🎉 Welcome to The Office Party!

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Welcome to The Office Party! 🎉

The most fun and engaging way to stay up-to-date on everything HR and career-related.

We’re your favorite co-worker’s favorite newsletter. The free newsletter that is guaranteed to make you smarter, funnier, and more knowledgeable (or your money back).

Here’s what we got today:

🔎 Does your company have layoffs planned?!

✂️ Uber set to lay off 200 employees

🔀 25% of job seekers are looking to change careers

📉 Remote work is destroying productivity?

And, of course, MEMES!

MOTD (Meme of The Day)

How to Tell if Your Company is Planning Layoffs

There is NOTHING worse than being blind-sided by layoffs. You think you’re safe one minute, and the next your laptop is deactivated.

So how do you know if layoffs are coming? Unfortunately, there’s no way to know for sure…BUT, the WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) Act can help employees figure out if layoffs are on the way.

Here’s how the WARN Act can help you know if layoffs are coming:

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“WARN notices get their name from the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988, a labor-protection law that requires companies with 100 or more employees to provide a 60 calendar-day notice of planned closings and layoffs” (CNBC).

So, companies must provide a 60-day notice if they plan to lay off 100 or more employees.

However, companies get around this by spreading their layoffs out. Be sure to check your state’s WARN notices to stay up-to-date with impending layoffs.

Outside of the WARN Act, here are three ways to predict upcoming layoffs from CNBC Career Advisor, Suzy Welch:

“1. Pretend you are an investor and follow news on your company. “Sometimes the earliest canary in the coal mine are the industry media,” Welch said. Monitor your company online by reading what industry analysts and other experts are saying on different platforms about its finances and prospects. Subscribe to newsletters, blogs and outlets that cover your industry to keep a closer look at trends in your sector.

2. Pay attention to your company’s financial health. Workers can know how their company is doing financially by paying attention to earnings reports and guidance, and movements in its share price. “You have to have the discipline to take a look at what the markets are saying about your company and which way the stock price is going,” Welch said.

3. Watch your boss for clues. A trusting relationship with your supervisor can positively impact your work life on several fronts. You could hear of an incoming layoff earliest from them, as they will know before you. “Your boss is a human being. A boss will share that information with members of the team that they really trust,” Welch said.”

The full CNBC article can be found here.

Put simply:

To know if layoffs are coming, turn into a full-time detective!

The full, 30-page WARN Worker’s Guide can be found here.

200 Employees Are Expected to be Laid Off From Uber

210,721 tech employees have been laid off in 2023. 798 companies have had at least 1 round of layoffs.

Uber is the latest to rejoin the club. Earlier this year, Uber let go of 150 freight services employees. Now, the company is set to let go of 200 employees in their recruitment division, which accounts for 35% of the recruiting team.

Sounds like Uber won’t be aggressively hiring anytime soon.

Read the full article here.

25% of Job Seekers Are Planning to Switch Careers

It’s a weird time in the job market. Layoffs are running rampant. Companies are struggling. And job seekers are looking to change jobs at a uniquely high rate.

Crazy!

25% of workers expect to change jobs in the next 12 months.

Here are some contributing factors:

  1. Workers want to be paid more to keep up with inflation

  2. Employees are being asked to come back into the office

  3. Purpose and cultural needs are not being met

In addition, 42% of employees are planning to ask for pay raises.

Companies are short on capital. Employees want to make more money (understandable). What could go wrong?!

The full Yahoo Finance article can be found here.

BOO!! Study Says Remote Work is Harming Productivity

Bad product? Blame remote work. Company missed their quarterly targets? Has to be the fault of the remote employees.

We’ve seen company leaders and VCs conveniently pivot from “remote work is the future” to “great companies can’t be built remotely” (Tweet sent from their Yachts in the Bahamas).

Some studies have indicated that remote work boosts productivity. Others have said differently. The jury is still out.

However, new research from the NY Fed shows that productivity fell by 4% from those that moved from the office to remote work (how tf is that even measured?!).

Maybe the slackers just prefer remote work. Correlation, not causation.

One key benefit of remote work? You aren’t constantly interrupted by your annoying co-worker telling you about their weird hobbies.

Party Favors (extra reading)

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