I can't say I didn't see it coming. This round of layoffs isn't because the business can't meet payroll, or is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, or anything too devastating. In fact, given that I can get an idea of the company finances from where I'm sitting, it actually looks like the company is coming out of the woods - a miracle in a declining industry. Unfortunately, the new machinery doesn't need as many operators. They got fifteen people sitting around our department with nothing to do.
Doing layoffs when the company is actually a bit flush means that they can afford to be generous with the buyout package. And generous it is. With a potential final date three MONTHS in the future, the package involves weeks of severance, a signing bonus, continued healthcare, even career counseling.
Because I have two dependents named Visa and MasterCard (I'm stupid about money) I wasn't going to touch the buyout with a barge pole, but the buyout bonuses would erase the credit card debt with a bit left over besides. If not for the credit card debt, it'd be a golden parachute.
There are a monumentally huge number of factors to consider before I even think about signing off on this thing, but I think the biggest cause of my anxiety right now is the fact that I don't know how to be unemployed anymore. I got this job from a newspaper classified ad shortly before the death of Princess Diana, and started when "MMMMBop" by Hanson was topping the charts and the number one film was Jurassic Park II. I've never had to file for unemployment, haven't updated my resume since 2011, and haven't seriously been hurting for money since before the Clinton impeachment. I haven't run all the numbers for how long that severance will last - there are three possible budget scenarios based on the tax bite - but it won't last forever.
Or I might sign the thing and they decide not to take it because they already got enough applicants.
Or I don't sign the thing and they lay me off anyway because they didn't get enough applicants.
...Argh.
Anywho, my brain is doing that thing where it tries to apprehend all potential possibilities at the same time, which is a thing that actually put me in therapy for a while last year, and since it's stupid 'o clock (I work nights) and I need to pour my heart out somewhere, well, here I am...
Doing layoffs when the company is actually a bit flush means that they can afford to be generous with the buyout package. And generous it is. With a potential final date three MONTHS in the future, the package involves weeks of severance, a signing bonus, continued healthcare, even career counseling.
Because I have two dependents named Visa and MasterCard (I'm stupid about money) I wasn't going to touch the buyout with a barge pole, but the buyout bonuses would erase the credit card debt with a bit left over besides. If not for the credit card debt, it'd be a golden parachute.
There are a monumentally huge number of factors to consider before I even think about signing off on this thing, but I think the biggest cause of my anxiety right now is the fact that I don't know how to be unemployed anymore. I got this job from a newspaper classified ad shortly before the death of Princess Diana, and started when "MMMMBop" by Hanson was topping the charts and the number one film was Jurassic Park II. I've never had to file for unemployment, haven't updated my resume since 2011, and haven't seriously been hurting for money since before the Clinton impeachment. I haven't run all the numbers for how long that severance will last - there are three possible budget scenarios based on the tax bite - but it won't last forever.
Or I might sign the thing and they decide not to take it because they already got enough applicants.
Or I don't sign the thing and they lay me off anyway because they didn't get enough applicants.
...Argh.
Anywho, my brain is doing that thing where it tries to apprehend all potential possibilities at the same time, which is a thing that actually put me in therapy for a while last year, and since it's stupid 'o clock (I work nights) and I need to pour my heart out somewhere, well, here I am...
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