RIFs, Cuts, and Closures

24 Jul RIFs, Cuts, and Closures

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

In spite of all we’ve heard of a low unemployment rate and a resilient economy and a robust labor market, boots-on-the-ground reality just doesn’t seem to be cooperating with this hot air & hopium. Not long ago, I encountered a situation where a manager declined to tell me during the intake process that his company was undergoing both budget and staff cuts. As you can probably imagine, things devolved into a highly unpleasant state of affairs and I felt pretty blindsided by it. Unfortunately, what I experienced is not uncommon.

Imagine you’ve been scouring for gainful employment, experiencing rejection after rejection on a daily basis, something that many Americans, especially in the wake of 2023’s massive tech layoffs, have been experiencing as of late.

–https://www.dailydot.com/news/company-hires-worker-without-telling-her-theyre-shutting-down/

Before progressing to the rest of the story, let’s pause right here. If the economy was churnin’ and burnin’ and the job market was really so robust, why would these things happen? When The Great Resignation actually was in full swing, can you imagine stories of repeated rejections and a wave of tech layoffs? I don’t think so!

Then you learn that the company that just hired you is in the process of going out of business. If there ever was an appropriate time to describe something as a “bummer,” this would be it.

This scenario is pretty much what happened to the wife of Reddit user @LedstromGW2 who posted on the site’s r/antiwork sub about her unfortunate situation with her new employer.

Their angry blurb received over 26,000 upvotes on the popular social media site, with throngs of folks sharing their own experiences where they were on the receiving end of inconsiderate or grimy practices enacted by the companies they’ve worked for.

-DailyDot, Ibid.

Again, I’ll ask the same thing: if the economy and the labor market were really so resilient, why are these things happening?

In the post, the redditor writes that their wife, along with two other women who accepted positions with the business did so at the expense of other job offers, and left “current positions” that they had. So it isn’t like working at this new place was their only option: They already had other gigs on lock. It wasn’t until the new hires arrived at their first day of work that their boss informed them the company was closing up shop in September (he uploaded the post this month), which means that they have to start their new job search all over again and risk being on unemployment in the near future.

They also added that the company never made any mention of the business closing in the job description, leaving everyone who was hired in the dark about its operational future.

They ended their rant by stating: “Unethical predatory crap like this is ruining our economy and our morale in this country.”

-DailyDot, Ibid.

Some changes happen with a big blast and others with a tiny spark. That’s but one reason why I think everyone should: a) have a finger on the general pulse of the job market; and b) know their industry.

–https://thejobmarketjournal.com/f/still-its-different-when-it-happens-to-you

Earlier today, a little blurb popped up on my LinkedIn feed, titled “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” And I laughed out loud because I thought, “If somebody is only just now contemplating that, just like in my mind, if they’re only just now thinking about whether or not The Great Resignation is over with for white collar workers, in my opinion, you’re way behind the eight ball. I was having that conversation last year. I’ll drop a link I had an interview with The Fairmont Post May 11th of last year, May 11, 2022, titled “Should Job Hoppers Leap One More Time?“

–https://www.buzzsprout.com/1125110/13196899

The onus is on you to stay aware of the job market and the industry you’re in. No one else is gonna do that for you and if you count on the MSM to give you the truth, well, good freakin’ luck with that. If you have a stable job right now, you have to consider the opportunity cost. In other words, if you walk away from that job for something else, you’d better be REALLY sure of what you’re getting yourself into. Corpo America doesn’t care. If they wanna recruit you for a project and obscure that layoffs are happening or they want to hire you for a job and then reveal the company will close a few months later: 🤷🏻‍♀️. Not telling you it’s right or that it’s fair – I’m telling you this is the reality we find ourselves in.

So I’ll ask again: if things were really so resilient and robust, why would we see RIFs, cuts, and closures?