Layoffs
At the company that I recently left, we had experienced six excruciating rounds of personnel reductions over the past five years. The sort of layoffs where the managers call you into a meeting with HR and hand you the dreaded thick manila envelope. In fact, some of the layoffs were so bad, that the managers were walking up and down the cubicle isles carrying 6-7 envelops under their arms asking were certain people were. Brutal. Shortly after I left, I heard they had a seventh round.
The constant threat of layoffs is a reality that many people across all industries must live with. In fact, every company that I’ve worked for has had rounds of layoffs. Just open up the Yahoo Finance news feed, and you’ll see a variety of companies announcing that they are planning x-thousands of layoffs over the next 18 months. Because of this endless threat, we all have to be prepared for the worst. Even if you’re a strong performer, I’ve seen whole divisions decimated. After speaking with a large number of displaced workers, many of whom are good friends, I’ve witnessed what works and what doesn’t. So, this article is really about what to do if you’ve been laid off or think that you might be.
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