The sluggish employment landscape explains why workers are now “job hugging,” rather than job hopping. For those who have been unlucky enough to lose a job, know that the loss is not just financial. I asked her why does a job loss hit us so hard? Melnick invoked Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s “Five stages of grief”: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance, as a way to understand why a job loss can be so devastating. Some may move quickly from denial into anger, which is highlighted by lack of control and a feeling of unfairness of the job cut.