Financial Feminist - 81. What to Do if You’re Laid Off

Episode Date: April 6, 2023

You’ve been laid off (or think you might be)... now what? In this episode, Tori runs through a checklist of what to do when you’ve been laid off, including what to ask about compensation and benefits, how to let your network know what’s happening and hopefully open new doors with your connections, and a short pep talk to remind you that you’re so much more than your job.  We’ve built out extensive resources for this episode, including links to government websites, previous career episodes on the podcast, and links to webinars, blog posts, and other helpful articles to help you navigate this challenging time. Check it all out at https://herfirst100k.com/start-here-financial-feminist-podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Hello, financial feminists. Welcome back. I'm so excited to see you. I'm not so excited to talk about today's topic, not because I'm not excited to do my best to give you some really good information, but because it's just not a fun one. Layoffs is not a fun one. Before we get into it, though, a little bit of housekeeping. As always, you know that you can leave us a voicemail. This is actually a perfect opportunity if after you listen to this episode, after you do a little bit of processing, if you were laid off, if you were impacted by a lot of what's happening right now, please feel free to leave us a voicemail. Tell us about your experience. Ask us any questions you have. We would love to comfort you during this time, but also be able to give you any

additional resources. You can also subscribe on your preferred podcasting platform. We're going to be doing a lot more episodes that are very topical about things that are happening in this moment that will also hopefully serve people for, well, really years to come. So you don't want to miss an episode. Stay tuned for all of that. Okay, let's talk about layoffs. Okay, everything feels really volatile right now, right? We don't know the state of the economy. We never know fully the state of the economy. And thinking about layoffs might not feel like a fun thing, but the only certainty in life is change. Oh, my podcast producer wrote that and I just read it and I hadn't read it before.

producer wrote that and I just read it and I hadn't read it before. The only certainty in life is change. Oh, God. Okay. I'm just going to need to, I just need to like walk into the ocean after that. I guess, I guess that's true. This is off to a great start. The only certainty in life is change. Okay. But this episode is also not going to be all encompassing. We're going to link a ton of resources in our show notes. There's going to be a mix of articles, links to government websites, additional episodes that we've done on your career, on job interviews, on all of that fun stuff, tons of other free resources. So please, this is not the end of your learning about layoffs or processing layoffs. We have a bunch more resources. This is just like your fun little starter guide. Okay, quickly before we talk about layoffs more in depth, let's talk about like the three things that could potentially happen to you

and your future at a company. One is you can get fired, right? This typically means you did something, right? Or at least a company thinks you did something. Layoffs are that they did something. The company did something, right? And the third one we saw, especially during the early days of COVID, was getting furloughed, which means that you're still employed, but you can't work or make money. Sometimes you get to stay on the health plan. Sometimes you don't. That one's a little weird. So fired, you probably did something. Layoffs, they probably did something. Layoffs, they probably did something. Furloughed's this weird in-between of that.

So let's talk about you getting laid off. You just got laid off. It fucking sucks. Here's what we need to know. First, I need you to know your rights as an employee. You've got to get to know your rights when you're laid off. We want to know how much compensation you're due when things like health benefits end. Each state has their own rights. Some are federal rights. This is the best time to whip out the old Google and plug in, quote, what are my rights after I've been laid off in Texas, Florida, Washington, Oregon, etc. You also should typically have someone at your company that you can ask these questions of,

but also please make sure you're doing your own research. We want to inquire about severance. Severance is them paying you, basically, I like calling it like an apology payment. They're like, hi, I'm so sorry I laid you off. Here's a little bit of money to tide you over, right? We need to ask about benefits. We need to ask about 401k. Do we still get to contribute to the 401k? When does that stop? If we get a 401k match, does that still kick in? When does that all happen, right? If you're not given a clear picture, ask about all of this. I want to always say to you that there are never stupid questions when it comes to personal finance, but especially during times where you might be feeling stressed and you don't know

what is offered to you, I need you to ask. It is a thousand percent appropriate to ask about an extension of benefits, especially if this is a swift layoff. If this happened really fast, if you were fucking working at Twitter, this happened really fast, right? So ask, negotiate for an extension of benefits, and please know your rights. Additionally, asking for severance is common. And again, even a small amount of severance can help make the transition smoother. Some other questions that might fit your situation. If you signed a non-compete that you wouldn't work for another company in the same industry, ask about whether that's still going to be enforced. I am not a lawyer, but I will also say that non-competes rarely hold

up in court. So do with that information what you will. We also need to ask about any unused PTO, especially if your company banks PTO, meaning that you can like cash it out. My first company, you could cash out your PTO if you didn't use it, which was a whole other conversation about how they incentivized us not to use PTO. But you could literally cash out your PTO, say, okay, I'm getting paid for this day off as opposed to taking it as a day off. We also want to ask about references, especially if you had a good relationship with leadership, if you had a good relationship with your coworkers, other people that you were working with. And depending on your situation, you might actually qualify for unemployment benefits. These are determined on a state-by-state basis, and therefore there are a good amount of

requirements. So make sure you're reading through the resources your state gives you. So number one, know your rights as an employee, know what you're entitled to, know how the company is compensating you, because they should be compensating you in some way. All right. Number two, I need you to get a little comfortable being uncomfortable and take stock of your financial situation. Do you have an emergency fund? How much is that emergency fund? If you were given a severance, what are we going to do with that severance? Does it give you any extra time? It might feel scary to look at your finances right now, but knowing exactly how much wiggle room you have to work with, what is going on in your financial life, in this next phase, it's going to be really helpful once your job hunting begins.

And if you don't have enough to get by while you're job hunting, you might need to consider part-time work or even contract work to help supplement. Which brings me to this. It is rough out there, right? And you got to do what you got to do to get by. I know it might feel awful to go from a nine to five corporate job to having a job that's part-time or a different situation than one that might look good on your resume, different than the field you might want to be in. It might be a job that's kind of like a little embarrassing or might be a little shameful for you in your head. But if you're facing this, I need you to know that you're a fucking rock star for your resilience.

And to quote Eleanor Roosevelt, no one're a fucking rock star for your resilience. And to quote Eleanor Roosevelt, no one can make you feel inferior without your consent. So know that you got to do what you got to do to get by. Okay. So we need to take stock. Do we have an emergency fund? How much can we cover? How much is in that emergency fund? If you were given severance, what are we going to do with that severance? Does it give you a little bit of extra time? We also want to take stock of our finances, including making sure we're literally taking care of physically. If you have lost health insurance, you may qualify for a special enrollment period at healthcare.gov or COBRA. COBRA is a program that allows you to keep the group health insurance

that you were on at the job you were just laid off from under certain circumstances. We'll link more resources to this below. I have seen, though, when I had my fun little situation where I was leaving the last job before I was taking her first $100K full-time, I had the ability to go on COBRA. And let me tell you that this was going to be like a $1,500 a month kind of health insurance thing, which one told me how lovely the health insurance I had was that I was leaving, which was a whole fun existential crisis. But also, I was just not comfortable paying that amount of money. So please look into if Cobra is the right thing for you. There might be a similar health plan or

even a health plan that just covers you but is way cheaper that's out there. Again, healthcare.gov is where you want to go. I would also say, though, if you have a pre-existing condition, if you have something going on health-wise right now, you might just have to pay for COBRA because you can't have the transitionary period right now. So take stock of your finances. get a little comfortable being uncomfortable. We have multiple episodes about how to review your finances, how to save money, and how to navigate times of economic or personal uncertainty. We'll link them in the show notes. So number one, we are knowing our rights as an employee. Number two, we are taking stock of our financial situation. Number three, if you have some time, please take it. The mental load of

getting laid off is a lot. It's kind of traumatic. Depending on how severe it is, it's a source of trauma for a lot of people. If you can even just take a day to process what's happening before throwing yourself back into the job hunt and navigating all of that, give yourself some kindness, give yourself some rest. I know this isn't a luxury for everybody, but any amount of self-care you can do in the next few weeks or months while you're looking for a new opportunity is going to be so important. I think it's also common when you've been laid off to think it was a personal failing, right? Like, I failed. It was my fault. They wouldn't have laid me off if I was a spectacular, hardworking person. The answer is likely, no, that's not true.

Layoffs are extremely complicated. As someone who does own her own business, and knock on wood, has never had to lay anybody off. I know that very, very rarely does it come down to work performance or how much I like the person. It's literally just preservation of the company. And that's really hard to accept sometimes. But please know that this doesn't really have anything to do with you. Like we talked about before, right? Layoffs has everything to do with a company or what they believe the economic state of the world is. It is not your own personal or professional failing. Please offer yourself a lot of grace right now.

All right. Number four is when you're ready, let's start reaching out. It's a great time to update your LinkedIn, to pull out those old business cards from a networking event, and to share with your network what is happening. Posts that I see on LinkedIn are getting so much traction right now when people are really honest. Again, that shame of like, oh my god, I was laid off. I don't want anybody to know can actually be used to your advantage. So for example, I was let go from XYZ company where I doubled profits on every project I worked on, including in this specific example, right? I'm looking to work on a digital marketing team as a marketing manager, coordinator, whatever. Use keywords. Look at how we just outlined that, right? I was laid off from X company. I was kick ass at said company. And here's what I'm looking for now, right? We want to get specific about the

industry we want to work in. We want to get specific about, again, the performance and the value that we added. The more specific you get, the more likely someone from that industry will come along the post. This is also, again, a great time that if you do have connections on LinkedIn, if you do have people in your network who you know could connect you to somebody that you want to speak with, leverage that connection. I will say there's two especially amazing times to be on LinkedIn. One is, hi, I'm a student, right? I'm a student and I'm looking for 15 minutes of your time to ask questions. And again, unfortunately, but fortunately now is I got laid off. Can you help me? We also want to make sure our resume and LinkedIn is up to date. Add whatever relevant information

you can. Like I said before, get really specific. Talk about the tangible ways you helped the company or added value. For example, something I did at one of my corporate jobs was I instituted a stand-up meeting in the mornings to help boost morale and to build community. It was something I was able to talk about in my interviews. It wasn't like, you know, I increased our social media growth X percent, but it like made a huge difference in the community and the collaboration of the company. And especially for it being a small company, it made a huge impact. We have a job interview guide that has been completely revamped for 2023. We have a resume template, cover letter templates, how to answer frequently asked questions in

a job interview, how to templates, how to answer frequently asked questions in a job interview, how to structure your LinkedIn to stand out. We will link all of that down below in the show notes. And we also have an incredible one hour free workshop called how to land the job when you don't meet the requirements for people who are either graduating college or transitioning industries, or maybe just applying for a job that you feel you're slightly underqualified for, how to stand out in that job interview process. We'll also link it in the show notes. So next, if we're thinking about a career change, this actually might be the best timing ever. I've had countless friends and even some team members of HFK that came here during a career change after a layoff. Hello, podcast producer Kristen. And sometimes layoffs can be a sort of blessing in disguise. And please know it's also okay if

you're just like, no, it's not a blessing in disguise. This just sucks. So if you've been laid off, it might actually be a great time to reevaluate what you want. What are you looking for? Where do you want to work? What kind of job do you want to do? What kind of field do you want to work in? And even if it's not in a new field, maybe you just had a boss that you fucking hate it. Or you had tasks constantly assigned to you that were out of your scope. Maybe you did a lot of non-promotable work tasks. We've talked about that on a previous episode. Write this all down. Like journal about it. The good, the bad, the ugly. And use that to help craft a wish list for your next job. What went well? What didn't go so well? What really didn't go so well, right? And what do we want to look for as we progress? It's a little

bit different. I quit under my own volition, but I talk about in the introduction of my book, Financial Feminist, that I took a very toxic job that I had to quit after three months without another job lined up, and I spent three months unemployed. And I was able to do that because I had an emergency fund. But also, I gave myself enough time to not just find a job, but a job that felt like a good fit for me at that point in my career. And by taking time and by journaling and reflecting about what I wanted, I was able to be really intentional about choosing my next career opportunity as opposed to just like whatever came along. Now, I understand, again, if you've been laid off, it's a little bit different, but do everything you can to reflect on what does make sense for you. Where do you see yourself? What kind of environment do you work best in? And if there was some toxicity or some

bullshit in your previous job, reflect on that, understand that you can and will find better. Finally, we'll give you a bunch of other resources for after you've been laid off. We're putting together an extensive list of resources on our show notes page for this episode, including additional articles and advice from other personal finance and career experts. We're linking some of our popular career episodes. We're giving you, again, links to our job interview package and our free workshops. So please take advantage of all of that. We'll also put a link in the show notes to our free script for negotiating bills. This is a really good thing to do, especially when you've been laid off, but really anytime.

It's easier to convince somebody to give you a discount on things like your car insurance or your phone bill, if you can call them and say, hi, I'm going through a period of economic turmoil, right? I just got laid off. What kind of flexible options do you have for me? We have a whole script, a whole step-by-step process that's linked in the show notes that's free that you can take advantage of. that you can take advantage of. I want to wrap this episode by again saying, this is not a moral failing. This is a really sucky situation that unfortunately, but also comfortingly happens to literally millions of people all of the time. So if this is you, if this is maybe somebody you

love, feel free to continue deep diving into our resources. Share this episode with the people in your community, maybe other co-workers who were also laid off, but know that you are A, not alone, and B, you will get through this. You will get through this and you will learn to navigate it. And you might look back, hopefully you'll look back someday and be like, cool, that was a really incredible time that built some of my resilience, even if it absolutely sucked. We are always here to support you on your financial journey, on your career journey, navigating all of this, especially during times of economic volatility. We appreciate you being here. We appreciate your trust in us. we are cheering you on every step of the way and we would love if you're willing and able to share some stories about what's going on

with you about any questions you have please feel free to leave us a voicemail thank you as always financial feminists we hope this was helpful for you and we'll talk to you soon thank you for listening to financial feminist a her first 100k Feminist is hosted by me, Tori Dunlap, produced by Kristen Fields, marketing and administration by Karina Patel, Charisse Wade, Alina Helzer, Paulina Isaac, Sophia Cohen, Valerie Oresko, Jack Koning, Khalil Dumas, Elizabeth McCumber, Beth Bowen, and Amanda LeFue. a few. Research by Arielle Johnson, audio engineering by Austin Fields, promotional graphics by Mary Stratton, photography by Sarah Wolf, and theme music by Jonah Cohen Sound. A huge thanks to the entire Her First 100K team and community for supporting the show. For more information about Financial Feminist, Her First 100K, our guests, and episode show notes, visit financialfeministpodcast.com or follow us on Instagram at financialfeministpodcast.