Layoff, Your Opportunity

Wonderful! I’m so excited—my pink slip just came. Now I have all the time I want to do whatever I want. Oh boy, I’ve been laid off!
Unfortunately, for most employees that’s not how it goes. In today’s world of multiple wage earners in the home, loss of a job is often a catastrophe. A layoff is more likely today than it has ever been. Years ago an infrequent mass layoff of workers might occur when a business went bankrupt, and there have always been seasonal temporary layoffs. I once worked for a company where there was a lot of overtime early in each year to prepare for Christmas sales. Then, come October or November, many employees were out of work until after the New Year. It seemed these workers became used to this schedule and actually welcomed the time off during the Holiday Season.
Now unexpected terminal layoffs have become a normal business practice. In addition to the old bankruptcy and seasonal issues, you now have worker reduction to improve operating income, as a result of downsizing, or outsourcing work to other companies. This attitude used to be a move of last resort for CEOs, something they really disliked because there was some loyalty to their workers. With increasing pressure from stockholders for bottom line results and faced with all these other new issues, terminating workers is now considered by most top managers as something you just do. Regardless of what companies say about valuing their employees, there is no more loyalty to them. Job security is no more for those who work for any company, large or small.
To get an idea about what is going on in your workplace read these reviews of three, eye-opening books about working for others:

1. Uchitelle, Louis. The Disposable American: Layoffs and Their Consequences, Vintage.
   
   
2. LeRoy, Greg. The Great American Jobs Scam. Berrett-Koehler.
   
   
3. Bogle, John C. The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism, Yale University Press.

Among the ideas in these books is that top managers now mostly look at themselves as successful leaders who deal with the situation as it actually is at any time. This means they are no longer averse to layoffs at any time to improve financial position. In the past, managers often tried to avoid anything as drastic as a layoff in hopes things might change in the near future. Now they see things as bad now and disregard what may or may not happen down the road. This is a major cause of increasing job insecurity.
Another consequence is that a layoff for most people is a tremendous blow to a person’s ego and lowers self-worth. A layoff cuts them loose from their foundations, and often they never completely regain a satisfactory new sense of themselves. The elaborate ideas of recent years about “lifetime learning” are mostly developed to soothe anger and frustration of workers subject to layoffs. Whatever skills are learned are usually not needed with local job openings.
Our materialistic view of the world where we all want the best for ourselves and our families—and we want it right now—has made all employees who work for others something close to a slave of former days. Two articles in the April, 2004, issue of Fast Company Magazine discuss the personal tragedies of a group of employees caught in the outsourcing flood which was big news at that time and is still a factor in layoffs.
If you read “Into Thin Air” and “Look Into Their Eyes” in this issue of the magazine you will see the devastation brought to 40 people. Nine of them were still unemployed after a year. When you lose your job, you may lose your home, your health insurance, and your ability to feed yourself and your family.
Dependence on your employer gets worse as you begin to near retirement.
A Merrill Lynch survey released in May, 2004, shows why people enslave themselves to employers for life. 54% of those surveyed say they intend to continue working at some level after age 65 purely for financial reasons. In addition, what happens if they are forced to retire because of some disabling disease? What about the ever-increasing cost of health care as we grow older? The survey showed average accumulated savings is $51,000! That’s not much if you live into your 80s or 90s as you are expected to do. This is why most are terror stricken when that pink slip comes.
What can you do to survive losing your job? Here are some ideas about defensive actions you can take. CNN Money says to be aware of what is happening around you. This is kind of like the Homeland Security admonition to be aware of your surroundings. Some handwriting on the wall clues would be expense reduction programs, a freeze on hiring, reducing travel, resignations of managers in your company, and seeing your competitors doing the same things. Any of these could be an indication of bad things to come. When you detect any of these actions, you should immediately begin looking for another place to work (you should always be doing this from your first moment at a new job). In addition, begin to gather everything you know about all your contacts and your network of friends and business associates. When you get the bad news, be sure not to burn any bridges behind you; everyone could be a link to a new job!
After your job is over, you will be faced with psychological problems as well as financial difficulty. This many be overwhelming, but there are things you can do to get going again. For some ideas go here and here. A quite different view of a layoff is to consider it as a sabbatical! The dictionary defines a sabbatical as “any extended period of leave from one's customary work, esp[ecially] for rest, to acquire new skills or training, etc.” This is exactly what you need to do: step back and review your personal skills and abilities, then think about ways you can use what you have to move forward with your life. You don’t have to take a trip. With no job, you can just as well do that at home. The important thing is to develop goals for your sabbatical, and always keep your hopes alive. It may seem like the end of the world, but eventually things will work for you.
Keep faith in yourself; we all have a tremendous ability to survive, and everyone can emerge against great odds to ultimately be successful. People who emerge from extreme adversity, like a layoff, have the ability to rebound, they have enough strength to withstand adverse conditions, and they have the wisdom to learn from mistakes. These people will persevere, focus on their new life, and quickly move on to better things.
Rather than concentrating only on working for another company, and risk a layoff again in the future, you should also consider the opportunity to become self-employed. See if having your own business will be good for you, meaning you must research all the risks and benefits, good and bad. Then decide what you want your life to be? If you want regular hours with no weekends, you may decide you are not cut out to be an entrepreneur. Should you decide to start your own business, try to get into an industry you know something about or at least one that is of interest to you—it is imperative for you to be passionate about what you do. While doing your research, you need to remain objective; this could be hard after a layoff. Talk to others outside your immediate family; use local resources like a community college and knowledgeable friends. They will help you avoid mistakes from being too close to your situation.
Here is the story of a company, Placer Dome Mining Company, that took a unique approach when forced to terminate employment for 2,500 employees at its South African mine. They put a lot of effort into finding all these former employees who dispersed to their homes all over South Africa. They wanted to find these people and bring them into a program designed to place 70% of them back into gainful employment. In addition to regular job placement counseling, Placer Dome developed a small business training program, figuring a business of their own would be a wonderful opportunity after a layoff. Some of the home-based businesses developed included electronics repair, local vegetable growing, and small markets within the home to save people from having to walk miles to the nearest store. The fact that people from this poverty-prone area could come up with these ideas and make them work speaks much for the entrepreneurial spirit that lurks within us all. It often just needs the shock of a job termination to let it loose.
Entrepreneur magazine discusses a few more results after a layoff here.
They tell of a 60-year old man who had always wanted his own business but could never do it because his wife was adamant about a “real job” with a regular paycheck. She died before his layoff, so she never knew the truth about “real jobs.” Termination of his job gave this man the opportunity he had always wanted—after thorough research, he took a chance, put up most of his financial assets, and bought into a franchise which worked just fine for him. It was too early for him to retire, and when the paycheck stopped what other choice did he really have? You see, there is often opportunity in a layoff.
There is another story about a 43-year-old woman who had worked for a number of businesses and they all ended up going out of business or terminating her employment for unknown reasons. She finally realized that all those years were spent receiving praise for her good work but without realizing one penny of reward for herself. Another example of the opportunity provided by a layoff: it gave her the chance to step back, look at her past life, and realize all her disappointments had finally given her the opportunity and the courage to go into her own franchise business.
The final example is about the man who spent 25 years as a successful regional VP of a national fast food chain. His pink slip came after a successful quarter for his region and was entirely unexpected with no reason given. That would be quite a jolt for anyone. He did what anyone in that situation should do—he talked to a knowledgeable acquaintance who was outside the immediate situation. This person advised him to get away from the corporate world (always good advice if you can do it). He decided to run a fitness center and now looks at his layoff, although for reasons unknown, as the means that got him out of his comfort zone and showed him he had better things to do.
About 12% of the people who were laid off because of the outsourcing we discussed did start to work for themselves. Unfortunately they all seemed dissatisfied because of what they consider as the insecurity of running their own business. Wouldn’t it have been much better if they had begun a home-based business on the side years ago? They would have been able to learn how to operate their business comfortably rather than being rudely dumped into the situation of having to do something they really don’t like.
The fact is that we must all work (or be born wealthy) at something to survive. We have seen that today most of us want too much and save too little to get away from self-imposed slavery of work. Some people will look at self-employment as just another spin on slavery. Isn’t it a lot better for the profits you earn as a slave to go to yourself as the slave master than be giving a large part of it to an uncaring slave owner?
If you should have your job terminated, try not to view it as a disaster. Step back, take a long view of your life from what it was to what you would like for it to be, seek reliable advice, and find out everything you can about the possible opportunities ahead for you. Even after you do this, always begin to look for a better job even if working for yourself. You may see a niche you can operate alongside a “real job” or in addition to your own business. The point is you must never become complacent and think you are in the best place you can be. There is always something better.
Perhaps a layoff is exactly what you need to put yourself in another gear outside your comfort zone and really achieve the great things you want from your life.