the end of an era

[Whill]

So here is a brief timeline of my employment with the "company" I work for.

2000 - I was a new hire for a big subsidiary of a giant corporation.
2001 - I got promoted. Over the next several years in this position, I piloted a few programs implemented for my team.
2003 - My company spun off from our parent company into our own publicly traded company.
2007 - I began working at home.
2010 - My position was eliminated but I was offered three crappy positions and chose one. One month later, I was saved from that by being assigned to a small team of five people that would create a new department within the company. I had to go back onsite for a couple years but eventually I successfully piloted working at home for my new position.
2012 - My company merged with another giant corporation in the same business.
2018 - My company merged with another giant corporation with a major peripheral business.
2020 - Just last month, I had my 20th anniversary of employment.

Today (7/22/20) - My team of 20 people was informed by upper management that our department was being eliminated and our work was being sent off to other locations. We have been well regarded under the prior company identities but I'm sure some current big wig thinks there's someone else that can do it better (I'm quite sure they are wrong and have a rude awakening coming).

We aren't being laid off. In the next couple weeks we will all transition to training for another position. They told us that the company is hurting for quality people in this position and we will be a part of a movement for our location taking over more responsibility for this part of the business (still Medicare-focused). We will stay a team and report to the same manager (until she retires). We do get to keep working from home. It technically is a demotion, but our "experience is valued" and they are not reducing our pay. This new job will still have some opportunities to help people and feel rewarding, but I don't know if it will be more or less so than now. This job will be more stressful and I won't have the freedom to make my own schedule like I do now.

I am truly thankful that I still have a job and do not have to take a cut in pay. Especially in this day and age, that is great. But I am trying to work through the feelings I have about this. I feel like the rug was ripped out from under me. I guess I didn't realize how much my current position and department was a part of my personal identity. 10 years of an extremely nuanced and complex part of the business. Everything we've developed is going to be taken over by some other team in some other state who doesn't know what they are doing. I feel depressed to be losing this in this way.
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[cheshire]

That is really rough. I'm sorry to hear that.
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Before we take any of this too seriously, just remember that in the middle episode a little rubber puppet moves a spaceship with his mind.

[CRMcNeill]

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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

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[Ray]

Well... Poo. Sorry man.

[Whill]

Thanks, guys. My manager and my manager's manager had a conference call with just me today. Apparently it is not technically a demotion because our current leadership reclassified all the jobs into broader categories so it is equal, but I'm thinking I've maxed out on pay anyway so probably no raise is coming next year, whether I am still in this new position or get into a new one (so probably next raise is only possible in 2022). They explained to me what department is taking over our work, which I would have to say probably is the best choice (if not us) but they are still going to have a very hard time for the indefinite future. I was told I may be asked to help out with some training of my replacements! The managers seemed genuinely interested in keeping me in the company and transitioning into another new position when the right one becomes available. I also found out due to some new rules I have to use a bunch of time off I've accumulated before the end of this year or it won't roll over and I will lose it. They told me they would try to approve whatever I request since they are in the position to enforce it in my new position. I'm still sad.
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[Ray]

Take the time off to figure out the dice bot for Discord and run us in some games!!!

[Whill]

[Raven Redstar]

I hope that having a less flexible schedule won't be too much of a hindrance on your family. It sucks having your entire view on your job and your place there change overnight.
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[Ray]

[Whill]

[DougRed4]

Sorry to hear that, Whill.

I'm sure they are going to eventually realize that they should have left things in your team's hands. But by then it will be too late.
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Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green

[Grimace]

I've been in those shoes before, Whill. Not the best feeling, I know.

I wish you the best in your "new" position. With the vacation requisite, take the time to clear your head. I know it will be a challenge to do so, but if you're going to be doing "teaching" of your replacements, you're going to NEED a clear head (or clearer than it likely currently is).

You'll know in a month or so whether this is a decent, albeit sudden, change, or whether it is the tell-tale sign to start hunting for a new job. It took me 2 months to figure out my lateral shift when this happened was NOT for me, and I moved on.

[Whill]

Well, the transition of my department's work to the new department is going very slowly and they are naturally falling behind, so I'm still doing the same job I've been doing for 10 years, and at times I've also had to be the help desk for the new people when they need to call someone for help. Nothing like training your replacements. Most of my team have abandoned ship and moved on to other positions in the past couple months. Only a few of them went to a position that would be any better than the default job they are sending the rest of us to at some point. There are only a few women and myself left.

I haven't just gone out and grabbed the first available position because in doing so: you have to accept whatever the new pay is if less than what you make now, you have to work whatever work schedule they want you to, you lose your currently approved future time off dates, and you are stuck in the new position for at least a year before you can apply for a different one. The original deal they stated for taking the temporary default position is that I keep the same pay, schedule, approved time off, and I am not stuck there for a year. And I get to keep working from home. So I have time to wait for the right opportunity. There is a department that I want the most, but they aren't currently hiring. They may not until the Spring.

This week my manager announced that she is transitioning to a new team by the end of this month, so I think they will transfer me (and whoever else is left) to a new team in the new job then, and I finally leave my current one good. Since the other men on my team have already left for new positions, I'm literally the last man standing.
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[Whill]

So today my manager told me that I can stop taking on new cases and start transitioning to my new job. I had to do a lot of wrap-ups, put out some fires and set-up new processes so they can cut the cord for me. I got my work load down to a couple president's office issues. I put in a lot more time off requests because I have more time-off accumulated than I thought (that won't carry over to next year). I started some online trainings for my new position and talked on the phone to my new manager. So I am in the twilight zone now.
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[Whill]