# If you're on this call, you are part of the unlucky group that is being laid off **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 6, 2021, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-on-this-call-you-are-part-of-the-unlucky-group-that-is-being-laid-off/955572 "2021-12-06T14:33:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2021, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-on-this-call-you-are-part-of-the-unlucky-group-that-is-being-laid-off/955572/21 "2021-12-07T06:49:51Z")
They can’t fly in George Clooney every time someone needs to be laid off. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2021, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-on-this-call-you-are-part-of-the-unlucky-group-that-is-being-laid-off/955572/22 "2021-12-07T08:38:16Z")
If you’re on this call, you are part of the unlucky group that is being laid off. So he laid himself off too? Bold move. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2021, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-on-this-call-you-are-part-of-the-unlucky-group-that-is-being-laid-off/955572/23 "2021-12-07T09:35:20Z")
Okay, so you are the CEO of an organisation that is not doing well and you have to lay off 100+ employees. Once you have decided who, how would you tell them? ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2021, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-on-this-call-you-are-part-of-the-unlucky-group-that-is-being-laid-off/955572/24 "2021-12-07T10:36:41Z")
Thank you Kenobi. I had to participate in a December layoff of several people. It was not fun to do and I felt really bad about it. One guy did become mildly violent and that wasn’t fun either. This CEO sounds very unpleasant to deal with even if you’re not being laid off. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2021, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-on-this-call-you-are-part-of-the-unlucky-group-that-is-being-laid-off/955572/25 "2021-12-07T10:41:04Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Okay, so you are the CEO of an organisation that is not doing well and you have to lay off 100+ employees. > > Once you have decided who, how would you tell them? A Reebus. That way at least they have some fun decoding the message. A picture of a ewe (sheep in a dress), “R”, a picture of a flame “+d”. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2021, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-on-this-call-you-are-part-of-the-unlucky-group-that-is-being-laid-off/955572/26 "2021-12-07T12:39:03Z")
To answer my own question, I think a letter, made as personal as possible - not addressed to Dear Employee - thanking them for their contribution so far and explaining the reason for the lay-offs and why that person was selected. Many people would rip it up and throw it away, but some would appreciate it. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2021, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-on-this-call-you-are-part-of-the-unlucky-group-that-is-being-laid-off/955572/27 "2021-12-07T13:59:12Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > and why that person was selected. You were selected because you smell bad, and that does not add to corporate value. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2021, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-on-this-call-you-are-part-of-the-unlucky-group-that-is-being-laid-off/955572/28 "2021-12-07T14:10:34Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > Do your managers really need to be in the middle, holding hundreds of “exit interviews”, letting the 90% of staff who remain spend the day wondering who’s next? If they don’t, then I hope they also fire the managers, because they have no other function than to take care of this kind of bullshit. Managers shouldn’t be spared any part of this nonsense. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2021, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-on-this-call-you-are-part-of-the-unlucky-group-that-is-being-laid-off/955572/29 "2021-12-07T14:56:10Z")
> [@StGermain](#): > > I once worked with a woman who said one of her previous employers had a fire drill (a literal one, not metaphorical) and then said, “If your badge lets you back into the building, you still have a job. If not, you’re let go. HR will box up your things and they will be available for pickup later.” > > StG I worked at a dotcom from 1999-2001 and there was a mass layoff partway through my tenure. We had to go round and collect the computers of those being laid off. A couple wanted more time to download personal files, and I’m not an asshole, so I let them. As it happens, earlier that day, there was a brief power cut and I said at the time, they should have disabled the accounts of the laid off people during the power cut (even if it had to be extended artificially). That would have been less awkward. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2021, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-on-this-call-you-are-part-of-the-unlucky-group-that-is-being-laid-off/955572/30 "2021-12-07T15:54:45Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > > [@bob\_2](#): > > > > and why that person was selected. > > You were selected because you smell bad, and that does not add to corporate value. You were selected through random draw, because we view you as disposable drones. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2021, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-on-this-call-you-are-part-of-the-unlucky-group-that-is-being-laid-off/955572/31 "2021-12-07T16:04:43Z")
“If your card doesn’t work in the cafeteria, you’d better get your lunch to go!” ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2021, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-on-this-call-you-are-part-of-the-unlucky-group-that-is-being-laid-off/955572/32 "2021-12-07T16:40:35Z")
The only time I’ve been laid off, a bunch of us were “invited” into a meeting with the regional VP standing at the front. He starts out his spiel, “It’s days like this that really make me hate my job.” Ah, I’m so fucking sad for you. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2021, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-on-this-call-you-are-part-of-the-unlucky-group-that-is-being-laid-off/955572/33 "2021-12-07T16:48:36Z")
> [@Turek](#): > > “It’s days like this that really make me hate my job.” They should get one of the hosts from _The Great British Bake Off_ to fire people. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2021, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-on-this-call-you-are-part-of-the-unlucky-group-that-is-being-laid-off/955572/34 "2021-12-07T18:46:34Z")
I kind of had the opposite happen to me. Most of the staff was herded into an upstairs conference room and told that the handful of people who hadn’t joined us were, in fact, being let go. It was a little odd. ---
**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2021, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-on-this-call-you-are-part-of-the-unlucky-group-that-is-being-laid-off/955572/35 "2021-12-07T19:54:43Z")
At a previous job, thankfully before I started there, they announced that layoffs would be coming, and they would call the unlucky people between 1 and 3 p.m. So people had to wait nervously at their desk during that time. Occasionally a friend or relative would call to ask if they’d heard anything, causing all sorts of anguish. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2021, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-on-this-call-you-are-part-of-the-unlucky-group-that-is-being-laid-off/955572/36 "2021-12-07T19:59:47Z")
They would try to revoke your severance. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2021, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-on-this-call-you-are-part-of-the-unlucky-group-that-is-being-laid-off/955572/37 "2021-12-07T20:20:58Z")
I have been a manager who participated in a several mass layoffs as a sort of coordinator. I would go fetch the person from their desk, take them to the VP’s office, where the VP, and HR coordinator and a rent-a-guard person were waiting. After leaving them there I would go back to their desk and leave a box there for them to pack up their belongings in the presence of said rent-a-guard, who would collect their badge, pager (this was 10 years ago) and keys to office and desk/cabinets. My qualification for this role was that I was a manager, had only one direct report, so I had no reporting relationship with the 20-30 people being laid off (out of several hundred in that department and location). Many of my colleagues who were managers losing people were quite happy to let the VP and HR handle this task. Others were not and would have preferred to do it themselves. I have also been the manager notifying my people directly that they were being let go, and guessing that I would be gone in a few days or weeks at the most (in reality, I was offered and took another job in the same company). I was a respected manager, and I think people preferred that I told them directly, even if I had to abide very closely to a script. In none of these cases did I feel that the process was inhumane in any way. It is just a very difficult thing to do. Whether layoffs should be something companies are doing regularly and how the people are selected to be laid off is another matter, but if you are going to lay off people, the process is going to be uncomfortable for everyone involved unless you are a sadist. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2021, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-on-this-call-you-are-part-of-the-unlucky-group-that-is-being-laid-off/955572/38 "2021-12-07T20:30:05Z")
> [@mcgato](#): > > layoffs would be coming, and they would call the unlucky people between 1 and 3 p.m. I’d just unplug my phone, plug it back in at 3 and leave immediately. Walk in the next day as if nothing had happened. If asked… “No, I’m still working here. I didn’t get a call between 1 and 3. Now, do you want me to finish that big project I’m working on, or not?” ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2021, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-on-this-call-you-are-part-of-the-unlucky-group-that-is-being-laid-off/955572/39 "2021-12-07T21:07:23Z")
[The company’s head of marketing Melanie Hahn, head of public relations Tanya Hayre Gillogley and vice president of communications Patrick Lenihan have all resigned, Insider reported Tuesday.](https://nypost.com/2021/12/07/better-com-execs-resign-after-controversial-mass-zoom-layoff/) The high-level departures are directly related to CEO Vishal Garg’s handling of recent layoffs at the company and his reportedly divisive management style, Insider reported. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2021, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-on-this-call-you-are-part-of-the-unlucky-group-that-is-being-laid-off/955572/40 "2021-12-07T21:21:43Z")
> [@digs](#): > > > [@mcgato](#): > > > > layoffs would be coming, and they would call the unlucky people between 1 and 3 p.m. > > I’d just unplug my phone, plug it back in at 3 and leave immediately. Walk in the next day as if nothing had happened. > If asked… “No, I’m still working here. I didn’t get a call between 1 and 3. Now, do you want me to finish that big project I’m working on, or not?” Had a former cow-orker who left early for a (dentist?) appt. Her name was on the RIF (Reduction In Force - CEO was a former Navy commander) list that occurred late one Monday afternoon. She comes in the next day & can’t get into the elevator bank of the high-rise. Security guard sees her name on the employee/tenant list so buzzes here in. We had multiple whole floors in the building. She gets off the elevator but her card doesn’t let her out of the elevator lobby. Someone comes up on the next elevator & lets her in. She worked in a secured area; can’t get in, but someone’s coming out for coffee so they let her in. She sits at her desk but can’t sign on to her PC; she calls the help desk & states she can’t sign on. The response is, “Oh, you didn’t hear, you no longer work here.” Nothing came of it, & she wasn’t that type anyway, but that is damn scary. The company never published a list of who was let go. Who hasn’t forgotten their key card at least once in their life & either been let in by a cow-orker or let someone else in. In this case, three separate people let in someone who _shouldn’t_ have been there. In this day & age, if that was someone who had been let go & bent on revenge it would have been ug;y! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-on-this-call-you-are-part-of-the-unlucky-group-that-is-being-laid-off/955572.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-on-this-call-you-are-part-of-the-unlucky-group-that-is-being-laid-off/955572.md?page=3)