Often life amazes me as to how quickly things can turnaround in completely opposite direction.

Imagine enjoying a bright sunny morning, and a thunderstorm arrives in no time. This is exactly what happened with us. We were quite literally building something as magnanimous as a spaceship — with a a total workforce of 500 superstars. Within this team, I had my own army of around 40 people who were totally committed to this project.

I loved working with my team. I often used to say that in the team, I am the least hard working person, and everyone else works harder than me . All I ever did was talk to all of them, and they always did all the difficult work for me.

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🌟 When I went on my annual leave

I was so tired after a year of hard work, that in March I decided to take a month off and head back to my parents’ home in countryside. Two weeks into my annual leave, I got a message from my manager — the snapshot for the same is attached below.

I knew something critical has happened. And when he called me, he informed that the project has been shut down, and all the people involved are at risk. He somehow felt that it was important that I get this news from him rather than from anyone else. I told him I am ok, and we shall talk when I get back to office.

Apart from my manager, I got messages from some of my team mates about what had conspired in the office, and how people were reacting to it.

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🌟 When I came back from my annual leave

Eventually, on Monday, 10th April when I walked into the office — that is when the true feeling of layoff struck me.

The office that was once brimming with energy — in fact so much that you would have to wear noise cancelling headphones to work — was visibly empty. The space for 200 people had only 20 occupants that day. Across different geography namely UK, USA, Europe, India, China, etc. 500 people working on the project had been laid off, and 40 of them belonged to my own team.

The moment I stepped into the office, 5 of my team mates who were still there saw me, and greeted that I was back from holiday. I kept my bag on my table, and went to talk to them. Immediately, whosoever was still in the office, came and gathered around me. The concern on everyone’s face was visible.

Their concern was not that the project was shut down or all their hard work of past two years was now futile— but the fact that the future just seemed so unpredictable at the moment. The harsh reality is that the entire economy is seeing layoffs at the moment, and it is not the best of times to make a switch or to find another job.

I asked everyone “How are you?”, and it was difficult to hear their response. Not everyone was openly sharing their concerns, but their discomfort was even visible through their forced smiles.

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🌟My last message to them

I very patiently listened to each and everyone of them, and trying to empathize. After 20 minutes, when the mood was lightening and people beginning to smile, I said the following:

I keep hearing all of you, and cannot help but wonder that even being able to worry about your job is a luxury. Layoffs are tough, but there are people within this office who are dealing with tougher things in life.

Before I came to you, I went and talked to M******. And all we discussed was about how his son was dealing with chemotherapy and how his family is so grateful that the treatment is showing positive results. Even he is worried about this layoff, but his mind is completely occupied with the well being of his kid.

I am glad that none of us are in this situation, and I pray that such fate never falls upon us.

There are many things in life much more important than the job that we do. This includes our family, our kids, our loved ones, the well being of all of them — and I promise you if any of this is even slightly off, we would not have any mental space to worry about anything that is happening in the work place.

The fact that you all can worry about jobs and layoff makes me happy that you have a very good and stable personal life, and I wish it remains this way.

And about our jobs and layoff, this is not the first project to be cancelled, nor we are the first team to be laid off. Besides, any person who has ever been laid off — 3 years down the line he/she is grateful that the layoff happened. You can watch countless Youtube vidoes on the same.

Anyway HR will be scheduling a session on the same 😃.

They all laughed at my last statement, but the team had gotten the message. One of them remarked which made me smile too — “ It is these conversations of yours that I would miss more than the job itself!”

Later that day — at 3 in the afternoon, I asked everyone to shut their laptops, because we would be going to celebrate our relationship, and all the good times we had spent throughout this project. Tough projects make very good memories.

All of us went to the nearby restaurant and talked for hours about everything — except office work. We talked about family, kids, how everyone is doing, and each one of us echoed the same emotion that it was a good team to work with, and something they will remember forever. Eventually, all of us left the restaurant with a happy face, and went in different directions. Personally, I know all of them, and hence am confident they will all do well.

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🌟On my way back home

As I walked my way back home, my colleague sent me a link of a video — where I was addressing the entire project team in a townhall just before I went on leave. It was posted on internal Yammer group (while I was on leave) and had received good appreciation and engagement from everyone. However, when I heard it now, I noticed the perfect irony in it.

Here is a verbatim of the conversation:

“I have said this before and I say this again. This is a People Driven Project.

One individual, however capable he/she might be, cannot single handedly manage the show for such a large project.

Hence, each and everyone of us is important — and we should clap for each one of us who is taking ownership, who is working very meticulously, and who is making sure that the project leadership has a great image in front of our stakeholders.”

Everybody in the townhall seemed to agree with my statement which was resonated through the sweet claps that one could even hear from a distance.

When I watched the video, I did not know how to react to it. It took just a month for the situation to change so drastically — and I do not know whether I should be blaming life for this or the corporate culture these days.

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🌟Something that I did not explicitly write so far

When I came back home, I am sitting alone on my sofa and thinking about everything that had happened today. In case if you have not noticed, I too do not have a job anymore. Why would I be required, if my entire team is not? I have to close some documentation and hence have been given a slightly longer notice period — but eventually would have to leave.

When I am alone, I do not have to be an imposter who is constantly trying to keep the motivation in the team high by always portraying a positive side to the situation. Often giving advice is much easier than following the same. Whatever I may say to my team, I understand the anxiety related to such situation. For almost an hour, my mind is constantly trying to paint different scenarios, and not all of them are rosy.

How am I going to pay the lavish rental, should I relocate to a cheaper apartment, what about my work permit renewal, do I have to change country too? Too many questions for which I do not have the answer right now.

Eventually I took out my notebook, and started writing all the options that I need to explore.

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I might be worried and stressed but The Silent Monk is not.

The Silent Monk wonders that at most times in our life, things are just so predictable — everything goes as per our calculations or how we expect them to be.

There are only a few moments in our lives that all the doors are shut, and there is no way forward. It is in moments such as these where life eventually surprises us by opening a door out of nowhere.

Even during my most difficult times, life has never disappointed me so far. I guess somewhere somehow a door shall open, and life will surprise me like it always does.

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