A New Beginning

I got laid off at work today. One of my greatest fears in life is the fear of being unemployed. I have survived dozens of layoffs in my career but until today I've never been the victim of one. Today I'm technically unemployed. I can't say it was a surprise and in many ways I consider it a blessing.

As you may know, I have been consulting for quite a while and the company I have consulted for the most is Hi-Z Technology. I worked for Hi-Z before I went to Qualcomm (now Kyocera) and I absolutely loved working there. The only problem was that they couldn't afford to give me a raise and with kids approaching college age I needed more money. Hi-Z has been wanting me to come back for quite a while and starting last fall I've been seriously considering it. I felt good about going and when I would pray about it I felt it was the right thing to do but I could never build up the nerve to make the move. It is hard leaving the security of a very large corporation for the high risk of a small start up.

Back in November we were told that Kyocera would be restructuring to try and save some money. They've never had a profitable year since they bought us in 2001 so I can't say that I blame them. It is easy to be the armchair quarter-back but it seems to me they've made some pretty bone-headed decisions along the way but they never asked me. Last year Kyocera bought Sanyo's mobile phone division and the announcement last fall was that they were going to consolidate the two companies. Consolidating always means getting rid of duplicate people but I wasn't too worried because Sanyo didn't have any battery people so I figured I would continue to develop batteries. Shortly after Christmas however it became apparent that Kyocera's group in Japan wanted to do the batteries for Sanyo so I became a little concerned. This week on Monday I heard a rumor that the batteries were going to Japan so I started making preparations. I talked to Hi-Z on Monday and they were thrilled to take me back so when I got the news this morning it was almost a relief. I am excited to go back to Hi-Z but it is still a bit scary. Hi-Z isn't a big company but it has huge potential and I guess it is partly up to me to make sure they realize their potential. I almost feel like I left Hi-Z ten years ago to receive the training preparation that I needed to go back and help them grow. I certainly have experience in high volume manufacturing and how a large corporation should be run so I have no excuse.

It was very strange this morning walking into Kyocera. It was like a morgue with the walking dead. Luckily I was one of the first to go so I didn't have to suffer. I sat at my computer and saw that I didn't have any meetings and for a while there I was almost afraid they wouldn't let me go. I couldn't bear the thought of being forced to stay and help them transition my work over to Japan. I pulled up my emails to start going through those and no sooner had I started when my boss came by and asked me to go with him. We went to a small office with a temporary HR guy (they must have had dozens of them) and the three of us went through what was being offered. Without going through the details I was offered a very generous severance package. It is tempting to take a very long vacation but that wouldn't be the responsible thing to do. They then told me that I needed to attend an informational meeting where the details would be explained to me. The information session was being offered all day long every hour starting on the hour.

I had time before the next meeting started so I went to pick up some boxes in the HR department and in several of the offices I could hear women crying. What a swarm of emotions. I was torn between being sad that my job that had given me so much was over and being excited about going to a job that although it was risky it was a job that I loved. All around me was sadness and misery but in my heart was excitement and joy. I started packing up my office and then went to the information meeting. The poor girl who was giving the presentation was crying because she too had been given notice. She had to give her presentation to all of us and then she two was packing up. How cruel.

I then finished packing up and before I took my laptop back I pulled all of the addresses out of my address book and I fired off a change of address to everyone I know. Handing in my laptop was much harder than I thought it would be. My entire life was in that thing. I did download all of my personal stuff (pictures, letters and financial records) but I didn't want to let it go. When I got to HR to hand it in I had to stand in line to get laid off. Somehow that doesn't seem right. Several people in the line were also crying. Kyocera's head legal council was there and since we've worked so closely together she gave me a big hug and told me how sorry she was for me. I held up my laptop and reminded her that there was a lot of legal stuff in there. She immediately turned to the guy taking laptops and told him that she wanted my laptop. I then went to say good bye to old friends and I have never hugged so many people in my life. It was weird, I felt like I was at a funeral. I didn't get a final count but I think that more than two thirds of the engineers were let go today. I think they are just keeping a few to support the Japanese. Many of them were told that they will be staying for sixty days and then they too are out.I then pulled out of the parking lot and headed to Hi-Z where I worked until after eight o'clock tonight. I guess I may be unemployed but I'm still working. I'll go in tomorrow and we'll negotiate a job but I am quite excited. Wish me luck on a new beginning.