Does anyone else feel like they're just waiting for the axe to fall?
Seems like team morale is at an all time low. Most people are just phoning it in at this point. Our business is doing great, but I guess that's not enough to maintain job security anymore. Feels like Q1 the execs are just waiting for annuals to come in to make their list, as there's been total radio silence since the holidays. I fully expect to be laid off in the next 2-3 months.
Yeah, I think that is a totally reasonable set of feelings to have. The recent wave of layoffs seems to be about something very different than P&L. I thought this McSweeney's piece portrayed it well: https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/macroeconomic-changes-ha...
> There’s no easy way to say this: I have made the difficult decision to lay off over six thousand of you. In the past two years, we have achieved huge wins together. But unfortunately, the macroeconomic environment has shifted in ways none of us could have foreseen, from an economy in which I did feel like paying you, to one in which I’d rather not.
Be prepared for a long haul, some of us without degrees are still looking a year later, despite having a decade of experience doing the role.
About the only offers I've gotten are a systems architect role starting at 50k, where they then come back on the second interview and say its 30k since I'm not qualified since I don't have a degree. Take it or leave it.
I have a decade of direct experience doing this work and have set up hundreds of clients with cloud or hybrid depending on regulatory requirements. 50k was low for that work, but now 30?
Bunch of scumbags out there.
Are you saying there's a time where you weren't constantly anticipating your entire life unraveling at a moment's notice?
Yeah, and it’s a bit closer for me. I was asked to resign after not returning to the office when asked. I refused, hoping to get severance or unemployment insurance. I’m a few weeks past the deadline and am just waiting for HR to make their move.
Having been through a few layoffs at companies, I think it's still helpful to remember that even when a company does lay-offs and while thousands of people are losing their jobs, the vast majority are not. News articles don't state "100K engineers at company XYZ not effected by lay-offs".
I don't want to downplay the stress that comes from working in an environment like this. And news articles showing how thousands are being laid off can be really stressful, especially as jobs are means for housing, immigration, feeding your family! While you should always be prepared for the worst, it's by no means a certainly that you will be impacted by lay-offs.
When I read that the OP fully expects to be laid off; I hope they're wrong, and statistically they are. I don't say this to take away from the real pain that comes from this uncertainty, but more to offer a ray of hope.
Well its the grass hopper and the ant isn't it?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ant_and_the_Grasshopper
If you've been the ant you'd have prepared for the winter. I guess in reality most of us fit somewhere in between the ant and the grasshopper. It'll teach us all a bit of prudence we'd do well to remember thereafter.
I definitely know the feeling, and would suggest controlling what you can:
- try to maximize savings starting right now
- cancel all subscriptions
- look for a roommate
- look up how to apply for unemployment
- look up how to apply for food stamps
- research local food banks
- cut all luxury spending
- research what loans you have that can forgiven via bankruptcy
The act of doing something proactive can feel very therapeutic, as opposed to waiting for a negative event that may or may not happen.
Yeah I'm feeling uneasy. Even if all the feedback at work is okay. And the company is in the black on top of that.
There's a general frantic nature to management lately. Every project starts behind schedule which in turn means there's constant needling to go faster. Lots of "we think this should have gotten done faster" from managers who don't have enough information to even have that opinion. They clearly have pressure from their boss to "up velocity."
So it feels like I could get laid off in the next few months - hoping the severance is solid. Not too worried but it's inherently unpleasant. I'm gonna make the most of the severance if need be.
I have in the past few weeks survived a round of layoffs, fully expect another round this year if things don't improve. What can I do? try to save a bit more money and keep looking for other jobs (but what if they go into layoffs as well? What industry/sector is "safe" these days?).
Yep, absolutely feel this way. Meanwhile they're asking for more and paying the same amount, and the market has dried up. Very hard to stay optimistic for the year.
I dropped out of a cushy job to start contracting, and since then the axe has always been there. I have 4 months left in my current contract, but with only verbal promises of extension, I have been networking for the past 8 months to make sure that I can get back up into a new contract with days to weeks.
I've been stressed about getting fired for a few years now. I'm slow. I was a high performer once, but they outsourced that job. I think I'll just feel this way for the rest of my career.
Be pro-active. Get out and look elsewhere before you're trying to out-compete all those others that will be laid off from the company at the same time as you.
I can't tell if it's rational in my case - my company also seems to be in good shape financially - but I am quite nervous.
Yes, although not for the reason you're describing. )
Yes, I just hope I'm not picked next..
yes, my company pretty much focused all their efforts on core products and i was brought in to work on "new" products. on one hand i don't want to quit but on the other hand, i have no meaningful work. Part of me wishes to get laid off so i can get severance.