I've written about it before, about Employment Insurance, about preparing for the worst - but I've never actually experienced it.
Many of you know that things are pretty rough in Alberta right now, with continued uncertainty around the oil & gas industry combined with mining - many organizations are struggling. My employer is no different.
I've officially been let go. It's a pretty strange sort of feeling. I have known that things weren't great for a while now, but I had been hopeful that I would make it through. I did in the 2008/2009 recession, and I made it through a variety of restructures, but this time it just wasn't in the cards.
So, here I am, starting my maternity leave a few weeks early, trying to figure out what to do with myself until baby arrives sometime next month. I've been pretty busy my first week with setting in to our place in BC, and generally getting ready for baby - but I imagine as the days go by I'll start to get a bit bored.
We'll be alright financially, my employer has treated my really fairly and my maternity leave benefits won't be interrupted. I've got a decent severance package which will, when combined with my Mat Leave, will take me into early 2017 as it doesn't start until mat leave ends.
I'm hoping to get writing a bit more frequently again, though I'm not sure how interested folks are in reading about baby stuff, but we'll see how it goes.
Job Loss
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Sorry to hear about your job loss. Silver lining: it happened during a great time anyways... new baby.
ReplyDeleteYou know, it's amazing how many people have said some iteration of 'it's a silver lining' 'it's good timing'. I just can't see it that way. Having my first child without a job to go back to, is pretty scary stuff.
DeleteI think maybe because I've never been laid off/let go before and I'm thinking perhaps it's happened to a lot more people in my life that am aware of, because so far - it seems to be not a big deal, but inside I'm freaking out.
Who knows ... by the time your maternity leave pay and / or severance pay runs out the economy might be back on an upswing and your employer may hire you back. That happened to my sister ... laid off, received a 100k severance package, and was back working for the same company a year later. In "C" town.
ReplyDelete100k severance? Wow, that's like 2 years worth for most people. They're the lucky ones tbh. Most people lost their jobs and don't receive severance. Severance AND maternity... now that's lucky.
DeleteI'm really sorry about this, but like some of the other commenters are saying: you never know what's going to happen in a year. The economy could bounce back. Nice that you got a severance though and that they are treating you fairly, I've heard some not so nice stories about some companies out there :/
ReplyDeleteIt's true - I've heard some pretty horrible things too. They are being fair for sure - I wouldn't necessarily say over-the-top generous, but certainly fair.
DeleteI'm so sorry to hear this. Is there a connection between you getting ready to go on maternity leave and being let go? That is illegal here but maternity leaves work much differently here than there.
ReplyDeleteIt's illegal here to if you're let go because your pregnant - my pregnancy wasn't considered in the separation...the entire department was closed :(
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