Section Fouraffirmative action objective of increasing their representation.
Such treatment has not been well received by the courts,
particularly where seniority systems are circumvented.^73
The impact on remaining employees or survivors should
be taken into account when conducting layoffs. Whether layoffs
are perceived to be conducted according to random criteria or
on the basis of merit, they may have an impact on the work
performance of survivors. A laboratory experiment, drawing on
the tenets of equity theory, has demonstrated that subjects
who survived layoffs conducted on a random basis were more
productive in terms of quantity after the layoffs. The theoretical
basis for this finding is that the survivors of a random layoff
experience positive inequity. Positive inequity results because
survivors believe their ratio of outcomes to inputs to be more
favorable than those who were laid off. This is because their
performance or inputs were no greater, but the outcomes of
those laid off—losing their jobs—were less. In order to restore
equilibrium and to reduce feelings of guilt, the survivors worked
harder and produced more. Experimental conditions ruled out
an alternative explanation: that the survivors’ increased
productivity may have resulted from feelings of anxiety
regarding future layoffs.^74