lifeinmycubicle

Layoff is not something new to us anymore. We hear melt-down, downsizing, mergers, layoffs everyday in the news, from our friends, family and co-workers. A lot of people are worried about losing their job. I’ve gone through two layoffs. First was in 2001 (one of the major Auditing Firms) and the second one was in 2005 (one of the major Internet companies). What I have learned about this experience is to learn to accept, let go and move on.

1. Accept, let go and move on. Anger, denial, worry, shock, grief, frustration, hurt, embarrassment are a few emotions you may or let me say “you will” experience when you get laid off. These are emotions that are hard to control but normal reactions to a loss of a job, someone or something important to us. Keep in mind that these feelings are normal and natural. Learn not to blame your company, boss, family, friends or even yourself for what has happened. Don’t waste your time and energy dwelling on the past. Instead, start creating positive perspective. Learn to accept that things happen for a reason. End negative thoughts and start thinking positive. Let go of the past and move on. Life goes on. 2. Browse through job boards and see what’s out there. Since I’ve gone through this twice, I already know what to expect. I work for a high tech company and we all know that it’s one of the industries that’s hardly hit by weak economy. While I still have my job, I browse through job boards like Yahoo! Hotjobs and Craigslist everyday (lunch break or at home after work). I do this just to see what’s out there. What do I benefit from checking the job boards? Knowing what jobs are being offered out there prepares me emotionally and mentally. it opens my mind to the unknown. I also learned more about myself, what I want and need in a job.

Our company may or may not layoff employees but I know we’re not doing well. From my experience, I have to prepare myself. I have to think of myself, my family and my future. I have already learned from my past experiences. My company will not be there for me when they lay me off.

When I browse through job boards, I look at both full-time and part-time jobs. This is how I came across eHow. I have always dreamed of working from home, either full-time or part-time. I have always wanted to write, help people and create training manuals.

3.  Keep your resume updated and save or print out kudos from managers or customers.

4. Attend in-house trainings offered by your company, if any. Our company offers in-house trainings or classes and I make sure I attend those classes. After each class or training, I update my resume.

5. Save your vacation hours. This tip may or may not work for others but it definitely works for me. I realize that we all seek for “work life balance”. I do too but I still manage to save my vacation hours. When I first got laid off, I was not expecting extra money besides my severance pay until I received my last check. I got more than what I expected. This extra money has helped me a lot. From then on, I’ve been extra careful with the use of my vacation hours.

6. Make sure you utilize your company’s medical benefits. You pay for it each month, so use it.

7. Have you accumulated sick hours? Convert your sick hours to cash or vacation hours.

8. Another way to prepare yourself in the event of a job layoff is to build up emergency funds or cash reserves. Your goal is to have 3 to 6 months of emergency funds. If you have a part-time job, put that money towards your emergency fund. If you can convert your sick hours to cash, put that extra cash towards your emergency funds as well.  Click here to see more ways to save money and build emergency funds fast.

You just got back from a wonderful vacation and now you dread to go back to work as you know that you’ll be swamped with numerous emails, outstanding issues, etc. Follow these steps to make your return to work as smooth as possible.

1. Finish what you can before you leave. However, there are times you won’t be able to get everything done before going on vacation. If you have unresolved or pending issues, parts scheduled to ship out while you’re gone, ask a co-worker to cover for you. Provide him/her a “To-do” or “Follow-up” list with all the information (e.g. where you left off, how an issue has to be resolved, due dates, contact information) he/she will need. To make it easier for the person who will back you up, copy him/her in all the emails so he/she could just continue the email thread until an item gets resolved.

2. Inform your customers about your leave either by calling them or via email. Let them know that you’ll be out of town. If you’re informing them via email, add the name and contact information of the person who will back you up while you’re on leave.

3. Make sure you set your Out-of-Office (OoO) notification. Inform them of the date when you’ll be gone as well as your return date. Add the contact information of the person who will be helping you while you’re gone.

4. When you go on vacation, try to return a day early before you go back to work. Use this day to run errands, do some house chores, check personal emails, or even relax and get more sleep. If you are curious to know what’s going on at work, you can either check your work emails from home (if you have access) or call your co-worker. That way, you know what to expect when you return to work.

5.  When you are actually back at your work desk, the first thing we usually do is check emails and voicemails. You may either turn the Out-of-Office completely off or modify your message by letting them know that you’re back and you need some time to catch up on things and you will get back to them as soon as possible.

6. Have a mini meeting with your co-worker to refresh you on outstanding issues, deadlines to meet, etc.

7. Browse through your inbox. If you were gone for a long time, you may want to start reading your new emails down to the old ones especially if you are already aware of what’s going on. Flag the ones that need follow up or still outstanding. It’s really up to you how you want to read your emails. Everyone has his own system. I just find this easier as I don’t need to waste my time on things that are already taken care of. I can read those later when I’m finally caught up.

8. You then need to prioritize tasks and focus on the urgent ones first.