Layoff is a terrifying word. Hard to have tactics or recession skills when everyone productive, lazy, pleasant, disruptive, experienced and novice are let go at the same time.
When the rumors begin should you leave? Give up a few more paychecks but beat the job rush?
Should you hang on and then be in the local job market with thousands of others with similar skills?
What if you leave and the layoffs never happen? You have lost all those years of seniority.
I do not have answers only suggestions. In many families both spouses work for the same company. Talk about it and allow it to be a real possibility. Write down your fears on paper or screen. They are slightly smaller there than in your head. Negotiate with your terror. For each terror point write down the worst case at the bottom of the page and the best case at the top. Draw a line across the page at the level that you think is most likely to occur. Can you adapt to this level? Plan for this level.
Action is the best response to stress.
As I have mentioned earlier in the series you will come out of this with your values changed. You can decide what the effect of the changes will be in your life. For a clear look at our situation read Thomas Friedman’s book Hot, Flat, and Crowded. At the end he has this quote from Charles Bukowski
What matters most is how well you walk through the fire.
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