I just thought I’d talk about DOW and its current layoff situation.
As big as a corporation as DOW is I really thought they would have a more tasteful manner of laying people off, as I got my notice yesterday.
Your leader schedules a 1 on 1 meeting with you as they do every month, you log in to your meeting via teams and in my case my leader was late which is something that never happens.. Anyway your leader logs on and and everything is normal right.. well what you don’t know is they have also forwarded this meeting to HR, and after about 10 seconds HR pops in the meeting full video mode.
Then then MAKE you turn on your camera so they can visually confirm it’s you. Then start to tell you your job is over. Your leader does not talk, it’s all HR. However your leader is the person that chose you, so it’s not like they are are surprised. And one thing about Dow is things move slow, so they’d already chosen you most likely last month.
Anyway, at this point, they will give you one or two situations, one you will get told what your final day of employment is, it’s either end of may or end of June depends how gracious your leader is. Also, you will be told about your severance which is 2 weeks of pay for every year worked.
Then they will let you know you can go home for the rest of the day and they will graciously pay you for it.
Your last date of work could be the following week, or the next month, they will still pay you at least through 60 days wether you’re actively working or not.
In my case my last day was effective that day, and about 30 minutes later all my access was revoked, teams email workday etc.
This 2000 number that was used was a misdirection it was just the MINIMUM, they have to hit a head count and a budget number and will continue on as this is a 2 year culling.
So best believe another round is coming.
Dow got ambitious last year and wanted top talent and paid top tier salaries to a lot of people and they want that money back so the higher ups can keep getting their big bonuses next year. They are looking at levels 5 and above to start, and then filtering down.
Having HR pop into a teams meeting you thought was a typical 1 on 1 is really wrong and highly deceptive I think and very tasteless.
Contractors are mostly safe as they need to reduce DOW head count, however they are also using this opportunity to get rid of contractors they feel are poor performing and hiding it inside this big layoff.
After they tell you your position is gone understand they probably have already filled your role with a contractor. This means they have interviewed multiple people and chose one done all their checks on them while you’ve been happily working away thinking you’re doing an awesome job.
No write ups, good performance reviews and still laid off.. if you’re on the higher in salary wise then you’re already looked at.
Also your badge will be blocked from coming back as Dow or contractor for at least 6 months to 2 years. And you will be blocked permanently from returning as a Dow employee which makes it look rather personal, as if you’re the cause they over extended themselves!
Good luck to everyone in the lotto and if you see a odd 1 on 1 from your leader.. prepare yourself ahead of time.