Anyone who knows me offline from this site knows that I’ve been dreading my work situation for some time now. The company I work for has been laying off people for about 18 months with no end in sight and I’ve been dreading that layoff since Day One. This means that my family, friends and contacts have all had to deal with me and my dread for about a year and a half… which I have to given them credit for patiently listening. At some point, I’m sure that they have started feeling like I am the boy crying wolf.
I have been working in this industry for about 20 years and have noted that the cycle of boom & bust can range from 5 to 7 years. Effectively, it’s a reset to the industry to deal with steadily increasing costs. For the previous two bust cycles the industry has gone through, I was lucky to be wherever I was because the personal impact to me was negligible. For one bust, I was protected by the nature of the business I worked for and the other bust happened during a time when the business I work for now was in a crunch of multiple major projects that necessitated us to keep working… and working hard. This is the first time in my career that a bust cycle has directly affected me. Really, I’ve been lucky. Truly.
In these past 18 months, I’ve said goodbye to a lot of people… some of whom were merely acquaintances while others I’ve come to consider to be my friends. Some… very close friends. It hasn’t been fun seeing so many good people cut loose. The company has gone from 650 people to somewhere just over 100 as of Friday. While not all of them have been layoffs, the vast majority have.
There is no new work on the horizon. In fact, the work that hasn’t been deferred or flat out cancelled is being pulled back within our client’s organization to keep their personnel busy. No one knows for sure what’s going to happen but the general feeling isn’t good. Where, at the start, managers were trimming the fat and cutting out cancers from the organization… they’ve now had to start carving away the some of the muscle. And they’re getting closer to cutting into bone.
I heard from my boss last week; he asked me if I would consider working a reduced-hour work week. From 40 hours down to 32, which would represent a 20% cut to my take home pay as well. My work load has declined significantly however I play a unique role in the company so they would rather not flat-out lay me off if they can avoid it. By no means am I irreplaceable but it would mean a change in strategy of how we do work. So they would have to, in advance, plan this change before cutting me loose. Again, not an impossibility in the least but rather only an inconvenience.
I know that this reduced-hour work week is a stopgap move to avoid having to let me go. Really, with the lack of upcoming work that’s facing us… it’s, in my opinion, delaying the inevitable. I *hope* there is some work coming up that gets me chargeable and working 40 hours again but I’m not optimistic. We’ll see how it plays out… I’m pretty much ready for anything at this point. I’ve been in a holding pattern with respect to a layoff for so long that I think I’m mentally and emotionally ready to accept my fate.
