Back of the line for you: My COVID 19 Layoff

As economists, it is rather easy for us to detach ourselves from the things we write about in science. We model economic facts and figures, assume away human elements, and abstract reality for a cohesive outcome. 

The Coronavirus pandemic of 2020 has affected every single country in the world, some to a much larger extent than others, but every nation and all industries. Industries that require human confections, such as service industries, came to screeching halt and plunging millions of people into unemployment. 

On July 1, 2020, at 3:07pm, I was laid off from my financial services job. The Pandemic that we see on the news and hear about even though not physically infected me came to my door in the form of boot. I've been in my current position for 3 years. This week would be my official third anniversary in my current role and 4 years and 3 months at the company. 

Though technically still employed to company, my departure was somewhat disingenuous and cold. One of my favorite movies is Up in the Air, where George Clooney plays Ryan  Bingham, a guy who goes around firing people for a living. While the conversation is never easy, it is hard to imagine the feelings that someone feels unless you go through it yourself, and It is doesn't feel good. 

Anger, betrayal, shock, disbelief, sadness, anxiety are some of the feelings usually felt or surmised as some of the things I felt. 

But let me tell you how mine happened. 

On Tuesday at 3 pm I got a call from my hr manager asking me to come into work the following day. Even though acknowledging that I had been based at my parents' home on the other side of the country. I was being called in for a meeting with my HR many and CEO. I questioned what the meeting was about but no answer, only a jaded HR response. However, I began to prepare for the worst, I started cleaning up the files on the work computer and collating the ones I wanted to keep. 

The following morning I reported for work after a 2 and a half-hour drive into Kingston. 

The building felt heavy; the mood was definitely not cheerful. I was informed of the most recent resignations and layoffs. I  cleared my desk, hoping for the best. While preparing for the worst. In the prior month, the company laid off 7 employees, and just around another 10 had resigned since the lockdown restrictions. 

My meeting was set for 3pm, which is somewhat late for a regular meeting. 

Throughout the day, I heard that my supervisor/CEO was in quarantine, having traveled overseas. Which meant that my meeting was only with HR. 

Once inside the meeting, I was given the news about the temporary layoff. 

In Jamaican law, there is a provision for a layoff without pay for a 120 day period, which many companies use to cut back on cost in hard times such as Pandemics. However, this provision is widely used as a measure instead of redundancy, which in turn forces many workers to resign prematurely. 

While the company may seek justification for hard times, assuming that the business operations have ceased, which in the case of my company hasn't, layoffs should be a last resort. 

Back to my story, 

The meeting lasted for 45 minutes, mostly me lecturing my HR manager about how ridiculous all of this was given the circumstances. As an economist and a paid analyst, in my opinion, even though mild recovery is imminent, the Pandemic is still ongoing. As such, companies need to adapt. And a company that dug itself into a hole by only focusing on transactional income ceases or transactions dry up, or all the staff eventually leave, all of which are possible at this point. 

My finalizing comments were that there may not be a company to come back to in 4 months. 

Additionally, the company failed to engage qualified staff members, such as myself. They would be able to help chart a path forward. Obviously, the company is no longer entitled to my opinions, simply based on how I was treated. 

To add insult to injury, I was given no additional time to retrieve my personal files off my work computer, sounds trivial, but due to the nature of my work, many of my assignments were need to know. As well as given the technology agreement we signed, some personal use was permissible as long as company policies were followed. 

I found it rather insulting that I had less than half an hour to clear out, and IT was waiting for me to hand over the computer and my ID.

So I move from employee to persona non grata in less than an hour. 

Despite my feelings, which usually take some time to process, I was rather calm. Because at the end of the day, it was only supposed to be a temporary job until I moved on to the next stage of life. 

I started this post by talking about economists being out of touch with real issues. I return to it to say that for many of us, we either work in academia or for the government, which for the most part, are stable jobs and secure incomes. The private sector is a little too risky for most, the fact of the matter is most of my colleagues bare still gainfully employed to the government. 

 

Being on the receiving end of a layoff has allowed me a lot more time to think about the future. This is definitely an opportunity to do what I really want in life instead of feeling stuck in a job where you're underutilized, undervalued, underpaid, and misunderstood. Obviously, you don't leave a job unless you have a plan, so going on someone else's terms in unnerving, but sometimes just the push we need. 

The thing about life is that you really can never say never since the future is always uncertain, but what is certain is that I'll never return to my old place of employment unless it is on my terms.