As someone who was recently laid off, I can identify. I didn’t see it immediately, but was able to travel to Arizona to catch some spring training baseball with my son and brother. That was all I needed to bounce back. On Monday I start a new job at a healthier company making 25% more money.
"You're not being sacked, no, we are releasing you into a world of opportunity!" Yes, a friend of mine actually heard that one a while ago when he was 'let go'. 🤨
Here's the BS I had to deal with:
-I was dealing with health issues when I was working.
-My former coworker actively tried to make my condition worse.
-I reported them for this to management & HR
-Got fired, as they had friends in HR.
-They filled out the unemployment paperwork wrong 4 times.
-The unemployment case was so messed up, the local government got involved.
The positives.
-Company deamed at fault and heavily scolded by the government.
-I got paid more on unemployment than when working.
-I make ~25% more at my new job.
-I got paid more on unemployment than when working.
How did that one happen? That's the unbelievable part to me - unemployment is basically capped to a percentage (usually 50%) of what you were making when working and vacation pay and partial pay (paychecks from part time work) etc any other non-gift pay also deduct or delay from how much you end up getting paid, at least where I live.
Unemployment counts the last 5 quarters. If you get fired before a quarter ends it doesn't count it as a full quarter.
I left a different job making a lot more because of my health. I knew the manager at this new job and he saw I wanted a position that I was already in. Less hours, about the same pay.
When I was unemployed it counted the vacation I was reimbursed upon my leave from the previous company and the massive amount of overtime I was making from the previous job. If they would have fired me 4 days later, I would have been in the new quarter and gotten a lot less.
If it’s Amazon that’s laying you off, they’ll just shut down your email, Slack, and intranet access before you can start work in the morning, and let you figure the rest out yourself.
That's pretty standard in tech. Most companies have this automated from either the layoffs convo or the email being sent.
Back in 2012 I was laid off in a very short meeting with my boss and HR. This was at 10am when everyone was in meetings, so I left a quiet office and entered the stairwell to leave. My badge got me on, but I was unable to leave. I spent 20 mins awkwardly waiting for someone to either pass by or notice so that I could be escorted out of the building.
I'm at Amazon now, and some of the stories of people losing access are horrible. Some layoffs coincided with RTO, with some people moving across the country (NYC to Seattle) only to be told once their life was packed up and being shipped away that, actually, there wouldn't be a job to move to. There were also stories of IT failures for people, and people basically breaking down in tears at losing their job, when it was only email downtime.
We would like to shift our structure to a more flexible model of management to accommodate for unforeseen market fluctuations.
So I am fired?
As I said we want to reschedule you indefinitely as our potential support asset. This pool is very prestigious and privileged position to be in.
So will I get paid?
As much as we would like to, truly, It is legally impossible for us to provide you with any funds outside of a legally binding contract which needs to be terminated in order to shift to a better state of financial buoyancy.
My boss and HR lady were very solemn when I was laid off from my last job RIGHT BEFORE COVID started. I was BEAMING. HR lady said I was the most unconventional layoff she’s ever done. I thanked her and shook her hand. It was the best thing that happened to me in a long time.
My job was totally fine, byt my partner had been laid off right before me. I was happy to be able to spend a bunch of time with them—I didn’t even know about COVID yet. Then a couple months later, everything shut down. I didn’t work for years. It was incredible.
Back in 2017, I got a meeting invite after work hours for "HR Meeting" first thing the next morning. I knew that was not a good sign. The most annoying things is that I had performance based options that I received the year before and would vest in 2 weeks.
If there was one life experience I wish I can give to people, it's that experience of being fired because of restructuring.
Imagine doing your job well. Imagine even loving your work and your coworkers. Then suddenly, a behind-the-scenes convo led to your department being dissolved and you're out of a job. You didn't do anything wrong. You were just in it's way.
I was a casualty of this mid-career. Made redundant in the middle of the covid pandemic. I managed to scrape things together and called a few contacts who helped me out and put in a good word for me. Helped me secure employment. I'm in a better environment now than I was back then. But it was a terrifying experience being made redundant at a snap of a finger.
I work at a big company. We have tons and tons of problems to go solve that are getting little attention in addition to having a lot of redundant and/or "what would you say you do here" type positions. Most of this happens by accident, but it's nearly impossible to unwind and redeploy those teams. My guess is that the big reasons why is because of leadership not wanting to look bad - a mix of "why did you staff this to begin with?" and "why did you let this go on for so long?" When these groups are eventually found during a reorg they tend to be let go vs redeployed, which makes it even harder for the remaining groups to do anything. The cycle is truly silly.
Bahaha you're only people? I am an authentic Talent, managed by our beloved Talent Managers. Yeah there won't be any raise or bonus this year, the shareholders got all the benefits, but I'm a Talent. Wow this feels great.
How recent was this? Did they change your hours or your duties significantly or show favoritism in how they treated another employee in your pre-existing role?
People who actually do quit in that situation may have a claim for constructive dismissal.
I think it's also in reference to people getting fired over zoom. Also, it could be referencing how gen z will record their firings now and post them to tiktok to shame the company, LOL. I love gen z!
You're comparing an HR employee to a military officer? That's apples and oranges right there.
But I'll bite. Most military officers and enlisted are people too, you know. They got kids, they love and hate people too. Hell, even terrorists. Ones terrorist is another person's liberation hero. I'm sure most IDF officers too mat have misgivings about the war they fight but when you're in a military you don't get to complain, especially during a war.
It's easy to vilify people, it's hard to see that each and everyone of us is a human being with hopes and fears.
Except they have access to everyone's salaries so they have greater bargaining power than we do. Not exactly the same as the average employee at a company.
May be so, but they're still human, love their kids, have problems just like you and me, and most importantly, they too can lose their job. I can just as well say that since I oversee all tech in the company that I work for thst, technically, if I wanted, I could see everyone's salary too. Doesn't make me better or worse or different than you.
Shit take.
People that take HR jobs are that different than us. It's like cops, the job only attracts the exact type of person that shouldn't be doing that job.
Some time ago, I met an HR person at my job. She wasn't actually part of the workplace HR team, rather, she was more like a classmate of mine, but she had worked as HR in the past and wanted to continue to do so in the future. She was kind and polite, so I never had any beef with her, but she consistently had the shittiest, most inhumane takes on how to manage and interact with people I had seen in a while lol.
Meeting her made me arrive at the conclusion that you just said. Empathetic people that get into HR with the idea of helping make the world a better place would eventually resign or, at least, be very ineffective as HR. The only people capable of staying in HR for a long time are sociopaths who don't mind lying and being obtuse in job offers, and ruining someone's life so their boss can squeeze a couple of extra cents. The profession itself only serves to make companies more ruthless and adds nothing of value to the world.
I've never met a HR person I liked. The best I could feel twords then was quiet toleration... Now Ops folks, those people busy their asses to keep the ship from sinking.
Police officers actually don't just attract bad people, they are specifically selected for it (in the US anyways, in other countries governments may actually care about that sort of thing though YMMV.
Same for human resources. I've known quite a few people working for HR and most are just people, lie you and me, doing a job they mostly like, but yeah, sometimes requires them to be in shitty situations that they didn't envision before.
That's why they have been rebranded as "people team". Soon they will be rebranded "family council" because people is too steryl, and we're all a family after all.
I prefer them to not be enjoying it, nor taking it lightly that I’m losing my income and I’ll be struggling over the next series of months to make ends meet.
I'd rather they rip the bandaid off and not pretend they are my friend. You are firing me. You are removing me from my source of income. Stop trying to be "pleasant" because it just looks like you are enjoying it.
No smiles, no affected happiness, no weasel words about being "let go". Just say "yeah, sorry, you're fired". The more emotionless you can make it on your end, the better.
Heck don't even fire me in person. Send me an e-mail. It's a lot more... Humane. Less cruel.
Felt good the day I told HR they didnt need to invest any more resources to "help" me. I was done and the boss clearly didnt care about having me around so I told them to fire me.
Most people doing their job quite literally are just doing their job, trying to make it to the end of the day. Believe me, even people in hr love their children, worry about the future, worry about their job, have hopes, fears and dreams and have to contend with shitty bosses.
Can you imagine one day the CEO coming in with a list of people that YOU have to fire, that YOU have to face, that will cry and yell in front of you as if you're the one who did this to them?
Most people are pretty okay, actually, and not remotely evil. They might do bad things because they're pressured or feel pressured, most people don't enjoy firing others.
The HR person who works with my team actually said "I actually really like firing people. Well, that didn't sound right... but I do like making these changes."
I'm lucky my company can't fire me right now. Not enough people and I'm covering for someone on extended leave. But if I find something better I'll be gone in a flash