The Hardest Days At Work

When I look back at the worst days at my previous job, I go straight to the days when layoffs occurred. It was just over three months working straight after college and layoffs happened. People around me were being called and directed to an undisclosed location. I had no idea what was going on. It took me by complete surprise and it was the gloomiest day I had up to that point.

One person that sat adjacent to me was particularly memorable. At this company, we had pass phrases or security questions in order to prove your identity over the phone. After telling his peers that he had been laid off, he made a call to ask a question about something. And when asked for his pass phrase, he responds, "No good deed goes unpunished." That is when it hit me the hardest.

The employees at the particular site were especially close and I had just been hired a few months before, yet others have been let go. I felt like I needed to volunteer myself for their sake. I was an individual that could easily move back home without an income. They had families to support. I didn't.

But after all the individuals being laid offs were notified, my manager came to my desk to discuss what was happening. He said while it was a tough time for those individuals, it was business and they were being let go with good severance and being treated with respect. That is as much as you would respect from a company you gave years of service to. This transparency and truthfulness from my manager were significant reasons why I remained at the company as long as I did.

There would be five more layoffs after that one (during my time there). The site decreased to less than half of its size from when I was first hired to the day I left.

While I never feared being laid off, the company culture and moral were definitely affected. Once there were even the tiniest of rumors, you knew it was going to spread like wildfire; and there seemed to be a constant hanging cloud because of the layoffs. Maintaining younger employees was nearly impossible and they continue to struggle with that.

While those were the darkest of days, I definitely took in many lessons from the experience.