After three weeks of vacation I returned to find out that 20% of our team will be gone by May/June. One colleague is being pushed into early retirement and another was told just one hour before the official announcement that he’s being demoted and moved to a different team. It’s not just happening here, it’s a nationwide restructuring. A friend who had been with the same company for almost 20 years in exactly my role was just laid off. I was just shocked after finding out.
Only now am I truly realizing how insecure my job actually is. For years I assumed I would simply keep progressing and that nothing could ever happen to me. In reality I could have come back from vacation yesterday and been pulled straight into a meeting with my manager and HR.
This experience has reinforced my desire to achieve financial independence. I probably only need another 5-6 years to reach a net worth of 1 million. At that point I would hit CoastFIRE which would take off a huge amount of pressure. Even if I lost my job or had to accept a lower-paying role, it wouldn’t derail my plans for early retirement.
My perspective has shifted significantly. Instead of planning the next 15 years, I’m now focusing on the next 5 with this important milestone clearly in sight. Nothing is certain anymore.
Previously, you were weighing up jumping ship for higher salary, but elected to stay in place to ‘build up’ career. Does this change your calculus and would you be more likely to jump ship for immediate salary bump?
On being fired: when my partner was pregnant, her entire team was fired. She knew there was no job to come back to but was in limbo as they couldn’t fire her while pregnant - not exactly the kind of stress you need at that time.
I’ve never taken my job for granted. I’ve seen people fired for absolutely no good reason at all. It happens. Quite a lot. I count on only my 6 month notice period and perhaps a bit of RAV. Thankfully, that is enough to take me through to my target retirement date now. But I came close to losing my job a couple of times.
On the plus side, it isn’t necessarily bad for you, if you survive this round, you are likely to advance faster. I’ve seen similar restructurings where expensive old people were kicked out and younger cheaper people were put in their place.
This is indeed a good reminder for everyone. Live within your means, have a high savings ratio, and don’t let lifestyle inflation take over→ simple but not easy! Jobs will come and go. Build a moat around you and your family.
And invest ! As Morgan Housel wrote in his books / blogs: save like a pessimist, invest like an optimist.
@PhilMongoose
I‘m probably less likely to jump ship now than I was before. And your last point is also true. I‘ll actually drop 1/3 of my clients and get bigger clients in return (from those 2 that are leaving). So it‘s also a big chance to speed up my career, but I have to survive. This might not be the only cut for the next couple of years.
@Cortana Have been at “the other side” of that company and experienced the culture that you now feel for quite a while. The situation is quite simple - there is a static background noise of 5% RIF cases every year and every 3-5 years, there is a 15-25% round. Supposedly, it keeps the organisation slim, focused and productive whatever…
That was probably less prominent the lest 2-3 years but trust me, that was exceptional circumstances and you are now “back to normal”. This has happened like this the lasts 15 years, and will continue like this for the next 15 years+. Just blend it out and don’t take it “too serious”.
What matters now is a clear observation and understanding of what it takes to stay in that business. The rules are quite simple:
Don’t be “old” in either Pension Fund Contributions or Attitude to Bullshit or Change Terms
Don’t be too expensive, this is especially challenging as there are plans to reduce the (inflation adjusted) average salary per rank
Don’t be at a too high rank, as there are goals to flatten the pyramid YoY
Don’t be the last one that entered the team, but at the same time don’t be the one that didn’t move/developped himself the least (you need to balance staying in the org for long yet having a “dynamic and adoptable CV”)
Don’t be a trouble kid but instead turn into a productive and easy maintenance YesMen (includes small things like performing mandatory trainings at least 2 weeks before the official deadline)
But STILL show you understand the business and politics and the environment you are in. Have a clear view, oppinion and vision where things are going (even if that was bad; shows you are balanced and can reflect and comprehend the situation), but are very conscious where, how and when you bring it up. Meaning show you are not naive and can think, but that you still play along no matter what you think
Your plan of getting to Coast Fire territory is sound. BUT just make sure that you don’t live your coast fire journey. Meaning that you shall keep and behave as if your future depended on your survival in the company and as if you didn’t have / weren’t building up your safety net.
I’m also concerned about my job more than ever. Every year there seems to be a layoff of about 5%, and that seems OK when they target poor performers, but when the market is not good there is a 10-15% cut (although they will tend to do this over 6 months in different rounds, with lots of silent layoffs in between). In the bugger layoffs they tend to focus on expenses rather than trimming the fat - anyone older, more senior and living in in high cost areas. For between or worse I tick those boxes now . I almost regret my last promotion! The real issue is this year the companies special tax deal with the state runs out, so they no longer need to maintain the head count. And here I am off work recovering from cancer.
I don’t know if I should try and stay on sick leave as long as possible to maximise the payout, or go back to work soon (part time) and try and show my face, contribute and suck up to management.
With my wife recently passed away, loosing this job would add a lot of stress. I would certainly be looking at a significant pay cut, which would almost certainly mean the mortgage company will no longer let me keep the house, despite the costs being far lower than renting. My commute might go from 5 minutes to an 1h15, which not only sucks but adds huge stress to manage the children after the school as currently I mostly work form home, or can lave the office 4h30 and be home in time for them.
the market is super tough at the moment. between AI and macro uncertainty hiring is not a top item. I am on garden leave and luckily have a long one. As soon as I got wind of “synergies” I started reconnecting with former colleagues, bosses and recruiters. It’s amazing how much I ignored this when I was working. My advice for everyone is reach out to anyone you have not talked to in 6-12 months. Say hi, grab a coffee, genuinely take an interest in them… and as for recruiters, give them a call as well
You are not alone. In my company as well, it was never the trend. You could lose your job but apply for other positions …
Except now it is an headcount freeze with a slowing economy, very high chf. Management is looking to nearshore in Romania or offshore in India entire teams to reduce costs. 6 teams have been already axed and they target cost Reduction for the next few years.
Work fois in the target even for it degrees which feel weird. I need to reconnect as well as I am still missing few years and inflated expense with small kid.
Layoffs probably wont be until August to September time, and there is probably a 3 month notice (legally 2 months min anyway), and probably 3 month severence package and some RSU vesting in that time.
Staying on sick leave is not guaranteed . I’m sure the Doctor wont rush me to work before the summer , but it might not be so easy to concince them I need the full 18 months as long as I am recovering.
My manager is in the US, they probably have zero idea that I am not costing the company anything.
My sickness insurance is 80%, but of my salary before I was promoted, so more like 80% of 85%. If I do loose my job then the extra up front cash wont hurt.
Being on sick leave doesn’t guarantee safety. As long as the position is truly being eliminated then the company is safe. If their goal is to remove me and my entire team from the Swiss office because the tax treaty ended, then probably they are quite safe
Although if I am on sick leave I can do my own training/projects, if I am at work I can also regain more experience working on some projects. I work in AI, so at work I have access to datasets, compute, all the latest LLMs and more or less unlimited AWS resources. With my post-chemo brain I am not feeling very innovative, but if I am given a problem to solve at wokr I will likely be fine.
The worst outcome is go restart work too early, get stress from work that hinders my recovery, then get laid of soon and end up on chomage which although incredibly generous, is capped and a lot lower than what I get form sickness benefits.
Yeah, I hear this from everyone. A colleague has spent a year trying to move out.
I work in AI, but it doesn’t feel like that is protecting me in anyway. It feels like companies are still more than happy to offshore to India , probably with the expectation that AI will compensate for any productivity differences.
A friend of mine would focus on getting every month at least 2-3 interviews with a new company (even and especially in the trial period in a new company): would keep his skills up to date and be sure not to miss any opportunities. That meant applying to at least 20-50 job ads per month.
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