I've been hesitating on writing about this because I really don't want to think about the situation; I have a bad habit of just mentally checking out when something starts to go wrong in my life. In the past, I've ignored checking my bank account when I knew it was in danger of being overdrawn, I've ignored warning signs in my friendships & relationships, and I've avoided dealing with a boss when she tried to sabotage me because she had a personal issue with interracial dating. It's not as though I think the situation of the moment is just going to go away...I will eventually do whatever needs to be done, but I often do take a mini mental vacation before that actually happens. Obviously, this often leads to additional problems, as life cannot be put on hold and bad situations have a tendency to escalate when you ignore them. I'm currently fighting the urge to just check out and pretend like everything is okay with my job, but it's not.
I've become close with one of the top directors at my job and he recently told me the organization is having major financial issues. Actually, these financial issues have been present for the last five years. They've tried cutting back and cutting staff over the years. They even put the staff on furlough for six weeks last year. Apparently, none of this has worked and now the financial situation is dire. Now they do not have the funds to pay the educational programming staff (including me) for the summer; therefore, they're going to put us on furlough for all of July and August.
The board has voted on this and everything is in place; however, they haven't told anyone yet. The director who told me swore me to secrecy - he's not sure when they're going to tell everyone, so he doesn't want it to get around the office. He thinks it's going to be sometime in the next week or so, but the last time this happened (before I started there), they gave everyone only a week's notice.
Obviously, I'm unhappy about the whole situation. Seeing as I've only been there for six months, and I love the organization and the students, I'm really not sure what to do. I know that I'm going to be laid off for two months, but after that, nothing is certain. My director friend said everyone will be called back in September because that's when the government funding comes through and they will then have enough money to pay everyone's salaries...but what if this doesn't happen? What if it gets to September and they discover they really don't have the money? Or the board decides they need to save more money so they eliminate my position?
In the meantime, I'm trying to line up some classes for the summer so that I actually have a paycheck. I'm teaching a six hour night class at small college and I've offered to pick up any other classes that become available. I have a friend who teaches at another small college here and he's trying to hook me up with a summer position there. I have another friend in publishing who is trying to help me get some contract work for the summer. Of course, none of these things are guaranteed (except for small college job), so at the moment, I know I will only be bringing in about $400 every two weeks. Ummmm...that's not acceptable (I can't file for unemployment because I will earn more than fifty percent of my unemployment payments from my small college job - and I won't get it for the first month anyway).
I like my job a lot. I planned to stay there until I found a full-time teaching job (who knows how long that will take), but now I'm not so sure. I don't want to look for a new job, I don't want to go through the interview process again, and I certainly don't want to start somewhere new that I may potentially not like. Oh, and I don't want it to look like I'm job-hopping - although I'll have legitimate reasons for leaving, that certainly won't show on my resume. However, I need some job security - I don't want to have to worry if I'm going to be laid off every year. Oh, and I want a boss who isn't a complete bitch (as a learned from ex-crappy nonprofit job).
This is not how I planned to spend the middle of my first year there. It figures.
4 comments:
Ugh, this totally sucks. I don't have much good advice to offer. I had to leave my last nonprofit against my will (relocating for spouse's t-t job), and it was painful.
Hugs!
Oh my, that is a tough position. I wish you the best on your quest for a decision.
That is really rough -- in some ways you are kind of lucky, you can work on alternatives earlier than your co-workers. It would really suck for you to buy a new car or something next week and then find out you are out of a job.
You should chat with your pal to let them know that 1 week notice isn't enough... how would they like the news that goes something like "you know that paycheck you get next week-- well it is your last for a while..." They need to have some incentives for people to stick around until July 1.
It doesn't seem as though there is very much about this situation you can control other than looking for new opportunities. As a result, I wouldn't lay any blame on myself for "avoiding" here--you're not. Sometimes avoidance lets you take problems in smaller doses, and it's not as dysfunctional as people lead us to believe--you know, those square-jawed types that don't mind dealing with being overdrawn. But for the rest of us, it's a way of coping, legitimately.
I'm sorry about all this Nikki.
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