Layoff Guide: How to Take Care of Yourself, Your Finances, and your Health
This Sucks, Go Ahead and Feel Your Emotions
It happened. You login for a normal work day and see an unexpected meeting with your manager and an HR rep in your calendar. Or perhaps it's a company all hands meeting instead. Or worse, you find that you’re locked out of your account entirely.
You’ve been laid off.
Most likely, you had no idea this was coming. In fact, your team onboarded new hires just a few months ago and discussed goals for next quarter in your last team meeting. Every week I see multiple LinkedIn posts from people who had no warning and are left bewildered by their sudden lack of a job.
Advice to look forward to: Don’t sign anything until you’ve reviewed all paperwork for predatory clauses that will affect your unemployment insurance or ability to find future employment in your field.
Layoffs happen because of business reasons, not because of the quality of an employee's work. Depending on how out of touch your leadership team is, they might even say (out loud with no shame) that they’re “trimming the fat” on the organization.
That’s what happens when a company is in the habit of throwing money and bodies at an unsustainable growth-at-all-costs operating model. Unfortunately, their lack of planning results in your unemployment.
Now, you need to figure out how to address your feelings of betrayal and how you’re going to pay your upcoming bills. I wish I could help everyone find their next gig quickly, but it will take a bit of time to process your situation.
So instead, I’m sharing my guide on how to take care of yourself (and your wallet) after a layoff. This will be a series of articles covering everything from knowing your rights, filing for unemployment insurance, and making sure you have healthcare coverage.
This sucks, go ahead and feel your emotions
Layoffs can bring up a lot of conflicting emotions. Shame: maybe you weren’t good enough at your job, landing you on the chopping block. Fear: you no longer have a source of income to pay your rent, mortgage, and bills. Anger: you worked so hard for your employer and they just threw you away. Even relief: you’re finally free from a job that was too stressful and maybe even stealing your soul.
Advice to look forward to: It’s sometimes possible to negotiate the amount of your severance payments.
That’s not even close to the range of feelings, both mental and physical, that Stanford University lists in their guide on how to cope with the impact of a layoff. These emotional and physical reactions are entirely normal and valid:
Anxiety
Shock and disbelief
Irritability
Frustration
Resistance
Sadness
Loss of enjoyment or appreciation
Feelings of worthlessness
Loss of self esteem
Fatigue
Headaches
Weight loss/gain
Trouble sleeping
Upset stomach
Muscle pain
Nausea
Before you do anything else, do nothing
Fear and self doubt will tell you to immediately start looking for a new job and to send out your resume far and wide. Yes, you will need to do this, but later. It’s okay, and definitely beneficial, to take a couple of days to just sit in your emotions.
If you’re upset and need to blow off some steam, meet with friends to commiserate over happy hour drinks (please drink safely). If you’re sad, spend the weekend lying on your coach and binge watch your favorite tv shows and movies. Cry if you need to.
Advice to look forward to: Know your rights. You may be covered by the Federal Older Workers Benefit Protection Act (if you’re 40+) or the Americans with Disabilities Act.
In our existing approach to work culture, employees are expected to bend over backwards to save a company’s bottom line, yet are easily discarded to cut costs. It’s understandable that you feel betrayed when you were just told last month that everything is fine and there won’t be any layoffs.
Why is it so important to allow yourself downtime? Sifting through your conflicting feelings can help you identify what worked well for you at this job–and what you want to avoid in a future employer.
What will I cover in this guide?
Over the next few weeks, I’ll send out information that can help you protect yourself and your family, cope with unexpected unemployment, and find the help you need as you navigate these often murky waters.
Here are a few of the topics you can look forward to:
Understanding your rights
Filing for unemployment insurance
Finding healthcare coverage
Understanding severance packages and outplacement services
Tapping into free resources from your public library
Making money while you job hunt
Identifying red flags so you can avoid them in future roles
What else can I do for you?
Am I missing anything? Please let me know by leaving a comment! I want this layoff guide to be as helpful as possible. My goal is to provide actionable, useful information that helps you get through this difficult situation and come out on the other side feeling empowered.