I spoke with boss today about my wife being laid off and my concerns about decreasing sales at my company. He agreed that things are bad and said there will likely be another reduction in workforce in January or February. Thankfully, he told me that I am a core manager and would be one of the last people let go.

We discussed other areas I can contribute while the product line I manage is in the dumps. I was very encouraged to learn that I have a bit more job security than I had thought, although my boss was careful to say that nothing in this world is guaranteed. If we do have another layoff in the next couple of months, my boss indicated that we may also go to a 4 day work week with a 20% reduction in pay. That would be tough, especially with my wife on unemployment, but it’s still doable and better than the alternative.

Oh, and in other good news, my wife already has a job interview lined up for Thursday. What a blessed day!

My wife was informed this morning that her last day with her company will be December 31st. We were expecting it, but now it is real.

She is already on top of the search for a new job having updated her resume and cover letter last week and requested letters of recommendation. She even applied to a few companies over the weekend and updated her profile on job search websites.

We’ve begun taking a look at were we can dramatically reduce our monthly expenses and have started gathering information on unemployment. My wife has a few vacation days that she will cash in before her last day. More importantly, my wife found out on Friday that she will receive a $3,544 quarterly bonus on 12/15. Thank God for his perfect timing. She also learned that she will receive another quarterly bonus in March, even though she will not be with the company.

With ~$450/week for employment and earning the rare buck or two baby sitting our neighbors child, we shouldn’t have to pull any money from savings for quite some time.

There’s a lot happening right now, I’ll keep you posted.

After returning to work from my business trip, I found out that my company ended up laying off 7 employees (1 more than my manager told me). I was surprised by a couple of the employees chosen for the reduction in force, especially a woman who had been with the company for nearly 20 years and appeared to be a hard worker.

It’s never a good time to be let go, but right before Thanksgiving has to be one of the harder times of the year to lose your job. Many companies operate on a skeleton crew during the holiday season because everyone is on vacation. I have to think this is not an ideal interviewing time, especially with the unemployment rates increasing because of the economic downturn. I hope they are able to find new jobs quickly.

I learned that the employees were given 1 week of severance for each year of employment. Should the worst ever happen to me, it’s comforting to know that I may get the same package. That would be ~7-1/2 weeks of severance for me. I’m going to work my tail off to ensure that it never comes to that though. God willing.

I will be on a business trip in Europe next week, so my boss took me to lunch today to let me know that our company will be laying off 6 employees next Friday. We’re a small company, so this represents 15% of our employees. They are basically cutting one employee from each department. I did not find out who will be let go, but was assured it won’t be me or my sales representative.

To survive during this tough economic time, my company is going to continue to dramatically reduce expenses. The Owner of the company has recently quit taking a paycheck, and my boss and our controller took a 20% reduction in pay. If things keep getting worse, my company may move to a 4 day work week and ask all employees to take a 20% cut in pay. Quite frankly, I’d much prefer that to loosing my job.
I feel bad knowing that some of my co-workers/friends are going to be out of a job next week. I thank God that I made it thru this first cut and hope my company is able to get through these tough times.

On a related note, my wife’s company will be having a big shake-up in December. Her boss, who has been with the company 23 years, has already been informed that his position will no longer exist. He was able to find a rep position to move to in the company in December, but new employees, like my wife, won’t know where they stand until December.

These are scary times. In addition to praying for our companies and jobs, we’ve cut expenses and tried to bolster our savings. It looks like we should plan to tighten our belts a bit further.

My wife began her new job today; it’s exciting to get this new chapter in her (our) life started.

She will be spending the first couple of months learning the products. Then, she’ll be heading out into the field to meet with the doctors. Her company has provided her with a rental car until her new company car is ready. She should also receive her company gas card this week. Her first paycheck will arrive on 7/4 and will tell us exactly how much extra we can invest, save, and use to pay down our 2nd mortgage. Exciting stuff!

Her old company had a nice send off for her on Friday, including giving her a gift card and taking her out to lunch. Not only was that very nice of them, it’s a good indication that they will pay her the final commissions she is do. She hopes to receive the large ~$4,000 commission in mid July.

My wife is leading the way in our quest for financial freedom. I’m going to do my best to try to keep up.

Great news! My wife has accepted the job offer that she was considering. We are very blessed in that she was offered the job within 2 days of being laid off from her last company. After meeting with them again this morning to learn more about the company and the job, she decided it was a good fit. She starts with them on Tuesday of next week.

Her first 2 months with the company are training, but there may still be an opportunity for her to earn some commission during this time because she inherits all existing accounts in her protected territory. Any accounts that are due to renew service, she receives a commission for.

I am very proud of her. You hear horror stories of people being out of work for months on end. Within a week, she interviewed with numerous companies and received quite a few call backs for second interviews.

Since she received a new job so quick, and her old company agreed to pay her until 9/5, we will not experience any paycheck lapse. Therefore, our emergency fund will remain untouched and we’re moving forward. I’ve got to say, it’s good to know we were prepared for the worst in case things worked out differently.

This concludes this test of the Emergency Broadcast System.