Workforce Reduction.
Some people in my office are being laid off today. It's real sad.
It's a small office and a social one. I've been here for just about 2 years, and a lot of these people are my friends.
It lends a real personal grimness to otherwise dry economic statistics. I've been voluntarily unemployed during rough periods, but in that, there's a sense of luck and even skill involved, where you just hope to find that open position, to be picked.
With this, you sort of hope not to be picked, but you also hope no one else is, either. But you know someone will be. So you just sit and wait.
It's like being oppressed, but there's no oppressor to focus on, no one to say "stop" to. The VPs that are making the final calls - do you tell them to quit instead? Tell them to try to keep everyone, bust the budget, get fired, tank the whole company? Do you stand up and say "Take me instead?"
It's not like a political situation, a hostage crisis, where you could be brave and say "Take me instead". That's not brave here, that's goofy. If I'm not more needed here, they would already have chosen me, right? Shouldn't I do all I can to keep the company afloat so the rest of the folks here can keep their jobs another couple years.
I guess that's what makes it really grim. The executives are staying upbeat, acknowledging that it's sad and painful, but trying to keep us optimistic that it will be successful in keeping the company afloat. We're not in big trouble yet; we're just taking steps to keep us out of trouble.
I think they believe it; I know they want to believe it. I don't know. I feel like it may be the tip of an iceberg, not just for my company, but for a lot more. I really hope I'm wrong.
For now, my own job is very safe, safer than the executives themselves. That's pretty cold comfort.
It's a small office and a social one. I've been here for just about 2 years, and a lot of these people are my friends.
It lends a real personal grimness to otherwise dry economic statistics. I've been voluntarily unemployed during rough periods, but in that, there's a sense of luck and even skill involved, where you just hope to find that open position, to be picked.
With this, you sort of hope not to be picked, but you also hope no one else is, either. But you know someone will be. So you just sit and wait.
It's like being oppressed, but there's no oppressor to focus on, no one to say "stop" to. The VPs that are making the final calls - do you tell them to quit instead? Tell them to try to keep everyone, bust the budget, get fired, tank the whole company? Do you stand up and say "Take me instead?"
It's not like a political situation, a hostage crisis, where you could be brave and say "Take me instead". That's not brave here, that's goofy. If I'm not more needed here, they would already have chosen me, right? Shouldn't I do all I can to keep the company afloat so the rest of the folks here can keep their jobs another couple years.
I guess that's what makes it really grim. The executives are staying upbeat, acknowledging that it's sad and painful, but trying to keep us optimistic that it will be successful in keeping the company afloat. We're not in big trouble yet; we're just taking steps to keep us out of trouble.
I think they believe it; I know they want to believe it. I don't know. I feel like it may be the tip of an iceberg, not just for my company, but for a lot more. I really hope I'm wrong.
For now, my own job is very safe, safer than the executives themselves. That's pretty cold comfort.