The Reversal of the Music: How Employees are Feeling the Whistlash and What They Can Do to Support Their Careers
“Everybody’s feeling the whiplash,” said Suzanne Bates, partner and managing director of the corporate strategy firm BTS. “It’s this strange reversal of fortunes where everybody has been incredibly busy — and they still have needs, clients and customers — but at the same time there’s a lot of whispering in the hallways about hiring freezes.”
The job market had record opportunities for hopping from seat to seat. Now many feel that the music is about to stop.
There is an audible angst in workshops that support job seekers. During a presentation last week, an employee of FlexJobs gave tips on how to explain gaps on a résumé and recover from layoffs. The session that Ms. Frana had offered early in the Pandemic was necessary to bring it back this fall.
A year ago, she had switched to a new team at her company, buoyed by the labor shortage. Now she feels that the economy has turned on her. The job pool and the cost of everything keep going up.
“After the shutdowns, everything was coming back to life, things were getting better, you had opportunities to choose from,” said Ms. McCleary, 38, who lives in Indianapolis. “It kind of felt like everything went south economywise.”
While some workers are concerned that a recession may result in their contracts not being renewed, another group of workers at the company have created internal chat forums where workers can inform one another of job openings as well as share updates about their contracts.
The first month of the year “is when most companies are doing restructures, reorganizations and setting the direction,” says Sarah Rodehorst, co-founder of Onwards HR, which helps companies carry out layoffs, adding that tech, health care, banking and finance are likely to see the biggest cuts in 2023.
The layoffs at Goldman will be announced in the first half of January, due to the slowing economic activity.
The reductions so far have cut across industries. Morgan Stanley, Amazon, Cisco, CNN, and a lot of other companies have cut staff this year. The company that owns Facebook reduced its workforce. There are more jobs being created in the US than there are workers to fill them. But that dynamic may change in 2023.
Losing a job can be devastating and it might be a little while before you’re ready to tell friends, family, or people in your professional network, let alone the world. Sharing news on social media can help you land that next opportunity.
One of the fastest ways to find a job after being laid off is to post about your skills being sought after, which is something Onwards HR is finding very useful. Recruiters are specifically looking for people who are doing those post and how they present themselves, that’s what we talked to them about. If they’re respectful to the company that laid them off, it shows a sense of character.
56% of Americans can’t cover an unexpected $1,000 bill from their savings, according to Bankrate, and if the job search drags on, unemployment benefits will help keep you afloat.
“You actually want to slow down your debt payoff or pause it so that you can save cash because in a layoff, cash is king,” says Michelle Singletary, personal finance columnist for the Washington Post. It is important that you prepare for the possibility that your minimum payments may need to stop while you focus on the necessities.
“One thing that many people don’t do, which is really surprising and I hear this from lenders, is that they don’t call. They feel embarrassed,” says Singletary. “Most of the time the lender will work with you. Maybe you can do a partial payment with a home loan.”
A downpayment on a house or college tuition can be one of the reasons why workers borrow money from their 401(k) accounts. But those terms are often contingent on holding on to your job.
Tammy Lally, a money coach and financial Planner, says you want to inquire about how the loan will be treated when you’re laid off. “Some employers will give you a grace period to pay the balance. And then after that time, if the balance is not paid off, it will be considered as a withdraw and it will be fully taxed.”
If you lose your job, you’ll also lose the health insurance that came with it, which is why it’s important to schedule any doctor’s appointments you’ve been postponing if you sense a layoff is around the corner.
Depending on your last day of employment, some employers and others will subsidize your health care for a certain period of time. “You can also take advantage of COBRA, which is a continuation of your health care and you’ll want to look at healthcare.gov to compare it to other plans on the marketplace.”
How Do You Lose Your Identity? A Mental Health Advocate for the Care of People whose Families Have Grieved Through Their Job Loss
For better or worse, our identities are often tied to our work. Losing it suddenly, along with the meaning, purpose, or structure it offered, can feel like losing a part of one’s self.
“We ought to allow people to grieve the loss of their job,” says Singletary. “There are organizations where you can go online and get some free counseling, and when you lose your job, your insurance may not be canceled right away and you may want to see if you can get an appointment with a mental health provider.”