4 ms·

A similar situation happened to me after 7.5 years at a company where I had been given consistently good feedback and promotions. I was fed the lie that my posi

A similar situation happened to me after 7.5 years at a company where I had been given consistently good feedback and promotions. I was fed the lie that my position was being eliminated when there were active public postings for the same position (Staff Engineer). My access to corporate systems was cut off at 8am with no warning or explanatio. I got a similar cold call from an HR person I had met once by chance. No involvement of my manager or director, who both reached out apologetically on linkedin after the fact. Not being able to say goodbye to my coworkers I had known for years was emotionally traumatic. Such is corporate life.

kumarvvr 3y ago
Such need not be corporate life. If there is anything I have learned is that Corporate bend over backwards to project a face of "family" and "values" and "ethics". What really matters is money and saving ones own skin. A corporate job is transactional. Pure and simple. But, when it is transactional, the outlines must be in start contrast. Many a time, people stay late and spend more time than designated working hours. The company justifies this in a million ways. But when it comes to layoffs, yeah. We know it.
steve1977 3y ago
> Not being able to say goodbye to my coworkers I had known for years was emotionally traumatic. Since something similar happened to me (decades ago), I basically don’t socialize with coworkers anymore, i.e. there is no emotional investment.
- polotics 3y ago
  This is clearly what brainless managers would want... In reality if you're hoping to create something innovative and different as a team, guess what: you will need to have emotions, likes and dislikes, reach into your intuition. So the status quo is everyone loses.
- mancerayder 3y ago
  I'm confused by both of your replies. Of the very few colleagues I consider friends, we interact outside of work and more importantly exchange texts. In fact most of my friends are from previous jobs. If you had no private contact info to use after a layoff, I would think you're either very shy or these people are forgettable.
romanovcode 3y ago
You worked at a company for 7.5 years and were actually performing. Person in the video worked for a company for 5 months as a sales-person and closed 0 sales. You are not the same.
- krainboltgreene 3y ago
  [flagged]
  - mckn1ght 3y ago
    > Please don't post insinuations about astroturfing, shilling… https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
ProllyInfamous 3y ago
Over a decade ago, a data center hired me as "an apprentice electrician." The economy wasn't doing well, so layoffs lead to me "covering" displaced workers' non-electrician tasks (NEVER VOLUNTEER to assume such work). When the full-time janitor was fired [1], you could find me tidily sweeping and restocking toilet paper... Eventually I was promoted to a more-technical role, but was required to "train my replacement before leaving the department" [this took MONTHs!]. Meanwhile, the facilities manager decided to schedule me for all the confined spaces work, without OSHA-approved monitors ["due to staffing shortcuts"]. Under loud & written protest, I refused such dangerous placements [2]. This ultimately led not to my promotion/transfer, but being constructively terminated. The suddenness and disrespect was as obvious as when they "fired" the janitor [1]... one second I'm filling out TPS Reports, the next second I'm seeing that my access has been restricted. [1] They just disabled his entrybadge, without even telling him beforehand (he showed up "to work" and wasn't allowed on-site!). [2] During the OSHA investigation, company claimed "he volunteers to do everything, often without approval".

kumarvvr 3y ago

Such need not be corporate life. If there is anything I have learned is that Corporate bend over backwards to project a face of "family" and "values" and "ethics". What really matters is money and saving ones own skin. A corporate job is transactional. Pure and simple. But, when it is transactional, the outlines must be in start contrast. Many a time, people stay late and spend more time than designated working hours. The company justifies this in a million ways. But when it comes to layoffs, yeah. We know it.

steve1977 3y ago

> Not being able to say goodbye to my coworkers I had known for years was emotionally traumatic. Since something similar happened to me (decades ago), I basically don’t socialize with coworkers anymore, i.e. there is no emotional investment.

polotics 3y ago
This is clearly what brainless managers would want... In reality if you're hoping to create something innovative and different as a team, guess what: you will need to have emotions, likes and dislikes, reach into your intuition. So the status quo is everyone loses.
mancerayder 3y ago
I'm confused by both of your replies. Of the very few colleagues I consider friends, we interact outside of work and more importantly exchange texts. In fact most of my friends are from previous jobs. If you had no private contact info to use after a layoff, I would think you're either very shy or these people are forgettable.

romanovcode 3y ago

You worked at a company for 7.5 years and were actually performing. Person in the video worked for a company for 5 months as a sales-person and closed 0 sales. You are not the same.

krainboltgreene 3y ago
[flagged]
- mckn1ght 3y ago
  > Please don't post insinuations about astroturfing, shilling… https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

ProllyInfamous 3y ago

Over a decade ago, a data center hired me as "an apprentice electrician." The economy wasn't doing well, so layoffs lead to me "covering" displaced workers' non-electrician tasks (NEVER VOLUNTEER to assume such work). When the full-time janitor was fired [1], you could find me tidily sweeping and restocking toilet paper... Eventually I was promoted to a more-technical role, but was required to "train my replacement before leaving the department" [this took MONTHs!]. Meanwhile, the facilities manager decided to schedule me for all the confined spaces work, without OSHA-approved monitors ["due to staffing shortcuts"]. Under loud & written protest, I refused such dangerous placements [2]. This ultimately led not to my promotion/transfer, but being constructively terminated. The suddenness and disrespect was as obvious as when they "fired" the janitor [1]... one second I'm filling out TPS Reports, the next second I'm seeing that my access has been restricted. [1] They just disabled his entrybadge, without even telling him beforehand (he showed up "to work" and wasn't allowed on-site!). [2] During the OSHA investigation, company claimed "he volunteers to do everything, often without approval".