Eeeeek - Several people in my department just got axed

Ugh.....

The mood is depressing, everyone is quiet like someone died. Didn't get much info, but there will be no back fills for their positions.

Our Co. lost some revenues in 2016 and I think this might be the reason for this.

Have you gone through this, what were you thoughts? The moral is really low, at least that's how it "feels".

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DatabaseHead

jeremywatts2005 wrote: »

If your bossess boss is saying to document all projects and send it to him then your boss is likely toast. Also the bossess boss is wondering what the hell the team your boss has been doing all this time. He wants to see what your productivity is and what is going on. This is why when I was a lead we document everything and I mean everything that goes on. Even as a manager you should have project codes and your team should bill time against them regularly to show work and effort are going on. It doesn't hurt either for the boss to give a presentation to the C's about how great the team is and the value they are providing the company and the services you bring. Part of being a manager is selling your team and what it does. Doesn't sound like you manager was doing that at all. Especially since his boss wants to see work.

They did get axed already. They reached out to me and let me know they were interviewing with a competitor. I wished them luck and stop texting, it was really uncomfortable.

TLeTourneau

It's a rough situation. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst and keep your head on a swivel as it were.

Hammer80

DatabaseHead wrote: »

They did get axed already. They reached out to me and let me know they were interviewing with a competitor. I wished them luck and stop texting, it was really uncomfortable.

I don't think telling your old managers to stop texting you was a good idea, especially since they reached out to you. Obviously they believed that you were worthwhile enough employee worth reaching out to considering the situation.

1. You're burning a bridge
2. Those folks can still be used as reference
3. A lot of managers who move to other companies like the people they worked with previously and offer them better jobs with higher pay to jump ship and join them
4. These people if hired by a competitor can throw you a life jacket since majority of people barely have $500 in the bank let alone 6 months of living expenses saved

Clm

That happened to me. Someone from the board came in and fired the CEO,CTO,CMO half of the sales team and some Directors and some analyst. I started feeling out applications and found a new job

DatabaseHead

No no I didn't tell them to stop, I just slowed my texting down. Sorry I miss communicated.

I like my old boss a lot. I wouldn't do that, but it did feel uncomfortable, trust me no bridge is burnt. They want to go out and get drinks lol

stlsmoore

If you did't have an emergency fund already sock away at least 4-6 months worth. If nothing else it should help ease the nerves of being let go knowing that you have a bit of a cushion to land on.

volfkhat

DatabaseHead wrote: »

Just recently I had the chance to take a 2 year contract for ~ 100, but the wife wasn't back at work yet, just had a child. Now that she is back at work full time (nurse) I am down for any contract work that is projected at 1 year or longer. I would even consider a 6 month contract if it paid REALLY good hourly relatively speaking.

There was a point in time where we thought she was going to remain at home longer so the stability of a corporate job was a huge requirement, but now since we decided she head back (weekend nights) option and makes just as much as me with excellent benefits (nursing union) I am going to get a lot more aggressive with my work efforts

Amigo,
is the universe trying to tell you something?
:]

DatabaseHead

Volf I think it maybe!

jelevated

Sucks man, hope you get to stay around for as long as you want.

It's funny my and I'm sure some of your coworkers look at us side ways when we work nights and weekends to pickup degree certifications or classes but I just smile. It may not make much of a difference at your current place of employment but when you hit the job market with the trifecta (relevant exp, edu and certs) you have to fight off the job offers.

thomas_

If I heard the words "document your projects and send them to me" in that scenario I would start preparing to be let go. I would still do the job and wouldn't hold anything back, but I'm not going to kill myself either. I would just put in my 40 hours, go home, and look for jobs.

I've heard of cases where people stick around and do get promoted, but I've also heard of cases where people get shafted right after they are told that they won't be let go.

Priston

The company I work for has layoffs at least once a year. Sometimes it's company wide, sometimes it's whole departments, other times its budget getting reduced. My department has been hit at least 6 times over the last 5 years.

Keep your resume updated and always be ready to start looking for a new job or always look for a new job

Cardboard

In today's job market, never believe a word of what anyone promises you about a job. If it's not in writing, it never happened. Temp, contractor, full time, etc., it doesn't matter. If the wrong person thinks getting rid of you will make their numbers look better, you're gone.

I've been in a desktop support job where it was me and one other support tech. I was clearly the better tech. But he was cigarette-smoking buddies with our manager. So when the time came to cut our department back, the manager made the wrong choice and got rid of me. I am still annoyed about that.

As far as documenting your work goes, give them a decent report, but when it comes to documenting proceedures, always leave a few things out that will be difficult for them to find on their own. Rename a file folder, store your programs in a different location, etc.

If they are going to outsource your job, make it difficult. Make them regret screwing you over. Get their blood pressure up one last time on your way out the door.

And from Day 1 at any job, be planning your exit strategy. Always put yourself and your money first, because no one else will. Will some files be moved or deleted? Will some passwords be changed and no one else knows? Will some of the more expensive pieces of networking gear or laptops end up on ebay? All things to consider.

And for anything a boss says about things like "We believe you have the bandwidth", or "Good things for you in 2-3 years"? BS. Complete BS. They are just trying to suck as much work out of you as possible for the same price. Don't be afraid to get paid what you're worth, in one way or another.

Look out for Number One.

I'd like to be an optimist, but life has taught me to be a pessimist. And cynical, and a few other things.......

EANx

Management in disarray can be beneficial in this case. It means they don't necessarily have a plan to lay more people off and may simply want to get a handle on what's going on. It also means they might be short-tempered and stressed. Keeping your head down and keeping your new boss informed of what you're doing, how long it takes and what the benefit to the company is, is important. Not in a needy way but more of a matter-of-fact, activity report way.

Have you seen anyone who didn't belong? Any auditors or new accountants or HR people? Those tend to be my signals to get out of Dodge.

bigdogz

DatabaseHead,

Go out with your old boss and other co-workers and keep in touch with them. It may feel a bit uncomfortable with those fellow ex co-workers but it really does help you cope. Also, it will keep you in the front of their mind if/when they are looking for someone at a later date. In the meantime I would take the 2 year contract and jump ship.

paul78

DatabaseHead wrote: »

Fortune 500 here Paul

Thanks for the write up makes a lot of sense. Deep breath

All is well.

Glad to help. Since you are at a Fortune 500 company which are US public corporations - all the financials are public - so at the corporate level you will have a transparent view of the health of the company. But that said - many Fortune 500 and S&P 500 companies are diversified and are organized into line-of-business divisions with separate P&L's. Are you part of a corporate tech group or a line-of-business group? Depending on the corporate organizational culture - if RIFs are a regular occurrence - it could just be that your department is part of this cycle. As @Priston and @bigdogz noted - regular RIFs are part of some companies. I too have worked for several large corporations where regular RIFs took place. At a previous employer - the line-of-business did it every year. The size of the RIF would largely depend on the forecasts and if there there were any redundant roles. But that said - because of the performance management culture - employees really kinda knew where they stood and if they were likely to be impacted by a RIF. Hopefully - you know where you stand with your management - but having some options as others mentioned never hurt.

I made an earlier comment that I found that asking for project documentation was odd. The reason why I mentioned is two-fold. Management typically needs to understand the risk if staff begin to exit. But what is odd is that management don't already know what is in the project portfolio and the resource allocation. That's not typically something you try to figure out after a RIF. It's usually what you try to figure out before the RIF.

@jamesleecoleman - closing an entire facility is tough. I have never been involved in that scenario on either side. But I hope that it was at least done in person and in small groups - it is so disrespectful and distasteful if the was done remotely. Glad you and your partner made lemonade out of those lemons.

tmtex

As others have said, do not trust anyone. Sometimes your manager may not know until the day of (Lay off). My situation was the company was acquired by another so I was a duplicate Service Desk Mgr of the company that was bought. I knew what would happen but was promised up/down and all around your safe. Even promised under the influence of alcohol (Going out drinking with the acquiring team numerous times).
Anyway the company lost some account they laid off many high salary peeps which I was apart of.

Kinet1c

Going through this very thing right now, I will find out my faith in a few hours. Horrible thing to go through.

kiki162

@DatabaseHead Sorry if it's got you freaked out. Wasn't my intention. In situations like that, you can never be too careful. You always want to position yourself in a way so that if you did have to leave because of an increased work load, then you can move quickly w/o feeling like your drowning.

Personally I had a position like that many years ago, when I got hired on, ppl were getting canned and the company was hiring foreign workers. I started getting a crap load of stuff piled on me, and was asked to do things that I barely had a clue on. Eventually, I had to quit because it was too much, even after I said this to my boss at the time. I found out later on that all of the ppl in my department had left or gotten laid off, and the jobs were outsourced.

I'm not sure what exactly your doing job wise now, but feel free to PM me and we can talk more offline on job stuff.

TechGromit

PCTechLinc wrote: »

First was due to "not enough work for two admins," so my coworker got to stay. He had 4 years with the company prior to me, so he had seniority. They realized 9 months after I was gone that there was "too much work for one person," so they hired someone else (who is still there with him).

I think this happens fairly often, management sees two people that have nothing to do for 2 or 3 hours every day, then they get rid of one guy and the other guy can't handle 12 hours worth of work a day. So they either hire someone else or he quits.

DatabaseHead

Thanks again all, I feel better today.

Last night polished off the resume, actually rewrote it. That alone made me feel better.
Hung out with the wife and kids relaxed, extremely helpful.
Redid my linkedin to match my resume for the most part.
Put in for two positions that might be a good fit

Pretty much checked out for the rest of the evening.

EANx - No auditors or accountants roaming around. I tend to think I was overacting a little (understandable). I'm going to continue to grind and work hard.

Thanks again Paul great information

Kinetic - Sorry to hear about that, I understand....

Kiki - Thanks for the outreach appreciate it.

volfkhat

Not to make light of the situation,
But i view layoffs the same way i view forest fires (err, at least the Naturally-occurring ones).

Lot of initial carnage... but always followed by a rebirth.
It's a Cycle, you know?

There are a lot of Trees in the Forest... and a lot of Jobs in the Field.

Don't get attached to any particular spot.
Continue to push and grow your skillset, so that you can hop around like this guy

max.jpg

DatabaseHead

Volf - Good stuff!

Mike7

You may want to enable "Open Candidates" in LinkedIn to signal recruiters.

See https://blog.linkedin.com/2016/10/06/now-you-can-privately-signal-to-recruiters-youre-open-to-new-job

chrisone

I would keep my eyes open for opportunities.

1. Look for opportunities within the place your are at now.
2. Look for opportunities with better companies.

I live in California and man there are so many job openings its ridiculous. Hopefully the same is where you live, I feel the market is expanding everywhere. After layoffs, like you experienced, I would keep my eyes open for job opportunities.

MeanDrunkR2D2

Reading between the lines. Prepare your resume as they aren't done and they will expect you to do more with no additional compensation. Also, the 2-3 year wait makes it sound like you likely won't get a raise in that time frame either. The best time to find a new job is when you already have a job, so I'd freshen it all up and get to looking. The document everything you do almost makes it sound like you are next on the list.

Seriously, things are going to get worse and from what you said here, I would say you aren't long for that company.

soccarplayer29

Just to provide a differing thought...when I read that they want you to document all projects my initial thought was that the reason for doing so is to justify to management the need to keep you (and the department) onboard and to make sure they don't cut too deep and maybe eventually lead to expanding headcount again (long way away).

Remedymp

Use up your vacation days and PTO as well.

NOC-Ninja

I feel your pain. This reminds me when I got laid off. I told myself to never ever be the low hanging fruit. This is the main reason why I have my certs.

Definitely update your resume. I would advice to get more certs.

Dont believe that BS to stay 2-3 years. Always look out for yourself.
Documentation means you are VERY replaceable.

JoJoCal19

I worked for Bank of America until 2014, by way of Merrill Lynch. I know all about layoffs and RIFs. It's been well said by others so not much to add. Just polish up the resume, update and activate Linked In and Indeed, and start looking. As has been said, it's easier to find employment when you are employed.

paul78

JoJoCal19 wrote: »

I worked for Bank of America until 2014, by way of Merrill Lynch. I know all about layoffs and RIFs.

While I've never worked there - I've heard some anecdotal stories about the RIF practices at BofA. And it seems incredible callous and lacks any dignity and empathy. Hope your experience wasn't as bad as the stories that I've heard.