r/Layoffs

Today Oracle did another round of layoffs with 6am emails. Rumors had been circulating. Today myself along with half of my team were laid off.

Hi all! Looking for some advice or just general thoughts on my situation.

My company recently announced a voluntary separation program (VSP). Under the terms, if I’m accepted, I would receive:

• 4 months of salary paid as a lump sum
• Unused PTO paid out
• Prorated bonus paid in cash
• Everything would be paid as one lump sum
• The company said the lump sum would be taxed at the supplemental/bonus withholding rate

The alternative is to stay, but if I’m eventually laid off, the standard severance package is only 2 months of pay.

A few things about my situation:

• I’m married and we don’t have kids, so our financial obligations are relatively manageable. I can also get on my husband’s health insurance. Between his income and the VSP lump sum, we would be financially okay while I look for another job.
• I’m not particularly happy in my current role and have already been casually applying elsewhere. I’m planning to ramp up my search regardless.
• That said, I actually like my company’s culture. It’s laid-back, fully remote, has a good work-life balance, decent pay, and pretty good benefits.
• I’m also fairly far along in the interview process for an internal position that I’m much more interested in. However, I have no idea whether the VSP will result in hiring freezes or affect internal hiring, and I likely won’t know the outcome before the deadline to opt into the VSP.
• I’m also concerned about the current job market and the fact that hiring can slow down toward the end of the year.
• I’m also not sure whether I would qualify for unemployment if I voluntarily accept the VSP, which is another factor I'm trying to understand.

I’m currently leaning toward taking the VSP and essentially giving myself a few months to take a breath, work part-time if I want to, and focus heavily on finding the right next role rather than rushing into something.

The biggest thing holding me back is the uncertainty. I have a pretty comfortable job, and walking away from that security feels risky given the current job market. But if I stay and eventually get laid off, I could potentially end up with half the severance.

What would you do in this situation? Would you take the enhanced VSP and bet on yourself, or stay for the security and see what happens? I'd especially appreciate perspectives from anyone who's taken a voluntary separation package or gone through something similar.

Also, if anyone has experience with unemployment after accepting a voluntary separation package, I'd love to hear how that worked out for you.

CFO passed over for CEO job. within a week he resigns and has a new job at a top company.

Senior exec part of a company that went bankrupt. within a month has a new senior exec job at a large company.

senior exec at a company that I guess is not a good fit. finds a new senior exec job at another company within six months.

I get that a big part of it is networking, but it seems almost impossible for a normal person like me to access this network? is it possible?

Heard through the grapevine that I’m being scrutinized for a possible layoff. Had a new leader come in ~week ago so it’s not surprising they’re looking into me (well paid, good title).

The kicker is that I’m pregnant. Close to 9 weeks so still very early. Should I proactively mention it to HR? Would that help insulate me at all or pointless?

I wasn’t planning on saying anything until minimum 13 weeks otherwise.

I work in tech if that’s relevant!

I’m just freaking out a bit about the timing since I’d run out of employment before giving birth and obviously the timing isn’t good to find something else.

Appreciate any recs! Wish we had better protections about this stuff in the US :(

TL;DR: I've been laid of twice from corporate jobs and was kind of horrified to realize how much of your life you can lose sitting behind a desk doing pointless busy-work and want to hear from people who have felt the same and made a major life change as a result.

I was laid off in 2020 from a company I had been working for since I was still in grad school in 2013. I was building a career with this company and had never really thought about leaving and I went through a lot mentally.

It was a shock at first and a lot of hard work trying to help people who genuinely needed help as a lot of us were going to be leaving within a few weeks. Once I was gone though... it felt like I woke up from this monotonous dream that was on repeat - wake up, sit in traffic, attend pointless status calls, occasionally fly across the country for meetings that could have been handled over IM. I felt a bit horrified that I'd spent so much of my life sitting behind a desk.

I've owned a business since then (long story but ultimately had to let it go) and worked for another major corporation but remotely. It was definitely more satisfying to be home more often with my daughter and the pointless daily calls are easier to deal with when I'm doing it more on my terms; like walking on the treadmill while listening or multitasking but working on something that matters to me.

Now that I've been laid off from that too, I just kinda don't want to go back. I talked with some family members and found out that one of my more distant relatives used to work for McDonnell Douglas back in the day and got laid off when they merged with Boeing. Rather than going back to a corporate desk job they got a job working in the McDonnell/Boeing manufacturing facilities and were happier and more secure than ever. I've actually read a lot about people starting small businesses from home or taking on warehouse or factory jobs (where those still exist) and being much happier.

Just wondering if anyone out there experienced an awakening like this and made a major life change and how that worked out?

All of this happened after acquisition by a private equity firm(February this year). 70% of departments are being forced to RTO for 3 days a week starting September 1st. Productivity tool that tracks and monitors keystrokes/mouse movement in 15 minute intervals installed on all non-executive employee computers in June. McKinsey was recently revealed to have been hired as a consultant since March.

Should I brace myself?

Recently I have been informed that my position is at stake and so I started applying in 4 months I have applied more than 200 positions, got 5 interviews, people act so well that the interview is going really well and you are out perfect fit but it appears they already have someone on mind and they are just benching us on interviews. It's even disappointing when they call you for a recruitment day and then even give you hope for 2 interview where they take more than alloted time and give hope at the end just to share with HR.. NAAAH we have someone cheaper or relevant experience.

In my career I never worked on something I knew before I took challenges and I moved, appeared I should have kept my face to one role rather than learning. It is so heartbreaking and pessimistic that interviewers call you only for checking your face and nothing else.... I don't believe in karma but I hope one day they also see what people go through...

For three years ive been working for this company as a software engineer. In these years, i saw some colleagues been laid off. Given how it went before, i thought i had until February next year, but boy i was wrong

Last week, while i was on vacation they fired 10 devs on an official message from the company. I thought since my name wasnt on the list i was saved until next year but… thi morning when i came back from holidays i has a 1:1 meeting with my boss. I knew what it was. It was what i thought.

Anyways, at least it didn’t come out of the blue, i was mentally prepared . I didnt love the company, but it was easy work, not too much workload and a great payslip. Tbh, i dont think i will earn the same amount ever again.

I was already planning for this situation, but it screwed up my calendar. My plan is to study to become an engineer for the country. I will earn less, but in my country it means a stable job, a decent salary and more potential to have a loan for a first house. With the severance payment and the unemployment subsidy i believe i can afford untils the exams for the state job is done. I cant screw it up. And if that happens i will work ar whatever is needed.

The thing is, dont sacrifice yourself for a company and always have a plan b just in case. I dont feel bad, i feel angry.

My support for everyone who has been laid off

I was a Software Engineer as of today. I had a random meeting pop up on my calendar this morning In hopes of hearing some good news about moving to a different team. My manager showed up and someone from HR and well...you guys know the rest. For anyone whose been laid off, do you have any advice on how to deal with the constant anxiety and how to process the next steps?

Does anyone think there will be an AI bust on the horizon? Its crazy how fast so many jumped on the bandwagon of this.

A company I worked at for 8 years until I moved to a competitor at the end of April was just purchased by a private equity consortium.

I’ve been wondering what’ll happen there now. I know a lot depends on industry and other factors. This is a fintech company.

Does anyone have any experience with working at a company that went through an acquisition like that? Layoffs or does it depend on the purchasers presence in the region/industry?

im a chronically ill woman who lives in chronic pain. i've posted about my job search in other forums, and i get told the same advice, usually from men:

• go to trade school
• pick up welding, plumbing, electrical or hvac work
• join the military
• start a business
• go back to school for healthcare
• apply for disability if you're so sick (doesn't work like this - my cousin permanently became disabled via car crash and it took 5+ years and multiple lawyers, and she doesn't earn enough to live)

im sorry that my DIAGNOSED cfs, pots, pcos, endo, migraine disorder, audhd, N24 sleep disorder, MCTD, IBS, scarring tissue disease, and laboratory confirmed chronic bartonella (persister cells) does not allow me to do any of these - except start a business, and even then, starting a business doesn't magically earn enough money to get a chronically ill / high medical needs person independent. i've started multiple businesses such as petsitting, babysitting etc and nothing has earned me regular income.

it really sucks that there are so many ableists both in hiring and part of the RTO mandates around the US. And that there is such steep competition for the limited quantity of available remote jobs with people who do not medically need them, because that would be how i and many millions of people are able to participate in the economy. U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey counts roughly 45.8 million people (about 13.7% of the total population) have a disability, and the disability rates have risen sharply since covid. yet disability accommodations such as remote work are on the decline. i'm about to be laid off again and i see no future and im so burned out. im in my late 20s and cant see a life like this.

if you say you're looking for hybrid or remote work on these here forums r/recruitinghell r/careeradvice r/jobs you get told you're entitled / delusional / asking for too much and if you disclose you're medical issues you'er a #complainer, a #liar and told to #suckitup when i've lost every job ive ever had that required to be in person 5 days a week.

truly at a loss in this economy. the united states creates chronically ill people and then casts us off and we are left to die. if i had no parental support i would not be alive today.