Dear Joan:
I've been through two downsizings. In the first one, my boss
knew six months in advance that one fifth of the staff would have
to go. He told us all about it on day one. He then told us
that he would rather we left for new jobs rather than him having to
make a difficult choice about who to keep, since we all had
essentially the same skills and seniority.
He let us have time off - with pay - to go to job interviews,
phone and online access to job hunt, provided references for us
(including talking to prospective employers both in person and on
the phone for us), and helped us hunt for new work using his own
contacts in the field.
We all helped each other job search and the staff numbers were
what he needed after two months. Not only that, but those
of...
