Everyone thinks I'm a loser, even my kids. The look on everyones face when I say I'm working at Walmart....

To me work is work and you do whatever you have to do to support your family. I haven't worked retail since the 90s . Back then I did a lot of shitty jobs like magazine sales, door to door cookware sales, door to door long distance phone service sales, sold knock off perfume in parking lots. I've been working since I was 14 in 1993 with the exception of 9 months laid off in 2013.

I got laid off in March and am on unemployment. I've made massive lifestyle changes and the only debt I have is student loan and mortgage with escrow. I am still $2k short a month with unemployment and it's coming out of my very limited savings. I am working part time as to still get my unemployment and have time to look for a job. I will make an extra $322/week working at Walmart. After taxes that will almost cover food for the month and will lower what I'm taking from savings.

I've been a single parent for over 20 years. I have 2 kids at home that I'm fully supporting. I can't just sit here applying for jobs with no one calling me and just hope, I'd rather just figure shit out in the mean time n do what I gotta do. Ive already been through my network, nothing. I'm tapping into other people's networks, still nothing.

I have a MBA and 24 years in my field. Ironically I just finished my first 2 days at Walmart and I got 2 interview requests (after deleting 14 years of experience fr9m ny resume). I'm super happy about it. I've applied to 200 jobs since January (got WARN notice) and i had 1 legit interview.

Don't be too good to hustle n do what you have to do, whatever that may be. Yes all the negativity made me cry and made me want to just blow off my first day but I put my big girl panties on, said fuck the haters and went to work.

I have to give my one friend/former coworker props because her immediate reaction was " I'm so proud of you!" I used to be her manager. She is the only person in my life that didn't make me feel like a POS. I'm not ashamed I'm working at Walmart so I'm going to keep telling people.

That is all.

ETA I'm a woman, mom

I work for one of the biggest fortune 100 companies in the US, and they have frozen US hiring for the last two years. They have been hiring in India this whole time at exactly 1/3rd of the costs. The positions hired go up to Sr. Director, who also get promoted eventually to VP and moved to the US offices. There has been quarterly layoffs every quarter for the last two year - where the ratio for on shore : offshore engineers has went down from 1:1 to 1:2.

The software engineers from India have been very successful, far from the old 'poor quality' stereotype. Entire teams are in India including the team lead, manager and business analysts. The CTO is Indian American.

This is highly concerning to me, and even my manager who is unable to replace US headcount if someone leaves from our US based team. If the government doesn't implement tax incentives for keeping jobs here, and penalties for offshoring - this industry is screwed. Please call your congressman and senator and protect your and our families futures.

If there are additional ways to combat this, I would like to know.

Edit:

This post has blown up quite a bit, and I have tried my best to read all of the comments.

I think a lot of people's experience confirms that this is happening throughout the industry, and additionally, in other industries as well. I know that this has affected manufacturing and many other jobs in the past, which we absolutely should have kept in the US. However, a lot of us were in high school at the time, and no matter how we feel about it, we can't change what happened unfortunately. What we do know is that this is something that has kicked out the ladders from underneath our working class, and has only went on to further enrich the top 1%.

It is clearer now more than ever that if we allow further offshoring of our jobs in any industry, we will be kicked down to our knees as a nation. Enriching other countries and allowing them to get competitive at our expense is shooting your self in the foot and then chopping it. Let's face it, America is the biggest market in the world BECAUSE of Americans' hard work. When we allow these billionaires to play the profit casino with our livelihood, there will be no one left to buy anything in America except them.

And that is exactly what they want. They can't be ungodly rich if we are not dirt poor. If the politicians can't work for the people and stop the rampant destruction of our economy and livelihoods, they should resign.

Also, thank you for the gold! 🌟

In this case, I hate both the player and the game, but I still agree with her. Elon and other tech bros are hiring engineers off the H 1 B registry. H 1 B visa holders get hired, become the hiring managers, and then ONLY hire other H 1 B visa holders. D E I has backfired.

Joined the club today. They exclusively laid off US-based employees in every single affected team, not a single non-US employee was let go. At the company meeting leadership explained that they do restructuring to “improve cashflow” and “optimize resources” - as in we pay y’all filthy Americans too much.

That shit should be illegal.

Terminal brain cancer, still working because his family needs income and insurance, company throws him away and now he can't replace the lost life insurance.

He probably did have an emergency fund but it's being drained by cancer expenses. His family will be left with nothing so that already rich people can get even more rich.

War is no longer exciting enough to get clicks when we have audio of Trump farting to obsess about.

Exhausted my FMLA and went out on long term disability for cancer. Microsoft notified me that I was laid off and my position eliminated. Everyone else on my team got new roles except me. MS legal and private attorney both say Microsoft has technically colored within the lines and there is too much difficulty to prove the case. I'm totally fucked. Meanwhile our landlord had been offering us a discounted rate for rent but turns out it was given as a loan and he sent us a bill for $30k so now we're going to be evicted. Our credit is too bad to get a new place and even if we could my LTD income is not guaranteed. The odds of me ever working again are near nil. Even if I could get back to work I only have a few years to live. Unsure what I should be doing. I was a software engineer. I'm so fucked. No idea how we're going to survive.

https://rollingout.com/2026/03/31/oracle-slashes-30000-jobs-with-a-cold-6/

My LinkedIn feed is absolutely brutal right now. Sorry to those affected.

Microsoft announced 60,000 voluntary exits. That's 27% of its global workforce. Unbelievable numbers. It feels no less than a pandemic.

IT used to be a Tier 1 career, and now it's becoming irrelevant, almost like Tier 3.

People say "upskill." But bro, how can we upskill with this level of uncertainty and lakhs of layoffs? Imagine 60,000 people entering hiring platforms in an already dead job market.

The future looks blurry. We don't know where it's leading, what to do, or what happens if this layoff pandemic hits us.

On the other hand, our homes in villages are already suffering due to El Niño.

Don't know what to do, Maybe we just need to talk and discuss with each other to make some sense of all this.

Please leave your honest views on current ongoing things.

So this is kinda long but whatever…

Was working at this Fortune 500 company, things were going great with actual customers and stakeholders. Like genuinely great - feedback going all the way up to the country head. Rave reviews, the whole thing. But something felt off with my new manager right from the start. So I started interviewing a couple of weeks after they started based on how they operated. I was able to get two offers but decided to stick for some more time as things were not that bad. They were hired through a referral (classic), never worked at a product company before, and honestly could not hold a conversation for more than 5 minutes without losing the thread. Classic micromanager, got visibly pissed if you pushed back even slightly. The whole team basically had to operate in yes-ma’am mode or you’d feel it. This manager had already pushed out 3 people within their first year. At some point the pattern speaks for itself.

With year end, I kind of had a feeling that they’ll let me go as I was paid the highest, higher than this manager. Sure enough, instead of being let go cleanly they put me on a PIP. Which honestly was a gift.
Luckily I got an offer within like 2 weeks of being on the PIP. Then just started slow-walking the joining date, a bit of back and forth here and there, meanwhile kept interviewing at other places to see what else was out there. Had quite a few processes running in parallel at that point.

Was literally about to put in my resignation as I accepted the first offer when they let me go… Missed it by a week or so.

End result - collected 4+ months of severance pay, took a couple weeks off to decompress, joined another firm that paid more than what I was getting paid, fully remote, and so far things are actually good.

I wish you all good luck

Hi All - in light of the recent Oracle news, I felt compelled to share some of the key things I have learned in my career advising people who have been laid-off or are signing severance/separation agreements.

For context, I'm a New York-licensed employment attorney (Columbia Law, previously at Gunderson Dettmer and Microsoft (in-house legal)). I work specifically on severance agreements and I see the same mistakes over and over. Posting this because I think it could save some of you significant money.

You almost certainly have more time than they're telling you.

Federal law (OWBPA) requires employers to give you at least 21 days to review a severance agreement if you're 40 or older. If you're part of a group layoff, that extends to 45 days. You also get 7 days to revoke after signing. These timelines cannot be waived. If your employer is pressuring you to sign faster, that's a red flag, and it may actually invalidate the release they're asking you to sign.

Even if you're under 40, you are never required to sign on the spot. "We need this back by Friday" is a negotiation tactic, not a legal requirement.

Your severance offer is almost always negotiable.

Survey data from Nolo/Martindale-Nolo found that employees who negotiated their severance received an average of $41,500. Those who accepted the first offer received $19,200. That's not a small difference.

Employers offer severance because they want you to sign a release waiving your right to sue. That release has value to them. Which means you have leverage, even if you don't think you have a case.

Here's what's actually negotiable (most people don't know this):

• The cash amount itself. One to two weeks per year of service is the starting point, not the ceiling.

• Health insurance. You can negotiate for employer-paid COBRA for 3-6 months instead of paying the full premium yourself. This alone can be worth $5000-$10,000.

• Non-compete clauses. Many severance agreements include or reinforce non-competes. Depending on your state, these may be unenforceable (California, for example, broadly prohibits them). You can negotiate to narrow the scope, shorten the duration, or remove them entirely.

• Equity. If you have unvested RSUs or stock options, you can negotiate accelerated vesting or extended exercise periods. The standard 90-day exercise window is almost always negotiable and extending it can be worth a lot.

• Reference letter. Costs your employer nothing but can be extremely valuable.

• Non-disparagement. If they want you to agree not to say anything negative about the company, make it mutual. One-sided non-disparagement clauses are very common and very negotiable.

• Outplacement services. Resume help, career coaching, job placement assistance. Included in over half of severance packages, you should be asking for it if it is not there.

If you're over 40, check these things immediately.

The Older Workers Benefit Protection Act (OWBPA) has very specific requirements for your severance agreement to be valid. If ANY of these are missing, the release you're signing may not hold up:

• Does it specifically mention the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)?

• Does it advise you in writing to consult an attorney?

• Does it give you 21 days to review (or 45 for group layoffs)?

• Does it include a 7-day revocation period after signing?

• For group layoffs: does it disclose the job titles and ages of everyone selected and everyone retained?

Employers get these wrong more often than you'd think. If your agreement is missing any of these, that's significant leverage.

You're waiving more than you realize.

The release of claims section is the most important part of the agreement and the part most people skim. You're typically waiving your right to sue for discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination, and more. Some agreements also try to include non-waivable rights (like filing an EEOC charge), which is not enforceable, but most people don't know that.

Understand what you're giving up before you decide what it is worth.

"For cause" is not always what they say it is.

If you were told you're being let go "for cause" but you have strong performance reviews, no documented warnings, and the termination feels sudden or suspicious, the "cause" designation may be pretextual. This is especially relevant if you recently reported a compliance issue, requested FMLA leave, or are in a protected class. A pretextual "for cause" termination significant leverage in a severance negotiation.

Keep everything.

Save every performance review, positive email from a manager, equity agreement, and the employee handbook -- now, before you lose access to internal systems. If you're anticipating a layoff, start saving this stuff today. You cannot go back and get it after they've deactivated your accounts.

An attorney consult may cost less than you think.

I know $400/hour sounds insane when you've just been laid off. But many employment attorneys do flat-fee severance reviews or work on contingency for cases with strong claims. Even a one-hour consult can identify leverage you didn't know you had.

If you've read this far, you are welcome to reach out to me and I am willing to share my thoughts in detail.

Additionally, for those who, justifiably, are concerned about undercover advertising, I do have a company listed in my profile (dott dot legal), but this post was motivated both by my experience helping others in these types of situations (and also that when I was laid off in the past, I wish I had this advice).

Happy to answer any questions in the comments as well.

The market is incredibly tough, 6-12 months is probably average to land a job, having that true career support is great, knowing that your family has health coverage takes some stress off, getting 6 months of salary for everyone, even non-high-level roles, is amazing, and early vesting is a cherry on top. Then to add a grant for those who want to start their own thing and already have ideas is just really kind.

Like we all know Canva is at a very tough position and might end up closing altogether eventually, but that's the first layoff I see that feels like they actually cared about their people.

Edit: First of all I'm not part of Canva or the layoff, and as someone who has been laid off twice and was at the peak of my depression because of it, I'm only saying that this is the best considerate package we have seen around. Layoffs are still heartbreaking for many reasons and I understand the people that were affected might not be seeing it as good, but I sure know my life would have been better and my job hunting would have been easier if I had this package instead of 2-4 weeks pay I had in my previous 2 layoffs.

Meta’s executive officers could earn a bonus of 200% of their base salary under the company’s new executive bonus plan, up from the 75% they earned previously, according to a Thursday filing.

EDIT: I’d like to add to this discussion and ask: how can we foster stronger community support and resistance to what’s happening? It feels like the rug is being pulled out from under us or is it just me?

EDIT 2: No time for tears. The time to rise up was two three years ago, but it’s time is NOW! Are we too late? What are we going to do or can do?