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Dodging the Bullet
By Jay | May 14, 2008
It’s been a while since I’ve written an entry. When I don’t write much it means either that something is on my mind, or that I’m very busy. In this case, both of these scenarios were my reality.
Word has been going around at my company for the past couple weeks that layoffs were imminent. Over the past 5 days about 10 managing directors have submitted their resignations. Today the layoffs hit in earnest; about 35% of my department was let go. Layoffs are still rolling through the firm, and won’t be finished for another two weeks.
Those of us who are left in my group though are safe. We got the “All Clear” meeting this morning.
I’ve been through numerous layoffs since I started with this company in 2000. But this was by far the most stressful. It’s hard to explain why. I wouldn’t have minded if I had been laid off. Severance packages are good, and I have my bookselling business to fall back on. I had even mapped out the long Summer sabbatical that I would take, and thought through all the things I would do with this blog if I just had the time.
But most of my co-workers don’t have anything to fall back on. And the job market in New York is the worst that it has been in years. I am not normally the most empathetic person in the world, but times are tough now, and I see that a lot of people who I have worked with for a long time are very concerned about their financial well-being. If you have a mortgage and a family, a layoff can be a real problem, especially in this economy.
Well, at least it’s over. I may be a wage slave for a few more months (that severance package would have been nice; I can’t afford to quit), but now I should have more time and bandwidth to do things not related to work.
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May 15th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
I can feel your pain brother. I was just laid off, and rehired and 25% pay reduction within the last three months.
May 15th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Hi Jay. I’d glad to hear that you dodged the bullet. It’s good to have control over your situation rather than someone else picking the timing. Things will eventually get better, but it looks pretty grim in NY at the moment.
May 16th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Hi Jay, good to hear you’ve still got the job - it simply means that you can pay down the debt a bit faster and maintain the book business for a while. Though I know exactly what you mean with needing the break in the form of a sabbatical. Hopefully things won’t be too rough from a workload perspective.