I'm sure some of you experienced mass layoffs. Have you been affected by the complete closing of a company (or some its offices)? I work at AOL and as you might or might not know, its closing its offices in Germany and other European countries. Announced to us yesterday. People are so close there. It's hell. We've been so busy, I did not have the time to sit down. Haven't slept last night and it's going to catch up with me. It has to. I have to sit down and let it come over me. And I have just been there on a temporary basis. The people who have been there for so long... they are crushed. There are people that usually bring sunshine to the office everyday, and they are crushed.

I worked for a magazine that laid off maybe 90% of its staff all on the same day back in 2001 when it folded. The remaining employees only continued to work for a few months to tie up loose ends before they were let go too. The one silver lining about the whole thing was that the office was near Wall Street in lower Manhattan so most of the employees missed the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11th a few months later.

Both me and my wife have been subject to these layoffs, I went form a place with 100 people who are now down to 12 and my wife went from 500 to 50. Both in different businesses but in the States things are dismal trying to find a new job for both of us.

I've been through all of the emotions and when you're a really hard worker who was dedicated and loyal to a company, words can not describe how you feel when you have no job. It's been a year for me as of today...

I was laid off in 1999 or so, and it was actually pretty good. I lived cheaply on unemployment for a while.

I was laid off again in 2002, but that was short lived as I got a job a couple weeks later.

Nowadays my expenses are too high, I'd be in trouble if I was laid off. It's kind of scary. [logging off]

I was laid off at a very good job in March of this year....at least I have less stress to deal with.

sextonseven said:

So maybe that benefited the old employees....they were safe from harm.

Well being laid off is somewhat bitter-sweet. I've been laid off a few times...I swear it's a bad omen that follows me.....it's nice to get the unemployment and/or severence package money and just chill for awhile, but at the same time job hunting SUX...So I hate to hear that u lost your job but hang in there and stay positive

Slave2daGroove said:

Many people are so dedicated there. And without any fault of their own, they're losing this job. More than that actually, for many. I think it's not even primarily "what will happen to me?" but "what will happen to us?".

I got laid off from the newspaper job I worked at last May. I was sort of ambivalent about it because while it was sucked not having a job, I also hated the town I was living in and was not particularly passionate about working there like I had once was.
One thing to remember when you get laid off is that in most cases you have not done anything wrong and nothing you can do can help you get your job back. In most (not all) cases, it is just about the bottom line.
The only thing that bothered me is that I would see some of the people I used to work with around town and they were weird and/or treated me like I had leprosy because I got laid off. Like they thought it was contagious or something.

MissEmeraldCity said:

I got laid off from my project manager job a the end of 2008. It took me a year and 2 months to find another job, despite a masters daegree... and to my horror.

And I'm making a fraction of what I was making before, although I for the first time in years, I absolutely love what I do.


My peers did not fare so well. Many were hired again at other companies for much less than what they were doing , but doing the same dreary jobs as before. And some are still unemployed.

This economy has hurt a lot of people.

I think we're in the last 6 months stretch of hell, honestly. For whatever reason, my gut tells me it's going to get better for people.

It was a year ago this month that my company did layoffs. Thankfully, I made the cut, but I was in an elevator with someone who clearly hadn’t and it was just sinking in and he put his hand to his head and leaned against the wall and said “ Oh, god..” in a broken and shaky voice. I’ve never seen a grown man start to lose it like that in public.

Thankfully, I know my company did everything they could to prevent layoffs from happening. First, there was a hiring freeze. No positions were being back-filled as people left for other reasons/opportunities/whatever. That in itself got rid of a significant amount of headcount (and went on for months…). Then, no raises were given to a certain level of management and above and the budget for any kind of “fun” activity was basically done away with. No treats at meetings, no Xmas party, no lunch on the company for surpassing a goal, etc. Finally, the raises the rest of us received didn’t even keep up with cost of living. I appreciate that the rest of us got something but I wonder how many of us would have elected to have done without if it meant saving someone else’s job… I’m sure there was plenty of other budget stuff that went on as well that I’m not aware of, but at least when it finally happened, we knew it was truly a last resort.

In any case, things are starting to get better, slowly but surely. Never say never, but I really think the worst of it is behind us in the US. It HAS to be.

So keep your chin up.

CarrieMpls said:

I think the danger is that tech jobs and call center jobs will get refilled, but most of the refilling will take place in India and the Phillipines.

The layoffs started happening for my company (and I worked for a HUGE company) long before the economic crisis.

here's praying we all make it through this 'economic downturn' intact

I have had 2 make the tough decision 2 lay off people and believe me, it is NOT an easy thing 2 do. When the bottom line of your company is at stake, sometimes it is thee only solution. In the past, firms would setup progams 2 assist ex-employees but in the current economy, especially in the U.S., the funding is so tight that those type of resources are no longer available.

As the U.S. economy drags on, I fully expect 2 see 401ks and retirement funds just "disappear" like a thief in the night. I hope this does not occur, but u have some really cut-throat people making decisions that impact a lot of people and quite a few of these people only care about themselves.

Phishanga said:

That was my first set of emotions...then anger...but finally rational thought came in. People who were as hard working and dedicated as us were put through a lot worse in history. We will all be alright, things will get better and we will look back on this time and realize some truths. The main truth I'm realizing while still dealing with it is you really know who your friends are when the times get tough. This has sorted them with no Grey areas.

Hang in there my German friend...

Slave2daGroove said:

Thank you!

layoffs....better be more careful doing it. This is what happens. Man, folks are going crazy in this mess!



Ex-worker Accused in Cobb Shooting
Two people died when a former employee dressed in camouflage opened fire at a truck rental business northwest of Atlanta, police said, marking the second fatal workplace shooting this month in the U.S.


http://www.myfoxatlanta.c...ing-011310

Slave2daGroove said:

Sounds like the place where I work. They've laid off all of the 10, 15, 20 year workers and have kept people like me who've only been here for 2 years. They're also making us multitask because they've closed entire departments down. This place is going down fast. Rumor has it that they've already filed for bankruptcy because they can't pay the vendors for products we're advertising to sell. That's fucked up. They keep assuring us that it's just a downslope and that things will get better. From my view, things are getting worse. I think we're all about to be out of a job soon and that they're just telling us that to keep everyone from panicking.


Anyway...good luck to you and your wife, and everyone on here looking for jobs.

NDRU said:

I'm not even gonna lie, there have been times where I've thought about doing some really stupid to get myself fired just to collect unemployment until I found a new job. As much as I hate this place, I snap back to my senses and know that things could be a lot worse. I think someone told me that unemployment was around $200 a week. I honestly think I could barely swing that w/ more than 1 roommate. It's not worth it though.

the really crazy thing about life is, how do people expect to have people buy things, if people don't have jobs to be able to buy the thing....

I still can't figure out this viciousness with a few having a lot, and many having nothing. money should flow in a circle this seems like common sense, right?

and I also can't figure out why people think you need to kiss ass and fake it to do your job, why doing your job well isn't enough....

AnckSuNamun said:

Thanks! Things can only get better from here.

I feel sorry for lots of folks that lost work...
and here I am complaining about my sucky job,
at least I have one in these times.

"Learning to be thankful and not take things for granted, because I could be next."

Never know...

My company laid off 60 people today. I'm still standing, but I've been "reorganized" back to the job I had a year-and-a-half ago. No cut in title or salary, though - so I'm counting my blessings.

AnckSuNamun said:

How much unemployment you receive per week depends how much you made per week when you were working. When I was receiving unemployment compensation, I was receiving about $331 per week (after taxes). It's not great money, but my expenses were low, so I was able to swing it for awhile, thankfully.

My job announced last September that they are moving 200 jobs to Sacramento (basicly the whole business office). I'm 1 of the lucky ones that can make the move without too much trouble. They did say that they were not laying anyone off but gave the option to move to other possitions if they qualify. The only think I really hate is that I do have to take a 15% pay reduction.

i was laid off a year ago