The First Pink Slip - Chapter #2

In the series of the story about Sid, a loyal employee who faced his first pink slip. Here is the chapter #2 after the first one. If you missed to read first, Click Here. In the 2nd chapter, you will get to know, how Sid responded and accepted the situation. What was going through everyone's mind when it was actually happening!

Disclaimer: This is a story and work of fiction, based on the events happening around in the corporate world today. Intention of this work - I feel this will help those who are getting impacted with the recent business decisions, I may be wrong, but I am using freedom of speech to express myself through a story in multiple chapters. This has nothing to do with any particular organization, any specific person/s. Any resemblance is purely a coincidence!

Finally the day arrived. In the morning I made sure my team came to the office as the meetings were very important and mandatory to attend. It was always better to attend this kind of meeting in person than to attend from home. We all had our morning meeting as usual, everyone went ahead with their work plan of the day. No one was talking much about the meeting as no one wanted to expect the unexpected.?

The time was coming close. We all gathered near the meeting room, but no one was gathering courage to knock on the door and get in. All the required representatives from required departments like HR, finance etc were already sitting with our business head. All the chairs were arranged neatly and with one water bottle in front of every person. We never attended our project meetings like that. So it was evident that it was different. All the hosts of the meeting were our colleagues who were always wearing a smile when we met in the office, but in that meeting all were serious and even if some employee gave a smile, they were hardly able to reciprocate. It was a very strange feeling for me to see them like this.?

As of now, everyone understood what was coming our way. The room was filled up with silence, some of the invitees were joining online from home. While we were waiting for them to join, we were looking at each other and I could see a clear fear, unsecurity and grief in the eyes of the invitees sitting there. I could see one of the managers sitting very relaxed, composed and wearing a gentle smile on his face. He was also one of the invitees but he seemed ready for the situation and was aware about what would happen, maybe he faced a similar situation earlier? Who knows. He was able to speak with the business head in the usual way like he used to speak in project meetings. That was giving me a smallest ray of hope, I was hoping and praying for this meeting to end on a positive note.?

The meeting started as soon as HR were able to get all the invitees in the meeting, either face to face or virtual. Business head started speaking about the current economic situation and how leadership has been trying to take measures for sustaining the macro economic situation. He did mention about the tough times that project also was going through. Finally he said, the company had to decide to restructure the org and the invitees of this meeting will be impacted as a part of reduction in workforce. Stunning silence for a moment.?

All were looking down, no one was able to look up and show their emotions. HR, Business head, no one was able to give an eye to eye. The people who joined over the call, though we were not able to see them, everyone was aware what must be going through their mind. Somehow the business head gathered courage and spoke again, that the project will be closed and the rest of the folks will be moved to another BU depending on their skills and requirements.?

?I started looking at the other people around and looking at the BU head, my friends from HR and other departments. I was trying hard to show that I am still believing that they are doing “April fool” in the month of October. But it was not true. I do not remember what was going through my mind, but I was smiling gently or at least trying to, remembering the day I joined this organization a decade ago.. All the moments starting from the interview process till now, ran in front of my eyes, similar to as they say, those who are on the death bed and breathing last time see all the events in their lifetime.??

The BU head handed over to the HR head for giving us a brief about what support the company would be providing to all impacted in their tough times. The words were coming and hitting the ears but the mind was still blank. One way of responding to the situation was to cry, agitate or show a sad face and another was to respond by accepting the decision gracefully and starting thinking of the next steps or taking a breather for a while.?

I could see the worry on some faces who were facing it for the first time, some were having similar experiences earlier, they looked relatively less stressed. Some were not able to express anything, just blank faces. The panel asked if people have any questions regarding what was explained as part of severance. Few experienced people knew what to ask, others were getting benefitted from their questions. I was curious if we would get another chance internally if there is any other opportunity available where I could cross skill my self and stay with same organization, which was unlikely but hope of a loyal employee.. You know!?

Immediate thing that I did as I brought my laptop along with me was, inform my manager and team (who were not impacted) about the happenings and for my duties, someone else would take care now onwards. Second thing I wanted to do and I did was stay positive, on my chat status I wrote - “Whatever happens, happens for the best and this shall pass too” It was not just for me but for everyone who was impacted and for those who would be in panic after this event.??

I accepted the situation, I did not want my energy to be wasted in opposing or resisting the situation which was not in my control. I was trying hard to control what I can and which is in my hand - my emotions and my response to the situation. After completing formalities, when one of my good friends walked to me, I could not resist, my eyes filled with tears. I was going to miss all the friends that I made here. I somehow managed to control the emotions again as he hugged me and said, “kuch nahi hoga bhai.. You are the strongest person I have seen”.?

I recovered from that emotion, went on to collect all my belongings and waited for my teammates who joined online and were commuting to the office for their formalities. I wanted to meet them and make sure that they are in control.?

Friends, these kinds of situations will happen, and we are seeing around us the worst is happening in today’s corporate world. Let's make sure the way Sid handled the decision, we also make sure that we look at these situations as just a temporary glitch, accept it and start thinking on next steps. Instead of reacting to it, let's think positively that what happens, happens for the best. Life is giving a chance to take rest, introspect and take bigger leaps. Something better will be there in the store.?

Accept it - Accept that this happened, and it is OK if it is happening to you. It can happen to anyone in the corporate world and you are not at fault.??

Respond to it instead of reacting - Be calm and composed, which will help you and your impacted friends to be positive.?If something bad is happening right now, then there is the turn of something great happening in the near future for you!