You thought this post was about airline seats, right? Nope. Layoffs.
The best euphemism for getting fired: “you’ve been upgraded.” As the Workplace Prof Blog noted from a reader who was laid off with:
We are going to upgrade you with immediate effect. We are going to allow you to move on in order that you can you use your talents and skills more effectively and thus upgrade your career and opportunities.
The Evil HR Lady calls this an “embarrassment.”
Here’s my take: any management team that calls a layoff an “upgrade” is hereby upgraded to “idiot.”
Can management just say what a layoff is? You know…a layoff?
Related posts:
Yep. “Upgrade” is idiotic and whatever else you want to call it. I’ve been curious for years as to who gets laid off in a downturn or recession. No answer to the question fits every situation. But one “education” I’ve received as a consultant is that firms look forward to a downturn for a number of reasons. To refocus the business strategy (there’s a lot of refocusing going on now)–and to clean out “dead wood.” This recession is clearly more than that. Sometimes you lose a position because of strategy change–that’s valid and understandable. Being “dead wood” is personally debilitating–and deeply painful. But once we get beyond the sense of being victimized, it can force us to think through our own strategy, our toolkit, and what further competencies we’d better add for the marketplace. Seniority doesn’t cut it anymore.
Before you get your dander up about my conclusions, let me lay some more on you. Sometimes we lose jobs, the research shows, because of stupid bureaucracy–at least, that feels better if you’re on the receiving end. Another reason is because execs think short term and not long term. If you’re interested in the whole list, Bob Sutton of Stanford, has three free posts at Harvard online (www.discussionleader.hbsp.com/bobsutton). [Always has been incest between Stanford, Harvard, and Chicago)
Dan — I agree with your conclusions; no dander to get up here!
One of my objectives this year is to insure that each knowledge worker is responsible for their own career and the choices they make about their career. I’m still surprised at the number of knowledge workers who simply go along for the ride with their company and then wonder what happened when they are laid off.
Thanks for the comment.
Yep. “Upgrade” is idiotic and whatever else you want to call it. I’ve been curious for years as to who gets laid off in a downturn or recession. No answer to the question fits every situation. But one “education” I’ve received as a consultant is that firms look forward to a downturn for a number of reasons. To refocus the business strategy (there’s a lot of refocusing going on now)–and to clean out “dead wood.” This recession is clearly more than that. Sometimes you lose a position because of strategy change–that’s valid and understandable. Being “dead wood” is personally debilitating–and deeply painful. But once we get beyond the sense of being victimized, it can force us to think through our own strategy, our toolkit, and what further competencies we’d better add for the marketplace. Seniority doesn’t cut it anymore.
Before you get your dander up about my conclusions, let me lay some more on you. Sometimes we lose jobs, the research shows, because of stupid bureaucracy–at least, that feels better if you’re on the receiving end. Another reason is because execs think short term and not long term. If you’re interested in the whole list, Bob Sutton of Stanford, has three free posts at Harvard online (www.discussionleader.hbsp.com/bobsutton). [Always has been incest between Stanford, Harvard, and Chicago)
Dan — I agree with your conclusions; no dander to get up here!
One of my objectives this year is to insure that each knowledge worker is responsible for their own career and the choices they make about their career. I’m still surprised at the number of knowledge workers who simply go along for the ride with their company and then wonder what happened when they are laid off.
Thanks for the comment.