Losing a Job

For anybody who has ever lost a job due to downsizing or layoffs, I understand. It sometimes feels random, sometimes feels very personal. It is sometimes announced in a group setting when whole department are about to fall victim. Other times it is a personal call into a meeting where one is usually meet by a representative from HR and a supervisor from somewhere higher than you stand on the company ladder. Sometimes there is a buzz in the air prior to the event and it is just a countdown until when it happens. Other times it is a complete shock and one that leaves those effected shaken and feeling very alone.

No matter how it happens it is rarely handle well. Some employers feel it is better that they show no human emotion from their Human Recourses personnel. That inevitably leads to the blame falling on the wrong person. HR is no doubt directly involved in the finalization of paperwork and benefit packages but they are not usually consulted for an opinion about who should go; unless their department is one that will need to lay off somebody. Sometimes it is done in a manner better described as cowardly. The CEO or other high level managers find a lower level manager do the work for them, even if the one being laid off is not a direct report to the one chosen to deliver the information.

There have been so many stories in recent times. With the economy in still in turmoil, more people have been touched by the loss of a job; either personally, a relative, a close friend or a colleague. We can only hope as the economy gets stronger the stories will become less common and effect less of those we care about or love.

The first obstacle that anybody needs to get through is condensing ones personal items and weed them out from their professional tools. Cardboard box in hand, one is given usually a very short period of time to pack that box and leave. Most times, there is some company representative watching to make sure that the only items that make it into that box are truly personnel items and not client lists, HIPPA protected patient information, company financials... It sometimes get to the point of being so petty as to being questioned about pens or a magnet or colored paperclips.

There are the cruel lay offs that happen as an ambush at the beginning of the work day. Those push the gossip button and keep an air of relief mixed with worry within the environment. There are the end of a Friday lay-offs, day before vacation and those that happen right before an important personal event. No matter when they happen, there is a sense of stillness that hits the heart. That sense of disbelief. Even if a job is not an ideal placement, it is rare for one to find being let go cause to celebrate.

There are similarities amongst stories that I have heard from friends, seen on the news, read and experienced. The cardboard box, and the security guard, HR representative or manager walking the no longer employee out of the building making sure that no longer employee does not deface the still standing building.