I think that I have nine lives and right now I am in life five. Last week, we had a round of layoffs in my office. I knew they were coming and I knew who would be given the pink slip. I wasn't "in the know" as a manager or was told by somebody but I read the writing on the wall. See, I have been in this position before when you know that things are bad, you know that they are letting people in different offices go, you see the public financial reports and then whoop, here is another acquisition. This particular acquisition had a catch, it had a number of people who did the same thing and a few jobs that would not be relevant. We were warned that the top brass was looking for the best of the best. And last week, those who did not make the cut were let go.
It sucks to watch this unfold, seeing HR call people one by one and seeing them come out in tears and packing up their desk and heading out in less than 10 minutes start to finish. I have seen it four times before and probably will see it over the life cycle of my career. It sucks, survivor guilt I suppose.
Then to top this all off, our senior management was shaken up and the results have wrecked morale and stirred up the rumor mill. And thus began the chain of events, after the all of the layoffs; a few people quit. Our office when from a lively place a few months ago to a very quiet one. We lost staff to the other office and the lay offs. I
So where do I stand, I am safe for now and probably will be for a few more months. I hold a unique position in the company and right now I am busier than ever. It is not to say when I am done with my projects, they won't show me the door. It does say that I have to get a few ducks in order so that I am prepared to do what needs to be done for me. It has given me time to reflect on my job(s) and what I want to be when I grow up.
But at the same time, the opportunities are endless.
Have you been through a lay off? How did it affect you?
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Hubs is doing much better, he saw a top notch cardio last week who thinks that this was an isolated event give the fact that Hubs is healthy. However, he does want to rule out a few things so the Hubs will have to undergo a stress test, wear a heart monitor and have a sleep study over the next few weeks. Better safe than sorry!
Thanks for your kind words and thoughts!
3 comments:
Yuck. I am happy you made it through but sorry you had to go through. Ugh. My husband was laid off over a year ago. I have not had to experience it though. I think it would make me uneasy.
Happy to hear your husband is doing better!!
I've been through about three layoffs in my career. The first one, being my first experience, was devastating. But I got together one day with my fellow laid off employees and learned one thing - stay busy. Spend a couple of hours of day looking for jobs, schedule interviews, but make time for yourself. Work on hobbies or do things you normally are not able to do, because of scheduling or whatever.
Needless to say, the next two were annoying, but I got through them fine.
Glad to hear about the Hubs. I did the sleep study a few weeks ago - it was a weird experience. I'll be blogging about it soon if you're interested in reading about it.
I'm glad that you made it through another round of layoffs. I'm sure that is quite a stressful time around the office. Hopefully the economy starts to pick up and there will be more jobs opening instead of closing.
Good news about your husband!
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