I long for the good old days when a company would lay off its workers. When revenue was down, a company would eliminate the excess workers. The employer would pay them a severance – perhaps one week’s pay for each year of service. It costs money initially, but the company would save money in the long term. As well, the workers would be entitled to unemployment benefits. Ahh, those were the good old days indeed.
Now it seems that employers are too cheap to do that. They’ve found other ways to reduce the workforce without resorting to lay offs. Not only can they avoid paying severance, they keep the cost of unemployment insurance at a minimum. 1 2
My employer brags about how it doesn’t lay off its workers. Instead, it imposes a “salary sacrifice” during business down cycles. Then, when the up cycle arrives, it makes amends by giving everyone a salary reward greater than the sacrifice. The reward is paid with shares of stock.
But the company doesn’t brag about how it finds excuses to fire workers or put them on probation, which allows them to avoid paying rewards and bonuses. It starts by assigning an employee an impossibly large workload outside of the employee’s area of expertise. As the employee invariably fails to “meet expectations,” it gas-lights him or her into believing he or she is underperforming, unworthy and deserving of probation. The paper trail starts with a written warning and is followed by probation. 3
What can an employee do in this situation? According to Workplace Fairness, it’s important to build your case by gathering paperwork and witnesses. 4 Personally, I think it’s a good idea to look for a new job.
1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unemployment_insurance_in_the_United_States
2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experience_modifier
3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disciplinary_probation
4 https://www.workplacefairness.org/building-your-case/
