Laid off in the office? Spill.
No Zoom link, just a cardboard box and an empty bathroom stall to cry in.
Laid Off is the coolest place on the internet to talk about being laid off. Wanna collab? Sponsor an issue? Have a tip? Hit reply.
I’ve been thinking a lot about what it’s like to be laid off in the flesh. Not over Zoom or in a virtual town hall, but in the corporate office. The one where you’ve spent hours making small talk while waiting for the elevator to go home, maybe flirting with that one coworker in the kitchen over free granola bars, making tense eye contact with that team holding the good conference room hostage.
And then one day, you’re called into that same conference room. Only this time, the air is different. Somehow both gentle and tense. Maybe someone closes the door a little too softly. You already know. You try to listen, but all you can think about is how you’re going to have to stand up when this is over and walk past everyone on your way out.
There’s no “Leave Meeting” button to click. The only way out is through the bullpen, past the people who still have jobs… or are next. You try to hold it together long enough to find a bathroom stall or empty hallway to cry in before figuring out your next move.
These days, that experience seems to be happening less and less. Remote work means most layoffs happen on video calls, at home. You close your laptop, you stare at the ceiling, you cry in your own bed. There’s a strange privacy to it. But for the 14.2% of people who told me they were laid off in person, I imagine it leaves a different kind of mark. One that feels a lot more exposed.
Still, there’s been a lot of nostalgia lately for office life. Corporate culture is getting the soft-focus treatment: The corporate aesthetic is back – except now it’s a vibe, not a job. It’s what
coined as Corporate Fetish. But the reality of corporate life these days is less power suits and dread-free happy hours, and more sitting in a conference room while someone reads a script about “restructuring.”For the next Laid Off Trend Report, I’m focusing on those layoffs—the ones that happen in the office, in person, in public. If that was your experience, I want to hear what it was like. Who delivered the news. If there was privacy. What you packed up from your desk. The first place you went afterward. If you were escorted out of the building.
If you’ve been laid off in the company office (not your home office), take the survey.
(And if you know someone this happened to, feel free to pass it along.)
More soon.
PS… Laid Off was featured in CNBC over the weekend. Stoked!
I loved this piece!