They always underestimate the morale killer. They think HR sending out a few notes will smooth things over. Nope, that job security just hit the floor, people are scared. Productivity drops while everyone processes, people start wondering if they should look elsewhere, it takes years to rebuild from a big layoff like that
they are so clueless. half of my team got laid off on friday, and we got an email from our manager inviting us to attend a different team’s standup in addition to our own so we could feel more “connected”.
the only thing another standup is going to make me feel is fucking pissed off
My employer had a slightly better reason to do layoffs, because our financial situation then was pretty bad and still is pretty bad. I don’t mean “we got 30% profit instead of 31%!”, but “we aren’t making money and we have no money”. Layoffs were more understandable than usual given the situation and circumstances.
And even in these conditions, I still think it was a terrible decision. Morale was ultra low after the layoffs, and the situation led to quite a few people who did survive to leave of their own volition for better opportunities. We lost talent in the layoffs, and then we lost talent in everyone who felt like they were on a sinking ship. Which, in turn, has led to even more people feeling like it’s a sinking ship with the writing on the wall.
My management chain is completely gone. I directly report to an executive now, where previously there was my supervisor, his supervisor, his supervisor, and then the executive. Where there were perhaps 10-15 system engineers both in and outside my team, there are now like 3-4 of us thanks to layoffs and departures. And if one of these guys leave, I’m going to find a new job and put in my two weeks once I land one.
The silver lining is that my job security has never been better, because they’ve created a situation where they literally can’t afford to lose me or my colleagues. We’re all on critical projects, and at the point where a new person just wouldn’t be helpful, because they don’t have the proper time to learn and get caught up before we need these projects finished.
In short? Layoffs are a terrible decision, even when you’re in terrible financial straits. You risk a death spiral that makes things even worse and worse.
Dude, just start looking. Don’t wait for somebody else to leave, be that person.
If somebody else leaves, your workload will increase even more while you try to find a new job. Just take the initiative. And next time, be quicker about it too. Protect yourself.
It’s a renewable energy company, so I do believe in its mission and I’m hoping it’ll be successful in the long term. I want to jump ship only as a last resort.
That said, I should probably stop being lazy and actually update my resume and start putting out some applications.
I symphatize with that, but it would seem they are definitely not going to last until they are successful. I respect that you work towards renewable energy, but they won’t lose one night of sleep if they have to fire you down the road.
Take care of yourself, good luck.
Edit: I just remembered from another thread. Somebody shared a gem about hoping:
Hope in one hand, shit in the other and see which one gets filled first.
Not to say hope is bad, but I also believe in being realistic about things.
No you’ve brought up a lot of good points, and I appreciate it. I also just tend to be resistant to changes as a person. At the very least I do need to brush up my resume.
I always jump ship after a layoff. They invariably ask you to do more work for the same price. Half the time at places I’ve worked the company goes under soon anyways.
You get a bigger raise with a new job than staying at the old job, and I assume it’s even worse after layoffs. When I tell job interviewers “because layoffs”, they can easily verify it and confirm I didn’t just get fired for being an asshole.
What happened at my work was they did like 2 mini layoffs, then a medium one, then a big one that was split into 3 parts, all this over the course of about two years. Morale here is more or less in free fall, we’ve alienated our user base, and I don’t expect it to recover for many years.
wow, it sounds like they did the exact perfectly wrong approach to layoffs. (When I was laid off I researched how companies do them).
The goal should be to do one big layoff - once. This sounds horrible, but it actually helps morale in the longrun because you can tell your people you did it once so it doesn’t have to happen again. (Assuming the company is in fact in dire straits). Morale will go to zero, some employees will leave, but it will rebuild, and trust will (eventually) be restored.
What you don’t want to do is several layoffs, because each succeeding layoff morale drops even lower and more and more people leave voluntarily, and you never rebuild that trust, because there is no reason to. Anxiety that you’ll lose your job keeps growing, fearing that you’ll be next, and you have no idea when. So, you might as well just let everyone go and start over.
Yeah only reason I’m still there is I can’t let my insurance get disrupted right now. Couple more months though then I’m going to start looking around. I don’t trust them at all anymore and I’ve pretty well checked out of that job
They always underestimate the morale killer. They think HR sending out a few notes will smooth things over. Nope, that job security just hit the floor, people are scared. Productivity drops while everyone processes, people start wondering if they should look elsewhere, it takes years to rebuild from a big layoff like that
My (soon to be ex) company gets around the rebuild step by doing annual layoffs.
they are so clueless. half of my team got laid off on friday, and we got an email from our manager inviting us to attend a different team’s standup in addition to our own so we could feel more “connected”.
the only thing another standup is going to make me feel is fucking pissed off
maybe you just need a pizza party. There they can explain how laying off half your team was a good thing so they can buy another Audi
My employer had a slightly better reason to do layoffs, because our financial situation then was pretty bad and still is pretty bad. I don’t mean “we got 30% profit instead of 31%!”, but “we aren’t making money and we have no money”. Layoffs were more understandable than usual given the situation and circumstances.
And even in these conditions, I still think it was a terrible decision. Morale was ultra low after the layoffs, and the situation led to quite a few people who did survive to leave of their own volition for better opportunities. We lost talent in the layoffs, and then we lost talent in everyone who felt like they were on a sinking ship. Which, in turn, has led to even more people feeling like it’s a sinking ship with the writing on the wall.
My management chain is completely gone. I directly report to an executive now, where previously there was my supervisor, his supervisor, his supervisor, and then the executive. Where there were perhaps 10-15 system engineers both in and outside my team, there are now like 3-4 of us thanks to layoffs and departures. And if one of these guys leave, I’m going to find a new job and put in my two weeks once I land one.
The silver lining is that my job security has never been better, because they’ve created a situation where they literally can’t afford to lose me or my colleagues. We’re all on critical projects, and at the point where a new person just wouldn’t be helpful, because they don’t have the proper time to learn and get caught up before we need these projects finished.
In short? Layoffs are a terrible decision, even when you’re in terrible financial straits. You risk a death spiral that makes things even worse and worse.
Dude, just start looking. Don’t wait for somebody else to leave, be that person.
If somebody else leaves, your workload will increase even more while you try to find a new job. Just take the initiative. And next time, be quicker about it too. Protect yourself.
It’s a renewable energy company, so I do believe in its mission and I’m hoping it’ll be successful in the long term. I want to jump ship only as a last resort.
That said, I should probably stop being lazy and actually update my resume and start putting out some applications.
I symphatize with that, but it would seem they are definitely not going to last until they are successful. I respect that you work towards renewable energy, but they won’t lose one night of sleep if they have to fire you down the road.
Take care of yourself, good luck.
Edit: I just remembered from another thread. Somebody shared a gem about hoping: Hope in one hand, shit in the other and see which one gets filled first.
Not to say hope is bad, but I also believe in being realistic about things.
No you’ve brought up a lot of good points, and I appreciate it. I also just tend to be resistant to changes as a person. At the very least I do need to brush up my resume.
I always jump ship after a layoff. They invariably ask you to do more work for the same price. Half the time at places I’ve worked the company goes under soon anyways.
You get a bigger raise with a new job than staying at the old job, and I assume it’s even worse after layoffs. When I tell job interviewers “because layoffs”, they can easily verify it and confirm I didn’t just get fired for being an asshole.
What happened at my work was they did like 2 mini layoffs, then a medium one, then a big one that was split into 3 parts, all this over the course of about two years. Morale here is more or less in free fall, we’ve alienated our user base, and I don’t expect it to recover for many years.
wow, it sounds like they did the exact perfectly wrong approach to layoffs. (When I was laid off I researched how companies do them).
The goal should be to do one big layoff - once. This sounds horrible, but it actually helps morale in the longrun because you can tell your people you did it once so it doesn’t have to happen again. (Assuming the company is in fact in dire straits). Morale will go to zero, some employees will leave, but it will rebuild, and trust will (eventually) be restored.
What you don’t want to do is several layoffs, because each succeeding layoff morale drops even lower and more and more people leave voluntarily, and you never rebuild that trust, because there is no reason to. Anxiety that you’ll lose your job keeps growing, fearing that you’ll be next, and you have no idea when. So, you might as well just let everyone go and start over.
Yeah only reason I’m still there is I can’t let my insurance get disrupted right now. Couple more months though then I’m going to start looking around. I don’t trust them at all anymore and I’ve pretty well checked out of that job