You Gave Them Your Loyalty. They Gave You A Severance Package. Learn From It.
I genuinely feel for everyone who has been laid off.
Losing a job sucks. Losing a job after 5, 10, 20 years can feel like a betrayal. You gave the company your time, your energy, your loyalty, and then one day you get a calendar invite and suddenly you’re out.
That hurts.
But here’s the part I want people to hear:
Do not confuse your feelings about the system with your understanding of the system.
You need to learn how this thing works.
- Read your handbook.
- Understand your severance.
- Understand your benefits.
- Understand your equity.
- Understand your state’s employment laws.
- Keep your résumé updated.
- Keep your network alive.
- Keep some money outside of your paycheck.
And most importantly, never let one company become your entire identity.
You can work somewhere for one year or fifty years. You can be employee of the month. You can have an incredible relationship with your boss. You can genuinely love your coworkers.
None of that guarantees you a job tomorrow.
And honestly, you shouldn’t expect a company to give you a deeply personal goodbye when it lays you off.
Not necessarily because they don’t care.
Because the system doesn’t work that way.
Companies have HR departments, attorneys, policies, documentation requirements, and legal obligations. The more subjective and personal these decisions become, the more risk the company can create for itself.
Imagine two people get laid off.
One gets a heartfelt goodbye, three months of extra severance, and a manager personally calling them every week.
The other gets a 15-minute Zoom call and a box shipped to their house.
Now ask yourself what happens when the second employee says, “Why did they treat me differently?”
That’s the system.
You don’t have to like it.
But you should understand it.
Because here’s where I think people get stuck:
They spend all of their energy demanding that the system become something it isn’t, instead of learning how to operate within it without becoming dependent on it.
That’s the difference between being bitter and being prepared.
- Don’t become cynical.
- Become capable.
- Don’t assume your employer will save you.
- Build a life where you can save yourself.
- Don’t stop caring about your work.
- Just don’t give your employer ownership of your identity.
- And if a company treats people badly, you have more power than you think. Your labor has value. Your attention has value. Your money has value.
You can leave.
You can stop buying from them.
You can tell other people what happened.
You can build something of your own.
You can take your talent somewhere else.
But don’t let seeing red convince you to stay emotionally trapped inside the same system you’re angry about.
Learn the rules. Protect yourself. Build leverage. Keep your options open.
The goal isn’t to beat the system.
The goal is to make sure the system never has complete control over you.
That’s what freedom actually looks like.