I live in a constant state of fear and misery

And employers love keeping you in that state

Don't wait for a layoff, start organizing a union for that juicy 'represented' employment status (as opposed to at-will). Unions can't stop layoffs, but they can minimize the impact, negotiate a higher severance, and provide advanced notice. I highly recommend the good folks at CODE-CWA, they specialize in organizing tech workers

My dad has been a server engineer for a single company for my entire life and he lived like this up until quite recently. His fear oscillates in magnitude with the success of the industry the company is a part of course so it isn't always severe but I remember every few years as a kid I'd hear him and my mother murmering about lay offs. These days he just jokes about it being an early retirement

My company has a 6 month probation period. It also has a 6 month password expiry. Because of all the SSO nonsense, it's quite possible for it to lapse without warning.

It's now a running joke that get locked out on the last day of probation, and you're expecting a call from HR any minute.

I got canned from my last job and thr way I found out was my work Gmail was locked out, fuckin class acts them.

Getting fired from my current gig would be a relief tbh.

I haven't been laid off since April. I haven't had a job since then though, so that's not exactly ideal.

Upside: not fired.

Downside: have to do work.

Upside: make money

Downside: not enough money

I live in a constant state of fear and misery

Do ya miss me anymore?

Just hit 5 months with no work. It's been tough

I work in IT. We get notified when people leave.

The cruelest thing in my company is when we get to know before the person in question…

While WFH is amazing, your colleagues just going poof and never knowing what happened to them is a big downside.

Anyone else see the back of the chair as the person's hair in the first two panels?

You just captured the daily life of a UK academic after the catastrophically low recruitment numbers this year.

I know the feeling. A few months ago I randomly got a video call from my boss. Both he and the owner of the company were in the line. They let me know that they unfortunately had to let go of almost everyone on the dev team. Some funding had fell through (gotta love startups). Fortunately, I got to keep my job that day, but I can't shake the feeling that another layoff is right around the corner.

Don't let that fear cow you into accepting marginal raises or career stagnation (assuming you're not happy at your current level). Severance (outside the US) is usually generous enough to skate into your next opportunity and, tbh, working in constant fear is fucking awful for your mental health.

At my last job, every time they added or removed someone’s key card access, the system would reboot and everyone would be locked out for like two minutes.

We also had two floors that were connected by a fire stairwell, so you needed a card to re-enter the next floor.

At least twice my card stopped working in the middle of the word day while I was standing in the stairwell and I assumed that they just fired me and assumed I’d see my own way out.

Survived three layoffs at that company.

I don't even notice when it hurts anymore.

Anymore.

Anymore.

Anymore.

Perhaps the head of the corporation that abuses you should be the one that lives in fear.

Why this expression? This guy just needs to spent a year homeless on the beach or so, if being fired: https://www.businessinsider.com/chris-deering-playstation-sony-laid-off-staff-beach-uber-2024-9 It definitely isn't greed on side of the CEO who earns millions for nothing while so many get fired, right? RIGHT?

I do this exact same expression when I'm forced to gain knowledge of something potentially personally catastrophic...

Me, turning on my PC every day after my main PC was bricked while rebooting for a Win10 update...

ouch. this hits to close.

I’m in this picture and I don’t like it