Ask HN: How to deal with morale after layoffs?

[momofuku]

Pretty much the title. I joined a startup and recently and we had a round of layoffs. Now, people who I used to meet daily, during standups and lunch are not around anymore. We've been "promised" that there won't be layoffs for the rest of the year, but I'm not banking it.

I'm already an anxious person by nature, but this is making me pretty nervous and very distracted at work.

What do I do? I understand this is a tradeoff of being in a startup, but the anxiety definitely isn't helping.

Thanks HN.

[kypro]

Is the startup profitable? Honestly I don't think the real pain has even begun yet for unprofitable startups... From what I've seen many of them are running on borrowed time from investment rounds that happened in 2020-2021. There's likely going to be very little interest in funding pandemic era unprofitable SaaS company in 2024. Money isn't cheap anymore and those that have money to invest are looking more towards the hot AI startups.

As someone who has worked for startups in the past you should assume your job will be at risk very soon unless the company is profitable. Even in good times jobs at startups are risky. I'm not saying this to be a dick, but because you should be preparing now and being productive about the situation is all you can do to reduce anxious.

Refresh your profile. Reconnect with ex-colleagues. Start thinking about your skill set and what you can be learning to help you when you're next looking for work. Your finances in order... Really the only thing that's reducing my job anxiety right now was that I saw this coming in early 2022 and have been in hardcore savings mode for about two years so at a minimum I'm as well prepared as I can be for what ever is coming my way over the next couple of years.

In terms of having to say goodbye to colleagues and friends and work, it sucks, but the good news is these days it's easier than ever to stay in touch with social media. I have a old colleagues I reach out to every year or so just to say hi and ask how things are going.

[dazamarquez]

Find a new job as soon as possible. Even if the promise of no more layoffs is true, when the atmosphere affects your ability to perform, you gain nothing by staying there. Your mental health should be top priority.

Also, if anxiety causes you to underperform, if/when there'll be a new round of layoffs, you might be on the line anyway.

[082349872349872 → dazamarquez]

Good advice I got from my VC: "whenever you find yourself spending 20 minutes in the shower in the morning, it's time to circulate your CV".

PS. that's not a normal tradeoff of being in a startup. BigCos have layoffs. Things being FUBAR because the startup grows too quickly are the normal tradeoffs.

[cableshaft → 082349872349872]

...but a twenty minute shower can be very nice and pleasant. I don't do them all the time but sometimes I choose to stay in just because I'm enjoying it. I think I did one earlier this week, and I have no issues and almost zero stress with my job right now.

I get the sentiment though. I remember a previous job I hated that I got in trouble if I arrived late, so I'd get there pretty early to make sure I wasn't late, and would sit in the car in the parking lot waiting (and dreading) the clock getting to 8:00am, when I was expected to be there. I never left the car early to go in and say hi to people, I wanted to be inside that building as little as possible.

[cableshaft]

At least in my experience a round of layoffs is almost always a sign of worse to come. If not more layoffs than more ways to tighten the belt, like reducing benefits (had my contracted annual bonus removed, reduced severance policies, worse health insurance options, and my 401k match taken away before, at one company), freezing raises and promotions, letting people leave by attrition (which always happens after a layoff) without backfilling those people (and thus their responsibilities get added to your plate), etc.

It doesn't always happen, I'm at a company that had layoffs 8 months ago and was mostly isolated to just that so far. Helped a few months later they clearly won some major business that helped boost things for them again. They're back to hiring again, even.

But that's one exception to my experience with five other companies that did layoffs. Of those five, three basically shut down entirely (two startups and one small business), and one I just heard closed down the department I worked in and laid everyone off on January 1st this year (I left over two years ago, saw a coworker post about it on LinkedIn). The last one I'm not sure, but recent Glassdoor reviews suggest they tightened the belt again recently and did a lot of what I mentioned above in the past few months.

[infotainment]

You do what people in big companies do: minimum-effort coasting. If high performers are also vulnerable to layoffs, why bother putting in a lot of effort?

[oops]

Some things to think about:

1) You still have a job

2) The company is still in business

3) Just because there was a round of layoffs doesn’t mean there will be more

4) But of course there may

5) But that is always the case, your job is never totally secure

6) If you do not already have a backup plan in place, thank the stars for the headsup to get started on that

7) A plan is a good antidote for anxiety, and in this case may consist of: savings, ability to lower expenses if needed, building and maintaining a professional network, being interview ready

8) Making a decision is another good antidote for anxiety. Decide to stay or decide to leave. If you stay and get laid off, use your plan.

I’m not sure I agree with the suggestion to quit and find another job simply because your company had layoffs. There is no guarantee the new place won’t have layoffs too.

If you don’t already have a network, you have a perfect opportunity to start one here by reaching out to keep in touch with some of the laid off folks.

[mooreds]

If you think the layoffs will help, put your head down and work. I find that doing what I can helps my morale. Others may notice too, but you can't count on that.

If you don't think layoffs will help, look for another job.

[solardev]

Companies can "promise" anything they want, but unless you get it in writing in a legally binding form, like a contract, it's not worth anything. If conditions deteriorate, they will have to lay off again. At best you'll get a "I'm sorry this had to happen. I know I said it wouldn't last week/last month/last year...". To be fair, sometimes the managers themselves get laid off too, despite (or sometimes because of) their best intentions. We're all just numbers on a spreadsheet.

Nobody expects morale to be great after layoffs. Do what you can, if you can, and try to compartmentalize and focus on what you're good at. Start looking for other work in the meantime, but don't count on being able to find another job, because many companies are folding in this economy and there's still a glut of programmers.

This isn't your fault. Companies exist to make money, and you're just another disposable cog in the wheel. Management exists to serve the owners/shareholders, not you, so your choices are really either to become more flexible (look for other jobs and careers, knowing that some will do better than others) or to become indispensable (either be exceptionally good at your job, or set up systems that only you can maintain).

Anxiety won't do you much good here because very little of it is actually under your control anyway. Just breathe; it's not up to you. Ultimately it doesn't really matter how hard you work and how great your code (or whatever) is; if your team isn't a good fit or your managers didn't put in the right reports or you didn't impress the right high-level person... you're disposable. And frankly, mostly invisible. It's unlikely anybody spends too much time thinking about your contributions to the company anyway, so don't spend too much time thinking about the company either. Most of us aren't special. That's okay though.

Don't let work define you! Develop other hobbies, enforce a strict 9-5 schedule for yourself and don't work late. Say "no" to things that break your work-life balance and find other ways to accrue happiness.

Especially in a startup atmosphere, it's basically gambling. You win some, you lose some. Just don't bet your whole life on it.

[nothercastle]

Your start up is probably not going to make it and if it does your stock will be worthless. If your company is struggling in a good economy then it’s very unlikely it will bring you fortune. Time to move on

[malfist → nothercastle]

This is a good economy?

[nothercastle → malfist]

Yeah this is still pretty good. It could get a lot worse