You Know You’re Going to Get Laid Off When…

Despite some cheery reports in the media about a recovering job market, I’m not buying it. Blame it on my brutally laid-off-after-16-years-with-the-same company cynicism, but I don’t think this economy is recovering. Not by a long shot.

With that in mind, I still think its imperative for fellow workers (or future 99’ers) to be aware of the signs that changes are a-comin’ in your workplace and those shifts just might put you on the jobless rolls.

First and foremost and the most obvious are changes in upper management. Both times when my former company undertook massive layoffs it was preceded by a change in ownership. (For that matter, my current company is looking for a new CEO. Yikes!)

Whenever a new CEO comes in they want to put their mark on the company and that usually means shaking things up and “restructuring” (read: reductions in products, services and people). Think of it this way: When you buy a new house, even if the house is structurally sound you’d want to make changes, like painting the rooms and upgrading a bathroom. So it is with corporations. Forget about innovation or finding new sources of revenues, cost cutting is the new mantra for CEOs. (Not that they say that outright. It’s usually phrased as “We looking for business efficiencies.” Efficiency, my potential unemployed butt. They’re looking at layoffs.)

Now, how that affects you and your division is hard to say. It can happen suddenly or play out over time. You have no way of knowing since those discussions are held in board rooms (or in my case, at some bar during happy hour), far from your lowly little cubicle.

So what can you do? Of course, you can search for another job, but again I’m not sure that will reap immediate results even in our supposedly recovering employment market.

You can also keep you ears open for any gossip, but that’s assuming someone knows what it is being discussed, what’s going to happen, or if they will divulge such information. Office gossip can be notoriously unreliable…until that is, it turns out to be true. But you won’t know that until the day they actually tell you to pack up your desk and leave the premises.

What other signs are there? Here are some I personally encountered:

Your boss is either nasty to you or stops talking to you completely. Yep, after 16 years, my one boss started treating me like a piece of dirt, nitpicking and criticizing everything I said and did. The head of the division, who had hired me 16 years earlier, stopped talking to me altogether. Was my work any different? Nah.

So why did they do it? You’d think the mere fact of putting someone’s livelihood in jeopardy would be enough. No, they have to heap on gratuitous cruelty.

First, both were trying to justify my termination. You know, put the blame on me rather the company’s poor revenues and the bad business decisions made by them. That way, they didn’t have to feel bad about the scummy thing they were doing to me or other layoffs. I know my work was no different than before; in fact, it was better and I was doing more tasks than ever before. As tough and painful as this situation is, you just have to suck it up like I did and remember it has nothing to do with you as a person or an employee. Try to maintain your dignity and work ethic. It may not save your job, but it will preserve your self-respect at the very least.

Second, and this is a fairly common practice, bosses think if they treat a potential layoff badly enough, that person will leave the job, thus sparring them paying the unemployment benefits and severance package. Obvious, cowardly and pathetic, really.

That only works if the person can find another job quickly, which is difficult even in a good job market. I remember one time a colleague of mine was getting flack from the head of the division. It was obvious the woman (a real bitch) was trying to push my co-worker out the door. I was looking for a job at the same time, so I passed along a job lead to her, which she was hired for. She was able to get out of a bad work situation and avoid a painful termination.

Alas, that’s not always the case. Most of the time, people cannot find another position quick enough and the most viable alternative is simply to wait for the ax to fall, go on unemployment, and then look for another job.

Your boss gives the “no one has job security speech.” Yeah, no kidding, right? When that phrase is uttered, you might as well start packing up your desk. But did you ever notice how the boss who gives that speech miraculously escapes the chopping block and is the one who decides who no longer has job security…or a job?

So, what can we do as workers do when all or some of those situations present themselves? Wait, worry and take home that coffee cup you brought to the office.

Lessons Learned

It’s been two years and a month since I was laid off, and the memory still stings and haunts me.

Why was I laid off while others with less time in the company and at higher salaries were kept on? Why did my former co-workers throw me under the bus to save another colleague? Was my work poor? (If so, why wasn’t I let go earlier?)

Stupidly, I even tried to talk my way out of getting laid off (like that ever works). I often wonder if I should have tried to save my job when I knew I was about to get dismissed. But would that have meant another co-worker got the boot instead? I don't think I could have lived with that (although others didn't mind saving their jobs while I got laid off). And would it have saved my job? That's doubtful.

What was the real reason behind my dismissal? I wish I knew, but considering the personalities (backstabbers, douchebags, liars and drunks) involved, getting a truthful answer is near impossible. I will never know the real reason behind my layoff, and that tortures me.

I know some people will say, “Get over it. You have a job now.” That I'm being negative. Well, I have a right to my feelings, and I think I'm justified in being hurt by their actions. Perhaps I was unjustly jettisoned in favor of lesser people whose only saving grace is that they were the favored puppets of upper management.

Being laid off is a stark reminder that some things are beyond our control, that our fates are in the hands of others who only know us as a line item on a spread sheet.

Bitterness aside, being told to pack up your desk and leave as if you are a criminal is a traumatic experience. What about the stress of being jobless for 16 months? How dare anyone say I shouldn't be hurt by my layoff.

There are times when I think I am almost over it, but then I remember that day I was told to pack up my desk and leave and the bitterness and hurt wash over me again as if it were yesterday.

And the people who say to get over it are usually those who have never been laid off or are safe because the drunken morons that run my former workplace protect them. Lucky them. I’ll say it again, nobody thinks getting laid off is big deal until it happens to him or her. Those same people who tell me to get over it would be the biggest whiners if they were to get laid off.

Alas, the company has survived since I and others were laid off, so I guess they did save the company while we took one for the team. My bad in thinking I was a valuable employee. Never will I make that mistake again.

The effects still linger. After a layoff, I no longer have a sense of job security. That is something that will stay with me for a long, long time. How can I be sure my new company won’t lay me off? How can I think of moving to a new apartment or buying a new car when my position is tenuous? I’m even hesitant to buy a smart phone.

Then there is the economic impact of being jobless for 16 months. Not only didn’t I make any contributions to a 401(k), but also I had to take a job that pays me much less than I was making at my previous job.

Still, I would be foolish not to look back and think of mistakes I made, mistakes that may have made it easier for my former bosses to kick me to the curb. This is my chance to be a better worker and colleague and I want to learn from blunders.

Was I let go because my poor tech skills? Maybe. At my new job, I have taken great pains to learn new systems. It’s not easy, but I’ve made progress on some programs; others, well, will take more time and training. I hope my new bosses will give me the time. (Of course, being out of the workforce for 16 months didn’t help improve my tech skills. I’m playing catch up now.)

I’ve (pretty much) stayed away from office gossip, mostly because I don’t know the people in my new office very well.

I’ve also stayed away from sending ill-advised emails. (The reply all function is not your friend.) I’ve only questioned one work edict, but I did so respectfully.

All in all, I’ve tried to do a good job and made every effort to do my duties to the best of my ability.

But is that enough? I did a good job, or thought I did, at my previous workplace and I was still dismissed. Employers want employees to be hardworking and loyal, but what are they giving us in return? Crappy health plans, puny raises (if any) and no job security.

It’s hard to give a job your all when you know that it will never be enough to save your job if budgets must be cut and your bosses don’t have your back.

You can work hard and still get screwed.