Often if you say you’ve been laid off, you get these sorry looks or sorry comments.
It took me my first layoff to figure out a layoff is not the same as getting fired. You get fired when you are bad at your job. You get laid off when something out of your control happens (the company gets merged into another one, the company goes broke, etc).
Layoffs are great. They give you “severance” money. No other time in my life have I just received money “for free” without needing to work (aside from investing).
A lot of people hate their jobs. They say, “If only I didn’t have to go in tomorrow.”
If you are one of those people, what actually stops you from showing up for a job you don’t like?
The answer: a paycheck.
What If I told you: “I’ll pay you what you normally get paid – just make sure you don’t commute, don’t do any work, and don’t endure the daily grind. And don’t worry – no one will be upset that you didn’t show up for work. Just collect your paycheck.”
Wouldn’t that be great? Wouldn’t it be “free” money?
It occurs to me that most people don’t like layoffs not because of the free money or the lack of purpose from not having a job, but because it’s a forcing function for change.