I got laid off at Microsoft

If you are another creator and care deeply about helping others, please reach out — would love to put our heads together, collab, and continue to help others.

YouTube comments:

“The one takeaway is you can NOT NEVER EVER trust a company. They are not your friend, they are not your family. No matter how hard you work for a company the ones at the top will feed themselves first. It’s sad but it’s a true fact. We need to start to learn to be self-supportive.”

“I got laid off in early 2000s. I stayed in the IT sector. Earned 24 IT certifications and focused on DOD military networks and secret clearance type position focused around security and cyber security. After making this move, I never had to worry getting laid off. At the end of the day, you have to focus on yourself.”

“Many kudos to you: bright, articulate, and well-grounded. As a hiring manager and someone who’s been in the industry for a very, very long time, I can say these layoff decisions are often not even something corporations consult us on. When you work for a corporation and you’re generating revenue for them, you’re amazing, awesome, outstanding, and irreplaceable. When times get tight, you’re simply a line item on a balance sheet. The single best way to not have a layoff negatively impact you is to be relevant. Keep your skills current; always be learning; and don’t be afraid to self-promote if you’re manager isn’t seeing it. Have no regrets. Look forward, not backward.”

“Let me be honest and frank. Don’t get stressed and/or emotional over being laid off. You are expendable. Your loyalty should be to yourself and your family, not to any one company. Do not get too attached to co-workers. It only makes the layoff that much harder to deal with. When looking for employment, do not make job security one of your main objectives.”

Quit Your Day Job and Live Out Your Dreams

YouTube comments:

“I met a retired salesman in his 60’s finishing up his history degree. His dream was to be a history teacher. When most folks are retiring he was starting something new. I never forgot him.”

“When you’re 20 you care what everyone thinks, when you’re 40 you stop caring what everyone thinks, when you’re 60 you realize no one was ever thinking about you in the first place.”

“Thanks for the advice. I’m 52 and quit the manufacturing world after 29 years. I got so tired of the corporate puppets coming down and acting like tyrants I turned walk in and handed in my 30 day notice. I worked as a supervisor but it turned into a supervisor, manager, HR and Safety manager job and expected us to work 12 hour days seven days a week. I decided screw that paid everything off I own. I now make knives and jewelry as my hobby and help my kids out with their business. Best thing I could of done.”

“From somebody who’s done this: There is a difference between fear of failure and fear of homelessness. When I got five mortgage payments behind, I was no longer focusing my creative energy on writing, I was losing sleep because I was about to lose my house. For a novelist anyway, I think the idea of quitting your day job is really bad advice. I have found it easier to be creative when I don’t have to worry about where my next house payment is coming from. I’ve written six novels, one of them while unemployed and “chasing my dream.” Lemme tell you – financial desperation does not improve your odds. I can still produce 10,000 words a week just fine as somebody who gets a paycheck. And my books still don’t sell. That problem is not solved by adding the anxiety of having no income. .02 from somebody who tried it and lost.”

Job Security vs Entrepreneurship

Paul is in his final year of college, and of late he has been thinking a lot about what he wants to do for the rest of his life, after graduation. Growing up, Paul had always been told by his parents to study hard, get good grades, so you can be accepted into a good university and graduate with a good degree.

Because having a good degree will land you in a good-paying job and in return, a good life. You see, this is the mentality that a lot of us were told. For some people, this belief is hard to throw away because it’s what we have been told since childhood.

YouTube comments:

“Not everyone is wired to start their own business. Entrepreneurship needs a strong conviction. It’s what makes the risk psychologically bearable.”

“I literally watched people get hired at my job and then get fired only months later. I’m now a full time entrepreneur myself because I saw the risk as staying an employee with any company.”

“One thing I want to point out is if you like your 9 to 5 job and it is allowing you to save money, there’s nothing wrong with that. One of the most important things to do is to like your job. If not, your spending most of your life being miserable. That’s why I want to be a teacher, and not what someone else wants. For me, being around children would definetly be better than sitting in a cubicle, waiting for my boss to walk by with my paycheck. So, if the regular lifestyle is something you like doing, go ahead.”

Negotiations with the Works Council

How to negotiate with the works council? Preparation is key! Practical action plan: 1. Establish the right team. 2. Know your business case. 3. Set specific goals. This video is the second episode of the German Labor Law video series. In this video – Negotiations with the Works Council – Dr. Gerlind Wisskirchen will explain the key principles you should abide by when negotiating with the works council.

Birgit Steinborn, Head of Siemens Works Council

According to the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Birgit Steinborn is Germany’s most powerful female executive. She heads up the works council at Siemens, and was recently appointed deputy chairwoman of its supervisory board. Who is Birgit Steinborn? How did she become such a high-flier? And how does she feel about the company’s plans to slash jobs?

Dealing with the Works Council

In this video Dr. Gerlind Wisskirchen explains 5 principles you should abide by when dealing with the works council in Germany. The German works council system is quite unique in the world, and many companies complain about their dealings with the works council.

Most companies consider it as a daily, almost tedious task to deal with the works council, and they find it extremely difficult to get to results. By abiding by all these principles, you can do much better with dealing with works councils!

Explaing the Works Council

The works council represents the interests of all employees. In our video clip you will find out when and to what extent a works council must be involved and what a head of HR of a major company with a works council has to bear in mind. For further information please visit

10 Important Facts About the 2022 Works-Council Elections

​A works council in Germany is elected by employees and the conduct and procedure of the election is a matter for them too. Nevertheless, the employer usually has an interest in the proper conduct of the election.

An incorrect election procedure could result in higher costs for it, as well as unclear and unstable conditions in day-to-day dealings with the council and any collective agreements (“works agreements”) negotiated with representatives elected in an unlawful ballot.

Due to new case law and recent changes to the Works Constitution Act (BetrVG), the election procedure has been simplified. Employers are well advised to familiarize themselves with the recent amendments regarding the election process in good time to avoid subsequent disputes about the validity of the ballot.

German Works Council — An Essential Guide For Employers

Germany has some of the strictest labor laws in the world, with a key focus on protecting the rights of employees. To ensure a balanced relationship between the employer and employees, two systems exist alongside legislation to bridge the gap that can exist in corporate systems. The work undertaken by a German Works Council within companies is the system that focuses on company-level matters for decisions that impact employees.

Key Takeaways

1. A German Works Council (‘works council’, or, ‘Betriebsrat’) is a group of elected employees that represent the interests of a company’s workforce. A works council collaborates with management on key decisions within the company.

2. Although it is formally mandatory for companies with five or more permanent employees to set up a works council, this does not mean that all companies do. Companies can operate without a works council until it is formally requested by employees to hold an election to set one up.

3. The Works Constitution Act grants elected members of a works council a range of rights to effectively conduct their purposed tasks: This includes a right to information, a right to consultation, a right to decline, and a right to co-determination.

4. There are various pros and cons to having a works council within any given company. The pros include that works councils protects employee rights, provide a unified voice for negotiation with employees, are free for employees, and increase productivity. The cons include the costs of operation and maintenance, arguably lesser employee freedoms, and longer decision-making timeframes.

German or American: Which labor law is better?

The recent terminations at Twitter have once again shown how different the protection against dismissal is in German and American labor law.

U.S. employees will probably receive continued pay for 60 days, or two months, under the WARN Act, and that’s it. If Elon Musk offers the dismissed employees (instead) a severance payment amounting to three months’ salary, that is considered quite fair by American standards. After all, Musk is paying 50% more than he has to.

In Germany, we would rather draw up a social plan that grants the dismissed employees (at least) 1 gross month’s salary per year of service as severance pay, in addition to compliance with the notice period.

Where do these differences come from, and which system is actually better?