Beating the Layoffs: I

Suppose you work in an organization that's circling the drain. It has been doing so for some time. You have little faith in the ability of Management to put things right. Some layoffs have already happened, and you're certain that there will be more layoffs. But even though you and everyone you know agrees with all this, you haven't started to look for another job. You haven't done a thing about that. Not a thing. Not one. What are you waiting for?

It's just barely possible that even if there is another round of layoffs — even when another round comes, you yourself won't be laid off. But because you do recognize that possibility as wishful thinking, you wonder: What can I do to get myself moving? Why am I just waiting for someone else to determine the next chapter of my career?

Maybe this post can help. Some people are best motivated by avoiding disadvantage; others by reaching for advantage. This post explores the disadvantages of being laid off. By implication it shows how an early voluntary exit — before the layoffs — avoids those troubles. Next week's post suggests four more ways an early voluntary exit provides actual advantages.

How exiting before layoffs avoids trouble

In this section, I'm assuming that you've hung in there, in the vain hope that layoffs might not come, or if they did, that your own position would somehow be spared. In the end, you weren't spared. Along with dozens or hundreds of others, you were given notice that today was your last day. Or next month would be your last month. Or some other deadline. In any case, this job has a definite end date.

What follows are some of the consequences of having made the choice to risk being laid off, and then having that risk materialize.

Self-esteem

Being laid off is often a ticket for a ride on an emotional roller coaster. Some people make a meaning of the layoff that threatens their sense of worthiness professionally. Some take it a step farther, interpreting their own layoff as a statement of their worthiness as human beings. In nearly all cases, these interpretations are incorrect.

To believe that being laid off is an indication of unworthiness, one must believe that the layoff selection process includes accurate assessments of worthiness of all employees. In other words we must attribute to failing organizations abilities, which, if present, could have prevented the organization from failing in the first place. In other words, if the organization could accurately assess employee worthiness, layoffs would have been unnecessary.

Indeed, layoffs are not statements about the worthiness of employees. They are instead a statement about the worthiness of the organization conducting the layoffs. And that statement is that something is wrong with the organization — very, very wrong. Once you're laid off, loss of self-esteem can be a serious disadvantage as you take steps to find a new position. Keep this in mind: Being laid off is not about you.

But how you deal with being laid off is another matter. How you deal with it is about you. Reflect on how your job contributed to your sense of self-esteem, and find ways to restore what has been lost. If you've lost contact with friends and colleagues, find ways to restore contact, or to build new relationships and a professional network. If your job provided structure to your day, replace that structure with one of your own. If your job provided mental challenges, find new challenges by regarding your job search as a job in itself.

One way to accomplish all this is to declare yourself to be a career consultant. Begin building your practice by becoming your first client and retaining yourself.

Financial anxiety

The suddenness and definitive nature of
the announcement of the ending of your
job can be startlingly disruptive,
both personally and professionally

The suddenness and definitive nature of the announcement of the ending of your job can be startlingly disruptive, both personally and professionally. The more tightly bonded you were to the hope of escaping the cuts, the more startling and disruptive is the actual event. The hope of escape likely led to more than a mere delay in the start of a search for employment. Perhaps you could have done more to build financial reserves, or worked harder to reduce your ongoing expenses. All these factors contribute to a sense of regret and anxiety.

Start reducing expenses now. The Internet is replete with advice. Example: "how to reduce expenses when laid off." Every step you take to reduce expenses relieves a little more anxiety, and that improves your affect when you enter discussions with prospective employers.

It also limits the feelings of desperation that can be so intense that some people accept the first offer of employment they receive, even if the organization they join is no better than the one they just left; even if the position is a step down; even if the compensation is inadequate. Make no sudden moves. Manage the anxiety first.

Future employment

How you see and value yourself is fundamental to a successful effort to find a new position. You can control how you see yourself, but you can merely influence how prospective employers see you. For example, are you among the hordes of people like yourself searching for new positions? Being one of the crowd is one of the disadvantages of waiting to be laid off. Another example: By waiting to be laid off, you become vulnerable to being tagged as someone who was among those less worth keeping than others.

Most important, if you wait to be laid off, you're unemployed or soon to be so. Prospective employers wonder whether your skills are current, whether you're difficult to work with, or worse, difficult to manage. These questions arise less often and less urgently when the candidate is still employed.

Having a current position addresses these issues, even if it's a volunteer position. Or even if it's your own consulting practice.

Last words

To limit the disadvantages of having been laid off, manage three sets of perceptions. First, manage your own perceptions of your own value as a person and as a professional. Second, manage your own perceptions of your financial situation. Third and finally, work to influence your prospective employer's perceptions of your value as an employee.   First issue in this series    Next issue in this series   Top    Next Issue

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More about layoffs

Doorknob Disclosures and Bye-Bye Bombshells  [July 10, 2002]

A doorknob disclosure is an uncomfortable, painful, or embarrassing revelation offered at the end of a meeting or conversation, usually by someone who's about to exit. When we learn about bad news in this way, we can feel frustrated and trapped. How can we respond effectively?

Double Your Downsizing Damage  [July 17, 2002]

Some people believe that senior management is actually trying to hurt their company by downsizing. If they are they're doing a pretty bad job of it. Here's a handy checklist for evaluating the performance of your company's downsizers.

What's So Good About Being Laid Off?  [December 25, 2002]

Layoffs during the holiday period of November 15 through January 15 are far more common than you might think. Losing your job, or fearing that you might, is always difficult, but at this time of year it's especially helpful to keep in mind that the experience does have a bright side.

Beyond WIIFM  [August 13, 2003]

Probably the most widely used tactic of persuasion, "What's In It For Me," or WIIFM, can be toxic to an organization. There's a much healthier approach that provides a competitive advantage to organizations that use it.

Encourage Truth Telling  [November 19, 2003]

Getting to the truth can be a difficult task for managers. People sometimes withhold, spin, or slant reports, especially when the implications are uncomfortable or threatening. A culture that supports truth telling can be an organization's most valuable asset.

Those Across-the-Board Cuts That Aren't  [July 14, 2004]

One widespread feature of organizational life is the announcement of across-the-board cuts. Although they're announced, they're rarely "across-the-board." What's behind this pattern? How can we change it to a more effective, truthful pattern?

Organizational Loss: Searching Behavior  [April 16, 2008]

When organizations suffer painful losses, their responses can sometimes be destructive, further harming the organization and its people. Here are some typical patterns of destructive responses to organizational loss.

How to Avoid a Layoff: The Inside Stuff  [January 28, 2009]

These are troubled economic times. Layoffs are becoming increasingly common. Here are some tips for changing your frame of mind to help reduce the chances that you will be laid off.

How to Avoid a Layoff: Your Relationships  [February 4, 2009]

In troubled economic times, layoffs loom almost everywhere. Here are some tips for reconfiguring your relationships with others at work and at home to reduce the chances that you will be laid off.

How to Avoid a Layoff: Your Situation  [February 11, 2009]

These are troubled economic times. Layoffs are becoming increasingly common. Here are some tips for positioning yourself in the organization to reduce the chances that you will be laid off.

Four Popular Ways to Mismanage Layoffs: I  [February 18, 2009]

When layoffs are necessary, the problems they are meant to address are sometimes exacerbated by mismanagement of the layoff itself. Here is Part I of a discussion of four common patterns of mismanagement, and some suggestions for those managers and other employees who recognize the patterns in their own companies.

Four Popular Ways to Mismanage Layoffs: II  [February 25, 2009]

Staff reduction is needed when expenses overtake revenue. But when layoffs are misused, or used too late, they can harm the organization more than they help. Here's Part II of an exploration of four common patterns of mismanagement, and some suggestions for those managers and other employees who recognize the patterns in their own companies.

Coping with Layoff Survival  [March 25, 2009]

Your company has just done another round of layoffs, and you survived yet again. This time was the most difficult, because your best pal was laid off, and you're even more fearful for your own job security. How can you cope with survival?

Teamwork Myths: Conflict  [June 17, 2009]

For many teams, conflict is uncomfortable or threatening. It's so unpleasant so often that many believe that all conflict is bad — that it must be avoided, stifled, or at least managed. This is a myth. Conflict, in its constructive forms, is essential to high performance.

Teamwork Myths: I vs. We  [July 1, 2009]

In high performance teams, cooperative behavior is a given. But in the experience of many, truly cooperative behavior is so rare that they believe that something fundamental is at work — that cooperative behavior requires surrendering the self, which most people are unwilling to do. It's another teamwork myth.

Hyper-Super-Overwork  [August 5, 2009]

The prevalence of overwork has increased with the depth of the global recession, in part because employers are demanding more, and in part because many must now work longer hours to make ends a little closer to meeting. Overwork is dangerous. Here are some suggestions for dealing with it.

What Is Workplace Bullying?  [March 3, 2010]

We're gradually becoming aware that workplace bullying is a significant deviant pattern in workplace relationships. To deal effectively with it, we must know how to recognize it. Here's a start.

Sixteen Overload Haiku  [October 27, 2010]

Most of us have some experience of being overloaded and overworked. Many of us have forgotten what it is not to be overloaded. Here's a contemplation of the state of overload.

Self-Serving Bias in Organizations  [July 20, 2011]

We all want to believe that we can rely on the good judgment of decision makers when they make decisions that affect organizational performance. But they're human, and they are therefore subject to a cognitive bias known as ``Em''self-serving bias``/Em''. Here's a look at what can happen.

Pariah Professions: I  [June 5, 2013]

In some organizations entire professions are held in low regard. Their members become pariahs to some people in the rest of the organization. When these conditions prevail, organizational performance suffers.

Changing Blaming Cultures  [March 5, 2014]

Culture change in organizations is always challenging, but changing a blaming culture presents special difficulties. Here are three reasons why.

Constancy Assumptions  [July 16, 2014]

We necessarily make assumptions about our lives, including our work, because assumptions simplify things. And usually, our assumptions are valid. But not always.

Rationalizing Creativity at Work: II  [November 5, 2014]

Creative thinking at work can be nurtured or encouraged, but not forced or compelled. Leaders who try to compel creativity because of very real financial and schedule pressures rarely get the results they seek. Here are examples of tactics people use in mostly-futile attempts to compel creativity.

Why We Don't Care Anymore  [April 8, 2015]

As a consultant and coach I hear about what people hate about their jobs. Here's some of it. It might help you appreciate your job.

Managing Wishful Thinking Risk  [October 21, 2015]

When things go wrong, and we look back at how we got there, we must sometimes admit to wishful thinking. Here's a framework for managing the risk of wishful thinking.

Wishful Significance: I  [December 16, 2015]

When things don't work out, and we investigate why, we sometimes attribute our misfortune to "wishful thinking." In this part of our exploration of wishful thinking we examine how we arrive at mistaken assessments of the significance of what we see, hear, or learn.

Nine Brainstorming Demotivators: I  [January 31, 2018]

The quality of the output of brainstorming sessions is notoriously variable. One source of variation is the enthusiasm of contributors. Here's Part I of a set of nine phenomena that can limit contributions to brainstorm sessions.

Conway's Law and Technical Debt  [January 30, 2019]

Conway's Law is an observation that the structures of systems we design tend to replicate our communication patterns. This tendency might also contribute to their tendency to accumulate what we now call technical debt.

Layoff Warning Signs: I  [August 21, 2024]

One of the better career moves you can make is leaving your current position before your employer conducts layoffs. When you choose the time, you aren't under pressure and you make better decisions. Here are eight warning signs of coming layoffs.

Layoff Warning Signs: II  [August 28, 2024]

Layoffs often signal their arrival well in advance, if you know what to watch for. Some of the indicators are subtle and easily confused with normal operations. Here are three more indicators that layoffs might be secretly underway.

Beating the Layoffs: I  [September 4, 2024]

If you work in an organization likely to conduct layoffs soon, keep in mind that exiting voluntarily before the layoffs can carry significant advantages. Here are some that relate to self-esteem, financial anxiety, and future employment.

Beating the Layoffs: II  [November 20, 2024]

If you work in an organization likely to conduct layoffs soon, keep in mind that exiting voluntarily can carry advantages. Here are some advantages that relate to collegial relationships, future interviews, health, and severance packages.

Mitigating the Trauma of Being Laid Off  [April 2, 2025]

Trauma is an emotional response to horrible events — accidents, crimes, disasters, physical abuse, emotional abuse, gross injustices — and layoffs. Layoff trauma is real. Employers know how to execute layoffs with compassion, but some act out of cruelty. Know how to defend yourself.

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