“If you hear anyone say this happened because of performance, that statement is wrong and you should correct it.” Our department’s vice-president said something like this to those of us who remained last week, where “this” referred to a significant round of lay-offs. 

If you saw my last blog post (inspired by several employers, including mine), you already know how I feel about the cuts. For her part, another colleague recently described the situation as having our coworkers – fellow passengers, in her analogy – sucked out of a plane we were all flying together. 

While it doesn’t bring back our seatmates, I appreciate the gesture from the executive who wanted the world to know this decision was not taken because of any fault of the employees who were shown the door. 

Certainly, I can imagine it would be confidence-shaking to be asked to leave – along with several other emotions. Perhaps there was anger, shock, confusion. Some people may even have felt relief. As some colleagues said on their way to receive the bad news, “I’m not sure what it will be like to stay here.” I don’t think those of us left behind are sure either. Time will tell. 

In this moment, however, I just want to honour the people who left. 
They are smart. They are funny. They are our friends. 

I think about one woman who many of us referred to as a “work mom”. She started a practice of walking the halls to say goodbye. It was jarring, at first, when she arrived at my desk and said, “I just received a meeting notice and it must be because I’m getting laid off. They’re doing it at 9:00. I just wanted to say goodbye.” There isn’t much of a playbook for that kind of thing, so we simply hugged. Her decision to say farewell began a days-long string of many more hugs. And so many tears. 

The people who had to leave are committed. The three people lost from my team were all trying to use their final minutes to cross items off their To Do lists. Similarly, they have sent messages since then, wondering how to ensure this-or-that task gets done – so as not to let anyone down in our wider community. 

They are full of grace. I watch in awe as so many of them publicly post about things from our workplace they are grateful for. 

They love and are loved. As folks contemplate what next, I see them planning to spend more time with their loved ones (and yes, I will acknowledge here that losing one’s job in my line of work typically comes with a severance package that affords the ability to do so). In many cases, they passed up time with their families over the years – feeling a need to devote time to work instead. I hope their partners, parents, and children are deleting memories of time previously lost with their loved ones, and are now appreciating extra time in the sun together. 

They are valued. In addition to the person who wrote the airplane analogy, I have seen coworkers publicly offering support, and writing well-deserved endorsements of our former colleagues’ skills. In addition to my desire to do the same, I also wonder: how can we more regularly and frequently appreciate each other’s gifts…before it’s time to say goodbye? 

In the here-and-now, I am replaying so many of the things I’ve said (and not said) to colleagues in recent weeks, months, and years. And, I will confess, I have looked around at some of us who remain and wondered, “Why you? Why me?” This kind of thinking is entirely unhelpful, and indicative of the wounds we’ll have to heal as we undertake the seemingly-mammoth task of figuring out how to do our jobs entirely differently. 

In my better moments, I think about how we might plan our next steps in ways that honour our colleagues who had to leave. Because they are smart. They are full of grace. They are loved. And they are valued. 

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