Company layoffs

[Rewind]

My company is layin off 13,00 people. Today at work I felt some tension in the air and people were acting plain weird. I see people walking around and then it hit me..pink slips were being handed out. In my floor alone almost a total side of the office were gone and thes rest who were left were told at the end of the year they were going to be laid off. Even a secretary who was there for 20 yrs got laid off. My boss mentioned this to us about 2 weeks ago saying it was only the sales people and would not effect our divisio or our office..well big surprise he lied. I don't know alot of the titles of the people who got let go but I know they weren't in sales and work in my division but not my group. Thing is I have a newly created position which honestly they don't know need and I've been getting pretty much no work. They have another admin already and dont need 2.. so thing is I'm fearing come tomorrow since they are gonna be giving more pink slips out..I'm going to be getting one. I haven't even been at this job 2 months yet. Would my bosses know already if I was going to get laid and they're just not saying anything?

[jerbear]

Unfortunately yes.

 

Sometimes companies would have a middle manager do the dirty work of laying off a group before the senior manager lays off the middle manager.

 

Many times the list has been created.

 

HR managers have other tricks of the trade which unfortunately include valuable employees. What they can do is layoff everyone with a certain job code, job title, division, department, or even geographic location.

[stillafool]

Yes I would say they know already if they are going to lay you off. It isn't fair the amount of notice they give employees. If I were you I would be careful because you never know how people are going to react after a lay-off. Lots of times a layoff means people losing their homes, cars, taking kids out of college and generally losing their minds. Just be careful and watchful at work.

 

I am curious, did anyone in the legal department get layed off?

[wellanydaynow]

layoffs are never fun, and yes they will lie to you, mostly because a bunch of stuff needs to get done first. If you hear rumors, in my experience MOST have some truth. In big companies it is just a numbers thing, try not to take it personal. When some $$$ target is not met the easiest thing to do is let people go. A no brainer. A quik fix. The real problems with $$$$ never get fixed. Keep your skills current, your resume fresh, and don't get comfortable.

[westernxer]

Would my bosses know already if I was going to get laid and they're just not saying anything?

 

Do they know who you'll be laying?

[Zona76]

I know what you mean.

It's so scary. I'm with American Express 19 years come this Summer and there is cut cut cut all the time. We will never know if we have a job tomorrow or not.

There's so much talk of out-sourcing. Because other countries can do the work for less. What they don't realize is they end up forgoing the quality service the brand stands for.

[umbo]

Ms.Rewind I thought you were not getting along with people at work or not fitting in was the word. Because you don't know how to brown nose or network. I hope you don't loose your job but keep a list of contacts for future references and when if you apply for new jobs.

[District]

the company that i currently work at had a lay off a little more than a year a go. luckily i wasnt on the chopping block. but yea, your bosses already know which ones they're going to let go. all of this is already predetermined. i'm sorry to confirm your fears but its usually "last in, first out". we had a senior accountant that was hired for about 3 months and he was one of the guys that got let go.

[Topper]

You will be happy to know that the CEO, CFO and other top management just voted themselves a big fat bonus. See there isa silver lining to those lay offs. You just need to know where to look... in the executive suits.