Skip-level said I was essential. HR said the decision wasn't about me. Three weeks later.

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Anonymous
· Principal Software Engineer · Former employee · 2024 · 24 Jan 2024
In December my skip-level told me, unprompted, in a one-to-one, that I was one of the most valuable engineers in the org and that I shouldn't worry about any restructuring rumours. I still have the Teams message where I thanked her afterwards. In January I was laid off. When I asked HR how to reconcile those two things, I was told "strategic decisions about organisational structure are made at the business unit level and don't reflect individual assessments." I asked to speak to my skip-level. She wasn't available to speak with "impacted employees during the transition period." Either she genuinely didn't know. Or she knew and said it anyway because keeping me engaged through the end of the quarter was useful. I don't know which is worse.

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