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Mine have always been they just show up unannounced, take me to a conference room, and lay me off that day.
I got laid off literally less than 20 minutes after I finished everything that needed to be done for that quarter. They told me they were waiting for me to finish, and that they had lied to my face about finding me a new position when they closed up my office.
Very similar. I had busted my ass to meet an unrealistic target before going on a staycation I'd been planning all year only to get a random meeting invite; join to see a really broadly smiling HR person. I had to laugh, really. It was so clichéd.
The signs are often there. You know when they start finding time for you to do documentation, a layoff is coming.
I knew my layoff was coming because they let me do absolutely fucking nothing for six months.
I'm doing this one now mostly. Current company was just bought by a bigger company. All major projects have been stopped while we wait for the new bosses to show up and tell everyone what to do (then fire 2/3 of us).
I'm busy looking for my next job now. I have learned that any time there is any major acquisition or merger, get looking THE DAY it is announced. Do not wait, do not hope it will get better.
The management will let the news settle in, then after about a week or two, they'll send some useless motivational email about how we should value our work, take pride in it, whatever. They're just trying to keep everyone busy so that they won't leave because the bosses will get a bonus if they can keep the place stable long enough to hand it over to new management. They let everyone believe that everything will be fine, no need to panic.
The rule is, when you start to see the faces of the new company, it's fucking over. You have weeks/days left before you're gone. They've already gone through the staff, they know the names, who's worth keeping (very few), what they do, how much it will cost in lost productivity when they fire everyone off. They have consultants at the ready to come in and clean up the mess left behind after they sweep everyone out. Any hope that you're a good person or that you know something that nobody else does and that's useful is just wishful thinking. You represent an expense and they want those to go away. They will spend as little money on you as possible to make you go away. They will typically offer no severance or as little as possible (in the US). They will do what they can to fend off a potential lawsuit so you won't have any grounds to sue once you're cut. They'll keep the people in other countries that actually have labor protection laws and drop all the US workers as fast as possible.
Never sit around hoping things will work out, they will not. Just dust off your resume and get at it.
Current company was just bought by a bigger company.
This is exactly what happened to me.
They will spend as little money on you as possible to make you go away.
I actually got a severance from my big company, first time I ever got anything for being let go. TBF it totaled about $100 less than what I would have gotten for unemployment benefits; this prevented me from qualifying for unemployment, but it did mean I didn't have to pretend to be looking for work for six months to get the money.
In a sexy way?