My husband is probably about to be laid off. It's a touchy topic, though, and he is not very chatty about it, so I am left to guess. What he has told me is that that his company is out of money, but the CEO thinks she might be able to drum up more funds before the coffers run dry. May 31 is the big day.
He works at a nonprofit that receives money from the government to study prison reform. The more I hear that state governments are running dangerously high budget deficits, the more I think layoffs are certain.
But it's too depressing for the CEO to say, “There's nothing to do this month so everyone bring a book to work.” So she hands out busy work as if it is essential. My husband's task didn't even last a full week. So he used the Internet to dig up the 6,000-page state budget and he combs the pages for information about prison funding. Meanwhile, his coworker received the ironic task of researching how prisons keep inmates busy.
There are workplace preparations, also. Cleaning out one's desk is important. My husband did not take home everything, but he left only as much at the office as he could carry home in one, smooth moment of departure. Other things, he took home earlier — like copies of all the stuff on the server that he might need for future reference.
When his boss is out on the office looking for funding, my husband works on his resume. When his boss is in the office, my husband makes sure to look busy. And motivated. Just because things are slow now doesn't mean they can't pick up. And if, by some miracle, the boss gets funding, my husband wants to be remembered as a person who stayed loyal to the company even in bad times. Working diligently in the face of cutbacks is a sign of loyalty.
Even if there are layoffs, looking loyal can only help. The boss will be a good reference, and she might even give my husband some ideas for other places to work. So my husband left some key items in his cube — a plant, a penholder, some CDs we don't listen to — things that scream I'm here to stay, even if he doesn't believe it. Layoffs are never so close that you can stop managing what other people think you.
I have stopped asking is there's any news about the layoff. Clearly, it's annoying to him to have to tell me no each evening. And I don't ask about job hunt news because I want him to see that I'm sympathetic to the fact that jobs are scarce right now. So we talk about non-career topics over budget-pasta suppers, and life goes on in our household, through another round of layoffs.
As old as this post may be, the subject is current as ever. Layoffs can be extremely depressing, especially in economically grim times like these. I agree with you that you whould stay loyal to your boss even in bad times. For what its worth, your boss might be an excellent reference int he opportunity he or she himself may present you.
Last year my family bought a deep fried turkey, however it was bought from a store that was closed on Thursday so it had to be picked up on Wendsday. My sister, who got the turkey, then just stuck it in the fridge and reheated it the next day. Later we found out you aren&apos;t suppose to refridgerate, oops. So this year I decided to cook the turkey but will be going to her house and will get there with only 2 hours to cook a turkey, so I thought about just doing breast, but now I think I will try this high temp route, hopefully I won&apos;t mess it up since I&apos;ll be on an unfamiliar oven.
Is a difficult task to work for non profit organizations. I believe this thing requires a lot of mental training to try to remain not disappointed after a difficult experience.