YOUR RANT: I hate that companies are always so quick to lay people off.

DEAR 911 READERS: It's impossible to pick up a paper today and not read about a new layoff. This week, I've interviewed Mark Murphy, CEO of Leadership IQ, who recently conducted a survey of 4,172 workers who remained employed following a corporate layoff. These subjects were drawn from 318 companies that have undertaken layoffs in the past six months. Many of the results were surprising.

Workplace911: What were the results of your layoff study?

Mark Murphy: Seventy-four percent of employees who kept their job amidst a corporate layoff say their own productivity has declined. Sixty-nine percent say the quality of their company's product or service has declined. Eighty-seven percent of surviving workers say they are less likely to recommend their organization as a good place to work. Seventy-seven percent of surviving workers say they see more errors and mistakes being made. Sixty-ones percent of surviving workers say they believe their company's future prospects are worse. 911: Your biggest surprise?

MM: We assumed that morale would suffer after a layoff, but the damage to productivity was just as significant. Unfortunately, few executives pay attention to this. Layoffs won't deliver real cost savings if the process is mismanaged. Offering terminated employees severance packages and outplacement assistance is wonderful, but it completely misses the most important group of employees: the survivors. Leaders have to keep the surviving employees engaged and productive, or the company won't recover.

911: Is there something that can be done to maintain productivity during a layoff?

MM: Managers need to live the A,V,C's of post-layoff management: Approachability, Visibility and Candor. Approachability means that managers have to be open and accessible to their folks, even when they don't have anything new to say.

Visibility means that leaders should be out on the floor, showing their employees that life is continuing. Candor means if you know something, be truthful and share what you can, fully and without soft-pedaling. 911: What can be done about survivor guilt?

MM: Leaders can do four things to help their employees cope with survivor guilt following a layoff. 1. Engage every day. You can start by adding 15 minutes to the end of your next few staff meetings just for people to ask you whatever they want (or share whatever they want). 2. Focus on controllable issues. Try to engage your folks in conversations that focus on issues over which they have control, and try to avoid topics they can't impact. For example, instead of ruminating about the company's stock price, talk about how you're improving a process to deliver a better customer experience while saving money. 3. Eliminate wasteful meetings. One of the phenomena that greatly exacerbates survivor guilt is the frustration of being overworked doing the work of their former colleagues. Leaders should eliminate all wasteful activities. 4. Eliminate all those activities that aren't important for customers, the government or safety. This way you won't burn out your remaining staff writing those 100-page internal reports that nobody ever reads.