31–40 of 167 posts
Why is being laid off being compared to the grief related to the death of a parent? Why would there be any grief from a layoff? It’s just a job. Anyone in mourning because they have to job hunt probably has some bigger issues that aren’t going to be helped in any way by what friends do or do not say.
Why is being laid off being compared to the grief related to the death of a parent? Why would there be any grief from a layoff? It’s just a job. Anyone in mourning because they have to job hunt probably has some bigger issues that aren’t going to be helped in any way by what friends do or do not say.
If you have a family that relies on your income it can be very stressful. Especially if you don’t have a fund. Uncertainty breeds anxiety.
"learn to code" but what do you (not) say to a programmer who got fired?
"The Five Stages of Grief" from the Kubler-Ross Model seems to apply. 1. Denial 2. Anger 3. Bargaining 4. Depression 5. Acceptance The detail most get confused with is these stages occur in no particular order. Personally, I would likely jump from 2 to 3, then found a competing nonprofit firm with 9k people in the same situation, The real danger with talent layoffs is people wrongly assume every employee is replaceab…
https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/health-history/its-time-le...
That said, it at least provides a vocabulary for talking about loss.
Why is being laid off being compared to the grief related to the death of a parent? Why would there be any grief from a layoff? It’s just a job. Anyone in mourning because they have to job hunt probably has some bigger issues that aren’t going to be helped in any way by what friends do or do not say.
Why is being laid off being compared to the grief related to the death of a parent? Why would there be any grief from a layoff? It’s just a job. Anyone in mourning because they have to job hunt probably has some bigger issues that aren’t going to be helped in any way by what friends do or do not say.
While the juxtaposition seemed off to me as well, layoffs can have serious consequences. Not everyone (in all situations) can send a few emails and have another well-paying job in a few weeks. I've known especially somewhat later career people in the dot-bomb era who basically never really recovered from a layoff in terms of either career or finances. So, yes, it's just a job with the caveat that you probably want/need to get another comparable one and probably would prefer not to move across the country or even move countries (depending on visas) to do so.
"I'd tell you some lay-off jokes to cheer you up, but none of `em work!"
"Who's there?"
"Not you anymore."
This is dreadful, I know.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
To someone from a more collectivist culture this sounds perfectly noncommittal - a weak reed that pierces the hand of anyone who would support himself on it. What is there to be had, except lunch expenses?
Oh wow. What would be more appropriate in a collectivist culture? Avoiding the message and instead go over to their house to do the things suggested above?
Especially bad and a red flag: "If you've got time this weekend we can grab lunch." The fellow might be in crisis now, but don't bother me until the weekend.
Why is being laid off being compared to the grief related to the death of a parent? Why would there be any grief from a layoff? It’s just a job. Anyone in mourning because they have to job hunt probably has some bigger issues that aren’t going to be helped in any way by what friends do or do not say.
"It's just a job" is a nice idea, but since it's something I do 8 hours a day 5 days a week I try to make it something I enjoy. I enjoy meeting with my coworkers each day, and like the projects I'm doing. I also probably care the least about my job of most of the people I know. For some of my FAANG friends working at a FAANG has been a life long dream. Sure it's easy to say "work shouldn't be important!" but for some people it is.
Most obvious financial insecurity: The tech market is shrinking (I personally think it is collapsing, but that is not a necessary belief to feel grief). Many of the people being laid off right now (and in the future) will have much stiffer competition than before. I have a recently laid off friend who just had a baby. His partner doesn't have a high income job. That's a lot of added stress. To add to this most FAANG employees might not see nearly as high comp as they're used to.
Then there is the serious loss we're going to see with any of our friends that are foreign nationals. I have a few friends on H1B visas. They're a big part of my life, own a home and plan on staying in the US indefinitely. They assumed they were on the path to a green card, which is reasonable given the market when the arrived at the US. It's very possible they will be forced to go back to their home country, never to come to the US again. Not only do these people have a justified reason to grieve, but any of their friends do as well.
And big picture: we're potentially seeing a change in the entire industry, on par with the dotcom bust (maybe worse, maybe better). I'm guessing you're too young to remember but for many people getting laid off in 1999-2000 was the end of their tech career. To get a sense of how big of an impact this has, consider how many of your coworkers are from the dotcom era? I'm guessing not many. The tech industry was huge and exciting then, just like it has been recently. A lot of people got wiped out and never returned to the high times of the late dotcom period.
There's honestly a lot of grief to be felt right now, not just for those being laid off but for those impacted by it indirectly (plus I think we're all waiting for that meeting if we haven't already had it).
"The Five Stages of Grief" from the Kubler-Ross Model seems to apply. 1. Denial 2. Anger 3. Bargaining 4. Depression 5. Acceptance The detail most get confused with is these stages occur in no particular order. Personally, I would likely jump from 2 to 3, then found a competing nonprofit firm with 9k people in the same situation, The real danger with talent layoffs is people wrongly assume every employee is replaceab…
From the authors reference frame the patients appeared to linearly accept their fate. If we randomly time traveled to their room and interviewed them which state would we encounter? Is the progress static regardless of environmental inputs or variable?
I have a hard time trusting past truth these days; editors and publishers want to sell books. There’s a huge labor market dedicated to PR and optics, tailored messaging. Sensibilities of the past were much more accepting that whatever made it on store shelves was absolutely correct and not a tailored product placement.