Reflections
It’s a tough job market!
It’s the spring of 2025 and layoff announcements are everywhere, including my department in my Fortune 200 employer. We’ve all seen the org charts updates, and a few things are clear: 1. there are fewer roles in the new organization than there are people and 2. there are roles in the new organization that don’t really map back to the current team members. In other words, in less than two weeks, some of us will be out of work.
Some coworkers are scared stiff
I feel bad for many of my coworkers. I realize that we are all at different stages of life and various levels of financial stability and independence. Among people I know fairly well are 30-something parents of growing families, an older, single professional who just relocated to a high cost of living West Coast city for a new opportunity and several colleagues who are stepping up to financially and physically support ailing senior parents. My heart goes out to them because I see the fear in their eyes and hear the panic in their voices.
In the colorful words of my grandfather, my coworker (like many people in the office) is as nervous as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. Many are so hyper focused on the pending layoffs that they are distracted and unable to focus on getting work done.
Calm yet energized
“What should we do?” a nervous teammate implored me in a 1:1 meeting once the decision date for job cuts was announced. I struggled to empathetically match her worry. Trying not to sound dismissive, I calmly said: Well, either you start looking now and hope that you find a new job that you don’t need, or you save your energy and wait to see the outcome of the reorganization and then take things from there.
I wasn’t about to spoil her day by telling her that I actually saw opportunity in the pending layoffs and found the whole situation strangely energizing. Afterall, could this finally be the opportunity to escape from the comfortable prison I’ve confined myself to?
My Solution
I have a few tactics I use and things put in place that help me stay calm during or even feel energized by today’s corporate chaos.
- Spiritual Serenity: I like to tell people “I’m a Serenity Prayer lady”. That is, I accept the things I cannot change, change the things I can, and pray for the wisdom to know the difference.
- At this point, some SVP is making decisions for my role and there’s really nothing I can do to change the model dictating this decision.
- Financial Peace: Having all of our financial ducks in a row and being late career with assets and multiple income sources means that a sudden job loss is an inconvenience, not a catastrophe.
- Our mortgage on the primary home has been paid for years and we owe nothing on our income-generating rental. No car payments, no credit card bills, no debt means we only have “running costs” to cover, like household utilities, food, taxes and insurance.
- Energy Outlets: I have a lot of other places to put my focus and energy, including the homestead, outdoor adventure and fitness. (And, even so, I’m finding myself energized by the chaos to push the limits a bit and take risks by suggesting edgy solutions to issues and upping my creativity.)
- Looking after a homestead is, admittedly, quite a bit of work. But it’s work that I enjoy. And raising baby chicks, starting seedlings and making sure the dogs are trained and walked helps to keep the scope of “my job” in perspective.
These things enable me to stay steady at work and continue contributing to our mission and supporting my team members while delivering successes to my business partners.
Key Takeaways
Seasons of job loss are stressful, but I hope that you are able to stay calm. Even better, use the corporate chaos to energize you to tighten up your finances or dive into your hobbies.
- Find Serenity: Even if you’re not a prayerful person, by accepting that some things are simply out of your control and focusing on controlling things which ARE in your control, you can find a sense of calm and mastery in the storm. For my over 50 crowd: If you haven’t figured this out by now, it’s essential that you get this right soon so that you can head into your “silver years” with calm contentment.
- Establish Financial Order: If your finances are in good shape, take a moment to be grateful for the comfort that these safety margins grant. If your finances are in disarray, start today to take control of the situation. A good place to start is with Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps. Many nitpick and criticize the details of his approach, but I’m not aware of any other system that has pulled so many people out of debt and into a place of financial security. For my over 50 crowd: Time is no longer on your side and you need to take aggressive steps to ensure financial order to provide for your senior self once you run out of earning years.
- Contextualize Work: One of the best ways to put work in its proper place is to have other areas to focus your energy. Whatever these are for you (family, hobbies, reading, homesteading, etc.), nurture your commitments to these other areas of your life and dedicate the time and energy to them which they deserve. For my over 50 crowd: For many of us, work naturally diminishes with age as we experience more of what life throws at us and appreciate that work is really a small part of a much bigger picture. If this doesn’t describe you, then I encourage you to more assertively tell work to “Sit. Stay” and make more space for other things in your life.
You never know. Losing the ball and chain of your current job may just be the start of something new and great for you! Harness the energy of the season.