Extended Vacation
Well, I was one of the 750+ people laid off from AOL on Tuesday.
But, as a former manager reminded me, it could be worse. I could still have a job at AOL. :)
On Monday night (10/15) starting around 1700 EST5EDT, most employees who were going to be affected by the job action received their "You must attend a mandatory meeting at ____ in room ____ tomorrow" note, which became known as The Letter. I got mine at 1721. My boss got his a minute or so earlier. AIM quickly came to life as AOLers got on and started comparing notes ("Mine is at 0930; when's yours?") and by 2100 EST5EDT (by which time the PST8PDT employees got their notices after 1700 local time), the scope of the layoff became apparent. Names on the list were shocking--system engineers who'd been there 10+ years or more; major names on the back-end programming and support list (myself included, not to sound immodest or anything); whole departments just slashed to ribbons (my department of 12 + 1 tech manager lost 7, including the manager); employee #12 (Ken Huntsman, AOL Sr. Archetect and Fellow) even got the axe.
Believe it or not, I was relieved. The stress of knowing you were on the bubble at minimum (my job was recently reclassified as "development" rather than "ops", which is the Kiss of Death at AOL) and the outrageous things managers were doing as they were jockeying for position ("Finish this project! No, wait, this one first! Give me a date for deployment...no, not a timeframe, a date! Must have Date!") together had combined to give me indigestion at best and a near heart attack at worst (my blood pressure was sky high). When the news story went out Monday that a job action was imminent (triggering the WARN Act requirements of 60 days notice or 60 days pay to those to be affected), I actually found myself praying to be on the list. I wasn't disappointed.
The package was extremely generous. Suffice it to say I'll be able to relax and not hurry my job search (and I've already been contacted about 2 positions by headhunters) and not have to worry about my bills/mortgage/etc. for a few weeks.
The real humor in the whole thing, as I discovered when I arrived at AOL Tuesday morning, was being able to tell at a glance who was laid off and who wasn't. The people who got laid off were smiling. The others resembled a scene from a war movie where the shellshocked refugees march out of the swirling dust clouds. One manager I knew looked as if he had just been told he was dying, so profound was the look of horror on his face. (When I walked betwen buildings to say my farewells, I'd point at a friend and greet them with, "You must still have a job--you're not smiling!") When our VP came in to lay us off, he couldn't believe none of us looked sad, angry, hurt, or anything else. Instead, we were all laughing, joking, planning where to go to get wasted after work (word has it several local watering holes in Dulles brought in extra staff for the day), deciding where we were going on our vacations, etc. A few work-related conversations slipped in ("You're here and I'm here--who's running _____ now?"), but most of it was "Can't wait to see what ValleyWag.com has to say about this" and the like. Our VP read us the canned statement (company changed directions, you no longer have a position, etc.), his assistant gave us our meeting times w/ HR, and that was it. I went to my HR briefing, spent an hour saying goodbye to all my old friends (many of whom had not heard I was on the list and could not believe I was being let go; the SVP of our group was on the verge of tears when I came into his office and just kept hugging me and saying "I can't believe they let you go...this is ridiculous...what were they thinking?"), then packed 6 boxes and a handful of bags. My friends loaded my car for me, then I gave everyone left a hug (and a few kisses for select friends) and drove away from AOL for the last time at 1447 EST5EDT.
Two days later, I'm just about caught up on sleep and am now catching up on mail. I'm doing great so far and I can't help but think this is all for the best. With my health issues, a long vacation can't possibly hurt and will likely help in the long run.
But, as a former manager reminded me, it could be worse. I could still have a job at AOL. :)
On Monday night (10/15) starting around 1700 EST5EDT, most employees who were going to be affected by the job action received their "You must attend a mandatory meeting at ____ in room ____ tomorrow" note, which became known as The Letter. I got mine at 1721. My boss got his a minute or so earlier. AIM quickly came to life as AOLers got on and started comparing notes ("Mine is at 0930; when's yours?") and by 2100 EST5EDT (by which time the PST8PDT employees got their notices after 1700 local time), the scope of the layoff became apparent. Names on the list were shocking--system engineers who'd been there 10+ years or more; major names on the back-end programming and support list (myself included, not to sound immodest or anything); whole departments just slashed to ribbons (my department of 12 + 1 tech manager lost 7, including the manager); employee #12 (Ken Huntsman, AOL Sr. Archetect and Fellow) even got the axe.
Believe it or not, I was relieved. The stress of knowing you were on the bubble at minimum (my job was recently reclassified as "development" rather than "ops", which is the Kiss of Death at AOL) and the outrageous things managers were doing as they were jockeying for position ("Finish this project! No, wait, this one first! Give me a date for deployment...no, not a timeframe, a date! Must have Date!") together had combined to give me indigestion at best and a near heart attack at worst (my blood pressure was sky high). When the news story went out Monday that a job action was imminent (triggering the WARN Act requirements of 60 days notice or 60 days pay to those to be affected), I actually found myself praying to be on the list. I wasn't disappointed.
The package was extremely generous. Suffice it to say I'll be able to relax and not hurry my job search (and I've already been contacted about 2 positions by headhunters) and not have to worry about my bills/mortgage/etc. for a few weeks.
The real humor in the whole thing, as I discovered when I arrived at AOL Tuesday morning, was being able to tell at a glance who was laid off and who wasn't. The people who got laid off were smiling. The others resembled a scene from a war movie where the shellshocked refugees march out of the swirling dust clouds. One manager I knew looked as if he had just been told he was dying, so profound was the look of horror on his face. (When I walked betwen buildings to say my farewells, I'd point at a friend and greet them with, "You must still have a job--you're not smiling!") When our VP came in to lay us off, he couldn't believe none of us looked sad, angry, hurt, or anything else. Instead, we were all laughing, joking, planning where to go to get wasted after work (word has it several local watering holes in Dulles brought in extra staff for the day), deciding where we were going on our vacations, etc. A few work-related conversations slipped in ("You're here and I'm here--who's running _____ now?"), but most of it was "Can't wait to see what ValleyWag.com has to say about this" and the like. Our VP read us the canned statement (company changed directions, you no longer have a position, etc.), his assistant gave us our meeting times w/ HR, and that was it. I went to my HR briefing, spent an hour saying goodbye to all my old friends (many of whom had not heard I was on the list and could not believe I was being let go; the SVP of our group was on the verge of tears when I came into his office and just kept hugging me and saying "I can't believe they let you go...this is ridiculous...what were they thinking?"), then packed 6 boxes and a handful of bags. My friends loaded my car for me, then I gave everyone left a hug (and a few kisses for select friends) and drove away from AOL for the last time at 1447 EST5EDT.
Two days later, I'm just about caught up on sleep and am now catching up on mail. I'm doing great so far and I can't help but think this is all for the best. With my health issues, a long vacation can't possibly hurt and will likely help in the long run.