Okay, so my employer has informed me today that they are about to lay off a few hundred people. They won’t officially lay anyone off for another month and until then they won’t say who is and isn’t at risk for losing their job (just before the holidays no less.) My risk of getting fired is pretty low…I am involved in a lot of long term projects and I am a top performer so I am not overly worried about it, but it is a concern.
My job pays pretty well, but I haven’t enjoyed my work for several months now. Do I take this opportunity to go and get another job before the axe falls, or do I stick it out? Has anyone here ever survived a layoff and had their job improve?
All of the stories I’ve heard from layoff survivors involve the job getting worse afterward. The remaining employees are expected to do as much work as was being done before a major chunk of the workforce was laid off, resulting in long hours and stress.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone comment on better conditions at work after a layoff.
This may be an IMHO issue rather than a GQ, but here’s my 2 cents:
First of all, is that 100 out of 50,000 or 100 out of 1,000? If the latter, I’d guess that the company may be in some serious trouble.
Second, the reason they are putting the word out now is in hope that significant numbers find another job and quit before having to be fired, so that they will have fewer unemployment claims on their name.
Third, assuming that people were not just featherbedding, it may mean a lot more work for those remaining; again, depending on what percent of the total the 100 is. The company may simply axe certain projects or sections. If one of them is yours, it *may * not matter what your prior performance quality is.
Also, is this the first layoff in a long time, or is it part of a pattern?
If there’s significant severance pay involved, I’d wait to be sure I wasn’t going to be laid off before walking. If you leave now you get nothing, but if they lay you off and give you severance money, you’ll have that resource to help you through. If you survive the layoff and leave after that, you’ll still get nothing but at least you’ll know you didn’t miss out on possibly many thousands of dollars. MY company went through a major RIF about five years ago, and most of the axees got at least six months’ severance.