Soul crushing.
Worked at a place for 16 years, made many close friends there, helped the company grow from a $2M company into a $2B company. Then one day they decided that it looked like they might not be add profitable in the coming quarter so they needed to cut 20% of the company. I was my family’s sole provider and now wasn’t sure how we were going to survive. I did get a nice severance of 6 months pay, but only 3 months of COBRA coverage. I was very fortunate to find a better paying job a little over 3 months later. Financially it was a good thing for us, but mentally I’m pretty fucked up now. I’ve never had anxiety issues but now I’m on 2 different medications for it. I’m depressed. I hate my new job and coworkers. I have no joy in work. I know if I get laid off again that I won’t get nearly as good of a severance package. I realize that my lifestyle only exists as long as my employer chooses to keep me employed. I feel like I not only have no safety net, but if I fall I take my family with me. It sucks.
Same for me, but 13 years. No one mentions the shame and isolation. I felt like a disease that no one wanted to be around.
If I ran into any old colleagues, it was clear they pitied me. The ones that did stay in contact just wanted the “gossip” (there was none), or wanted confirmation that I was somehow to blame so they could be comforted in knowing it won’t happen to them.
I “didn’t do anything to deserve this”, but it’s hard not to take it personally. The ruminating – trying to understand “why me, and not someone else” – hasn’t stopped.
The betrayal and shame is overwhelming.
Your comment has made me understand this better than anything I’ve previously read has. Thanks for sharing your perspective.
Thank you for saying this 💔
I’ve been there. Posted my story, but I didn’t talk about the lifelong anxiety that comes with a lengthy layoff. Continually pursued higher pay at shittier jobs to try to get ahead of things for when the rug gets pulled out from under me again. It’s corrosive. Losing income and insurance when everyone is counting on you to provide makes you feel like your self-worth is completely tied to your job and ability to provide.
It is amazing that. You pour your life and soul into something, taking pride in seeing your work flourish… only for them to slap you in the face like that whilst making it clear that despite the “we’re a family, so please do your best” rhetoric, it does not extend both ways.
And for what? Because their share price wasn’t going up as much as they wanted, despite the company being profitable for decades? I’m sick of shareholders wants hollowing out the hard work that loyal employees generated for them
The system was built by sociopaths.
The system doesn’t care if sociopaths exploit it; there is no empathy line item in capitalism.
One time, we were given six month’s wages plus a month’s wages for each year we had worked there (I had been there 12 years). The company paid for career counseling, resume training, self awareness (similar to Myers Briggs only it was useful), use of an office space and computers and printers to hunt for jobs.
Another time, we were told that our entire IT department wasn’t important enough to keep and our jobs had been outsourced to India. But they still wanted us to stay for four weeks and train our replacements. Bitch, if I’m not important enough to keep, then I’m not important enough to train anyone. I collected my stuff and walked out that day.
There were a bunch of closed door meetings with upper management and the busy season was set to end in a few weeks, so the writing was on the wall.
I had some of the most consistently highest metrics so I went into our VP of Operations office and straight up asked if I would be let go on X date. He told me no.
To be fair, he kept his word. About 70% of the staff were let go on that date. I was let go 2 days after that.
That’s cool. At least he was honest. /s
For me it was fine, maybe about 15 years ago. Small startup company I was at ran out of funding, we got something like 1-2 months severance. We all got along fine so it wasn’t like everyone hated the job or the owners, sometimes startup companies just don’t make it through those first few years.
Summer is probably the best time to be unemployed, spent a lot of time exploring my neighborhood during the weekday afternoons and was practicing making cold brew & other summer drinks LOL.
Was doing freelance work while being on unemployment / looking for a new steady job. Think it was about 4-5 months before I landed a new job (did get 1-2 job offers during that time but was maybe being a bit picky & turned them down).
… Also helps that I keep savings so short term unemployment won’t wreck me. I’ve seen posts about people being out of work for years, that would be a far worse scenario.
I can imagine in a small startup with good interpersonal relationships it hurts less. I was never laid off but I worked in a small company like that and there were risky periods. It might have been an exception among most companies but we all had access to the revenue and expense data. There can be no surprises if everyone knows the financials.
I started a consulting business with my dad in 2021. We were growing well for the first 18 months. In about 2022 we saw a HUGE decline in the industry. Many of our competitors went out of business. Some shrank by 75% or more. We lost $250k in 2023 and the actual drag was our leadership team. So I, along with 2 other leaders, were laid off at the end of last year. I am proud to say we did not lay off any staff. I got a job at a giant company that pays me a shit ton to do the job of a monkey. I hate it there.
My company laid off a percentage of the workforce randomly, i.e. by lottery, or so they said. I’m 95% sure it really was random, because they laid off one of my coworkers, when, if they had any sense about them, they’d have laid off me. Worse still, he needed the job much more than I did.
There were signs it was coming, but I didn’t really accept it. When it did happen it was pretty distressing, but I had been planning to leave anyway. It ended up working out because I got to leave with some extra runway. They gave us 60 days notice, during which time we collected paychecks. I didn’t work at all during this time though. Instead I searched for a job. At the end of the 60 days we got about 6 weeks worth of pay, a prorated bonus, and our vacation days. I ended up finding a job that paid 3x as much before my 60 days were up and was able to pocket the severance money rather than live off it.
I was laid off in January, I had worked as an IT technician for the company in 8 years, I got a great severance package and in March I started on my current job, even had time for a vacation between jobs and got to see the south of spain.
My partner was the only one holding her company together as operations manager. She got put on a HUGE project and promised two weeks vacation after, then laid off right before the vacation. Now the company is trying to make her sign a contract that forces her to give up her severance in exchange for four weeks of labor.
On the bright side, the professional relationships she built outside the company are paying off, and she has a dozen or so job leads
The element of surprise.
My employer sued IBM in early 2k for breach of contract but lost all their money, rep, staff, dreams, hopes and future in the ensuing legal/PR fight.
I was laid-off after dodging so many proverbial bullets. I got a call on a Thursday from my boss, and he checked the HR was on the line and didn’t say another word until the official stuff was done. Then he made sure I was okay, asked if I had any options, and rang off.
I didn’t cry, beg, rage, or question: I felt relieved that I could stop working 16 hours a day, guilt over being let-go, and a general feeling of worthlessness. And then I was out.
I was laid off in late July of 2023. I dodged a massive layoff in November of 2022 so I knew it was a possibility.
It fucking sucked. I miss that company. I miss it all. It made me feel worthless. I kept comparing myself to the others that didn’t get laid off as if there was any sense made in the decision.
I get work through my skilled trades union. We’re constantly getting hired onto jobs and laid off when the work is complete. Jobs can last 1 shift, up to a few months, or even years. Getting laid off is a time for celebration after being on the job for a while.
And for completing your segment of the work. A worthy celebration indeed.
deleted by creator
I was working up in Whistler back in my twenties, at the end of the season, they lay everybody off except for a small crew of full-time employees. I went on to EI(employment insurance) for the summer pretended to look for jobs, and went on road trips with friends. Once summer finished, I found another job and I have unfortunately been employed ever since in various Warehouse jobs from order picker to warehouse manager.
Edit: Added words
What is breaking, and what is El?
It was meant to be “working up in Whistler” but I didn’t check my voice typing.
EI is what you get when you get laid off in BC. I don’t know if they still call it that anymore.
I thought those were skiing or biking or local terms I just didn’t know since I’ve never being skiing or to Whistler, haha. I read EL rather than ei like thinking it was referring to a place everyone from that area would know that started with those letters. This makes much more sense now.
