Still pretty shook about being laid off. I was under a contract role which they extended this January so I was relaxed. This friday I finished and submitted a huge query to my manager to scale up and then at 5.30 pm I got a call from my consultancy that my contract has been cancelled due to budgeting and restructuring. My manager has no knowledge of it and wasnt consulted into this. Became we had some huge projects in the pipeline which would now be stuck in a limbo. I loved my job and the team and my mind is not accepting that this has happened.
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@dq That’s completely incorrect. The “lists” and the recommendations for team consolidations are created by high‑band 5 and band 6 leaders. Mid‑level managers aren’t involved in that process. They’re usually informed late the day before or even the morning of the layoffs if any of their direct reports are affected.
@wj How high up leadership are we talking on who they wanted laid off?
I was layed off on 1/29/26 after celebrating 16 years of service with the company. Loyalty & hard work means nothing. If you were told that it was not a personal but a business decision, you were lied to. Your Leadership gave names of personnel they wanted to dismiss, they were able to hide their hands by having the higher Band Levels inform of the decision to terminate employment.
@dt same
@gn does your team have HIH partners?
My entire department got let go on 1/29. My manager and team were all taken by surprise as we had big projects already starting and in the pipeline for 2026. We were band 4 and my manager was a band 5.
@dw jfc exterminations? who says that for layoffs, none of these folks are fired and still exist
@dw Not true. I witnessed a Band 6 having a normal team meeting with a high performer that was laid off and was engaged with them. This was only a few days ago and they seemed pleased with them. Big reason why I am surprised.
@dt, it's true. The exterminations will continue throughout February until morale improves. If your Band 6 is suddenly avoiding your gaze in the next couple of weeks, it's probably because you're on the hit list. (psychologists call this "avoidance coping," which is a strategy where individuals try to distance oneself from the person facing dismissal to minimize discomfort or anxiety associated with the situation.
@dq It is absolutely NOT true that "if your manager is still there, they’re the one who signed off on the list." Decisions on who was being laid off were almost entirely made at the band 6+ level. On Jan. 29 I was informed by our band 6 leader that 2 people on my team were being laid off that day. I never saw any list prior to that nor was I asked for any input on the people and roles impacted. At least she was the one who told my team members that they were laid off so I didn't have to do her dirty work.
I have talked to several other non-band 6 managers and they had similar experiences.
People are incredibly naive. They think layoffs are a mystery, but if your manager is still there, they’re the one who signed off on the list. They can play the corporate sympathy game all they want, but at the end of the day, they chose who stayed and who went. Period.
It’s the same with contracts. The company knows exactly when the money dries up, but they won’t tell you until the final hour. They want to squeeze every last penny out of the deal and they’re terrified that if they’re honest, people will sabotage the work. They protect the payout, not the people.
Better off. Its a mess. Sorry to hear.
Foreign contractor?
@b8 Contracts come out of a different budget line item, so not beholden to the JEs. There was already a post comment, can't remember which one, about contractors being let go on 1/30. I remember someone stating that they were a contractor and that their company didn't know anything about it. I just wonder if they did know but couldn't tell their people it was coming.
@b6 not always, seems like if the FTEs were laid off on 1/29, and this person got laid off 1/30 they are doing random things.
Most of the time, they cut contract jobs first.
I’m so sorry that you’re experiencing this. It’s unfair that you (and others) were blindsided by being laid off.