I've made a career out of work at state and local governments. Never seen someone layed off for any reason besides diciplinary reasons. Never made as much money as my colleagues in the private sector but less stress.
Ever survive a layoff?
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I never considered working for the state/local government. Always thought salaries would be capped as you can never make more than the mayor or govenor of the state. Most IT jobs nowadays pay 1.5 times the salary of a public school principal.
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I think we found the problem!
Watch out if you survive a layoff, meaning you weren't one of those laid off. Odds are your working conditions are about to get a lot worse because the work the departed employees did will be spread among the survivors. If a lot of people are now gone and fewer than half are left, your workload will at least double. I'd rather be laid off.
By the way, beware of volunteering to take on any duties an absent manager had been doing. You don't want to get stuck in that role without having the actual pay and authority. Once you take on extra work, you will have a hard time getting that removed from your responsibilities.
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Smart man.
I live in a Government town and they enjoy an extremely low-stress life ( work ), predictability, and guaranteed fully defined/indexed pension.
The government bureaucracy has increased 31% up here ( while using private sector consultants at record levels). Record hirings.
I do not agree with it but if you can't beat em, join em.
@ Fisher, first thank you for sharing with all of us here on BITOG your private experience. It takes some courage and "matter of fact" feelings to do that. Also my thanks to others in this thread that offered you good advice and shared their own experiences.
Good Luck.
Good Luck.
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I have been laid off lots of times.
The big ax missed me a few times over the decades working For AT&T and Bell Labs. Then the company started outsourcing most of the manufacturing. We all knew The End was Nigh. That last year was terrible - over worked and working yourself out of a job. Got hit in 2002. Missed being pension eligible by 6 months. Was out of work for 2 - 1/2 years. Couldn't get a Job - even the new Walmart supercenter wouldn't hire me. I don't like Taxachusetts but they take care of you when you are down and out (I was a Nonresident commuter from NH.) I think I was getting the max $550 a week unemployment. But then at tax time they want to tax you on those benefits(!) Good thing the wife was working. Worked a temp job for a few year at a tech startup that went down the tubes - eben with cash infusion from Tesla and Sumitomo. Was out of work for another two years. I Finally found a local Job listed on Craigslist - of all places - were I worked for 8 years until I was "almost" ready to retire. That job was going sour - so I resigned. Laid myself off ! Been living off a family savings account since Fall of 2018. Just applied for Social Security benefits to start in July.
But I know a bit about the survivor's guilt - but for me it was more anger and sadness. Upper Management making deep cuts to pacify the shareholders, then thenselves getting megadollar Golden Parachutes and then jumping to another megadollar VP or CEO job - without a care for us working stiffs. The Tales of the 90's greed that started the downfall of this nation. . My roomate at the time got laid off. I just walked off the job that day and drove him home.
But I know a bit about the survivor's guilt - but for me it was more anger and sadness. Upper Management making deep cuts to pacify the shareholders, then thenselves getting megadollar Golden Parachutes and then jumping to another megadollar VP or CEO job - without a care for us working stiffs. The Tales of the 90's greed that started the downfall of this nation. . My roomate at the time got laid off. I just walked off the job that day and drove him home.
I'm an union worker so when the cuts come the layoffs go by senority and you get the opportunity to return to a previous lower position instead of being sent home. In the 00's that happened to me. It's definitely irritating when they bosses try to sell you the idea that you should be happy to have a job and they soon give themselves a raise because of the cuts and savings. I never felt guilty about the newer workers getting cut before me. I had a 4 kids to take care of, that's the priority. Good workers can always find another job, maybe not what you want but work is out there if you need it.
Too many time to count working in the aerospace industry.
That was not an accident.
I'd start looking for a new place of employment anyway. In most cases, 95%+ of the workforce is gone within 12 months of a takeover, acquisition/sale/etc.
I would have been gone long before today....
This means that you will most likely lose out when they can the rest of you.
Depends on the deal. Some M&As are like the Borg -You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.
Some Voluntary Separation packages are very nice and people take it.
Finding an equivalent job might be difficult.
Well said. It's a way to trim the dead wood off the company tree. My company waited far too long to do this and it dragged the whole company down. Usually the best are kept and less productive ones are given their walking papers.
I was facing a lay off from my previous employer about a year ago. (Ironically ~ 2 weeks after we bought our truck and the day the dealer called me saying my 1 year back ordered zero turn was ready to be picked up.)
Easier said than done, but I just ended up getting another job in the same field.
Easier said than done, but I just ended up getting another job in the same field.
I got laid off in 87 from a job I liked working for people I hated. The entire operation was chaos due to the addict VP and the fool of an owner. When I got laid off I thought the world was ending. Not a lot of opportunities then even though I had been actively looking to make a move. It forced me to reevaluate my career path and study and train for the change, it turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me career wise.
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More or less, yes. In 2004 I worked in health insurance. You know the culture not too different than banking. 7 VPs for one front line worker, but as a front line worker, $125/day per diem, $500/night hotel OK, 2 off-site training and 1 conference per year. For IT support staff. This is also imho indicative of insurance for those of you who work in the field. I could not ship a UPS package that would cost maybe $11, without approval of my mgr, and my team lead. 2 approvals. So they cleaned house when we lost a huge contract, I was not let go but my coworker was. I remember worrying and taking out a heloc (Back then essentially no fee no minimum draw they were issued like candy) in case I lost my job. What I learned was two things:
1. Do not feel ashamed if you're one of the people left. There is a reason why you were not let go.
2. Do not feel ashamed if you're one of the people let go. Other than being fired for willful or criminal conduct, there is nothing to be ashamed of.
3. Let everyone in your network know you're available--talent is always needed, someone has to do the work
Hmmm. That's three things.
Flash forward, in 2014, I had a boss itching to get rid of me. He got rid of my team lead. I was working hard, as always, but my work was essentially eliminating the need for me! We were moving systems to the cloud.
Two things happened--the boss who wanted to get rid of me, was fired. WHEW. He was like Tony Soprano--not only in management style, but everything was on a whim.
The VP at that time moved me into another department, new team, and asked, would you be interested? (Secretly it was a dream come true, it was what I wanted to actually do).
What was that, you ask? I like to say you know those 1 mil. sq ft distribution centers you see off the highway, I know how to set up the entire infrastructure inside, soup to nuts. In 2015, I knew as much as anybody, zero. It was tough learning hands on 100% and being middle aged, but I survived. Today, I don't do that anymore hahahahahahaha
edit: Just thought of it, another project I am proud of is setting up an office in a downtown Toronto skyscraper, again, being inexperienced but that's how my co. was, back then. It has grown and felt having people learning on the job is risky, which it is.
Lastly, I know on my team, we can't seem to hire anyone, so there still seems to be a labor shortage. People come on board, then leave because they found something better. One guy whom I think has terrible a work ethic (he spent at least 4 hours per day talking about world of warcraft) snubbed us when he found a six figure job (which is neither here nor there but he broadcasted his new salary was $120k). I only throw it out there to demostrate some pretty bad workers can get good salaries. This guy told me Wawa had a annual revenue of 140 bil. Um that's pretty off. He did the same with the co. he went to. So maybe for all we know his salary is $12,000 too.
All I can say things change all the time. Keeping an open mind and a work ethic doesn't hurt. There will always be people needed who do the actual work. Best of luck.
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