Author Topic: My position is being eliminated! What mistakes to avoid?  (Read 3572 times)

infromsea

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My position is being eliminated! What mistakes to avoid?
« on: January 16, 2020, 11:51:37 AM »
YEAH!

My "big corporate" job/position is being eliminated. I've only "done" the work since it was from home and low stress with great pay and benefits.

I had a one-one-one with the supervisor today and as soon as she said HR was on the line I smiled and asked if I was being let go... lots of HR jargon followed.

We are FI, the wife works, I have a military retirement so the biggest issue here is my ego, trying to find out if it's a "true" downsizing or if they are letting me go for performance (initial answer is no, it has nothing to do with performance, I'm the junior person in the work group and budget changes, and I'm eligible for re-hire etc. etc. etc.) but, I know lots of folks "hide" behind such situations rather than saying "you suck, your abrasive, you speak your mind too often, you don't reply to emails fast enough" (FU money = do the job your way, something I've done...).

I am grateful that I've had this position and while I've had it I've lived life to the fullest/took every advantage of the freedom and flexibility it offered, no regrets here, now its just a matter of what's next. The last few months I've found myself disliking the job more and more and wishing I didn't have to meet even the low standards/work levels it required, I've found plenty of other activities to keep me engaged and active, many of them I'd rather do more of so there is that. This is a blessing in many ways since I would have probably hung out as long as they would have let me, since it was a cake job and paid well.... This is my second "retirement" now, the possibilities for the future are exciting.

I'm waiting on the email with the severance package (working from home... no walk of shame!) and want to be honest with the manager (it's not a big deal, I have income/savings/health insurance) but don't want to make any "mistakes" in this process, any tips/feedback?

BECABECA

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Re: My position is being eliminated! What mistakes to avoid?
« Reply #1 on: January 16, 2020, 12:00:12 PM »
Congrats! This is exactly the same situation (cushy work from home job that went through layoffs) that I was in that prompted me to retire.

Have you already gone through the PreFire checklist?
https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/post-fire/pre-fire-checklist/

I’m not sure if you’re eligible for unemployment while receiving a military pension, but you might be, so check on that.

infromsea

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Re: My position is being eliminated! What mistakes to avoid?
« Reply #2 on: January 16, 2020, 02:08:16 PM »
Good advice, thanks!

It looks like I'll be getting "paid" for 7 weeks after my last day... thoughts of an Appalachian Trail hike spring to mind...

cangelosibrown

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Re: My position is being eliminated! What mistakes to avoid?
« Reply #3 on: January 16, 2020, 02:45:22 PM »
Congratulations! Getting laid off and getting severance while you're already FI really is the dream.

infromsea

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Re: My position is being eliminated! What mistakes to avoid?
« Reply #4 on: January 16, 2020, 03:21:15 PM »
Congratulations! Getting laid off and getting severance while you're already FI really is the dream.

Thanks! Now I just have to get my ego, my puritan work ethic (instilled from family) and my monkey mind to agree! I've often struggled with identification with/from work, that's the only thing that stings here, to lose a "gravy job" and a sense of ID, it's been great to retire from the military and not have to take the JAC (just another contractor) job that so many around here resort to.

eyesonthehorizon

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Re: My position is being eliminated! What mistakes to avoid?
« Reply #5 on: January 18, 2020, 10:49:56 AM »
... Now I just have to get my ego, my puritan work ethic (instilled from family) and my monkey mind to agree! ...
I may find myself in a similar situation not too long from now and have been thinking about the approach for a while. While my job isn't quite so much "cake" and I dread going in many days, like you I also identify with it; my hunch is that this is largely as I haven't had a lot of engagement with my hobbies or a life outside of work. So what else are you doing with your time that feels purposeful? You mention there are other things you'd rather do more of. Is the lack of purpose from those simply perhaps because you currently spend so little time on them that they don't pay off at maximum? - or, were they just escapes/ adding a necessary dimension of variety to counterpoint the experience of work, but not inherently all that meaningful to you?

That aside... I'd like to echo the congratulations. When you've got a parachute to rely on and won't end up too bruised, this sort of change feels a lot more like opportunity than injury, and the severance might add some ongoing income to support your full engagement turning extracurriculars into daily life.

Padonak

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Re: My position is being eliminated! What mistakes to avoid?
« Reply #6 on: January 18, 2020, 11:42:51 AM »
Congratulations!

BECABECA

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Re: My position is being eliminated! What mistakes to avoid?
« Reply #7 on: January 18, 2020, 12:01:00 PM »
Congratulations! Getting laid off and getting severance while you're already FI really is the dream.

Thanks! Now I just have to get my ego, my puritan work ethic (instilled from family) and my monkey mind to agree! I've often struggled with identification with/from work, that's the only thing that stings here, to lose a "gravy job" and a sense of ID, it's been great to retire from the military and not have to take the JAC (just another contractor) job that so many around here resort to.

Logically, you know that this is the best thing for you: you’re already FI but were continuing to work a job that you were increasingly annoyed with, and you admit you’d likely have continued working it indefinitely. This was me too. When I heard rumors of layoffs, I decided that I’d volunteer if they asked for volunteers. But then they didn’t ask and selected me to lay-off. That hit the ego a bit but I know that if you just went by salary, I cost the most, so it was a reasonable selection. It’s a reasonable explanation that you have the least seniority, so just take that at face value and avoid the ego hit. My mom had a harder time at first when she got laid off, since she wasn’t quite FI and she really identified with her job. But a couple months later she had a half time consulting gig from home lined up with a competitor that appreciated her skills and she has been enjoying the flexibility that has given her. Now she’s FI and is scaling back to quarter time. Looking back, both of us agree that getting laid off was a big positive in our lives.

I think you know it’s going to be a big positive in your life too. Logic your ego and money mind off the ledge and enjoy!

As for your Puritan work ethic, if you can’t get over that and just allow yourself to relax, then retirement doesn’t have to be at odds with it. Write up a massive to do list of everything you’ve been putting off while working full time and get cracking on it! When you’ve finished all that, start looking at projects you could do to help the people around you that you care about, and when you’ve finished that, there’s endless volunteering opportunities.

infromsea

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Re: My position is being eliminated! What mistakes to avoid?
« Reply #8 on: January 19, 2020, 06:29:48 AM »
BLUF:
1. I didn't mentally process this eventuality like I should have and I don't like the process being out of my control as much as my previous retirement was.
2. Losing this level of income slows down my goal of reaching a certain net worth goal, why did I even have the goal, who am I trying to impress?
3. I got a lot of shit to work on...

Thanks to everyone for the feedback/external points of view!

---------------------------------------------

... Now I just have to get my ego, my puritan work ethic (instilled from family) and my monkey mind to agree! ...
I may find myself in a similar situation not too long from now and have been thinking about the approach for a while. While my job isn't quite so much "cake" and I dread going in many days, like you I also identify with it; my hunch is that this is largely as I haven't had a lot of engagement with my hobbies or a life outside of work. So what else are you doing with your time that feels purposeful? You mention there are other things you'd rather do more of. Is the lack of purpose from those simply perhaps because you currently spend so little time on them that they don't pay off at maximum? - or, were they just escapes/ adding a necessary dimension of variety to counterpoint the experience of work, but not inherently all that meaningful to you?

That aside... I'd like to echo the congratulations. When you've got a parachute to rely on and won't end up too bruised, this sort of change feels a lot more like opportunity than injury, and the severance might add some ongoing income to support your full engagement turning extracurriculars into daily life.
Thank you for the kind words and the external point of view and some great questions, answering them allows me to put my anxiety into words and "work through" the situation.

- Hobbies, I actually have several that I have been/am passionate about. An example, I am a distance runner BUT, have began to question WHY I am a distance runner.

Congratulations! Getting laid off and getting severance while you're already FI really is the dream.

Thanks! Now I just have to get my ego, my puritan work ethic (instilled from family) and my monkey mind to agree! I've often struggled with identification with/from work, that's the only thing that stings here, to lose a "gravy job" and a sense of ID, it's been great to retire from the military and not have to take the JAC (just another contractor) job that so many around here resort to.

Logically, you know that this is the best thing for you: you’re already FI but were continuing to work a job that you were increasingly annoyed with, and you admit you’d likely have continued working it indefinitely. This was me too. When I heard rumors of layoffs, I decided that I’d volunteer if they asked for volunteers. But then they didn’t ask and selected me to lay-off. That hit the ego a bit but I know that if you just went by salary, I cost the most, so it was a reasonable selection. It’s a reasonable explanation that you have the least seniority, so just take that at face value and avoid the ego hit. My mom had a harder time at first when she got laid off, since she wasn’t quite FI and she really identified with her job. But a couple months later she had a half time consulting gig from home lined up with a competitor that appreciated her skills and she has been enjoying the flexibility that has given her. Now she’s FI and is scaling back to quarter time. Looking back, both of us agree that getting laid off was a big positive in our lives.

I think you know it’s going to be a big positive in your life too. Logic your ego and money mind off the ledge and enjoy!

As for your Puritan work ethic, if you can’t get over that and just allow yourself to relax, then retirement doesn’t have to be at odds with it. Write up a massive to do list of everything you’ve been putting off while working full time and get cracking on it! When you’ve finished all that, start looking at projects you could do to help the people around you that you care about, and when you’ve finished that, there’s endless volunteering opportunities.

- You are spot on and thank you for the advice. I suspect that, like you, I'll look back and admit this was necessary for me to move forward.


« Last Edit: January 19, 2020, 06:12:30 PM by infromsea »