Tag Archives: oil

The Wait

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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. 

Living On The Edge

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I feel like I should write something right now. There is almost so much going on (and most of it is shitty) that I don’t know where to start. 

Sadly, a lot of it is work related. My employer is laying people off like mad right now and has been for three months now with no defined end in sight. No one really knows who will be next, when will they stop, what the end game is. Everyone is on edge and morale is in the toilet… swirling, swirling, swirling away. 

The reality is that the majority of companies that have to layoff a significant portion of their employees don’t do it this way. If they have to layoff 200 people, they do it all at once. One day. It’s like tearing off a band-aid; quick pain but then it’s ok after that. The people that are left can just get on with their lives and jobs. 

In Alberta, Canada however, if you lay off 50 people or more in a month, you have to report it to the provincial government and it becomes publicly very messy. Maybe it’s like this elsewhere, I’m not sure. The law surrounding corporate layoffs isn’t my forte. 

Anyway, it’s basically been 150 people laid off so far? I haven’t been keeping a running tally, I’ll leave that to the wraiths in HR. Our office has downsized even further by opting to transfer people to other offices too work on other projects to keep from having to lay them off. And there has been some attrition from the older folks in the office saying, “fuck this shit” and deciding to retire. Also, some (not many) have found employment elsewhere and just quit. 

One might say, “Why don’t more people do that? Who needs to go through the agony of long-term protracted layoffs?” 

I’ll tell you a little story about our friend, Mr. West Texas Intermediate and how sad he is because his price on the open market is very low. The industry I work in and the entire local economy revolves around Mr. WTI and when his price is low, end user companIes lose their minds and throw the emergency brake on all spending. Have you hear the phrase, “shit rolls downhill?” Yeah, me and the company I work for? We’re downhill. Me and every other Joe Shmoe who works for a company below the end user. So there are not many jobs left to jump to and the competition is strong for the few jobs that are left.

I have no idea if I’ll have a job at the end of the day tomorrow or next week or the week after that. Frankly, I can’t even look that far into the future. I’m taking it as fact that I’m going to be laid off and that it’s just a matter of time.

Dude. That ain’t right.

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Holy crap.

I’m realizing that I haven’t updated the Official NJLE™ website in over SIX MONTHS. Wow, that’s my epic failure. It’s kind of bizarre how much things can change in such a relatively short (or relatively long, depending on your perspective) period of time.

The NJLE has always been kind of sliding by; on the brink of both wild success and brutal failure. However, in the past couple of months… it’s become glaringly obvious that belts are going to have to be tightened and things are going to have to change up in this bitch. See, everything in this place… surrounding us, in Canada? So much of it is affected by the price of oil. The whole world is affected. But here’s the trend:

In the past year, the price of oil has dropped off to a staggeringly low price that affects the entire world.

In the past year, the price of oil has dropped off to a staggeringly low price that affects the entire world.

Anyway, the main source of income for the NJLE is related to the price of oil. “On the outside” your highness is an engineering desk jockey for a company servicing the oil and gas sector. With this downturn, the NJLE GDP is taking a forced 10% hack-and-slash and a deep, deep round of layoffs that’s going on at my place of employ as a reaction to the global economy.

So, I have to look at my options. I think I’m relatively ok for the next month or two from a layoff perspective…. maybe. After that? All bets are off. I’m looking at possible opportunities elsewhere however, given that layoffs are rampant in my industry right now, I think it’s unlikely that I’ll find something after I get punted. So… I’ll have my five figure layoff payout. Low five figures, let’s be clear. Very low.

And then? If I don’t find another job? It’s EI for yours truly… and that’s something that I know very little about at this point. It’s terrifying to me to not have a job. To not be able to provide.

Terrifying.

Anyway, the future is not known to me. Maybe shit will turn itself out just fine. Maybe not. I am not Nostradamus of some wizened prognosticator. I’m clinging on to this moment, taking life day to day. Because that’s all I can do right now.