SYNDICATED COLUMN: This Time It’s Impersonal
•
Anatomy of a Corporate Layoff One year ago, I was fired. Not laid off—fired. In a layoff, you go home until the factory calls you back to work. I got fired. Everyone knew there would be a bloodbath. Management tried to keep it secret. But we knew. Human resources experts say mass firings should take place on a Friday. Worker bees are used to going home for the weekend. Duh. Mine took place on a Thursday. Which was my fault. A couple of weeks earlier, when management still believed that their Big Layoff was a big secret, I had told my boss I wanted that Friday off. They rescheduled the firings for me. To my erstwhile coworkers: sorry about harshing your Friday. When it came, I knew there was a good chance I’d be on the death list. It wasn’t rocket science: my boss didn’t like me. “Painful as it may be, a layoff is a good time to terminate…
Read More