Laid off? Downsized? What did you learn?

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H

Hanr3

#44
New to this thread and to be honest I haven't read all 6 pages of it. I did read the opening post and several after it.

I too have been laid off numerous times, in most cases you could see it coming. There are signs; business gets slow and stays slow even during the busiest part of the season. Overtime is restricted, raises disaper, reviews get tougher, some of the senior managers find other jobs, management changes plans, promotions are put on hold, key employees aren't replaced, positions go unfilled, job duties get merged. All signs money is getting tight and management is making adjustments. Then come the lay offs, down sizing, reorganization, call it what you will, people are going to lose thier job.

Once I see the signs I update my resume, and start to make other plans, prep the wife, start looking for a new job, put feelers out, contact people I know in other companies, stock up some emergency cash, make sure the vehicles are maintained, etc.
 

Jen Kirley

Quality and Auditing Expert
Staff member
Admin
#45
When my SCI-Sanmina employer's Augusta, Maine plant closed about a decade ago, I was thrown into years of searching, trial and interesting outcomes.

As painful as it was, that period - that odyssey - has benefitted me in some unexpected ways.
  • My Stealth Quality series in the Reading Room, including all those Excel tools, are direct outcomes of my developing a brand and tool box for consulting.
  • The degree in Applied Technical Education that I earned during this period and the years I spent working with Special Education students gave me critical insights that I continue to pursue years after my Indstrial Arts teaching certificate expired. Some of that has gone into my Stealth Quality series (When Employees Don't Follow Procedures) but may send me finally out of corporate manufacturing and into the nonprofit sector. Check out the attached slide show of an NPO I dreamed up. (This weekend I will see about recording it and saving it as a slide show)
So while I got really tired of that roller coaster ride, that period was one of quantum growth. Consider it growing pains, like my son dealt with as a teen.
 

Attachments

vonsigler

Knowledge is Power
#46
I was recently re-employed as a Quality Manager. I spent a year and a half on un-employment searching daily for a new position and it was extremely difficult. My old employer let myself (Quality Manager) the Purchasing Manager and the Engineering Manager go on the same day at the same meeting. It all looked gloomy when the owner hired a consultant to "turn the company around" the company up to the time the consultant was hired was run efficently and as a complete team. Once the General Manager quit and the consultant replaced him with himself and elevated the GM title to CFO/COO things started down hill. Team work disappeared and was repalced with little cells of workers who either ingratiated themselves with the new boss or did not want to do that due to loyalty to the former boss who had spent 8 years building the customer base. Customers started dropping off and the owner was forced to pump large sums of money that had been siphoned off back into the company to keep it alive. Key people were not replaced. The building became run down and negelected. we all say how the consultant had "turned our company around". The sad thing was the lives this bad decision had affected in a very serious way. The company closed 6 months after I was let go it was very sad. You cannot control what you are not personally responsible for and myself and the other managers let go that day were some of the hard workers who would put on 50+ hours a week. Go figure:bonk:
 

Wes Bucey

Quite Involved in Discussions
#47
In a way, I'm sorry to see this thread resurrected - it means that layoffs continue to be a pressing concern for our Cove readers.

If I haven't made one thing absolutely clear, I repeat it:
"Look out for number one! Your primary loyalty should be to yourself and family, not the "company," not the boss, not even your coworker."

Earlier in this thread, I outlined the warning signs. Print them out and refer to them as often as possible until they become permanently imprinted on your consciousness. This is not a one-time thing - looking at your employment situation through this "filter" should be continual activity because each day brings new events and information which can affect your conclusions about your status.
<SNIP>
I can give general warning signs everyone should have on his watch list which should trigger some intense alertness and new job hunt activity:

In general, there are two categories of warning signs:

  1. public or semi-public information about the company
    (public being in the press or rumored among customers and suppliers,
    semi-public being general knowledge among employees, but not generally known to outsiders.)
  2. private info only YOU know (besides some bosses)
PUBLIC or semi-public (these do NOT have to be a result of a general economic recession)

  1. weak earnings or even loss, resulting in big drop in stock value for publicly traded companies (like it or not, most company big wigs respond by cutting labor costs)
  2. rumors of, or actual implementation of, outsourcing of processes, regardless whether to domestic or off-shore locations
  3. acquisition or merger talks or rumors (BOTH companies usually shed "superfluous" employees)
  4. suppliers start complaining they are being stretched out on payments, bosses suddenly drop long-time suppliers without explanation, bosses look for every excuse to delay payment to suppliers
  5. customers are returning goods (more than usual), complaining of shoddy quality, short counts
  6. your organization's entire industry is suffering or has become obsolete (cathode ray tubes for TVs and monitors in a Liquid Crystal Diode world)
  7. company is having public negotiations with states or towns to relocate for tax incentives

PRIVATE

  1. You, personally, find yourself "out of the loop" when bosses and coworkers stop talking to you about the business of the organization; you are no longer included in meetings; when you do attend meetings, no one asks for your input and any input you offer is ignored
  2. you have a new boss who is "too busy" to meet and talk to you on a one-to-one basis
  3. Your workload and new projects suddenly get lighter, without explanation; asking for new projects gets stonewalled
  4. your boss is suddenly scarce around the job, always involved in secret, closed-door meetings with his bosses or peers
  5. you get a job transfer to an undesirable job, perhaps even a demotion, and the new job is a dead end, out of the possible promotion conveyor belt
  6. if you are a supervisor, the pool of your reports is downsized without your input
  7. you find yourself on the receiving end of disciplinary reports [and penalties] when it seems to you that you haven't changed at all (they seem like "nitpicking.")
  8. If you used to regularly travel to see customers and suppliers, suddenly, you are removed from that and any communication with customers and suppliers is forced to "go through channels"
  9. You are asked to take a pay cut (pay cuts are really the kiss of death) - by suggesting it, the bosses are telling you you are less valuable to the company; by accepting it, you are admitting you are less valuable. Instead, offer to reduce hours, but at the same pay (a four day week instead of five, not fewer hours per day) - your logic should be: "If there's less work, I still have the same value for the work I do, why hang around if I can do the job in four days instead of five? We can add back the day when we get more work." JUST BE SURE TO KEEP ANY BENEFITS! If you have to work "X" hours per week to qualify, make sure you get those in.
  10. If you notice things not generally observed by coworkers (a copy left in the copy machine of a proposal for a security firm to supply guards may be a hint there will be a mass layoff with guards present to maintain order and escort laid off folks off the premises.) An order for TSA-type metal detectors may or may not be accompanied by some blather about "increased security" for employees, but the real reason is often advance thinking of security for the bosses from some deranged ex-employee pushed over the edge by a layoff.
There may be other red flags - if you think of any, be sure to tell us about them!

ACTION TO TAKE

In a good economy or bad, these warning signs are telling you to get your act together and start preparing for the inevitable. With luck, you can get out BEFORE the ax falls. Even without luck, you may be prepared and can avoid the "post partum depression" which can paralyze your job hunt. Our job hunt threads
Thinking about a New Job for New Year?
http://elsmar.com/Forums/showthread.php?t=19619
Resume and cover letter - How good are yours?
http://elsmar.com/Forums/showthread.php?t=10169
The Job Hunt - Care and feeding of references
http://elsmar.com/Forums/showthread.php?t=19094
Tips to get past the "gatekeeper" when job hunting
http://elsmar.com/Forums/showthread.php?t=9325
are a good place to start, but don't rely on them exclusively. As always, I recommend "What Color is Your Parachute?" (http://www.jobhuntersbible.com/) as a fair source of information.
 

Helmut Jilling

Auditor / Consultant
#48
I was recently re-employed as a Quality Manager. I spent a year and a half on un-employment searching daily for a new position and it was extremely difficult. My old employer let myself (Quality Manager) the Purchasing Manager and the Engineering Manager go on the same day at the same meeting. It all looked gloomy when the owner hired a consultant to "turn the company around" the company up to the time the consultant was hired was run efficently and as a complete team. Once the General Manager quit and the consultant replaced him with himself and elevated the GM title to CFO/COO things started down hill. Team work disappeared and was repalced with little cells of workers who either ingratiated themselves with the new boss or did not want to do that due to loyalty to the former boss who had spent 8 years building the customer base. Customers started dropping off and the owner was forced to pump large sums of money that had been siphoned off back into the company to keep it alive. Key people were not replaced. The building became run down and negelected. we all say how the consultant had "turned our company around". The sad thing was the lives this bad decision had affected in a very serious way. The company closed 6 months after I was let go it was very sad. You cannot control what you are not personally responsible for and myself and the other managers let go that day were some of the hard workers who would put on 50+ hours a week. Go figure:bonk:
It is an unfortunate story, one that repeats all too frequently. I don't think the issue was that the consultant

"...cannot control what you are not personally responsible for..."

The issue may have been more the skills of that particular consultant or some other behind the scenes situations. I have often said there are 3 kinds of companies:

Companies that make things happen,
Companies that watch things happen,
Companies that wake up and ask what happened.

A lot of companies that were not in the first group manage for years, but during this downturn, finally got caught up in the economic fiasco. Unfortunately, good companies sometimes get snagged too.

It is quite possible that those of you in the company were doing your best, but it is also quite possible that the owner level of the company was not always making things happen.

If he had, he might have been more open about the plan to bring in a turnaround consultant, rather than springing it on you.

Happy to hear you have landed a new position, and we all wish you good success there.
 

hogheavenfarm

Quite Involved in Discussions
#49
Having been in two previous companies that shut down, I have adopted a different strategy at my current one - I am actively looking for another job all the time. Resume is updated monthly, email searches are all on, everything is full tilt looking for another job. This has been going on for over two years now. It is much more difficult in these times, I have only had two companies call me in, but its nonstop all the time. I dont bother looking for signs now, or 'dusting off resumes' - its become a part time job that goes with my current one.
 

Wes Bucey

Quite Involved in Discussions
#50
Having been in two previous companies that shut down, I have adopted a different strategy at my current one - I am actively looking for another job all the time. Resume is updated monthly, email searches are all on, everything is full tilt looking for another job. This has been going on for over two years now. It is much more difficult in these times, I have only had two companies call me in, but its nonstop all the time. I dont bother looking for signs now, or 'dusting off resumes' - its become a part time job that goes with my current one.
That's an interesting outlook. Have you noticed any of the warning signs I listed? If so, perhaps you ought to consider stepping up the intensity of your "part time job" to make your move proactively rather than re-actively.

If this part time job continues despite the lack of any warning signs, perhaps you can help us understand the value added of spending time on a job search with a different employer rather than deploying the energy and effort into improving your status at the present job.

The only reason that pops into my head is that you realize you are under-employed at a dead end position, taking the job as a stopgap until you find a job that can make best use of your talent, skill, and experience.

Do you feel the need to hide your job hunt activity from your current employer lest he fire you for "disloyalty?" If so, what kind of precautions do you take?
 
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