It was one of those normal mornings at work. I had arrived in the office, checked my emails replying to the most urgent ones, listed down my things to do and just received the right-on-time ping over IM from my colleague Sheetal of a coffee icon followed by a question mark.
“Okie” I typed, locked my laptop and got up to walk over her cubicle two feet away.
On our way to cafeteria we entered the reception area chatting about the presentation that we had to finalize that day and looking at the scene there, stopped short!
“Okie” I typed, locked my laptop and got up to walk over her cubicle two feet away.
On our way to cafeteria we entered the reception area chatting about the presentation that we had to finalize that day and looking at the scene there, stopped short!
It was a sight you don’t see in an office everyday…
Geetha, our teammate was sitting on the sofa and crying openly! Another teammate Jayesh was sitting beside her and was trying to comfort her in an awkward manner.
Another big sob from Geetha made us rush to her side and I sat down beside her.
“What’s the matter? What happened?” I asked Jayesh.
“They sacked her!” Jayesh was equally tortured. “Just like that… the manager simply called from the US and asked her to leave! She has 15 minutes left to leave this premise!”
“What did I do? Why me? I don’t believe this!” Geetha cried out while trying to wipe the flowing tears.
By this time a few other employees had gathered there and our offshore manager came out to personally escort Geetha out of the office building.
“In such cases it is their policy that the employee should leave the office in half an hour after being laid off and the manager should escort the employee personally…” I heard the whispered conversation from behind.
Stunned employees returned to their places and immediately the laptop screens started flooding with IMs from everyone about what was going on.
I remembered the splendid presentation Geetha had delivered last week to one of our important clients and the heavy praise that she had received from our manager afterwards. It could not be performance that drew this decision. Then what was it?
Speculations and anxiety started building in the team. Was it just going to be Geetha, or was it something bigger? In companies such as this lay offs were not unheard of, it was just that you never thought that it could be happening with you.
As we feared, in next ten minutes we received the news of Saket getting laid off…
Another shock! Saket was a fresher who was hired just last month. One of the college toppers who had considered himself lucky to get hired by this multi-billion giant of a software company whose name was enough to inspire awe and envy in his friends when he landed this offer.
“Why did they hire me if they had no need of me? What am I going to say to my parents? They are so proud of me!”
He did not get chance to say much more, our manager had come to escort him too.
By next hour I was beyond shock. It looked like they had started with people with least experience in number of years worked and were cutting down the team blindly. Performance, capability was no criteria. Calls were coming from the US and people were given option to either resign or get terminated. Severance pay was three months.
What was the target size they wanted to retain? Will they even bother explaining the reason other than saying ‘Business decision’?
Jayesh’s turn came. He left in a fury, claiming he’s only too happy to leave such crappy company and would get another job in a week… which was probably true anyway.
This was the same guy who had convinced me when I joined this company last year that this was one of the best places to work at… He was the same person who was working day in day out for last six months to be on track for his promotion this year…
If team performance was the reason for laying off people, could they at least not give us an advance notice to find projects somewhere else in the company? Did the management have no idea about the budget getting overrun? What was the explanation then of the project party at the five star restaurant last week … or the pick up and drop at home cab facility running on the project’s account…
“OK Archana, I am going too” I looked at Sheetal’s message and that message set me to action…
If Sheetal was going then I will be the next to receive ‘the call’! She was only six months less experienced then I was. With composed practicality I started backing up my laptop data onto my USB drive and packing my belongings. I even called my husband and informed him that he’ll be visiting an unemployed wife in the evening at home. Thank God we had not yet finalized the decision about that new flat! I thought. If we had started with the new home loan EMI, I would have been much more panicked right now.
So I was ready. Backup was taken, packing was done and laptop was ready to shut down…
There were a hundred unanswered questions at the back of my mind demanding explanations of the so-called business decision. There was a profound sense of injustice, there was outrage, incredulity, anger and hidden beneath it all was a deep hurt!
Yet at the moment, on the surface of all these feelings was only numbness coming from an acceptance of the situation which looked beyond my control and just a sense of loss…
Was this the same organization for which since the day I joined here I had devoted so much of my time and effort? An organization for which till that day I had huge respect… an organization which I had joined with so many hopes… where I believed talent was recognized and awarded, an organization with which I was actually proud to work!
May be I did not understand that emotions do not interfere with business decisions… May be I did not understand business itself… yet I could see that this was one of the worst possible ways to handle a lay-off… I could definitely see that this lay-off could have been easily avoided by managing things better…
“Guys, quick urgent meeting… please come to the conference room…” I heard the call from our manager.
“What? Have they got tired of calling one person at a time now?” I wondered while entering the room.
“Team, without any preamble, let me start with the declaration that all of your jobs are safe. We have only cut off people with five or less than five years of experience…”
I did not register his further speech which was all about how management was ‘sorry’ to take such action yet how this was necessary for the business…
The first thing to penetrate my mind was that my job was safe! I was not getting laid off…
By end of that day things were clear. This project no longer being profitable and having overrun its budget was totally scrapped. Out of the remaining ten people in the team, only four were to continue working with existing setup under a new project name, with some twist in the work. The remaining six were to find work somewhere else in the company within next month or be ready to resign.
Surprisingly I was one of the four who was chosen for the new team…
Was I supposed to be happy? Was that even good news for me…?
I know you are supposed to be practical, you are supposed to be un-emotional when such situations arise. I know being professional does not include actions driven by sentiments.
Yet I could not stop my mental withdrawal from this organization from that day onwards. I had no fear of losing my job anymore, yet I could not stop myself from looking at another organization’s employment…
I had no interest to work for an organization where people who work for it are not valued!
My last day with the worlds one of the largest software giant company was the day they laid off my teammate-cum-friends… not the day when I left it two months later… !!
“What did I do? Why me? I don’t believe this!” Geetha cried out while trying to wipe the flowing tears.
By this time a few other employees had gathered there and our offshore manager came out to personally escort Geetha out of the office building.
“In such cases it is their policy that the employee should leave the office in half an hour after being laid off and the manager should escort the employee personally…” I heard the whispered conversation from behind.
Stunned employees returned to their places and immediately the laptop screens started flooding with IMs from everyone about what was going on.
I remembered the splendid presentation Geetha had delivered last week to one of our important clients and the heavy praise that she had received from our manager afterwards. It could not be performance that drew this decision. Then what was it?
Speculations and anxiety started building in the team. Was it just going to be Geetha, or was it something bigger? In companies such as this lay offs were not unheard of, it was just that you never thought that it could be happening with you.
As we feared, in next ten minutes we received the news of Saket getting laid off…
Another shock! Saket was a fresher who was hired just last month. One of the college toppers who had considered himself lucky to get hired by this multi-billion giant of a software company whose name was enough to inspire awe and envy in his friends when he landed this offer.
“Why did they hire me if they had no need of me? What am I going to say to my parents? They are so proud of me!”
He did not get chance to say much more, our manager had come to escort him too.
By next hour I was beyond shock. It looked like they had started with people with least experience in number of years worked and were cutting down the team blindly. Performance, capability was no criteria. Calls were coming from the US and people were given option to either resign or get terminated. Severance pay was three months.
What was the target size they wanted to retain? Will they even bother explaining the reason other than saying ‘Business decision’?
Jayesh’s turn came. He left in a fury, claiming he’s only too happy to leave such crappy company and would get another job in a week… which was probably true anyway.
This was the same guy who had convinced me when I joined this company last year that this was one of the best places to work at… He was the same person who was working day in day out for last six months to be on track for his promotion this year…
If team performance was the reason for laying off people, could they at least not give us an advance notice to find projects somewhere else in the company? Did the management have no idea about the budget getting overrun? What was the explanation then of the project party at the five star restaurant last week … or the pick up and drop at home cab facility running on the project’s account…
“OK Archana, I am going too” I looked at Sheetal’s message and that message set me to action…
If Sheetal was going then I will be the next to receive ‘the call’! She was only six months less experienced then I was. With composed practicality I started backing up my laptop data onto my USB drive and packing my belongings. I even called my husband and informed him that he’ll be visiting an unemployed wife in the evening at home. Thank God we had not yet finalized the decision about that new flat! I thought. If we had started with the new home loan EMI, I would have been much more panicked right now.
So I was ready. Backup was taken, packing was done and laptop was ready to shut down…
There were a hundred unanswered questions at the back of my mind demanding explanations of the so-called business decision. There was a profound sense of injustice, there was outrage, incredulity, anger and hidden beneath it all was a deep hurt!
Yet at the moment, on the surface of all these feelings was only numbness coming from an acceptance of the situation which looked beyond my control and just a sense of loss…
Was this the same organization for which since the day I joined here I had devoted so much of my time and effort? An organization for which till that day I had huge respect… an organization which I had joined with so many hopes… where I believed talent was recognized and awarded, an organization with which I was actually proud to work!
May be I did not understand that emotions do not interfere with business decisions… May be I did not understand business itself… yet I could see that this was one of the worst possible ways to handle a lay-off… I could definitely see that this lay-off could have been easily avoided by managing things better…
“Guys, quick urgent meeting… please come to the conference room…” I heard the call from our manager.
“What? Have they got tired of calling one person at a time now?” I wondered while entering the room.
“Team, without any preamble, let me start with the declaration that all of your jobs are safe. We have only cut off people with five or less than five years of experience…”
I did not register his further speech which was all about how management was ‘sorry’ to take such action yet how this was necessary for the business…
The first thing to penetrate my mind was that my job was safe! I was not getting laid off…
By end of that day things were clear. This project no longer being profitable and having overrun its budget was totally scrapped. Out of the remaining ten people in the team, only four were to continue working with existing setup under a new project name, with some twist in the work. The remaining six were to find work somewhere else in the company within next month or be ready to resign.
Surprisingly I was one of the four who was chosen for the new team…
Was I supposed to be happy? Was that even good news for me…?
I know you are supposed to be practical, you are supposed to be un-emotional when such situations arise. I know being professional does not include actions driven by sentiments.
Yet I could not stop my mental withdrawal from this organization from that day onwards. I had no fear of losing my job anymore, yet I could not stop myself from looking at another organization’s employment…
I had no interest to work for an organization where people who work for it are not valued!
My last day with the worlds one of the largest software giant company was the day they laid off my teammate-cum-friends… not the day when I left it two months later… !!