Losing a job is upsetting, unpleasant, and demanding. But some employees have discovered a benefit to layoffs.

Going through a layoff may lead to beneficial change for certain people. In a LinkedIn survey of more than 2,000 American employees in December 2022, 27% of those who were later laid off said that being laid off was the best thing that had ever happened to them. Many people make use of this time to start their own businesses, find a job they love, or reevaluate how they balance work and life. Few people think about the advantages of being fired right away. People are quick to initially see situations like being laid off as an intense, unfavorable occurrence because of our negativity bias. “Change we haven’t chosen, like being laid off, triggers this negativity bias in a really intense way. It’s new and threatening. “That makes us likely to catastrophize,” says career-development coach Genna Clark. Layoffs, though, might make us take a closer look at who we are. The time and space they bring can help us understand who we are on a deeper, more meaningful level during what is known as an existential reorientation period.

Ultimately, some employees have found that losing their jobs inspires them to push themselves beyond their comfort zones. They have benefited from being laid off and learned from it.