Oddly enough, the 2 jobs I’ve been laid off from both were from companies which supposedly had severance pay, and in neither case did I receive anything more than vacation pay for the time I had earned. Also, both companies were out of business within 5 years of laying off their more talented people (not necessarily including myself in that group, they just unloaded folks who had beeen around awhile and knew what they were doing).
A “lay off” by definition involves a random selection of those to be “let go”. Companies do it to avoid expensive lawsuits that can result from selecting based on competence or other criterion. Often, they will hire back their most valuable employees after the layoff (*if* they are still available).
Actually, most layoffs are done by seniority (meaning those with least seniority go first), especially those where unions are involved. In the second layoff, I was the 4th most senior person out of 13 folks in our division. It didn’t bother me too much because the replacement job I found was at about a 40% higher salary without all the road time the old job had.
Do any companies still have “Personnel Departments”? I thought they all turned into “Human Resources” decades ago, even before all the secretaries became “Administrative Assistants”.
BTW, Apr. 21 is “Administrative Professionals Day”, formerly known as “Secretaries Day”.
GROG Premium Member over 14 years ago
Just keep sleeping on the job, Sims, and you’ll realize your goals.
MisngNOLA over 14 years ago
Oddly enough, the 2 jobs I’ve been laid off from both were from companies which supposedly had severance pay, and in neither case did I receive anything more than vacation pay for the time I had earned. Also, both companies were out of business within 5 years of laying off their more talented people (not necessarily including myself in that group, they just unloaded folks who had beeen around awhile and knew what they were doing).
stuart over 14 years ago
A “lay off” by definition involves a random selection of those to be “let go”. Companies do it to avoid expensive lawsuits that can result from selecting based on competence or other criterion. Often, they will hire back their most valuable employees after the layoff (*if* they are still available).
MisngNOLA over 14 years ago
Actually, most layoffs are done by seniority (meaning those with least seniority go first), especially those where unions are involved. In the second layoff, I was the 4th most senior person out of 13 folks in our division. It didn’t bother me too much because the replacement job I found was at about a 40% higher salary without all the road time the old job had.
pschearer Premium Member over 14 years ago
Do any companies still have “Personnel Departments”? I thought they all turned into “Human Resources” decades ago, even before all the secretaries became “Administrative Assistants”.
BTW, Apr. 21 is “Administrative Professionals Day”, formerly known as “Secretaries Day”.