A Lesson In Job Security

Yesterday was a rough day at work.  We had to let 550 people go… Yuck. 

For those that haven’t experienced this type of environment, take it from me… It sucks. 

A lot of us had heard rumors that “cuts will be coming Tuesday morning.”  But none of us knew what to expect. 

These RIFs (Reduction In Force) can be crippling for company morale.  Because of the rumor, nobody really knew what to expect… and that created a lot of buzz.  People started worrying about their job and stopped doing any actual work.

Once you can stop worrying about your job, you can start worrying about your friends.  I wasn’t directly affected… but I have two friends that were.  One who worked at the company for 15 years.  (Sorry guys.) 

See, I understand that companies sometimes have to do this.  And I think our company did a very classy thing by giving severance, career assistance, and letting most employees finish working throughout the holidays… But this whole situation is still hard to deal with.

For me this was a Welcome-to-the-Real-World lesson.  I’ve always known that “there is no such thing as job security”… but there is a big difference between knowing something and experiencing something. 

Companies tend to think that Gen Y isn’t “loyal.”  Now maybe they’ll understand why we keep our job options open.  

We’d be foolish not to.  

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