Episode 133 Career: How to get laid off

In this episode of The Crazy One, host Stephen Gates dives into a topic that’s all too familiar for many: getting laid off. With his personal experience of being laid off three times throughout his career, Stephen offers practical advice for those facing the uncertainty of potential job loss. He covers how to prepare for a layoff before it happens, the emotional rollercoaster of being let go, and the essential steps to take during and after the process. From understanding your severance package to managing the emotional fallout, Stephen provides insights into handling layoffs with resilience and turning the experience into an opportunity for growth. Whether you’re currently facing job insecurity or simply want to be better prepared, this episode offers valuable advice for navigating the tough times and bouncing back stronger.

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Transcript

What's going on, everybody? And welcome into the 133rd episode of the Crazy One podcast. As always, I'm your host, Stephen Gates. And this is the show we talk about creative creativity, leadership and design and all sorts of stuff that matter to creative people. Give me a break. It's been a while since I've done the opening. I'm a little rusty at it, so what I want to do with this episode is I'm going to talk about what I think is probably the third biggest question that I get through the mentoring things that I've done lately, which is, Steve, I think I might be about to get laid off or I have been recently laid off.

What do I do? And I've done probably episodes like this in the past, or sort of touched on it a little bit again over the space of seven years. Some of the details are on. Some of the shows have become unfortunately fuzzy, but that's what I wanna talk about. I want to talk about if you think you're going to get laid off and this is the first time that's happened, what does it look like?

What can you expect whenever it happens? What are some of the things you should ask whenever it does happen, and just some of the things to be able to think about? Because I am, unfortunately, the veteran of having been laid off three different times over the course of my career. So it is a a subject that I think I have a disappointingly large amount of expertise in.

So let's start with if you think you're going to get laid off and you're still on your job. And I think for a lot of us, we know when that's going to happen. It just, you know, it starts to feel different. Maybe there are fewer meetings. Maybe you're not being involved in those sort of things. You're hearing rumors of layoffs.

You're just you have concerns, right? I think some of them are more obvious. Whenever it's obvious that you're being worked out and cut out of things, some a little bit less obvious of just, hey, I feel like my department could be at risk or just in general, you know, they just may randomly come through with a red pen and cut people.

And I think, you know, the first thing to start to do that I think is important is to start to prepare for that. And that can mean a number of different things. I think at work it can mean starting to make sure if there are key designs or keyed files, things that you're going to want to be able to share, or whenever you need to do a portfolio review or screenshots of your work, or if you have personal notes that you have on a laptop that are, you know, things for your family or whatever it is, you want to make sure you're getting that stuff off.

Because one of the things is going to happen is whenever you get laid off, you will probably lose access to everything. Now, that isn't always the case. I think. You know, there are times whenever I've been laid off, whenever you can have a week or two to sort of close things out. But honestly, there's also been times like whenever I one time I was laid off, I was deemed as a security risk because of how long I had been there.

They wiped my phone, my tablet, they canceled my credit card. They even canceled a plane trip home. So I think it can also be very sudden. And what you don't want to do is you don't want to get caught in that place of like, crap. I wish I would have. And so again, there are times whenever I've taken personal effects out of my office because I thought something might happen or the things like that, but it's just you want to start to plan for, okay, if this happens on the work side, what am I going to need to be able to just, again, sort of move forward?

I think there's also the starting to prepare on the personal side, because whenever I'm starting to have that feeling, the reality is the other parts that I've started to do is start to look at spending, to start to get rid of unnecessary bills, start to make sure that credit card payments are as low as they can be. Like really saying, okay, look, if we're if we're about to go into a lean period and I've still got a paycheck, how do I thin things up and shore things up so that if this happens, I'm going to be not in a great spot, but a better spot, right?

How do I start to have a conversation with my significant other about this could be happening? How do we start to be able to just just to start to prepare? Because I think that for me was the worst part of this ever was the first time I got laid off, I was completely unprepared. I my network was in shambles.

I didn't have a resume, my portfolio was not put together, I was in. I was nowhere prepared for it to happen. And it was such a shock. It felt so. I felt so powerless. It took me weeks to be able to get things back together. This is part of the reason why I started building my brand, or why I keep a portfolio site, or why I keep case studies up to date is just because I was like, look, I'm never going to be caught that flat footed again.

So some of it is saying, okay, look, even if you have that hunch, because I would rather go through that period, get ready for it and then not need it versus crap, I was right, and I'm unprepared. So some of it is if you think that's going to happen, start preparing for winter now. Whenever it does happen, usually the way that it goes is you'll get it could be a couple days in advance, could be the night before.

It could be the morning of usually you're going to get it's often sort of a cryptic, cryptically named or unnamed meeting. It's usually 15 or 30 minutes long. Sometimes it comes from HR, or sometimes it will come from your boss, but usually it's a fairly cryptic sort of weird thing. It's the kind that you know it when you see it, because your stomach and your soul just sort of sinks out of your feet because you're like, crap, I'm about to get laid off.

It's not like it's a boss, right? Like there's a boss. Anytime anybody goes kind of 15 minutes, you know they're going to quit. So I think that that's going to be the first sign of that. Now, what I will often advise people to do is just show up and listen, because I think what you don't you don't want to commit to things you don't want to sign anything you don't like.

Don't be emotional in that moment. That usually the way it's going to go is your boss will kick it off. Most of the time they're going to read from a script because the reason why they're doing that is for legal reasons, because if they say anything that's out of place or out of line, then that could open them up to lawsuits.

Usually it's something along the lines of, Steve, you know, I hate to inform you that today you know, we're going through a restructuring or whatever it is, your job has been affected by this. And here is, you know, John Doe from HR who's going to tell you what's going to happen. You can expect it to be very short.

It's usually very cold. And then most of the time they will leave the meeting, leaving you with the HR person to explain what the package is. Now, here's the other thing to remember is that companies are not required in most states to pay you any severance at all, so do not expect that you're going to get any. I've seen people who have worked places for over a decade, and they literally got one week severance, one week for ten years.

So again, don't think that this this is a family. Don't think that they owe you anything. If they do it, it's usually just, you know, them trying to be nice about it or to do something like that. But HR will then explain to you a number of different things. One when is the action going into place? Does it happen immediately?

As in right now, end of the day, end of the week? Most of the time, this is why they lay people off on a Friday, because it's easier to close things out at the end of the day, mop things up. Then we're going to cut off your access or do whatever it is. They're going to tell you what a severance look like

So, at least for here in the United States, what that's usually going to consist of is that they're going to tell you sort of basically what is your severance package made up of? Part of that is going to be pay in terms of how much are they going to pay you and for how long. Now, one of the things to watch out for, because I have seen this had happened to me, is that again, don't assume that they have your best interest in mind, because one of the tricks one of my former employees employers tried to pull was that they were going to pay me severance for six weeks, but what they were going to

do is they're going to continue to do it every two weeks as a paycheck, as opposed to cutting me a lump sum. Now, if you really read the severance contract, what you were going to find out was the reason why they're doing every two weeks was because at any point during that six months, whenever, if I got a new job, they were going to stop paying me my severance.

And what I saw was a lot of my peers didn't read that part. And what happened was they went out within a week or two and they not got a new job, and they thought they were going to get a double paycheck for the weeks and months to come, only to find out that that was not the case because they didn't read the details.

So this is why it is important in this moment to not agree to anything, to not sign anything, to be able to go back. And they will send you some sort of a severance document or some sort of a severance package outlining pay, health care, you know, just what are they? Are they going to pay for your vacation days or not?

Other things like that. Usually the only question that I want to make sure that usually people ask whenever they present you with this, actually there's two questions. One, what is the timetable that I need to be able to respond to this in? Because in some cases they'll say take your time, whatever that is. Some they may say by the end of the day.

So you need to understand what the window is. And then the other thing that I'll usually ask is what is negotiable? Because I think for a lot of people, they don't understand that this could be negotiable. Now, it may not be right. There may be parts of this that are not negotiable, but there may be parts of it that are.

And the reason why you want to be able to understand that is because there are times whenever I've gotten laid off from two jobs I've negotiated to get my laptop from them because I knew they had already amortized the cost of it out. Taking it back was going to be a pain in the ass. They weren't going to want to know what to do with it.

So it's like, hey, can I disagree that I can keep my equipment, it can come in and wipe it so that I don't have any information on it. You can be you can cut loose from it, but can I just hold on to that? You can ask about things like that. Can you try to say, okay, look what if, you know, you don't pay me for my vacation days, but you extend my, my health coverage?

There may be things that they're willing to do. There may not be, but I think it's an important thing to be able to understand, because in general, what I would recommend is this is an incredibly important moment. I would recommend, if you can, to get a lawyer to look it over, because, you know, in most cases they're not trying to pull anything over on you.

But that's not saying that they couldn't or that there isn't a detail in there that you need to know about. So that in that moment, like I said, just try to be unemotional. Ask those couple questions. Say thank you. Get the paperwork, like print it out or sit down. Go over it again. If there are things that you have, questions you have or things you want to negotiate, then you can go back.

But you'll sort of then understand what's going to happen. Whenever you do that. Now the other part of it from there is that what I've found is I will actually give myself some time. To just be pissed off. Right? I've done it both ways. There are times whenever I've lived too long in that anger and disappointment. There are other times like this.

Last time, whenever I went back way too fast, or I got the news on a Thursday, I got laid off on a Friday and I announced it on a Monday. Wouldn't have killed me to have waited a week and given myself some time to be able to process it. In most cases, I will give myself time to be able to go through and to be angry, be pissed off, to scream, to cry to.

Because look, I know whenever you get laid off, I can rationalize that I got laid off because some executives made a bunch of dumb decisions and the company underperformed or whatever it was, and as a result, they have to lay people off and then that's why I got affected. I understand that intellectually, emotionally doesn't still feel like they kept a bunch of people and not me.

Doesn't feel like I wasn't a failure, doesn't feel like again, it isn't a real form of rejection. And I think, you know, this is your first time. The more real that is. This is why I see so many people get to that point where they're just admitting they've been laid off is almost like a scarlet letter. I mean, I remember when she interviewed me for Design Matters and I said, I got laid off.

She said, why would you say that? It's like, because it's the truth, right? I don't think it's anything to hide. If anything, what I've experienced is that by being honest, it's gotten me new jobs and new clients, because most of the time whenever I just said, look, this is what happened, this was the circumstance. This is my reaction to it.

I've gotten a lot of new job offers or job leads or people who have reached out because they said, look, that's what real leadership actually looks like, right? It's just, hey, that happened. This is what it was. This is what I can learn. I'm moving on. And those are the sort of people we want to be able to work with.

But I think it's not a time to isolate yourself. It's not a time to feel ashamed. It's like it's a time to be able to be angry, be upset, scream, cry, talk to people. Right? Like figure out. And for me, I'll give myself a window a couple of days, probably a week at the most, where I want to be able to process it, get through whatever that is and say, okay, look, now we're going to go to war.

And for me, it's sort of like the seven stages of grief, because it actually literally is. And I want to get too angry as fast as I can because like, for me personally, anger is an incredibly productive emotion because it's an incredibly focusing emotion that what it allow me to do is to focus on go to war, because I'm a huge believer that success is the best revenge, right?

That I'm going to prove to you that you getting rid of me was the biggest mistake you could have made. It's not a reflection on me. It's not a reflection on my work. It's the fact that a bunch of you made a stupid decision that affected my life. And again, this is a big reason why I've started to build my brand and did those sort of things.

Whenever I went to a company, it meant something. When I left the company, it meant something. I had more power in that dialog than being somebody who was just like, If I'm going to be disposable, I'm not going to go quietly. And so I think that's a big part of what it is, is sort of giving yourself that time and then going to war.

Right. Take the time to get ready to go to war, to get your resume. If you didn't do it before, get your resume right, get your portfolio right. Think about those sort of things. So if that dream job does come along, you are ready to get it. Because if you don't have that stuff in place and that dream job comes along, there's a good chance you're going to miss it because you're either you're still in pain whenever you interview that still comes through, that you are bitter or hurt, or you aren't sort of fully yourself, that your materials aren't in the state that they should be in.

Again, I think I will even own this in that, you know, part of the reason why I had talked to so many companies on this last go around, and I have to own the fact that I'm a part of why I did not get a job, because I wasn't proud of the work I was presenting. I wasn't clear on what I wanted to do.

I was conflicted around, did I want to go back in house or not? That I was just all I wanted was the stability of it without really thinking it through. So I didn't show up at my best. I didn't show up in a good way. I wasn't clear on what it is that I wanted, and I got the results that matched, and I deserve that.

Right now, I just are part of it. Let's be a little kind of myself here. I deserve part of it. But these are the sort of things you have to be able to think of is that, you know, this is going to be an emotional journey. It's going to be a tough journey. It's gonna be a journey back into again of a lot of that really just trying to get to a place of how do you find hope?

Because I think it's a moment that feels very hopeless. It's a moment where you're looking for a lot of validation. It's a moment where you're trying to say, hey, my career decisions been right. Do other people see value and what this is? It's an extremely vulnerable moment going into what I think is one of the most inhuman processes there is.

Right? You apply to tons and tons of jobs. Hear back from almost none of them. You can go through the interview process, talk to tons of people at any point. They can drop you or not write you back, right? Like it? You're you're very aware of again just how disposable you are. And and I think sometimes whenever somebody does show you any recognition, it's like air to a drowning person.

Were you it's like, oh my God, you just you rejected me. That's amazing. Like, how messed up is that? Right? Or just even if anybody even shows any small amount of interest, the way you can rationalize how great it is, whether it is or not that you can do that, but I think this is sort of the journey to prepare to go on is just, you know, let yourself be anxious and use that energy to be ready.

Let yourself be in shock and be hurt, and then let yourself sort of move through that into getting back out there and proving them wrong, because I think that's going to be for me, success is the best revenge, right, is to say that, you know, okay, whatever that was, was a reflection of, I was successful in spite of you, not because of you.

And that I'm going to go show that time and time again, because by being successful company after company, I can show. No, no, this is talent. This wasn't luck, but there's not a right. I think the last thing to leave you with. There's not a right way to do this, right? There's not there's not a right way to have a career, and there's not a right way to go through this just because every situation is going to be different.

Some people get laid off, and it's a massive relief because I don't have to work with those assholes anymore. Sometimes it's incredibly heartbreaking because it's something you love to be a part of, and you really felt for, right? And it is as damaging as breaking up, you know, with the significant other in a relationship. And it takes time to get over and process that.

But I think all of whatever it is you are feeling is valid and let yourself feel that. But again, not let yourself get paralyzed by it of how do you sort of keep that in balance? Because there are layoffs that I will never I'll never lose this thing from, because also, in most cases, there's not a way for me to find any closure, right?

There's not a way for me to understand what was the CEO thinking or what was that person thinking, or why did they act that way, or why did they blow all this up? Right. There's never going to be an answer where I go, oh, I feel better about that. It's going to be stupid for forever, right? I'm going to look at some of those layoffs and go, the people that were behind that are going to be dumb.

Like they're just always going to be dumb and they just are. Maybe that's me protecting myself, but there's not a place I'm going to go. Oh, that makes sense. And I need to realize that and accept that that it's more just about the acceptance of it, that it is what it's going to be and moving on from it, than sitting there and kind of holding on to it.

So hopefully this was helpful. I mean, look here again, let me know, are there things that you found to do or are the ways that you've handled it that you found successful? I'd love to be able to share it or be able to kind of do follow up shows on some of this stuff to let people know. Or again, if there are things that you're struggling with, right?

Reach out or engage in places like the amazing design people is to be able to try to get some help and some mentoring around how do you find some of that perspective to be able to get to a better place, but hopefully, it was helpful. As always, appreciate sharing and helping the show get back on its feet. And as always, stay crazy.