Post: #1

I'm curious if anyone has ever volunteered for layoff, and how it worked out.

I work in oil, layoffs have started, the whole work situation has just gotten shitty, and I'd happily take a layoff with the severance pay. I don't need the job money wise, and frankly would relish the time off, but this is a professional sort of job where quitting looks bad, that you can't come and go for a few months here and there.

Should I mention this to management? on one hand, maybe they give it to me since they could cut me without impacting other guys who have families and mortgages. On the other, maybe they'd see this as one foot out the door, and make them less likely to offer me a package since I may quit on my own, saving them money on severance.

Post: #2

How much do you make a month and what is the severance pay? What kind of work schedule do you currently have? How easy or hard is it for you to get another good job outside of oil?

I don't know if you want to post everything on a public forum but without some background information it's hard to really know what options might be best.

Post: #3

If you volunteer for a layoff the employer is going to look at you as not being happy there and probably just fire you.

If I'm the boss and someone tells me, "please lay me off" I'm going to think, "Fuck you, if you don't want to be here, I'm just going to fire you without severance."

Post: #4

Getting fired comes with the ability to collect unemployment. Although it seems like a black mark for some, that temporary stream of income will help tide you over until the next job. Plus, volunteering for a lay off might allow you bargaining power toward a better severance package.

Post: #5

Yeah tough to tell... Are you field or office? Service company or operator? Field may offer more leeway if you approach your boss and say "hey, if work is going to be slow for a whole then I may just take some time off, can I touch base with you once the industry picks up again?"

The compensation package stuff is interesting though. Is there a precedent for that in your company?

Post: #6

(01-28-2015 01:41 PM)monster Wrote:  If you volunteer for a layoff the employer is going to look at you as not being happy there and probably just fire you.

If I'm the boss and someone tells me, "please lay me off" I'm going to think, "Fuck you, if you don't want to be here, I'm just going to fire you without severance."

Make yourself the martyr. Don't approach the boss first, approach a co-worker with a family that is looking at a desperate situation. Let him know you'll take the axe for him first. Both go into the bosses office, and tell him that you've got no kids and have other marketable skills, so if he needs to axe someone, take you first. You'll be respected by both, with a subtext that you're a valuable in-demand kind of employee and a stand up guy.

Post: #7

No further comment from Seadog.. troll?

Post: #8

(01-28-2015 03:18 PM)talldarkandhairy Wrote:  No further comment from Seadog.. troll?

He's given good perspective on his experiences as a petroleum engineer in the past.

I'd wager he's busy with work on this lovely Wednesday afternoon, perhaps you should be doing the same, talldarkandhairy!

Post: #9

I'm in a similar situation with my first job. I'd actually be making more money thru severance than thru showing up to work for my scheduled shifts. everyone knows they're getting laid off too so I could frame it as "I got another job. give my hours to someone who needs them and just lay me off"

I'm wondering if i could also make them make it so the reason is that my availability changed and there are no shifts for me when I can work

Post: #10

(01-28-2015 05:16 PM)komatiite Wrote:  

(01-28-2015 03:18 PM)talldarkandhairy Wrote:  No further comment from Seadog.. troll?

He's given good perspective on his experiences as a petroleum engineer in the past.

I'd wager he's busy with work on this lovely Wednesday afternoon, perhaps you should be doing the same, talldarkandhairy!

If he doesn't respond in a week maybe, but has only been a few hours!!!

Post: #11

(01-28-2015 12:28 PM)Seadog Wrote:  I'm curious if anyone has ever volunteered for layoff, and how it worked out.

I work in oil, layoffs have started, the whole work situation has just gotten shitty, and I'd happily take a layoff with the severance pay. I don't need the job money wise, and frankly would relish the time off, but this is a professional sort of job where quitting looks bad, that you can't come and go for a few months here and there.

Should I mention this to management? on one hand, maybe they give it to me since they could cut me without impacting other guys who have families and mortgages. On the other, maybe they'd see this as one foot out the door, and make them less likely to offer me a package since I may quit on my own, saving them money on severance.

What has gotten shitty?

The work environment? The work load? The boss?

Post: #12

I liked this quote from a blog post I read recently:
http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2006/07/the_..._the_.html

Quote:We had a joke at Apple during the dark days of the late eighties that went like this: We should announce that employees who want to quit should come to a big meeting. Those who wanted to stay at the company should not attend. Then we would let the people go who didn’t attend the meeting and keep the ones who wanted to quit—because they were smart enough to know that we were in bad shape or that they had better opportunities elsewhere.

I don't think anyone can tell you what to do here because we don't know your situation as well as you do. If your boss and company management are typical business assholes, they'll just use this information against you and find a way to fire you without wasting their money on severance pay. However, it might work if they are decent people and have demonstrated that in the past. Do you know if anybody else was laid off because they volunteered?

Post: #13

(01-28-2015 05:16 PM)komatiite Wrote:  

(01-28-2015 03:18 PM)talldarkandhairy Wrote:  No further comment from Seadog.. troll?

He's given good perspective on his experiences as a petroleum engineer in the past.

I'd wager he's busy with work on this lovely Wednesday afternoon, perhaps you should be doing the same, talldarkandhairy!

Absolutely classic.

(01-28-2015 02:35 PM)DarkTriad Wrote:  Make yourself the martyr. Don't approach the boss first, approach a co-worker with a family that is looking at a desperate situation. Let him know you'll take the axe for him first. Both go into the bosses office, and tell him that you've got no kids and have other marketable skills, so if he needs to axe someone, take you first. You'll be respected by both, with a subtext that you're a valuable in-demand kind of employee and a stand up guy.

In theory that could backfire one of two ways. One, management see you exactly as described, and keep you on because of that.

Or, depending upon the management structure, the 'boss' (in reality the foreman reporting to the big boys in the city) might not be able to convince HR of your character anyway- they just see you as an easy fire.

Post: #14

(01-28-2015 05:27 PM)WesternCancer Wrote:  I'm in a similar situation with my first job. I'd actually be making more money thru severance than thru showing up to work for my scheduled shifts. everyone knows they're getting laid off too so I could frame it as "I got another job. give my hours to someone who needs them and just lay me off"

I'm wondering if i could also make them make it so the reason is that my availability changed and there are no shifts for me when I can work

You've been working for 3 days and you already want to quit again?? There are no jobs where you'll make 6 figures in the first few days, you gotta get some experience first.

You should also be grateful someone even hired you at the moment. Most companies get dozens of applicants every day at the moment.

Post: #15

How are you with your boss is the big question

Last week I walked into my media job and told them I would be leaving in a month. She then offered to fire me, and I'd still get paid through the month I'd be leaving, plus get unemployment after

I hate the media field so it was a no brainer, but if you want to stay in the industry it could be bad. On the other hand, you could get fired anyway and then not be able to say it was voluntary

Post: #16

(01-29-2015 08:06 AM)Tresdus Wrote:  

(01-28-2015 05:27 PM)WesternCancer Wrote:  I'm in a similar situation with my first job. I'd actually be making more money thru severance than thru showing up to work for my scheduled shifts. everyone knows they're getting laid off too so I could frame it as "I got another job. give my hours to someone who needs them and just lay me off"

I'm wondering if i could also make them make it so the reason is that my availability changed and there are no shifts for me when I can work

You've been working for 3 days and you already want to quit again?? There are no jobs where you'll make 6 figures in the first few days, you gotta get some experience first.

You should also be grateful someone even hired you at the moment. Most companies get dozens of applicants every day at the moment.

haha no man I'm still going to shifts at my previous job which I plan on leaving soon as they're closing down, plus they're starting to wonder why I"m calling in once or twice a week. with me calling in one or two days every week I'd be making less money than if they laid me off. if I get laid off then I get paid ~1200 a month till the end of may, right now I'm probably only pulling in half that.

The new place is great. work is a bit boring, but I got paid overtime to drink beers after a 16 hour shift.

Post: #17

Well, apologies for the month long hiatus, a lot has happened. Basically work had gotten shitty in the sense that when cuts started, everyone else had to pick up the slack. Each week after 1-2 more people got let go which made it worse. On top of that there was a pay cut of roughly 10-30% depending on what jobs you did, and almost an expectation for you to be around town and available for work on your days off with no additional compensation. People at work were throwing around the term 'constructive dismissal'.

I went to Mexico for a week early Feb, came back, 8 hours later I was in the field for 10 days straight. The other guy I was with (unprovoked by me) said he was going to ask for a layoff. The next day I ended up getting a package. Turns out requesting a layoff basically had no impact. One of the comments here saying look to the company's past actions basically answered the question for me. Bottom line is it's a huge company, who looks only at numbers, and is going to do whats best for them regardless. They always play up information asymmetry, and force people into making decisions before properly being able to research them. One of my friends in Indo said he was told "if you don't want a layoff, you have to accept an unconditional transfer to Saudi. You have 24 hours to decide, and you'll find out details about pay, schedule, and specific location after you agree."

I've been trying to get all this severance and retirement accounts and taxes squared away, just did 10 days in Jasper, then I'll likely pack up, drop my stuff off in NS and do a few big trips. Having avoided the pitfalls of a 50k truck and hooker/coke habits means I'm fine for money. I'm thinking of going back for a masters next year, and then hopefully by 2017 things have recovered enough to make it worthwhile again. This is all at the brainstorming stage now though.

Since I'm financially OK, it's actually as much a relief as anything. For those who work in oil at the field level, I think you can appreciate that it's not really a sustainable lifestyle long term. 7 years without really the opportunity to do an extended break like Scotian or others wears on you. Extended periods of isolation and long hours followed by week long breaks where you overcompensate with too much food and booze. My health has suffered, and any sort of relationship with friends and family outside of the industry is nearly impossible. You almost suffer a disconnect from regular people.

Post: #18

Seadog, that health/friends/relationships sacrifice is for a reason - it should have been your ticket out.

In the last 7 years, you should have been able to set yourself up to never work again. I would bet you've earned >$1mm over this time frame working in Canada/AB construction...maybe some time off to self-reflect, organize your goals and come back fresh with a get-in, get-out mentality is what you need.