Déjà vu All Over Again

Some things never change.

The day after our company-wide meeting, our CEO sent around a rather exasperated email in response to office gossip that more staff cuts were coming. He said there wouldn’t be, but surely he could understand why there would be talk of such things. After he clearly stated during the meeting that positions were being eliminated, it’s understandable other employees would think their jobs were in jeopardy as well. He was naïve to think there wouldn’t be office gossip about more layoffs, especially after so many have either experienced a job termination firsthand, or seen friends and relatives and co-workers laid off.

Yet, I think it’s unrealistic to think company brass is going to announce who is being cut during a company-wide meeting. Those people deserve privacy in such a personal, sensitive matter. Eventually, we will all find out.

(As a side note, one of the people who was let go was a woman who argued against my being hired…what goes around…)

And—and I can’t believe I’m saying this—I think the CEO was wrong to say no more layoffs were coming. Yes, on that day, no more staff cuts were planned. But what about six months from now? Economic conditions can change swiftly, and no CEO should make promises he cannot keep. I don’t want to lose my job or see anyone else lose theirs, but the reality is no one is immune from a layoff.

I recall three months before I was laid off being told by the head of the company that our jobs were safe. A month later he stopped talking to me, and a month after that, I was gone. Was I lied to? No, I don’t think so. I think at the time he believed what he told me. But then the head of the parent company ordered him to make cuts or the entire department was gone. And, well, you know what happened after that.

I will give this new CEO props for being as candid as he can be. At least he and upper management have a plan for the company, a vision. My previous company really didn’t have a proactive business plan or a blueprint to where the company should go. Therefore, they were always making moves in reaction to something else…the economy, what a competitor did, etc. Hence, they made panic moves, like cutting half the staff and killing products that were relatively profitable.

After having been through that experience, I wasn’t really upset by the swirling gossip about possible cuts. I have no reason to think at this date that my job will be eliminated. Maybe I just can't put myself through that emotional drain again. But who knows what will happen a month or six months from now? I also know that if management has targeted you for a layoff, there really isn’t much you can do to save yourself.

Will it be, like Yogi Berra said, déjà vu all over again?