So, I got laid off today...

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Actually, yesterday, but I didn’t feel like posting yesterday.

I was on vacation last week; spent most of Monday catching up on emails, etc. The company had upgraded my laptop a few weeks ago and some of my files had gotten corrupted during the transfer, so I worked with IT a while to get them recovered. In the afternoon I went to a training class to augment my business intelligence/reporting skills. Aha! I thought. Some of this will be useful!

Yesterday I come in about 7:45. IT has my recovered files ready to copy to my hard drive from a shared server - it’s several gigs so it’s going to take a few minutes. Meanwhile I’m getting ready to catch up on some reports that didn’t get done while I was out…

The VP of HR stops at my desk. That’s not unusual; I work in HR and you have to walk past my desk to get to my Director’s office, so while it’s not an everyday occurrence to see him it does not raise any red flags. And we know each other so he’ll usually at least say hello.

With his head he motions to the conference room - “Can you join us in here?” “Sure.” As I head there I’m flanked by my co-worker (same management level that I am) and our boss. The three of us sit down on one side of the table, the VP on the other.

Then I remember - oh yeah, it’s October, that’s the time of year when they sometimes move people around within HR to learn different aspects of the business. I’ve been here 6 1/2 years and had about 8 different bosses, so they’re probably going to tell us that our director is being moved to Compensation and we’re getting the Director from Training or Field HR or something like that.

“Today the company is announcing a major restructuring of the corporate headquarters, and we are eliminating over 250 positions. Including the three of yours.”

Well, fuck.

To be honest, I haven’t liked my job since the last re-org, twelve months ago, and I’ve been casually looking elsewhere for months. Even had a few interviews - enough to know that finding a new position that fits me perfectly isn’t going to be easy. It’s liberating in a way, but now I’ve got a three and a half month deadline to find something else before my severance runs out. Happy holidays you bastards!

Silver lining: at our company, vacation is granted, not earned. That distinction means that when you leave, they don’t have to pay out your unused vacation. poof, it’s gone. But jokes on them! I used my last day of vacation on Friday! Fuck you!

ETA: VP wasn’t lying. 23% of the positions at corporate were eliminated - not only me, my coworker, and our boss, but also her boss (my director) and a shitload of other people. I actually feel a lot sorrier for the people left behind, because I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like working there now when we were already always perpetually understaffed as it was.

2

Well that really sucks, I’m sorry to hear it.

3

It does suck. I’ve been there more than once.

But start networking now, right now. And good luck to you.

4

Sorry to hear about that. Maybe it’ll turn out to be a blessing in disguise. If it’s a company that’s just gonna get rid of 1/4 of its workforce out of the blue like that, it’s maybe not somewhere you want to be in the long run. Hope you get something soon and it’s somewhere a bit more secure that doesn’t treat people as a disposable resource. Good luck.

5

Sorry you got cut. Happened to me about 5 years ago. Good luck.

6

Sorry to hear, hope you land well. Lots of tech companies that sell HR software out there that are always looking for Subject Matter Experts (Workday, SAP, Oracle/Peoplesoft, Zenefits, etc.). Good luck on the search.

I laid myself off on the last day of September. I had already been forced to cut half of my team, then my budget for certain activities, and I finally went into my boss and told him that I was excess overhead at this point and that they should just give me a package and let me go. Best thing I ever did.

7

Sorry to hear that man I experienced thw same thing in 2005 when my job had a restructuring and laid us off.
Best of luck on the search.

8

I hope it’s not rude,or painful… but may I ask for more details?
I’m simply curious about how those few minutes went, for you, and the others.
When called into a meeting like that…Does it start with the usual social pleasantries, hellos, and chit-chat, maybe coffee?
How long does the whole meeting last?
How much talking does the Big Man due before dropping the ax on your head?
And after telling you, how do you react?–remain polite and say “thank you for ruining my life”? Burst into tears? Ask “why me?”
Do they give you any context,explain why the re-structuring is necessary, which departments are affected, and how the company will keep functioning,etc.?

Obviously, every circumstance is different.

I’m just morbidly curious , I suppose.

(I’ve never worked for a big company–only small businesses with 4 or 5 employees, including the boss/owner.When I quit one job , I felt really awkward… I knew it would be a shock to the boss, who had no advance warning. But for the past 30 years, I’ve had no worries about job security, assuming the boss doesn’t suddenly die in a car crash or something…)

9

I hope you’re doing well and starting to feel better.

Are you going to have health insurance for a few months at least?

Networking is key but also maybe take a couple of days just to chill and give yourself some time to relax before you start working again!

10

Good luck to you, Skammer. If it’s the company I’m thinking of, at least everyone will understand that it wasn’t personal.

11

Good Luck Skammer, been there myself.

One door shuts, another opens.

12

been there done that a few times-I know your pain. Yeah just in time for the holidays, suckers. Creeps F’s.

Good luck with your search, I think you’ll be back on the payrolls in no time. Is your work anything that can be done contractually?

Very true! Took a while for me and I’m not sure I got the right door but it is what it issss.

13

It sucks. I’ve been on both sides of the table, and I hated it. Of course, being the one let go is worse financially.

Pretty much straight forward. The meetings don’t last that long. When my sister was let go from a large electric company, she was summoned to a room, the HR people read a prepared letter and that was it. When she asked a followup question, they simply reread the same letter.

I had to let one admin go once, and ran into her later that night at a Starbucks. It was a bit awkward, to say the least.

14

Being laid off isn’t the end of the world, especially if you don’t have a family to take care of at the present, and if it’s just you for right now. Or if you have a SO, they can help pull you through by hopefully being employed for the time being. It still took me quite a few more years before I went out on my own entirely, but gosh, there are so many opportunities out there that I’m surprised more don’t take a chance and try to be self-employed, and the heck with never knowing how fast your employer is going to dump you or not. When you’re self-employed, you know exactly where you stand.

I loved lay-offs, myself, wish I would have had more in my lifetime, but only had one. Mine happened in ‘82, when I was 23 years of age. No family of my own. I was a machinist manufacturing parts for oil rigs, and the oil boom went bust overnight, so there I was, already made an offer on a house, then a month later, told me I was being laid off. Great! I had just enough in savings to pay $10k on a two story home that was only two years old, but had been an arson case. Took my unemployment checks and for the next nine months spent my extra free time fixing it up. Unemployment checks ran out, as did my savings, just before I took a two-bit job, and continued to have mediocre jobs for basically all of my life while working for somebody else. But still had a nice home that was paid for and only had 13k in it, which was worth 4X that at the time, and just didn’t need much more money coming in since my cars and everything else was paid for too which wasn’t bad for a 23 year old.

Take this time to collect your unemployment checks, relax, reflect, and do some exploring on what else is out there, and don’t rule out considering your own small biz either. It’s not for everybody, but can be a game changer if you go about it right.

Best of luck to you, but try to rely on that the least.

15

I worked in a 500-600 person office. We had a RIF (“Reduction in Force” - CEO was ex-Navy). People were called into the conf room on one side of the floor. It was fairly quick & they were allowed to go back & pack up their desks. One woman got kinda loud about it, nothing bad, just loud. “OH MAN, THEY LET ME GO. WHAT AM I GONNA DO NOW. HEY, GOODBYE ___, GIVE ME A HUG” sorta thing. After that, future rounds of RIFs always had the termed employee brought their immediate possessions (jacket, pocketbook, etc) & escorted to the door, then had their other possessions (pictures, coffee mug, etc.) boxed up & shipped to them or things were boxed up while they were in the conf room & they were handed a box at the elevator.

In my experience, meetings are fairly quick, it’s hard to make chit-chat when you know you’re about to drop a bomb on someone.

Sorry, scammer, hopefully it turns out better for you. Get a new job before the severance runs out & it’s a bonus. Double bonus if the new job is for a higher salary.

16

Only thing now is unemployment is only 6 months so now you are forced to start searching right away. Two years ago you could afford to wait a month because it was extensions but not the case in 2015.

17

It sucks, and there’s no way to make it any better. Been there, done that, on both sides of the table.

FWIW, the last time I got RIF’ed, it really was a blessing in disguise. I found another, much better job. I say “found” - it dropped into my lap.

My prayers are with you.

Regards,
Shodan

18

I have to wonder if the business decision went something like this:

“We have been losing accounts recently, and there is not much new business to replace the lost accounts, do you have any explanations?”

“Feedback has been that our customer service is not as good as our competitor.”

“Oh, okay, so what are we going to do about it”

“We have to lay off 25% of the workers”

“How will that help customer service?”

“The people who are left will work harder, because they know that their jobs are on the line”

“Oh, okay”

As the company spirals down the toilet.

Maybe it is a good thing that you got out now, with your package intact. In any case, good luck, Skammer.

19

My sympathies, and best wishes in your job search.

I think you may be right in the portion of your OP that I quoted: the living may envy the dead in that reorganization.

20

Let me offer my, “Aw, fuck,” as well.

I hope that you’re able to land again soon. Do you need anyone to constantly nag you until your resume is updated? Or did your casual job search the last twelve months already take care of that?

And are you committed to staying in the Music City, or would you move for work?