5 Subtle Signs You're About To Be Laid Off
If you experience any of these tells, prepare to potentially lose your job.
Vadym Pastukh | Canva If you’re an employee, you’re playing a game of musical chairs and eventually, the music stops and there’s no chair for you. Yet, you’re not a six-year-old at a birthday party. You’ve got a mortgage and kids to put through college. Simply put, getting laid off can crater your life.
Sometimes, work is a lot of politics and nonsense, and people get unjustly fired, pushed out, and laid off all the time. Sometimes you’re a great person and you still get unemployed.
According to a 2022 Workhuman poll, 1,000 full-time U.S. employees were asked about their hopes and expectations for 2023; workers admitted to paying less attention to the chaotic economic situation and more on factors they can control, like becoming more organized, setting healthier boundaries in the workplace and supplementing their income through side hustles.
Here are 5 subtle signs you're about to be laid off:
1. If someone who hired you gets laid off
If you got hired because you know somebody, if that somebody gets laid off, you better leave, too. Or at least make a cool assessment about your value without them. Sometimes, you’re good enough to stand on your own. If you’re not, this is no time to kid yourself about it.
If you’ve been with your employer for at least a few years and established yourself independently, you might survive. Emphasis on “might.”
I’ve seen a lot of layoffs, and I’ve seen only one person survive this kind of friend-based nepotism. One guy’s boss left, and he survived the cull when no one thought he would. This guy had been a friend’s hire, yet he was the hardest worker and savviest person I’ve ever met. He wanted to stay and collect a paycheck for a little while longer, so this is what he did.
First, he took a knee and swore fealty to the new boss. Right out of Game of Thrones, before Game of Thrones was even heard of, he made it clear he would stand tall under the new boss’s colors.
Second, he knew where the bodies were buried and made sure the new boss knew it too, and saw value in keeping him should things arise. News flash: things have a way of exploding when the bomb-maker has gone, and they may even light the fuse as a parting gift. The new boss understood this old guy could save him a lot of heartaches — and shrapnel embeds. If you can’t do both, start looking for a new job.
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2. Your boss cancels meetings or avoids you
Sitting in the Big Kahuna’s office one day, an even bigger Kahuna popped his head in and said, “The meeting’s been canceled.” The Big Kahuna whose office I was in looked at me and said, “Well I guess I don’t know what’s happening with me,” and sighed in exasperation.
I so wanted to be like Whoopi Goldberg in “Ghost,” when she dropped her chin, looked at Demi Moore, and said, “You in danger, girl!” At that moment I knew it was over. The Big Kahuna across from me was either faking it or knew and didn’t want to face the fact that someone had turned the hourglass over and his job was over when the sand ran out.
By the end of the month, he’d been pushed out. If you start getting the brush off, to them, you’re already gone, and they’re hoping you’ll disappear, so they don’t have to face the unpleasant task of scheduling a meeting on a Friday morning.
Also, if they put an intermediary between you and them, beware. The brutal truth is that most bosses are men and, in my experience, most men hate sending people to the land of the unemployed, so they delegate it.
“I didn’t fire him! I put him under so-and-so, and they fired him!” Bosses don’t want blood on their hands, and firing or laying off someone is one way to make enemies.
3. Your boss gives a non-verbal 'tell'
In a training for new consultants, one of the attendees arrived late each morning. She’d come in the door after the other 29 consultants were already seated, our chairs in a circle. Hurrying in, hunched over guiltily, she’d sit in the one empty seat.
One day I noticed the guy she sat next to turned his entire body away from her when she sat down. I remember thinking it was an interesting way to express his distaste for her lateness. He didn’t say, “Be here on time” Yet he did if you were paying attention.
Gamblers call them “tells.” It’s why big-time poker players wear sunglasses. “Tells” are for real. A lot of people don’t pay attention to body language. Yet 93% of communication is non-verbal — look it up and look for the signs. It’s rare for people to have control of their body language, and you’ll learn a lot.
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4. You’re asked to do the impossible
This is known as being “set up to fail.” An employer does this to justify firing you. Yes, being “set up to fail” is a real thing. It’s how an employer pushes you out so they look innocent and righteous, and you look like a slacker who didn’t do their job. It’s wildly effective.
Why do they do this? If they fire you for cause there’s one less layoff package to pay out, and it’s all about the money. Money is why people get laid off in the first place. In most companies the most expensive line item is people.
5. Your boss goes radio silent
Your boss usually knows more than you, but they view it as their job to be socially present, make small talk, and do the grip-and-grin. Pay attention if they’re not offering these little nuances and niceties during a layoff.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows that the unemployment rate was 3.8% in March 2024, one of the lowest points in decades. The BLS also reports that the labor market will remain healthy in 2024.
Courtney Leigh is a writer whose bylines have been published on numerous digital platforms, including Medium.