IT Layoffs? Not Again!: Page 2

Of course, none of these turned out to be completely true. But what happened was like something straight out of American Idol, when they group contestants in two separate rooms – one group stays and one goes home. They did the same thing to us. We all received an email stating that one group of employees would go into conference Room A and the other into Room B. One group would be released and the others would stay on board (and not have to move south).

I looked around my assigned room and couldn’t help but assess my co-workers to determine if I was in a group that was doomed. Turns out I dodged a bullet and got to stay on an overworked team that was full of survivor’s guilt.

Lucky me. Well, at least I had a paycheck.

However, as soon as the economy turned around, the majority of those who stayed bolted for the door because the way the situation was handled had killed any sense of loyalty.

In the early 2000’s, I had the displeasure of being let go from one job and then experiencing layoffs from a managers perspective at my new job. The tech bubble had burst and IT budgets were slashed after massive spending on Y2K preparation and new Internet technologies. The demand for our consultants was plummeting and something had to be done.

I was fairly new to the company and hadn’t hired any of the people we now had to let go. I wish I could have been there to plan better, but maybe I would have ended up in the same predicament – running out of projects with a growing bench.

It’s hard to predict resource demand, but hiring full time consultants for short term projects probably wasn’t a brilliant idea.

My boss at the time offered to bring in security in case anyone cracked. I declined because I had seen that scenario play out in the past and it wasn’t pretty. People not only felt crushed by the job loss, but then they’d feel like criminals being escorted out of the building.

Unless someone seemed like they would be unstable, it wasn’t worth it.

It sounds like a crock, but laying off people was much more excruciating than being let go. Yes, I still had a job, but I knew how much this action was going to affect their lives.

The ones that were impacted the least had done a few things to protect themselves. Since then I always encourage my team member to keep current in their area of expertise, periodically update your resume and take time to network and stay in touch with colleagues from prior jobs.

Whether you are a top performer or not, it’s best to be prepared for the worst. After all, you never know when you’ll be called into a conference room where you too will face your fate.