Copyright 2002.
GLS
Consulting, Inc. When we originally constructed the 2002 survey our intent was to assess changes in the new economy after the dotcom crash and the increasingly evident downturn in the economy. As we prepared to send out the survey, however, the devastating events of 9/11 occurred, and we added a number of questions about the impact of those events. It is difficult to fully disentangle, in our survey results, the negative impact of 9/11 from the impact of the simultaneous economic downturn. Our respondents, like many people in the world, said they were affected in varying degrees. Thirty two percent of men and women reported that their company had downsized since 9/11. Ten percent had lost their jobs, and 5% had lost someone close to them during the 9/11 attack. European respondents commented that 9/11 did not have the same meaning for them, but had similar responses to the economic downturn after 9/11.
The survey questions also addressed how men and women were seeking to cope with the 9/11 event and its consequences. Nearly three quarters of the people in the sample reported coping with difficult times by turning to their families and significant relationships. This finding is similar to responses to 9/11 that were reported in the media not long after the events: people sought comfort and assistance from loved ones to begin the process of healing. The 2002 respondents reported having little energy for life outside of work, and that work stress produced strain on significant relationships (cited above). Thus the negative characteristics of some of our respondents’ workplaces may have prevented them from using their interpersonal resources to cope with significant stress.
Many of the men and women in our sample suggested that they had already “moved beyond” September 11th in terms of their work lives. Forty eight percent, however, reported that the amount of stress in their lives had become worse, and 41% reported that the amount of stress that was work-related had increased. In addition, 24% reported that their ability to cope with stress and to work productively had suffered substantially since 9/11. Some people reported being more affected than others. Women, for example, reported more often than men that they had experienced greater work-related stress since 9/11, and that their work productivity, ability to cope with stress, and sense of job security had been affected as well. Women more than men reported that the importance to them of family had increased. Overall, men and women who have children living at home had rather similar responses to 9/11. The women in the group with younger children reported feeling greater impact than the men only in their ability to work productively and their ability to cope with stress. Our results, then, indicate that some individuals experienced lasting distress after 9/11. Further analyses (see below) show that this distress can be mitigated by the work environment.
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