Good luck and Godspeed on this. I've known a few people who take to these gigs and make it work for their life situation. There has to be a way, even if it's only temporary.
Career And Job Advice Q&A
- Thread starter bubs
- Start date
If you are a white male in corporate America be prepared to make changes. Either start larping as a tranny or a refugee or just get out ASAP.
A close friend of mine just recently survived a round of layoffs in corporate America. They disclosed that the list was VERY heavy on the white male side. The great replacement is real and it's coming for us.
Love to hear your experience.
For a middle aged white guy with a family working the corporate industry most important thing you can do is control you and your wife’s spending and get your house paid off as quickly as possible because it’s only a matter of time before your income dries up. My father alway gave me the advice to make sure your house is paid off before you retire, but now I’m thinking it’s more like at least 10 years before you retire.
staddlelateen
Catholic
We have to start from the premise that we are working for our enemy who wants us dead, sterilized, and demoralized. Perhaps we could have denied this prior to the coof, but after they tried to fire us for refusing to take a substance that kills and sterilizes us, you can no longer deny this reality.
Ok, if we operate from this premise, under what conditions would your sworn enemy promote you? Clearly the answer is none. So what are your options? 1) leave 2) change the reality so you are no longer their enemy. How do you do that? Make it so you are no longer a straight white male. That’s means identifying yourself as either transgender, gay, or some mixed race heritage (ie the Elizabeth Warren approach).
Bloody hell that is a great post.
100 spot on.
Working in oil and gas one experiences lay offs occur often. My company did a reduction in force and nuked about 10 percent of the workforce, including many other senior managers and VPs.
Fortunately I was given a very robust (about 4 months expenses ) severance package and still have my VA Disability money and benefits. I also saw it coming based off the financials of the business. I actually went on an interview same day I was laid off... And had the final interview the following week. I'll likely get an offer there second week of Feb.
In my case, I'm not overly concerned...in fact I'm somewhat happy about it. I've got a large pile of cash and time to shore up some other things while I find the next role. Should be able to find a quality position within the next 2 months so I'll wind up on too financially. It's more of an inconvenience at this point but won't make an impact on financial viability.
I do feel bad for the people still at the company. They're all wondering when they're going to get the axe and buried with new work and projects they have zero experience in.
What I've done is the following:
-Give myself a time horizon.
-Set up a spreadsheet with all inbound and outbound cash flow.
-pay minimums on debts until new position established
-with draw cash and use the envelope system where appropriate.
-leverage your network and old contacts list.
-stay optimistic and look at it as an opportunity to get a handle on fiscal situation if not already there.
Many small businesses seem to have insane expectations of employees to be a jack of all trades with many years experience in multiple activities all while offering laughable pay in return. Many times in the past when I have applied for jobs with small business that I was highly qualified for after finding out their expectations I was shocked at the abysmal pay and turned down the position when it was offered to me.
I have many years of working under my belt and have worked for both large and small companies and can say that on average its far better to work for a large faceless corporation than a small business. Most small business owners always want to pay as little as possible and ask for way too much in return. Most small business operators have a backwards mindset and don't want to pay up for good talent. Then they proceed to complain that they cannot attract good staff (or keep the good employees they have). They don't want to take responsibility for their actions and fail to realize that hiring cheap employees is a false economy. If there is one place you don't want to save costs its on the wages of your employees. You get what you pay for certainly applies to employees and its a huge reason why many small businesses stay small because they don't want to cough up to hire good employees.
I have many years of working under my belt and have worked for both large and small companies and can say that on average its far better to work for a large faceless corporation than a small business. Most small business owners always want to pay as little as possible and ask for way too much in return. Most small business operators have a backwards mindset and don't want to pay up for good talent. Then they proceed to complain that they cannot attract good staff (or keep the good employees they have). They don't want to take responsibility for their actions and fail to realize that hiring cheap employees is a false economy. If there is one place you don't want to save costs its on the wages of your employees. You get what you pay for certainly applies to employees and its a huge reason why many small businesses stay small because they don't want to cough up to hire good employees.
Perfect example of why you should work for a large faceless corporation rather than a small business. We are no longer (since a long time now) a moral and Chrisitan society and the average small business owner behaves just as immoral and corrupt as a large faceless corporation except that they pay less so why bother working for them?
One of the biggest reasons why so many small businesses stagnate or even fail is because of the above mentioned mentality of trying to pay employees as little as possible. In general the one main advantage small businesses have over larger companies from the customers perspective is the ability to offer better customer service! How can you offer better customer service if you have crappy employees because you pay poorly (or competent employees who are disgruntled because they are underpaid)??
Well, a close confidant (2nd in command), told me in confidence today that both himself and me may be let go pretty soon because we are the 2 highest paid employees and the owner wants to roll us out to save money. Now I’m at the point where when the owner talks to me about it, do I offer to take a paycut in attempt to stay (while job hunting in parallel) because it could be temporary. I think even if I take a $30k paycut, it would still be $20-$30k more than I’d get elsewhere with worse benefits to go.
He will probably merge positions/departments. One person will do all the work. It´s not about pay cut only. But you doing other people work also. With the same salary or lower you will have to do to more work.
I wouldn´t trust anything coming from the mouth of a coworker.
You should talk with owner. Nothing to formal. Just sit with him and ask what can you do to improve your work in the company. What does he expect from you.
For some reason the owner needs to cut expenses. You don´t know why. Maybe he wants to sell and wants to improve metrics. Maybe he had a tax audit. Or any other type of fines. Maybe he has a divorce. Or maybe he is just greedy. The reason is irrelevant.
You should get a letter of references. To me letter of references were irrelevant. Unless the company closed or had a large staff cut. But for HR departments might be relevant.
I wouldn´t trust anything coming from the mouth of a coworker.
You should talk with owner. Nothing to formal. Just sit with him and ask what can you do to improve your work in the company. What does he expect from you.
For some reason the owner needs to cut expenses. You don´t know why. Maybe he wants to sell and wants to improve metrics. Maybe he had a tax audit. Or any other type of fines. Maybe he has a divorce. Or maybe he is just greedy. The reason is irrelevant.
You should get a letter of references. To me letter of references were irrelevant. Unless the company closed or had a large staff cut. But for HR departments might be relevant.
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Second. Stay confident. Hold the line on the best value you offer the company - be it in the sales role or in production. Payroll is a way to save money, but it implies more hassle for him. There's ROI and there's Return on Hassle - not the same.
Well the owner is letting me go, and doesn’t want to entertain a pay cut either. Time to move on I guess. The severance agreement (transition period) has a lot of litigations language in it that scares me that the company could come back at me later to repay severance and benefits), so I’m trying to get with a lawyer. Problem is I need to sign the agreement in just 2 days or else I’m terminated immediately and get no severance. I left messages with 3 lawyers over the weekend but not sure if they will help with just 24-48 hrs notice.
Sorry to hear about it. But it was expected.
Him pointing a gun to your head is not a good sign.
A good lawyer can check it in 2/3h. Normally termination agreements always have illegal clauses which benefits the company. Or if not totally illegal. Disproportionate. Imagine there´s a no competition clause which should only be valid for 3 years. And the company wants 10 years. Or some stupid shit like that. Benefits are also normally not right. Talk to friends who might have passed by the same situation. And maybe government entity which regulates that area without mentioning the name of the company.
Workers normally know a lot of secrets of the company. Which can cost much more than the severance.
I normally try to increase the severance. And up to now they always have been increased. I´ve been in both sides. Even though I was never a labour law specialist.
Your reputation also plays a role here. Depending on the size of the market your working on. Being a problematic worker might hurt your future job prospects. If the company starts spreading rumors. Or if the new company calls your ex employer for references.
You might be angry now. But after 1/2 years working in another place you will not remember.
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I got laid off and hired at a new job a couple months later this year.
Just take the severance and move on. It's not gonna make a difference if you take them to court or not at the end of the day.... Unless you have significant equity in the firm.
Take the money and move on
My neighbours granddaughter were ran over. She asked me for help. The payment from the insurance company went from 3K to 15k. And it would have went higher. But without court it was the best. It wasn´t labor. Didn´t charge her anything. Shes the employee of my neighbur farm.
If the lawyer is experienced. He will know what the normal value in labour termination cases should be. But he should move on as fast as possible. Please note that for some lawyers the more time the problem drags along the more he will charge. And for them it´s better for problems not to have a solution. So don´t escalate with the owner. Never mention you have a lawyer. Unless you want court. Which is not advisable. Do a consultation. Listen to the lawyer opinion. Don´t sign anything or give him any powers.
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Personal injury or insurance litigation is vastly different than employment law.
@bubs
If you live in a right to work state you're screwed.
However usually they are required to give you 1 week to sign the Severance ppwk.
Either way... There is Zero reason to stay. Begging for a pay reduction is not worth it. Just take whatever money you can get in the immediate and move on.
Dont mention your company name. The lawyer can give you his opinion without knowing your employer name.
But I’m assuming the lawyer will need to review the agreement language in order to provide opinions and input. How can I not disclose the name of the company?
So this isn’t a standard severance agreement.
Option A: I don’t sign, I’m terminated and no furthe pay or benefits
Option B: I sign. I continue to work for 2 months (but basically only work they have disclosed in writing I do is transition work to another employee and look for another job during my “full time” commitment for next 2 months. In return, I sign off that I can’t come after them for any reason, yet they have many “grey area” clauses where after the 2 months if I breached anything, they could legally come after me to repay my salary and benefits during the 2 month period transition period. And it’s an at will job so they still could decide to end my employment for any reason during this 2 months as well. So not a true severance like normal.
How big is this company (general revenue) and do they have a legal department?
Sounds like they are giving you 2 months to get a new job.
Id take it and do minimal and I mean fucking minimal work and get your new role lined up somewhere else