The Best Way To Be Layed Off
October 8, 2008 – 5:06 am
There have been rumors floating around our company that layoffs might be coming, and I would guess this is common at a lot of other companies in these uncertain economic times. The question I’ve been thinking about today is what is the best way to be layed off.
If a layoff does occur according to the current rumor, “they” are expected to tell us on a monday that the layoffs are coming and then they will be executed on friday. Overall I think this is a really good approach (if there is such a thing).
I’ve been through four layoffs already in my short ten year career, and I praise the Lord that I was retained through all four. Here are a few of my past (potential) layoff situations:
- my current firm also did a layoff two years ago, and that time they anounced that layoffs would occur and would only affect people at headquarters (and I was at headquarters). They anounced it sometime around the middle of October and gave us over a month before the layoffs actually occured. They told us way in advance the exact date of the layoff, and our building was closed for the day from a business perspective. Then we were given an appointment and asking to arrive at that time to find our our fate. Needless to say this what an agonizing month. Although I liked being able to prepare a bit by being careful with our spending, this was way to much time to spend worrying about if you were going to be cut or not. I would also think that my company probably lost $1MM or more in productivity during that month.
- At a prior firm one of the layoffs was preceded by a large delivery of packing supplies and Styrofoam peanuts. I was working in a small satellite office in NYC, and you didn’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that a layoff was coming. We wre not told when the verdict would be given, but most companies do layoffs on Friday’s, so it was just a matter of time. When it happened the office manager called people into his office one at a time, and everyone that was called in was layed off.
- The other two layoffs I think I was billing at a client site, so I was immune to the layoff. That’s a wierd feeling as well, like of like watching a thunderstorm from inside your garage. You feel safe, but you know people outside that are really going to struggle.
Do you have any layoff stories, good or bad? How much notice do you think is best for a layoff?
Image Credit: dad
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2 Responses to “The Best Way To Be Layed Off”
My last company laid people off as they tumbled on the way out of business. The process they had was let people go every other Thursday afternoon before payday. It was horrible – I have never seen people dread pay day like we did there.
I was the last layoff (after about 70+ others in various rounds) since I was the IT department head. I was told that I would be laid off 3 months after the last round and asked if I would stay on through the three months.
I was given freedom to go to job interviews as needed during the day but did not get any severance at all (the company was broke). Everyone else got severance pay but I was able to leave with another job in line. I guess it all worked out.
By Matt on Oct 8, 2008