"I really gotta pee but..."

Friday, May 22, 2009

"I don't want to walk past Jones."

His office was in the hallway to the restroom, and he was packing his box. I noticed this after receiving an hour-notice meeting announcement from the President of the company, titled "Organization" with no explanation in the body. This happens on the Friday we're supposedly closing down at three o'clock to start the weekend early.

There were only three who lost their jobs - twenty or so more were transferred to other areas of the company. There are maybe 40 of us left.


Memorial Day Weekend...hello summer (and Xanax.) This makes four rounds of survival, and I'm starting to feel a little queasy.

by Still Employed at 2:20 PM  |  0 Comments

Temping in today's economic environment

Sunday, May 3, 2009

I just read this story from CNN about a man who landed a temp job after being laid off from a pharmaceutical company. It is a great example of another way that being employed today is like walking on a ledge.

Temp agencies are so great for keeping at least some money coming in, and for the possibilities of gaining full-time work through a job they help to fill. The stress of not knowing whether the job will last or whether you'll have to continue going from one temp position to another is there though, especially knowing that a temp agency is probably the best bet you have these days. Also, there is the added worry of not having 401k, insurance, vacation and sick days - even if a temp's wage is close to what they had before being laid off, the added expenses of being ill brings that wage down even more.

In this story, the writer finds all sorts of advice for Mr. Clay about how to make an impression at the office so his chances of being hired on full time are greater, and they also have an interesting bit about how much money a temp worker needs to have in savings. Contract workers need 12 months of living expenses banked, says Orr. Even if Carl gets a job with AstraZeneca, he'd need three months' expenses by January to cover that 90-day furlough.

I have heard that everyone should have anywhere from three months to six months of savings in case of a job loss - one year? That makes the most sense, but how many people have that much in a savings account? How can you build up that kind of savings (or something close) in as short of time as possible, just in case?

Are you able to stash a little money from time to time to build a safety net for yourself and your family? If so, how do you do it?

by Still Employed at 6:50 PM  |  1 Comments

What the hell was I saying?

Saturday, May 2, 2009

My last post was about the larger mission we lucky employed people have these days. We have to work harder for less because if we don't, there will be even more of a chance that our company will fail.

I'm now calling BS on myself.

When the only mission that a company has is to stay afloat, with no other goals for the future, it makes it really hard to justify working all effing weekend on stuff that will probably be put off for another month or so because there is a new shiny idea that will help us survive. At least until the other ten bright and shiny ideas shove that one into the trash heap - and come to find out, they're all trash.

It is really hard to justify working all weekend when more workers than managers were laid off, and the managers are too busy managing their shiny ideas to pitch in and actually do the work that will keep the goal of staying afloat alive.

We have to have a larger goal of how we're going to stay afloat, and working on miscellaneous crap that ends up not being used for that goal just adds to the sense of failure. Personally, I want to work for something - I don't want to just work for a paycheck. I definitely don't want to give up family and relaxation time to work only for a paycheck.

I don't want to work for a company who only wants to survive. I want to work for one that wants to be the best.

by Still Employed at 10:17 AM  |  4 Comments

Larger mission

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Those of us who are still employed need to look at the situation in another way, outside of the stress and workload. We need to realize that there is a job we're all doing, no matter what industry we're in. We are keeping or attempting to keep our business alive. That's a pretty important job.

We're not only working harder, we are making sacrifices, pitching our own ideas, and learning new skills so we can help out other teams who are also understaffed and overworked. The lines between the idea people and the worker-bees are blurring because we have less and less time for meetings set up to explain the stuff we want to accomplish. We don't have time to talk about it - we need to learn fast and do it. Otherwise, our company, whether new or established, will fail. It's more than just us losing out, it's valuable piece of the community that fails as well.

You just have to make your husband/wife/partner/children/friends accept it while not dissing them. If we can pull this off, we can help the economy? Fingers crossed.

by Still Employed at 8:26 AM  |  0 Comments

Taking care of the important stuff

Friday, April 24, 2009

My boss is recovering from what he thought was a heart attack - which leads me to even deeper consideration of what we're all putting ourselves through right now. Thankfully it wasn't a heart attack, but spending the night in the hospital having tests and finding out that chest pains are stress related is a pretty good sign that you're taking on too much.

My boss is that kind of person times a hundred. If anything needs to be done, he does it. If someone is messing up on something that he knows he can do right away, he does their job, too, just so he can move on with what's already on his plate. When he realizes how overloaded those of us on his team are, he does the work that we would normally do, just to help us clear our plates. It's too much for one person.

I'm thinking of course the obvious, what would happen to his family if it had been a heart attack? He is young and vibrant, and the thought of him having a heart attack, fatal or not, is tragic. He still should have many years left to live. That is also a selfish thought though because I was also thinking about how it would affect us at work. I'm not sure that we could make it, ourselves, without him around. We can make it with him doing less and having more time to relax and be healthy, but he does so much around the company that I'm pretty sure it would go down, no questions, without him there.

We're all pretty indispensable right now, anyone who is left to work after layoffs. There are certain people who know and do so much, though, that losing them would be the equivalent of laying off another ten people. For that person, it might be great job security but it's also too much stress for any single person to handle. It's gonna catch up with you. And sure, your co-workers will cry and miss you because you're an awesome person, but they're also going to cry over the stuff you did that they can't do.

Even though we all have to work longer and harder on the production line than we ever have before, we must take care of ourselves. Not only are we cheating our families but we're costing the company and coworkers as well. We won't be replaced...our work will just be absorbed into the already over-saturated work load. How's that for more stress?

Plus, if it had been fatal, I wonder if my boss would really want to look down from the netherworld and say, "I did this for mother-freaking work?"

by Still Employed at 5:26 AM  |  0 Comments

Workweek Insomnia

Sunday, April 19, 2009

I don't know about you guys, but for the past month or so I haven't been able to sleep during the week. I sleep just fine on the weekends - especially on Friday nights when I'm so exhausted from the long and stressful week that I just pass out by 7:30 PM or so. Weeknights though, different story. Here it is, Sunday night, and I'm too busy thinking about how I'm going to organize this next work week that I can't fall asleep.

I found a couple of sites about insomnia that are interesting - Help me to sleep has a huge amount of information about insomnia, it's causes and cures. Slumboo has a nice list of helpful tips for beating insomnia. Definitely need to give them a try.

Labels: insomnia, stress

by Still Employed at 10:30 PM  |  0 Comments

Layoff Survivor Syndrome

Friday, April 17, 2009

“If I hear ‘At least you have a job’ one more time, I’m going to physically injure someone,” said a 45-year-old software engineer at a Northern California firm who didn't want to be named for fear of further jeopardizing her job. “Yes, you still have a paycheck coming in, but sometimes I wonder if it’s worth the stress.”

“You have to keep proving yourself over and over again. You have to prove your existence.”

This article from MSNBC says it all.


I am beginning to think that having a job during this economic time is like playing Red Rover - at least for those of us who were not always chosen first. I used to think that it was the opposite of playing Red Rover, where the weakest were chosen first and the strongest chosen last, but now I'm beginning to wonder. It feels a lot like it used to, playing that game as a child. These things race through my mind all day, every day:

"Will I be next?"

"What do I need to do to ensure that doesn't happen?"

"I will not lose my dignity - I'm not an effing slave."

"I will do whatever it takes - my home and well being - along with that of my family - are on the line."

"I don't know why they got rid of the guy in the Art Department. I mean, at least he was a real artist - I'm not."

"How are we going to make it after taking a pay cut? Well, at least I have a job...right? Could be worse..."

"I need to spend my evenings and weekends building up a Plan B, just in case."

"I need to spend my evenings and weekends with my family - we need some fun and relaxation."

"If I don't spend evenings and weekends working, I will be that much farther behind."


It seems to never end.

Just finished a popcorn dinner and so now I'm going to sit around wondering what's wrong with me and how I can fix it and wonder if my name will be called on Monday or not. Or if anyone's name will be called. And maybe try to focus on a sit-com.

by Still Employed at 4:50 PM  |  0 Comments