6 ms·
Just found yesterday out that I'm being laid off at the end of the month. Sadly, I wholeheartedly believe that the owners are using the coronavirus as an excus
by porkloin 7y ago
Just found yesterday out that I'm being laid off at the end of the month.
Sadly, I wholeheartedly believe that the owners are using the coronavirus as an excuse to close their already-failing company. The company has been in slow-motion dissolution for the better part of a year, and now they're blaming the entire thing on the virus outbreak so that they have a narrative to tell that covers up some of the mismanagement that makes the closure of their company look bad. Now they have an effective smokescreen that shows that the closure was "outside of their control".
I have no doubt that many other companies will take advantage of this opportunity to close without the shame or stigma of having closed a failing company. There is almost no downside to using this as a guilt-free chance to rapidly shut down at a time where employees need stability more than ever.
All of that said, the company was conscientious enough to give us all two weeks' notice, pay out our PTO plans (that might just be required by law, though), and additionally pay out any pending bonuses to employees that had been agreed upon. They certainly didn't have to do all of that (even if some parts are just them following the law), and I appreciate them for taking those particular steps to help all of us transition to new positions.
Luckily, I started looking for jobs nearly a month ago and had begun preparing my resume and materials back in December, so I've already had a good number of interviews and am waiting to hear back about two positions in particular.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed and doing a lot of email refreshing, but if I'm being really honest it seems grim. I've already heard that many other companies are implementing a hiring freeze with the virus outbreak, etc. I can't help but shake the feeling that I should have started applying about a month earlier.
- whalesalad 7y ago> Sadly, I wholeheartedly believe that the owners are using the coronavirus as an excuse to close their already-failing company. If you feel the company has been failing, then I doubt this is an excuse. It's just the straw that is breaking the proverbial camel's back.
- porkloin 7y agoTotally valid point. I think they were simply surviving by merit of the fact that the market was good, and really any major speedbump would have caused the company to fail. It's an excuse in the sense that they're not addressing that the reason coronavirus has destroyed the business is because it was built on a poor foundation.
- johnmarcus 7y agoWhy do you think they owe you that? You think they don't cry enough when they go home to it? Of what purpose would this info help you or anyone?
- porkloin 7y agoI don't feel like they owe it to me at all – I'm just being honest about what I think is happening. I know that to some degree they probably even believe that the virus was the cause of the closure. This is my opinion, of course, but to me it seems clear that this is all about them having an opportunity to close that leaves them with a narrative of how it happened that lets them sleep better at night, which frankly I think is something they deserve. They've worked hard - the company has succeeded at times, but in its present form it wasn't ready to handle the relatively minor turmoil we've experienced from the virus thus far, but that's not to diminish how hard the closure is on them at all. Sorry if I'm coming off as if I'm bitter or frustrated with the ownership. I'm truly not intending that - I just generally have found the whole process interesting, the way in which the narrative has been spun toward the coronavirus causing the closure, etc. I legitimately feel for these people who I have worked for for several years and think of as not just bosses, but friends. I might be letting some of my own personal emotions bleed into my writing since I'm frankly a little stressed about my own situation, so I apologize if I'm giving the wrong impression here.
- newen 7y agoTo be a good human being? Why does every interaction have to be run through a cost benefit analysis?
- NegativeLatency 7y ago> pay out our PTO plans https://www.paycor.com/resource-center/pto-payout-laws-by-state https://www.paycor.com/resource-center/pto-payout-laws-by-st...
- popup21 7y agoHave they confessed how they are specifically linking the hysteria with the shutdown of the company?
- seanmcdirmid 7y agoA lot of weak companies will go belly up during an economic crisis. It isn’t that the crisis made them weak, just that being weak meant they couldn’t weather it. In how they rationalize their failure, that is something people just do I guess.
- asdfman123 7y agoRationalizing your failure is just good marketing.
- dba7dba 7y agoVery sorry to hear your news. I heard from more than a few people that during the 2008 financial crisis, some strong companies laid off low-performers. They used the financial crisis as an excuse, to protect the company from potential lawsuits.