond the workplace.

According to study co-author Amparo Caballer, as a worker’s fear of being laid off begins to increase, “the level of work insecurity rises, people are less satisfied with their personal, work and family lives, and they are less committed to their work.”

But the results of the study also indicated that what happens because of these fears will depend upon that individual and his or her occupational group.

For the study, researchers looked at blue-collar workers like supermarket shelf-fillers or hospital attendants, white-collar workers such as administration workers and supermarket check-out staff, and professionals, which included doctors, engineers and nurses.

Caballer said that when their employment is endanger, blue-collar workers are more likely to be “less satisfied with life, and they work less productively than the other groups studied.” The researchers found that of the groups, white-collar workers tended to have the most outward displays of dissatisfaction when their job situation is unstable.

Source: PsychCentral

Heather Rudow is a staff writer for Counseling Today. Email her at hrudow@counseling.org.

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