For the past month, I and my fellow 80,000 colleagues are in limbo. The news that our company is about to lay off 7% of us leaked, and then was confirmed in the earnings report call. We have had a month to wait to hear which ones of us will be affected, and we find out tomorrow.
It feels like you overheard your boyfriend telling a friend he was going to dump you and when you confronted him about it he said, “Yes, but I haven’t finalized the decision so I’ll let you know in a month.”
Clearly this has created a lot of stress, buzz, consternation, and confusion. I’ve been through so many of these layoff cycles that I have lots of baggage, including some major abandonment issues. Here are some things that don’t work, and some more effective coping methods.
[Go here for a related post on Layoff ❤️🩹 Survivor’s Syndrome.]
What Doesn’t Work
- Pick Me Vibes. Working your butt off to prove you are producing things even though things will go nowhere and not necessarily be used. It reeks of desperation and you deserve better.
- Overcommitting. Don’t add more work and stress to your plate, instead set boundaries.
- Pretending Everything is Fine. Toxic Positivity. Yes, masking seems to work until it doesn’t and you explode. Things are not fine. To pretend that they are is dishonest collusion, or dishonest harmony. That doesn’t mean you need to dump your feelings every time someone asks “How are you doing?” at the beginning of a meeting. But you can turn off your camera when needed or take a mental health day to escape the cognitive dissonance.
- Oversharing Negative Juju. Yes it’s authentic, but is it helping? Let’s not bring everyone down, just sharing to the few people who you can trust and are there for you. I admit I struggle with this because I like to live very openly. Can include your therapist, coach, and partner, plus work besties.
What Might or Might Not Help
- Car screaming at the Target parking lot. It turns out chilling there with a Starbucks is a pretty common mom destress zone.
- Intel gathering through the rumor mill. Often the rumors are inaccurate, or not timely enough to help you decide what to do about it.
- Rage applying. This can be time-consuming but can help increase your confidence and help you practice interview skills. It can give you real options to compare your current situation to.
What Works – A Career Glow Up
- Self Care. Exercise, meditation, grounding, talking to people who care, including but not limited to therapist, coach, family and friends.
- Develop Yourself. Work on that resume, make it compliant with applicant tracking system (ATS) standards. (My TikTok about this.) Brush up on your financial knowledge and invest and save.
- Envision. Research about the fastest growing jobs in the next 5-10 years, and make sure you like the direction you are headed and it still meets your goals.
- Class in Session. Take free or inexpensive courses, sign up for a certificate, learn something new. My employer offers LinkedIn Learning, Udemy, Cousera, and other types of courses for free. Check your benefits to see what trainings you can get through your job. Soft skills development like speaking and communication, strategy and leadership are just as or more important than technical training. (My TikTok about this)
- Diversify Your Network. Reach out to 1-2 people per week you’d like to get to know, in other companies and departments. Watch this TikTok.
- Work on that Passion Project. Work on that thing that is interesting, for your day job or your side hustle. Something that you can control the process and the outcome with autonomy. Something that lets you learn and experiment at the same time.
- Feather your Nest – Fancify your real or virtual background, invest in nice pens and headphones, get a new headshot. Do a virtual glow-up.
Where Do We Go From Here?
Unfortunately, one of the most useful pieces of advice is also the last thing I want to hear during a time like this.
Patience is an important virtue right now.
Being patient doesn’t mean we are passively waiting to be told our fate. But there is a function of patience that includes acceptance. Accepting where we are in this process of constant change. Re-accepting what we had forgotten – that change is constant and inevitable.
Yes, there are certain actions we can take to feel prepared. But at a certain point we each have to face the change that rolls through, just as the seasons change one after the other.
My Must-Have WFH Tools and Accessories
One of the steps I mentioned above is to decorate your workspace and make your working setup more comfortable.
I have picked up all of these over the past few months to help make my remote workspace and home life more relaxing and comfortable. I’m only sharing the items that I kept and am happy with. The affiliate links help me support this blog.
I use multiple services, including Amazon Grocery, Instacart+, Doordash Dashpass, Papa Spud’s Produce (local to the Triangle, NC). Some come as credit card or Amazon Prime benefits, and others I pay outright for.
Ever since a nurse friend of mine told me about these, I have ordered two sets and I keep these everywhere in the house and in my purse.
A cheap desk cover that doubles as a mousepad helps me keep my desk clean and neat-looking.
Handy for keeping your phone horizontal while charging so you can view the time and date as an additional mini screen by your desk. Available in multiple colors to match your setup.
Remember to breathe during a stressful meeting by huffing the natural scents in this lovely pen. It comes in different fragrances, but I love a forest or mossy scent the most.
The co-founder of Lifelines is Melissa of Melissa and Doug toys.
Quickly alternate between your work and home laptop with a button press. This keyboard also has a slot to use as a phone stand, and comes in two cute colors. It fits well in my backpack for travel.
The keyboard above can be bought with a matching mouse for small hands but I prefer this one which can rotate between three devices and is less petite.
I love the look of real candles (and the scent) but this is a smarter choice that I can set on a timer or leave unattended if I’d like. Just a cute soft glow in the background to show off my antique candelabra.
