Layoffs: Before and after

People are not numbers on a spreadsheet.

Yet this is what we are seeing in the tech market right now.

Accenture will cut 19,000 jobs.

Indeed will cut 2,200 jobs.

Amazon will cut 9,000 jobs.

Microsoft will cut 15,000 jobs.

Meta will cut 10,000 jobs.

Salesforce will cut 8,000 jobs.

+ many more.

I don't know about you, but I don't think we have seen the bottom of this yet.

So this week I've asked Dan Goodman to join us.

Meet Dan

Tell us a bit about yourself

Hi, I'm Dan 👋

As an advocate for salespeople and employees everywhere, I'm the founder and CEO of TruCommish , a commission audit service for salespeople to verify pay. I also consult with employees as the counter to human resources. I advise on severance offers, employment agreements, compensation plans, stock equity grants, PIPs, commission audits, and personal, professional and financial coaching and planning.

I have developed a framework for constructing sales narratives as counters to PIPs, and severance discussions that enables sales people everywhere to ask for what they deserve.

There's a lot of uncertainty right now in the tech market - what's your advice on how people can prepare for a layoff?

I always tell people two things.

1. Negotiate or plan for your exit before you start.

You never have more leverage or ability to negotiate than when they want you and they recruited you.

Secondly, make believe that you are going to be fired and walked out the door tomorrow.

Don’t’ have regrets that you weren’t prepared for.

That you don’t have access to the information you need to counter any claims against you and to help negotiate a better severance agreement.

Gather your employment agreement, comp plan, if you are in sales, bookings and commission information to prove payout errors.

Gather up any relevant emails, slack messages, or screenshots.

Many folks are telling me their companies are instantly wiping their computers remotely.

Set an alarm every week to backup relevant information.

2. Secondly, go on LinkedIn.

Start a side hustle.

Diversify your income streams.

So that if you do get laid off, you have a community that can help you find a job and a side hustle to help lessen the financial burden.

If you get laid off and you are not happy with your severance or feel that you have been targeted or treated badly.

If you feel discriminated against in any way, money is owed to you, it is a retaliatory firing, reach out to me.

I review severance agreements and help employees to identify leverage to attempt to negotiate a better severance.

It is also a very therapeutic exercise in several ways.

First in many cases, if you don’t attempt to pursue a better deal, especially if you feel that you have been wronged, you could have regret for years and years.

I call it wage theft PTSD.

Even if you are not successful improving your payout, by documenting your feelings and what happened and fighting for yourself can be beneficial mentally.

For many these layoffs come as a huge surprise and employees feel shocked, emotional, and mistreated.

Secondly, in most cases, the employer wants you to sign the severance more than you want their inadequate payout.

They don’t do it because they have to or because they are nice.

It is to silence you from sharing what happened and for you to release them of all liabilities and the ability to sue.

If you want to connect with Dan. reach out via email at dgoodman@trucommish.com or via his LinkedIn profile.

The world of work will continue to evolve

In combination with the layoffs, we are seeing a ground breaking development speed and impact with AI.

The world of work will continue to evolve.

And AI is going to replace a lot of jobs.

We have a massive change ahead of us.

Here's my advice:

1. Spend time on upskilling and reskilling.
2. If you have been laid off, instead of competing with thousands of others for a job, start to market yourself and offer consulting and coaching instead. Be flexible, this is a huge benefit to a lot of companies in these times.
3. Some people will realise that this is the moment they have been waiting for to start their own company.
4. Consider working for yourself - Create the remote job that you have been looking for.
5. Network - it is much easier to find work in your network. Being part of a community is your safety net.
6. Build multiple income streams.
7. Build your personal brand on LinkedIn. Show your expertise through posts and a newsletter. Offer free coaching and consulting calls in the beginning to understand your customers needs and how to price.

Bet on yourself and play the long game.

You can do this 💪🏼

📌 Free resources for you to download:

1. Grab my free eBook “Remote Freedom” here.
2. Download the "Layoff Survival Guide" by Simon Holmes.

If you enjoyed this edition, please share it with your friends and family.

See you next week 👋

PS. Do you have suggestions on topics we should cover? Do you want your company to be featured in The Future of Work Newsletter - reach me here: hello@hannalarsson.me

Here are 3 ways I can help you:

1. Over the last decade, I have built and scaled go-to-market strategies, sales orgs and revenue at disruptive SaaS, Deep tech and HR tech companies. My most recent experience was to scale the unicorn Remote. If you want to work with me, reach out here.
2. I help startup founders and leaders build audience and brand on LinkedIn and fuel startup growth. You will learn the exact strategy that I used to go from 6,000 to 44,000+ followers in one year. 👉 Join one of my 1:1 Personal Branding Programs
3. Camels are the new unicorns 🐫 Be the Camel is a weekly newsletter where I provide actionable advice to help you build a high-performing, cost effective startup with sustainable growth. Join us here.