When it Comes to Work, are We All Replaceable?
In addition to the full moon this week, was Mercury in retrograde? Were there cosmic forces gone awry? It was a weird week for me, I’m wondering if it felt the same for anyone else. At the very least, universal energy was swirling around and stirring things up. And this time, I can blame more than just my hormones for the weirdness (haha)!!
On Wednesday of this week, I went to work at 5:30 AM to help unload the truck (it’s actually one of my favorite shifts). By 10 AM our truck crew was asked to meet in the back. I thought it was for a planned baby shower, however it was to let us know that the company made the difficult decision to lay off about 100 full-time employees to cut costs. Unfortunately, our store was one of the stores affected and the position that was eliminated was a 12-year company veteran, who had more institutional knowledge and experience that all of us part-timers combined. He was the most helpful assistant manager, had supported numerous stores across the nation during his tenure, and was well respected and valued by the management team and all of the employees at my store. It was shocking to many who had worked side by side with him those 12 years. It also shifted many perspectives about the company, which has been featured as one of the top 100 places to work for almost 20 years. Naturally, we all went to Chick-Fil-A to drown our sorrows and process as a community, what had just taken place.
Of course, when something like this happens, it forces one to reflect and sometimes revisit their own experiences in the workplace. The first time I was laid off or my “position was eliminated” was in my early 20’s. Right out of college I worked for a local rape crisis and domestic violence shelter. I was first hired on as a part-time crisis hotline responder. After a few months a full time advocate position opened up and I accepted it, it was a great role! At that age I had no idea about grants, funding, and business budgets. I had a supervisor that was my age, I was hooking up with her brother and we spent most of our weekends drinking at her house. Ahhh, to be 20 again! After about 9 months in the job, I came into work one day and there was a letter attached to the office door notifying me that the grant, which funded my position, was not renewed and my position had been eliminated effective immediately.
WTF?? Not only was this my first time being laid off, it was also my first experience with a terrible leader and executive director, who didn’t have the decency to tell me in person that I had just lost my job (a letter posted on the office door, seriously?). The worst part is that I had bought a car just two days before and my direct supervisor (the one I had been drinking with regularly), knew the position was going to be eliminated. She was told if she notified me that she too would be fired. This was also a difficult lesson in the loyalty of friendships. I was so angry, hurt, and confused.
Two years later I had started a full-time job as the ADA compliance coordinator for daycare centers with a local early childhood education agency. There were various programs at the center and several of us shared a large open space with cubicles. There was one closed door office that belonged to one of the program assistant directors. After about a month on the job, I was at my desk and noticed several of the big wigs walking into our space and heading to the assistant director’s office, they pulled in one or two other people from our office as well. About 30 minutes later they left, followed by the assistant director who was inconsolable sharing she just lost her job and was asked to leave immediately. We were all in shock! Not only because of the layoffs, but because the assistant director had to be the kindest, most hard working woman I had met.
Later that afternoon, they brought the entire organization together to notify us that one of their big contracts with the state had been discontinued and there was a moratorium in place (new word for me at the time), we could not discuss the layoffs or the loss of the contract amongst ourselves or with anyone else.
Prior to starting my job at the early education center, I was a child protective case worker for the State of Florida. When I decided to take the early childhood education position, my supervisor with the state asked me to stay on as a part-time independent contractor to conduct home studies for family members who were taking in displaced children. She valued my skills, I was really good at the job, I enjoyed it, and it was meaningful work. Right around the time of the layoffs at the Early Childhood Education Center, my supervisor with the state came to me and said she had to let me go because her new boss didn’t think my position was valuable and wanted to pass that work along to the already overworked full-time case workers. Another one bites the dust!
Bringing me full circle back to getting laid off last year and witnessing another lay off just this week. It’s amazing to me how eerily replaceable we all are at work. How many of us, give 110% each day to our jobs because we find meaning and purpose in them, because our jobs offer the financial support we need to take care of our basic needs, funds to support our families, pets, hobbies, travel, and so much more.
Yet, the jobs can be erased in a matter of seconds, with no questions, no second thoughts to how an individual’s livelihood might be affected, or the overall performance impact these decisions would have on the teams that remain in place to continue the work. I’m not sure, after considering all of these experiences, that I will ever find myself able to truly be loyal to any future employer in the same ways that I have in the past. Even if you do everything in your power to be indispensable to an organization, we’re still dispensable.
The irony of my current situation is not lost on me either. As I rehash all of these experiences I’ve had, I’m also in the process of looking for full-time work. I love my personal business, but it doesn’t pay the bills. I’m committed to making the business work, and also I need to find meaningful, full-time work that will allow me to support my business as well as pay my mortgage.
Has there ever been a time in your life where you were personally or indirectly affected by company layoffs? In what ways were you impacted? What motivated you to move forward and how did you succeed? What does work mean to you? Take some time to journal and reflect on these questions and if you’re feeling brave, share your story on our Facebook page!
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