and we're out

[amw]

Yesterday was my last day of work. It was one of the more unusual last days of work i have had in my life, because there was no leaving drinks, no card or gift, no awkward speech, i just returned my laptop, gingerly shook hands with a colleague (first post-covid handshake!) and walked out the door

Comments

[motodraconis]

Read your post and then within 5 minutes saw this in the Guardian, which seemed rather apt

[amw]

You were totally right about this, by the way. This Monday the news came out that there were massive layoffs planned. I got out literally just at the right time. Three offices are closing and loads of people are being laid off. People were SO pissed off after having taken reduced hours and furlough with the leadership telling everyone that those cost savings were more than enough to keep the company afloat. It was such a big deal the news even hit the mainstream media, which then over the next few days HR and legal were in damage control trying to dial it back all like "well, it's just a proposal, nothing confirmed yet" and LinkedIn is full of the legal-approved nonsense statements. Meanwhile my friends in other offices are still losing their jobs. And China office is somehow expanding because almost certainly there is some sweetheart deal with the local party office to occupy the "flagship" building we are in... Ugh, it's such a shitshow. So happy to be out.

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[opakele]

I hope you make a safe get away.

I'm glad you were honest with your ex-employer regarding your reason for leaving. It is a voice in the wilderness, but in order for change to happen it needs to be a regular refrain.

[amw]

Somehow i don't think they care. The news broke this week that they're laying off people all over the world while increasing the size of the China office. Seems like the company is totally in the pocket of the party now.

[coercedbynutmeg]

As it turns out, in China, the only people who make it are selfish fucking assholes.

Well, they're turning into America in one respect, at least. Sigh.

[olamina]

God. So many parallels to today, which was my last day of work. The goodbyes from the other leaders were fake and wooden. A well-meaning HR lady sent everyone on my team "fun" party kits from Etsy a few days ago only to find out today that I was fired and that my whole team was in a foul mood. She hastily advised people to save the kits for a happier day.

I have several hundred dollars tied up in travel benefits I never used because we were locked down. The asshole main HR guy told me the money had been transferred out of the account,but the benefits company emailed me with the balance. The HR just busily worked on getting me fired instead.

Meanwhile the VP of Engineering (who happens to be Chinese) did a victory lap after swallowing up my team and the product team in one swoop. They have a strange way of rewarding people who are particularly terrible at their job but giving them even more jobs.

All this to say that America is basically China. Just smaller and with less good food.

[amw]

It is so frustrating when mediocre people get promotions. That's when it becomes so obvious that the corporate world is all about who you know and not what you know. I mean, everyone knows that instinctively, but it's easy to get lulled into a false sense of security, to buy into performance reviews and competency frameworks and so on. I think those tend to work better at the start of your career, but the higher you get the less they seem to matter.

The news on our company is that this week there were a bunch of layoffs and office closures. People are really pissed because the leadership specifically said this wouldn't happen and that our reduced hours and furlough had been enough to keep us going through the year. Meanwhile they're hiring more in China. I'm so glad i left when i did, it sounds like morale has just crashed through the floor.