Fired for Now: Getting fired, laid off, and hired again

It’s Friday today. And that means you’re going to see or hear of a lot of people getting laid off today. Like any other day of the week in the last several months.

But here’s the thing.

YOU SHOULDN’T BE HEARING OF ANYONE GETTING LAID OFF TODAY. NOT ON A FRIDAY!

How is it, that at a time of massive layoffs, so many employers still haven’t bothered to learn the decent way to do it? I can’t figure it out. Letting someone go early in the week is a well-accepted principal of HR practice.

There’s … Continue Reading

I need to take a moment to call my own industry onto the carpet once again. But this time I’d love to get your impressions to determine if my impressions are off.

This time the ad in question is a new TV commercial from Gatorade featuring NBA star Kevin Garnett. It also features another Kevin who no one’s ever heard of. Just an ordinary Kevin who’s an amateur swimmer.

The commercial cuts back and forth between the two different Kevins, trading lines from their own points of view…. Continue Reading

A collection of cartoons from The New Yorker dating back to 1992.
Yes, we’ve been here before.

Published in The New Yorker 2001

Published in The New Yorker 1996

Published in The New Yorker 1994

Yesterday I learned of two former colleagues who lost their jobs. Not a week goes by that I don’t get this kind of news. And right now, I just feel really sad.

One of these two was memorable because he was one of those guys who’s just an all-round nice person, someone who remains above the office complaints and bitch-fests, someone who seems to be unwaveringly cheerful and optimistic while everyone else around him is gossiping about industry politics and office machinations. In other words, someone very unlike a lot in the business.

It didn’t matter if he just learned he’d have … Continue Reading

“There’s a group of white guys who run the world,” former Bainbridge Graduate Institute dean Jean Bamberg explained of the usual cost-cutting strategy. “And they go into a room and they make decisions.”

Based on the appalling stories I’ve read and heard about people getting laid off, it’s certainly clear that companies often do a lousy job of cost-cutting, especially when it comes to employees. From heartless communication to non-existent severance, the way people experience job loss can make the phase ‘human resources’ an oxymoron.

That’s why I was really heartened to learn … Continue Reading

Here’s a little quiz:

• Are you worrying — even obsessing — about things more than usual?
• Are you unusually quiet and seem unable to share what’s bothering you?
• Are you more irritable than usual and maybe sometimes lash out at those who try to offer help?
• Are you sluggish, fatigued, and lack your usual interest in things you usually enjoy?

Guess what – you may be depressed. But you probably didn’t need this handy list to tell you that.  I didn’t.  I think most of us have a pretty good sense if we’re depressed without a formal label being applied.

In the past few weeks, I … Continue Reading

Image by Leraism

With the glut of bad layoff news coming daily, you wouldn’t think we’re living in a time that shows progress. However, based on the astounding insensitivity of Northwest Airlines two years ago, you may actually think employer-employee relations have evolved.

In 2006, Northwest announced massive layoffs. This was back when the company was struggling for survival before its recent merger with Delta. Along with pink-slips, they began handing each laid-off employee a booklet called “101 Ways to Save Money.”

Included in this prize of helpful hints … Continue Reading

Today, the New York Times reported that 30 states are in danger of running out of money to pay unemployment benefits to the record number of jobless.  Many of these states will resort to borrowing money from the federal government to support their unemployed citizens, an option already exercised by Michigan and Indiana whose unemployment funds have run dry.

Now, the federal help doesn’t come at face value. It’s a loan, and if the state doesn’t pay the loan back within the federal fiscal year, the state must pay the federal government … Continue Reading

This morning I learned of another casualty in the firing wars.

In Vancouver yesterday, a 62-year-old man who had recently been let go returned to his place of work and opened fire at the company Christmas party. He shot and killed his former boss before surrendering to police.

This is the second time in just over two weeks that the firing of an employee has ended in death. The first was in Alaska where a recently-fired employee showed up at the hospital where he used to work and killed two former associates, including … Continue Reading

Watching daily reports of the auto industry crisis brings up some questions for me about our economic troubles. That’s because I’m a white collar worker, or as the pundits have described, someone who gets showered before going to work rather than after. And now that I’m an unemployed white collar worker, I have to admit that I’m seeing the unfolding events through a self-serving lens now. I certainly don’t want the domestic auto industry to collapse, but it’s hard not to look at your own situation and wonder how things are going to be addressed.

Yesterday, the U.S. reported … Continue Reading