Call it what you want…. Layoff, RIF (Reduction in Force), Restructuring, LR (Limited Restructuring)…… they are all the same. You are no longer required, the employment-at-will clause has kicked in and you have lost your livelihood. Your Company can terminate you, without assigning any cause – and it is still legal. Over the last 10 years, Management has stayed away from the Layoff label, supposedly in an attempt to be sensitive to their employee’s feelings. The bottom line is that you have lost your job…. Very often due to no fault of your own. All layoffs are unfair, but legal in most cases, and well within the framework of local labor laws.

Large companies have access to pools of labor lawyers – who know exactly how to word your layoff notice, what employee profile to impact (comply with discrimination laws), operate within WARN (The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act), offer severance packages which require you to sign-off on waivers ensuring no future claims. Bottom line, it is not a level-playing field. The large corporation clearly quashes the employee with its immense monetary prowess. For those impacted, it is one of the most helpless feelings and completely drains one out.

In the hi-tech industry, I believe that almost every employee will go through this, at some point, in his or her working career. I have been affected at least 3 times, over the last 35 years. For the individual affected, it is a feeling of rejection, immense sadness and loss of rhythm. Oftentimes, one cannot answer the questions – Why me? What did I do wrong? What could I have done differently? How will I take care of my family? Am I inferior, in some way, compared to my peers? Will someone hire me now, as I have been laid off?

All very valid questions, but this is not the time to rationalize the layoff event, or feel sorry for yourself. Remember that when one door closes, another one usually opens. Yes, you will have to search for that door. If you have planned your financial life carefully – you can manage a 6-month window, without any income, beyond your severance package. Moreover, over this period, you will find multiple open doors, for you to step in. You have to take charge of the situation and use your severance ‘buffer zone’ time to take stock of where you are professionally. Do you want to continue doing what you have been doing so far? Is it time to make that change you always wanted in your career, even if it means a step back. Sometimes a career reset, will recharge you on a new path.

My guidance would be to remember that every job is…. Just a job. Most of us spend so much time ‘married’ to our work…. We often miss the telltale signs of the marriage going south, until it is too late. You have to keep your ear to the ground, and listen for the faraway rumbles, which may soon arrive and cause disruption. I am not suggesting that you run at the first sign of trouble. I am saying that be prepared…. Hoping for the best, but ready to tackle the worst head-on.

Enough about you, the affected employee. Let us talk about who is responsible for the layoff event. Since Layoff/RIF/LR etc. can legally – never be for a performance reason…. The employee cannot be responsible for what happened to them. If the organization has a performance reason with an employee, there is a process to deal with this. This path, will be obvious to the employee (if they ever get on one) and you will have enough notice to make the necessary work changes (as discussed and requested), OR, look for a new job in parallel.

So if the employee is not responsible….. it has to be the Organization’s responsibility, for causing untold disruption in people’s lives.

Clearly, the organization has decided that a Layoff/RIF/LR etc. is required to handle a negative business situation. Typically, it may be due to shrinking revenues, evolving market conditions, customer decisions, gross margin concerns and the need to preserve shareholder value. What I find very disconcerting, is that operating management whose primary/only function is to stay on top of such parameters – have lost control (for whatever reason) and the only ‘instant’ recovery option is to reduce the Operating Expenses (a.k.a. employee headcount). The next upper layer of management, expect the operating management team to “go fix the problem” – which they should have pro-actively prevented in the first place.

So the employees take the hit, as the operating management fixes problems they ought to have managed in the first place. I can understand, when an Organization takes corrective actions like RIF/LR, say every 3-4 years, when course correction may be required due to changing business goals. Unfortunately, operating management have added RIF/LR as another tool in their toolbox and it gets used annually, or sometimes even as frequently as necessary to stay out of the RED zone.

What bothers me the most is that operating management; responsible for creating the RIF/LR scenario (instead of working on preventing one?), is seldom held accountable. This creates a “wall” between the employee pool and operating management and disrupts the harmony/trust required for a company to be successful. I have been on both sides of this wall – and believe me, it exists. Top rated companies are never the ones that have frequent layoffs, as their employee pool, will never vote for them.

Therefore, what are your options…. As I have posted in an earlier blog – Embracing Change, when you land up in a situation you have no control over, accept it as karma, learn from it and move on…… The sun will always rise tomorrow.