A couple of days ago, my boss told me that the Owner of our company may be laying off 20% of the company and that my name came up during a conversation. He explained that it was because I am not putting in enough extra hours during this very tough time for our company. I explained to him that, in addition to coming into work earlier than everyone each morning, I spend evening and weekends at home working.
Long story short, my boss spoke with the Owner cleared it up. I have also decided to put in extra “face time” at the office in the evenings to eliminate any perception that I am not working enough hours. Thankfully, our sales are up and there won’t be a layoff this month. My boss assured me that I would not be let go if we do another layoff.
My wife and I have decided to focus on building our cash reserves again and reduce our retirement contributions. This will serve two purposes: 1st to provide security should I lose my job and 2nd to help us save for a house if I do not lose my job.
Oh wow! That kind of situation has to be tough on morale, though. Your boss shouldn’t have to talk to you about the situation to understand what’s going on. If you’re putting in the hours and getting your job done, then he should be noticing that. Conversely, if they’re laying people off to save money, it would make sense to nix overtime before they start just letting people go. Stories like that frustrate me. I can’t imagine it’s easy to make the decision to lay someone off, but their *reason* was pretty lame. I’m glad; however, that you walked away with your job intact! Best of luck to you on that one!
Don’t you already have a house?
Kristy,
Yeah, it is tough on morale and the stress levels are much higher than usual. I think their just taking it month-by-month for now in terms of whether or not another layoff is needed.
WorkHomePlay,
We have a very small condo and hope to be able to afford a house in the next 5 years or so.
-1MansMoney
sounds like a good move to build up the cash reserves.
Louise,
I’m hoping we can dramatically increase our cash reserves in the next 6 months. Time will tell.
-1MansMoney
man, i am really hating the way all this stuff is playing out – i hope things get back to normal for ya soon!!!
it’s def. interesting how you could work crazy hours, but if no one sees you they assume you’re not working. i’ve been getting better about shooting off emails @ nights/weekends when working,and just literally walking into people’s offices and asking questions/talking about biz 😉
the little things that make such a difference, eh?
You are totally right J. Money. It’s weird how there is a “game” to it. It’s retarded.
-1MansMoney