Made redundant, let go, downsized, fired, surplus to requirements, no longer needed, on gardening duty, laid off, cut. It all comes down to the same thing: you’re out of work. Welcome to the world.
In Dutch, there’s just one term for it - ontslagen - but to a Brit, there are subtleties at play not to be messed with. You were laid off, made redundant? That sucks, but take heart my friend, it’s strictly business. You’ve been fired? It’s your fault. You either fiddled the books, stole something noticeable like a photocopier, or you were really rubbish at your job (I just can’t believe you lasted this long).
Over the years I’ve been the innocent bystander in a number of cost-cutting exercises; once I even deserved it (I was a young career pup and didn’t know any better). The first time? London 1997, a brand experience agency specialized in the toy industry. I was caught in the crossfire between one business partner who’d just given birth to her third child, and was leaning a little too heavily on the vodka, and business partner 2 (that husband of hers).
He was a micro-manager par excellence and former Navy SEAL who treated every project like a covert operation for the Special Forces. Damn they were good. However, due to this, that and the other, they’d had to ‘let me go’. Frankly it was a relief. That company taught me two valuable lessons, though: never work with a pregnant husband and wife partnership; and, don’t take it personally. Unless, of course, it’s personal.
There’s the time the digital agency moved lock, stock & barrel back to Sweden (“We’re relocating. No, we can’t take you with us”.) I once got locked out of a Consumer Tech agency’s computer system after a company meeting (“If your password is blocked, then sadly, we’ve had to let you go”). And, more recently, I was told: “We just can’t afford to keep you on, but let’s keep it hush-hush for now”. This, whilst sitting in a glass-walled goldfish bowl of an office, smack in the centre of a glass-walled open-plan floor, perched at an elevated table on tall stools. After having been summoned to the meeting over the internal speaker system. Sure. Keep it on the down-low. Right.
It’s happened before and it’ll happen again.
These are turbulent times, where belt-tightening is required and there’s no shame in a company facing a harsh reality - ‘the clients have cut back, so must we’. It’s tough all round. Unfortunately, too often the cutting back is done without grace or regard for reputation management. Of course, sometimes we’ve just got to take it on the chin. But I’ve heard too many stories of employees feeling let down, disrespected, appalled at the way their former employer has handled the exit policy (if there even is one), that last ‘I’m sorry but’ conversation. An agency may have enjoyed eight strong years of loyal service from Account Director X, but, like breaking a mirror, one final slip-up and you could be left with smashed glass at your feet, bloody scratches and seven years bad luck.
Reputation is everything. The quickest, strongest way to build it is word of mouth. And break it too. Your people are your ambassadors. Whether working in the local market or internationally-focused, Amsterdam’s creative industry is a small incestuous pool: we splash around, getting our feet wet, often jumping from one boat to another, seemingly regardless as to whether it’s the Goodship 180, HMS Indie or the Water TAXI.
And as we go, we’re talking all the way.
Think about the number of people freelancing these days, or looking for a new position. As they go from one place to another, interviewing, meeting people, they are storytelling. And if the last experience was inglorious and undignified, those war stories can get ugly. No matter how long they worked for you and how happy the relationship had been.
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