The message informs that many people will be released. The next message is even worse: you are one of these people.
You sit on a bed with a beating heart and reach for a laptop to log in to the company network. Your password does not work. The time has come to call France, but you do not remember the name of the person you are to call or his number. All this information was in an e-mail message to which you no longer have access.
You send an SMS to your favorite manager, whose number fortunately you have on your phone. He replies that he has also been released. He learned about it, trying to enter the office and discovering that his identifier was not working.
In the end you get up and think about gloomy weeks that await you on a new path of life.
Vivek Gulati doesn't have to imagine it. This is almost exactly what happened to him when he became one of 12 thousand. employees whom Google dismissed at the beginning of 2023 – in a gloomy period of dismissals in the technology sector.
The 47-year-old software engineer later described his experience in an article published in “Harvard Business Review”, in which he described a shock related to information about the loss of work received by e-mail.
I contacted him this week, after new monthly data from the US showed that in April the number of layoffs increased by almost 200,000. Separately, the study suggested that remote, impersonal layoffs, which were an inevitable element of pandemic lockdown, are still taking place.
Up to 57 percent Employees in the US dismissed in the last two years have received this information by e-mail or telephone, according to a study conducted by the Zeta career service. Only 30 percent He learned about it personally.
The others learned about it during video conferencing or from rumors in the office, except for two percent. The unlucky people who realized that they were released only when they could not log in to the official e -mail or messenger, such as Slack.
Undoubtedly, it also happened before Pandemia. Either way, it was not a surprise for Gulati, who currently returned to Google as a performer, not a full -time employee.
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As a veteran of the technology industry, he has already experienced employment reduction and there is no time to consider whether e-mail may be the only way to release thousands of people.
He pointed out that every dismissed employee has a supervisor who could provide him with this information and offer individual help, which is both true and an important issue.
When he lost his job at the American technology company Broadcom almost 10 years ago, the vice president called him to inform that the takeover of the company meant that the release was inevitable, but he wanted to help him. He suggested that he would present Gularati to another company that would like to hire him.
– To this day I have great respect for this vice president and the whole team I worked with – says Gulati.
This is understandable, as is the influence on people who have retained work after mass layoffs, but they live in such a great fear of another wave that they make professional life more ruthless and less based on cooperation.
This is just one of the reasons why in the interest of the employer is at least by phone informing about the dismissal, although even this is not an ideal solution. It is not possible to find out what the person is to be released at the moment.
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Employee dismissal should not be done with an e-mail
Even if he is not by the bed of a dying parent or does not go to the funeral, it can easily be in a place where there is no privacy, for example at the hairdresser. This is where the popular Australian TV presenter Sharyn Ghidella was, when she received a phone call last year with information that after 17 years of work at the station, her time ended. She later said that “she didn't count on it.” Her concerned fans accused the station of cowardice and rudeness.
Submission of employees is sometimes necessary. I did it myself, although I hope that I will never have to. However, there is no excuse for deepening the brutality of this situation by passing messages without personal contact, especially in a large, well -equipped company. The sooner this unnecessary cruel stain in corporate life is erased, the better.
I’m Ashley Davis as an editor, I’m committed to upholding the highest standards of integrity and accuracy in every piece we publish. My work is driven by curiosity, a passion for truth, and a belief that journalism plays a crucial role in shaping public discourse. I strive to tell stories that not only inform but also inspire action and conversation.
