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You all are so sweet. Well, had the meetings today. 4 of the 8 cried (not hysterically, though) and no one did anything crazy. The sweetest one, by far, was the new mom. She was gracious and nice even as she was telling us that her husband was recently laid off as well. She was fine until the supervisor left to get her things for her, then there were some tears because she said she was going to miss her friends. I almost cried but held it together. That one hurt a lot.

There was only one small incident with someone who was being notified that his position would end in 90 days...he stormed out, grabbed his keys, and yelled "I'm going HOME and I will be back on MONDAY!" He was just yelling loud so everyone in his department could hear - he likes to disrupt things and today was no different. That was okay, his supervisor and I had agreed that if he wanted to take some time after hearing the news, it would be allowed and he'd be paid for those days. And different reactions are expected and understood.

Other than that...I was so busy with all the layoffs and the survivor meetings and all the work that has to be done afterwards, I didn't really have time to think about what we were doing. I think I treated everyone with respect, the way I would want to be treated, and didn't patronize anyone. I hope not, anyway.

JayneOC, we did extensive EEO disparate impact analysis before doing anything, and there are circumstances related to her position that clearly support the elimination. We have an internal labor lawyer who signed off on the layoff. Not that it makes it easy, or nice, but from a legal perspective we are on solid ground. I anticipate that there will be EEOC claims, but we've done 3 reductions in the last year before this one and none of the EEOC claims have stuck...even for the people we had to let go while they were still on leave. We'll see what happens, but the process is there for a reason and we will follow the law.

LisaChasez, hi.

Thanks Mrs! I haven't talked to any of my friends who were laid off yet. I saw one (he works in my department and we actually went on a few dates some time ago) leaving, and he looked a little teary eyed and said he just had to go home. I asked the HR Reps who did the meetings, and they all reacted well...shocked, of course, but without incident.

There was just so much to do, I didn't have a spare moment all day. And to be honest, I've worked 45 hours since Monday, preparing for all of this, and I need a little time to decompress! I'll be reaching out tomorrow, after we've all had time to absorb everything.