Are you too awesome to get laid off?

[Ns1]

Hey man just cuz I haven't been laid off yet doesn't mean my resume isn't polished up and ready to go ^_^

It actually would've been a great time to get laid off too. Lots of demand in my area and goddamn what I would have done with 6 months severance (hint: it's not savings)

 

[SlitheryDee]

"I'm a valuable employee and I deserve better" said every shitty employee ever.

 

[Greenman]

Lots of people feel they're irreplaceable, very very few are.

 

[Fritzo]

I was THE go-to guy at my last place. Irreplaceable. Then I got a new job this year and I'm low man on the totem-pole. My old job is hurting from me leaving though so I feel kind of bad.

 

[local]

No. But my boss has told me on numerous occasions that I will be the last one to go. I am the only one here that does a vital part of our business but I could be replaced without too much trouble.

I do have a couple of trump cards in my back pocket that I could play but I generally don't have to because the owners know I have them. So I am more concerned about lack of advancement than being let go.

 

[lxskllr]

Lots of people feel they're irreplaceable, very very few are.

I know one person that could do my job. I trained him, and he's no longer here.

 

[Tim]

I've survived 2 layoffs. Layoffs = opportunity; I got promoted last time everyone got laid off :awe:

Had to keep it on the DL for 2 months.

Exactly this for me. Nearly doubled my salary in less than 6 years whilst others were being shuffled out the door, twice.

Of course this isn't a brag though, because I don't really make all that much to begin with.

 

[Exterous]

Too awesome? No but I did finish my probationary period so now its much tougher for them to get rid of me involving numerous performance improvement trainings, paperwork etc

How do layoffs seem to sneak up on people? Maybe it's just me, but everywhere I've worked, you knew how the co. was doing.

They don't always. I knew the last company I worked for wasn't doing well but I stayed and survived 4 rounds of layoffs. It was a good job with a great boss and decent benefits. I got to make my own travel plans and was left alone to get things done the way I wanted to do them as long as they got done and I documented how they were done. I risked the layoff because I was being patient for a better opportunity.

 

[nageov3t]

I'm the newest hire right now, so not really.

although, on the plus side, my coworkers probably make a lot more than me, so maybe they'd keep me to save money.

 

[Homerboy]

I know that if it comes down to it, it will be the partners and myself left here. NOBODY is irreplaceable in this world, but there are indispensable people. I am the "Winston Wolf" of this organization, and they'd be screwed without me.

 

[Jeff7]

some companies are very private about telling employees things. i hate that crap.

anyway, our company is in decent shape, i get a fair amount of praise for how i do my job, and i am only 1 out of 5 IT people. id probably have to royally screw up to get fired, even if the company started to struggle. Our IT dept is about as slim as it can reasonably get.

Yes, all kinds of interesting things can go on behind closed doors.
Or maybe they don't conduct their finances the way you'd expect or hope - if the company's actually running itself "paycheck-to-paycheck" style, it doesn't take much of a ripple in business to push them over the edge and start shedding staff.



I've been through....three rounds of layoffs, I believe? The first came shortly after I was hired, back around the recession in 2009. A lot of our revenue depended on B&M banks being built or having their exteriors updated. That portion just about stopped during that time. It's picked up since then, but a good number of B&M banks will likely follow Blockbuster's path. The smart ones might morph into financial services companies, and shed most of their physical locations in order to become online-only organizations. We've since diversified out into other market sectors.

I guess they kept me on because 1) I was a new hire, and therefore cheap, 2) I'm pretty darn smart, and also good at what I do.
The other layoffs were related to seasonal fluctuations in sales, and partly, I think, to get rid of some disruptive influences.
I'm still there though.
Will they ever decide to cut costs and ditch me for a cheap new hire who's fresh out of college? Don't know. However, they don't seem to like to let people go unless it's very necessary, and the overall cost to find, vet, and train a new hire would be substantial.

 

[maddogchen]

Never laid off but at a previous job I was in charge of keeping the teams running smoothly and making sure they were meeting their hourly turn around times and fixing issues when we weren't.

Management determined they didn't need me and that the teams would be in charge of monitoring their own TAT and fix their own issues.

6 months after I transferred to a new position things were so bad that they hired two people to do my job.

What they didn't realize was that if the team tried to fix its own problem, it took so much effort that most of next hour'sTAT would be missed, causing them to fall further behind. And major issues needed someone to coordinate between teams which they were not good at.

 

[ultimatebob]

I survived about 3 rounds of big layoffs at IBM, and another 3 rounds of smaller layoffs where I work now.

That said, I was smart enough to leave HP before they had a chance to outsource my job to someone in Costa Rica.

I must be doing something right.

 

[Squeetard]

i am, but after the round of layoffs my manager called me into his office and told me i was almost laid off.

LOL. When you gave notice did you tell him you almost didn't get a new job?

 

[purbeast0]

LOL. When you gave notice did you tell him you almost didn't get a new job?

no but when i gave notice, i told them that a major reason i found a new job was because of what my manager said to me. the exit interview was with HR and some other higher ups, so i let them all know and they were all like 'yeah he shouldn't have done that'

i had been looking for a new job anyways but kind of slacking, but that was a huge kick in the ass to take it more serious. it was my first job out of school that i was at for 5+ years, which is probably 3+ years longer than it should have been looking back.

but i'm glad things have worked out to what they are now. i'm making nearly 3x as much as i started making when i first started working there and have learned A SHITLOAD more than i would have if i stayed there.

i still eat lunch with the guys i worked with there, and most of them are still there and they are still using the same old technology they were back then. those dudes probably aren't marketable at all and probably not making money close to what i'm making.

 

[vi edit]

I've always held the tenet that "Somewhere, there's a person that will work harder and cheaper than you". I've never felt entitled to a position or like I was irreplaceable.

I am fortunate to work in a field that favors specialization and experience (Healthcare IT) but I've never taken that for granted. I'm constantly challenging my managers to put me into positions to learn new applications or systems and further broaden my usefulness to the organization.

I know that my cross-training and ability to flex across multiple depts has saved me a position in a previous reorganization. Too many people fall into the false security of being specialized. For me, being specialized to a point, but more importantly able to flex across systems has been even more important.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

I was laid off 4 years ago and now I'm back. I was worried when I came back that I'd be the new guy/last one hired and therefore first to go, but since I've been back, 2 of the sr. planners have left, and we've hired 3 jr. planners so now I'm the most sr. It'd be pretty difficult for me to get laid off again, but based on my last experience, I know that anyone can get laid off when the shit hits the fan.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Pretty much.

CEO pet for running/managing his charity running teams
After turning down their first offer, CFO and CIO fought to get me hired
Even though I missed my company's qtrly meeting - still got a big ass check and award for my project going live

 

[core2slow]

Don't want to toot my own horn but my previous job i was in, they let 3 of my colleagues go and decided to keep me instead. I guess i can do the work of 3 other guys. I voluntarily quit afterward.

At my job now, they decided to fire the one senior engineer in my department and gave me a raise. So needless to say, I'm a one man department (vmware/citrix) and i have a pretty strong grip on what's going on around me.

 

[unokitty]

When I worked in the computer industry, I went through multiple rounds of layoffs.

I've been laid off. And I've laid people off...

My experience is that, either way, lay offs suck...

Uno

 

[Safeway]

I've never been laid off. One of my former employers was infamous for mass firings. I think that we had 200% turnover while I was there. Each time they would fire people, I was promoted. I quit before it was my turn, if it ever would have been my turn.

 

[ponyo]

I worry about my job everyday. If I'm too comfortable, I'm not doing enough. I'm self employed.

 

[Ricochet]

I typically work as a contractor so layoffs are to be expected and I've never worked for any one place longer than 4 years.

One large company I use to work for pulled a really dickish move on their contract employees. Contractors naturally would seek another contract when work is close to being done or dwindling. The group we're working for (consisting of both directs & contractors) was going away after project completion. Some of the directs have transitioned to other departments ahead of time and a few contractors already leaving the position for other companies. Fearing a mass exodus, the 3rd level manager called up an all hands meeting and gave a spiel about how much work is left and will continue to have more for years to come. He urged contractors to stay put, as work demands from other departments will absorb them as well as directs. Lo and behold, after project completion all contractors were laid off.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Haha exactly. Bottle service for days...

KT

Literally just days lol.

 

[nk215]

no but when i gave notice, i told them that a major reason i found a new job was because of what my manager said to me. the exit interview was with HR and some other higher ups, so i let them all know and they were all like 'yeah he shouldn't have done that'

i had been looking for a new job anyways but kind of slacking, but that was a huge kick in the ass to take it more serious. it was my first job out of school that i was at for 5+ years, which is probably 3+ years longer than it should have been looking back.

but i'm glad things have worked out to what they are now. i'm making nearly 3x as much as i started making when i first started working there and have learned A SHITLOAD more than i would have if i stayed there.

i still eat lunch with the guys i worked with there, and most of them are still there and they are still using the same old technology they were back then. those dudes probably aren't marketable at all and probably not making money close to what i'm making.

Well, when a mgr told you that you almost got let go, he was doing you a favor.

When you told the HR and the higher you about that, you were stabbing him in the back.

I would appreciate any warnings from my boss. The fact that the boss (or ppl above him) values me less than other co-workers does not bother me. I can't change his (or ppl above him) personal view but I sure appreciate the information.