2014: I was stuck in a job that I hated, working for a company that fostered bureaucracy and a toxic work environment. Many times I wished that a job would fall into my lap and rescue me from the daily grind that was sapping my spirit and leaving me stressed out and possibly a little depressed. Beyond wishing, my prayer became "show me an exit and I will take it".
December 2014: I completed a regular and depressing manager duty of selecting the team members that I would lay off during the next cost cutting exercise. This exercise had become a regular event over the past several years and never got any easier. This time, we were planning the layoffs for January, February and at mid year. The goal was to reduce the onshore employee ratio from 60% to as low as 20% in 2015.
This lay off was conducted much like previous lay offs. As a manager, I would learn of impending layoffs months before they were executed, make my lay off selections, and then live with the knowledge of who was losing their jobs as I worked with them daily. According to company policy, I could not share the information with anyone, especially the victim, lest they find other employment and bolt before the predetermined time.
The company would plan the layoffs as one might plan a surprise party - extreme secrecy right up until the victim was invited into a conference room where I would surprise and shock them with the news they were no longer employed. It was an especially cruel and unusual way of ending someone's employment. This is one tactic used to foster a toxic work environment.
During the planning for the early 2015 rounds of layoffs, the company leadership made a late request to increase the number of people we would lay off in February. This led to a late request of all managers to bring one more name to a meeting that would determine the final list. I was already in a foul mood having selected 2 contractors and a 35 year veteran employee and friend for the January and February lay off lists. Then it struck me. This is the exit. My prayer became "tell me if I this is not my exit".
That evening I spoke with Terri. She was painfully aware of my unhappiness (such a weak word) and that I wanted out. While concerned about things like health insurance and my ability to find new employment at 58 years old, she did vow to support my decision. I would offer my name as the one more name for the February lay off list. I felt comfortable with the decision. This is the first in a series of God things.
January 2015: I let my two contractors go. While depressing, contractors live with the knowledge that each day, even each hour, might be their last working on any contract, so as lay offs go, this one was fairly easy. I still held on to the knowledge that my friend and coworker of the past 12 years, a person well liked and respected by my entire team, would be let go in February. The anxiety was lessened somewhat due to the fact that my friend was in his 70's, and that once I laid him off, I would also be laid off. I had become at peace with moving on.
February 2015: Violating a specific Human Resources directive, I turned the lay off of a friend and colleague into a retirement celebration. He agreed to announce his retirement and the team was then able to celebrate a long career and relationship with a very nice guy. The HR team had informed me to not handle the lay off in this manner since it might disclose the coming layoffs and ruin their surprise party. I opted to do the right thing and ask forgiveness later if needed. Fortunately it wasn't.
March 2015: Because I was a manager with diverse responsibilities that would be difficult to absorb by another manager without a hand off, I was asked to transition my role during the month of March and "retire" on March 31. On March 6th I announced my "retirement" to my internal and external customers via email. As part of that email announcement, I listed who members of my team would report to after my departure. It seemed like a courteous thing to do, and fit right in with the transition duty I was asked to accomplish. But at a company so dedicated to secrecy, it was a mistake.
On Sunday evening, March 8th, my boss called to inform me that my email caused a security concern and was being investigated internally. It see,s that I had disclosed organizational structure to an external customer. Until the investigation was complete, I was suspended and should remain home awaiting a call. He informed me that he understood the intent of my email and that it was quite innocent, but the outcome could range anywhere between coming back to work later in the week, to termination and loss of my separation package. Without the separation package, I would lose health insurance the following Friday, and would need to find new employment quickly. This is not how I envisioned walking though the exit. I began to question whether the exit was really a God thing, but I could not go back. The door had slammed shut.
On March 10th the call came. The investigation concluded that my last day worked would be moved from the March 31 date to the 10th. The planned separation package would be provided. The net effect was that I "retired" 3 weeks earlier than planned. Later I learned that powerful executives had wanted my separation package revoked, while my boss and a Human Resources manager (the same one who directed me to not turn a lay off into a retirement) argued that pulling the package was unjustified by the facts and would tarnish the "retirement" of a 19 year veteran. Looking back, I would have never expected my boss and the HR manager to win that argument, but they did. Another God thing.
So I had walked entirely though the exit without knowing what lay ahead. My departure was called a "retirement" for the benefit of my team. They needed to believe that I was leaving by choice and not as part of a lay off. I would have loved to retire, but knew that I needed a least a couple more years to make the retirement financial plan work. But I now had some time to find a job I felt competent in, and wanted to do. I had no idea what that job looked like. My plan was to take some time off and not accept a job during the first 3 months, unless a really nice one fell into my lap. Since nice jobs rarely fall from the sky, I guess my plan was to take 3 months off.
I spent most of this time tackling huge jobs that I would not be able to complete while working a full time job. Tasks such as painting my house inside and out, and helping my daughter remodel her bathroom and ready their house for sale. It sold in one week. Another God thing. The buyers wanted to close before the end of June (less than 30 days) which seemed impossible since my daughter and her family did not have a place to move to on such short notice. But their rental home had just become available and could serve as a temporary residence while they built a house. It just needed to be completely renovated to be livable for a family of 5. It needed new paint, new garage door, new floors, and a lot of clean up inside and out. Since I was unemployed, I offered to help by painting and doing a few other odd jobs. I thought I had until the end of June to finish, but things were moving much faster. Let's review. House goes on the market May 19th or so, a contract is signed on May 27th, entire family goes to Florida for vacation on May 29th and return June 6th, work begins on rental house the following week. They move into restored rental home on June 20th and close the sale of their house the following week. It still seems impossible. God things.
With those tasks completed, I returned to my plan which was to begin to seriously look for work upon returning from vacation on June 8th. I was either going to start submitting applications on every job that looked interesting, or attempt to make a living as a handyman. The later had appeal to me as it provided a great sense of accomplishment and gratification. I was able to land a few jobs, but not enough to make a great living. My prayer since leaving my prior job was "open the door" and smack me in the head if I didn't recognize what it was. On June 10th, I receive an email via Linked In from a former Sprint executive that I had worked for 7 years ago. We had not communicated since he left Sprint in 2008. He was now a Senior Vice President at Time Warner Cable. He asked me to call him when I had a few minutes.
I called and we caught up on the past 7 years. He asked me what I was doing and I responded that I had left my job voluntarily in March. He was not aware. He wanted to start a program at Time Warner similar to one I had work on at Sprint. He wanted to know if I was interested. Yes, a door was opening. I flew to Herndon, Virginia on June 18th and 19th for what were called interviews, but actually weren't. I met with several managers and executives who gave me their thoughts on the new program. I left my location and salary needs with the SVP and returned to Kansas.
A job was posted at Time Warner on June 24th and I was encouraged to apply for it. I walked through the open door. On June 26th I was contacted and informed that I had been selected. The offer met my salary needs and would be located in Kansas City. God things.
My scheduled start date is July 13th. I will be building a team and establishing a program that is roughly the same as a team I had built and managed at Sprint.
My story is not as witty or as entertaining as Kelly Levantino's, but it is more wordy and just as supernatural.
About all I can is ... Wow ! And, I enjoyed Kelly's blog post as well.
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