Coronavirus Layoff Euphemisms: "Affected" and "Impacted" — Don't Let Employers and Politicians Off the Hook So Easily
In the wake of the recent wave of corporate layoffs resulting from the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, I have noticed that a troublingly euphemistic speech pattern has emerged in relation to layoffs, and even to the coronavirus pandemic itself. Like many euphemisms, these layoff euphemisms are intended to obscure and soften the impact of the reality they mask, perhaps to soften the emotional blow of having your employment terminated by your employer, and perhaps also to depersonalize the layoff as something abstract and impersonal (as many corporate cultures are in general).
The two words that I have noticed being applied euphemistically to corporate layoffs are “affected” and “impacted,” as in the following example:
Euphemism: Have you been affected/impacted by the layoff?
Translation: Were you laid off / let go / canned / terminated?
Undoubtedly “affected” and “impacted” are gentler on the ears than being “laid off” or “terminated,” which, of course, is why both faceless corporate overlords and well-meaning colleagues tend to use the terms “affected” and “impacted” instead of speaking plainly. But with so many layoff and so many people losing their positions en masse as a result of the financial fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, the collective effect is both comical and insulting to the intelligence of those employees who see through the euphemistic and linguistic charade.
Naturally these same euphemisms are even being applied to the coronavirus pandemic itself as more and more people die from COVID-19. For example:
Euphemism: Has your family been affected/impacted by the coronavirus pandemic?
Translation: Have any of your friends or loved ones died / passed away / been killed by / bit the big one from COVID-19?
The words “affected” and “impacted” in the first sentence sound sweeter than their more direct and morbid linguistic counterparts in the second sentence. And although the intention behind this euphemistic language is often good and sincere (who, after all, would want to make the pain of losing a loved one even worse for anyone because of their choice of words?), these euphemisms can mask and gloss over the reality of the coronavirus crisis itself, of the nature of the loss to real families and real people, and of the preventative measures that could have been taken on the part of governments and politicians.
It’s all too neat and easy for corporations to get away with breaking the social contract (if not the literal contact) between employer and employee, with not living up to their responsibility as employers to take care of their employees and their families by providing security in tough economic times. By euphemizing the language around corporate layoffs, corporations can get away with nearly anything because the decisions are always claimed to be impersonal and faceless, done in the best interest of the company (supposedly) but at the expense of the workers who give their all for the company’s wellbeing day in and day out, anonymous decisions not made by anyone in particular (even though someone always has to decide who stays and who goes).
It’s also all too easy and too convenient for governments and politicians to avoid taking responsibility for the public health, and indeed the lives of its citizens by depersonalizing the tragedy of the death of family and friends as having been “affected” or “impacted,” falsely implying that nothing at all can be done to prevent the spread of COVID-19, writing off the death of any particular loved one as a type of ill fate or bad luck instead of as a preventable consequence of preventative actions not taken.
The upshot is that, in your well-meaning attempt to soften the blow to an employee or college who has been laid off, or to soften the blow of the death of a family member or loved one, you should be careful that your euphemistic language isn’t unintentionally giving a pass to those responsible, letting our corporate overlords in the case of the coronavirus layoffs, or letting politicians and governments in the case of actual coronavirus deaths, off the hook too easily. Don’t let things that are inherently personal become faceless and impersonal, too easy to get away with, and don’t let employers and governments get away with failing to take responsibility for, and failing to protect, the lives of those people whose fates they control with the stroke of a pen—or the lack thereof, as the case may be.
