Waking up on January 5th one of my first thoughts was on my Dad. He would've celebrated his 93rd birthday on that day. As I was waking I could hear Dom leaving the house and making his way to work. I eventually got out of bed and headed straight to the kitchen to get some water warmed up for tea. The day before I learned that my job had laid off 10% of their work staff. I remember seeing the intro words of an email from my CEO as I was getting my day started. I didn't pay much mind to it and didn't open it, opting instead to get a jump on some of the work that I needed to get done. Twenty minutes later I see a message from a team member pop up in my Slack messenger. I recognized the message as the same email I ignored. This time I read it and that's when I learned about the layoff. There was initial confusion on who all got affected. I later learned that those affected received another email telling them of their status and that their Slack messenger was immediately deactivated. Senior management scheduled a late evening meeting to discuss the events of the day. It was more of a streaming event where questions weren't allowed and nothing new was learned besides what was sent in the email. A town hall with the CEO and other senior team members was planned for the next day.
So I was logging in that day and of course the topic of the day was on the events that took place on the 4th. I began to learn the names of some of the folks affected. Thankfully none of my immediate team were impacted. The town hall took place in the early afternoon. There was a separate Slack board where employees could vent and vent they did. Upper management danced around the questions that were being asked like who was affected, would there be more let go, what happens next. I was simultaneously doing work (customers still needed help) while listening in on the conference and at the same time seeing a lot of venting and also getting a few vents in with a few of my immediate team. Two hours later my head was hurting and once the conference was over, I decided to step away from my work laptop.
I, of course, am no stranger to layoffs, having experiencing my own layoff from my previous job (before Amazon and a temp consulting role...*LOL*). That company started doing layoffs in 2007 and I managed to hang on for ten more years. It took me forever (40 months) to find this role and I'm not even a year into it (my anniversary is on the 31st) and here I am reeling from fresh layoff news.
Having gone through a layoff, I know that no job is secure. Even one with a company that folks deemed is in a growing industry. I got that reminder once more on the 4th. That's why I've been trying so hard to save as much as I can and invest. My ongoing goal is to become financially independent. The fact that I saved, found temporary work at Amazon (even with the paltry salary), and thankfully got a good severance helped me weather my last layoff only needing to dip into my 401-K a month before I started my new job.
Those who were impacted by my new company's layoff will be getting 20 weeks worth of salary. It appears to be regardless of length of time employed. I myself got 40 weeks of salary, having earned 2 weeks of salary for every year of employment.
I dream of being able to have enough money to not be dependent on a job and to try and enjoy life a bit more. I still have faith in my Blackberry stock helping me get there. It's just taking a little bit longer to realize that goal. I received a little windfall from my Dad which has helped put a dent on my main credit card. I felt a bit guilty taking my Dad's money (even with him being gone) but I know he would want us to use the money in a way that would benefit us. This latest layoff is just a reminder that I need to remain steadfast to my goal.
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