COVID-19 is surging in the upper Midwest, Minnesota, and Olmsted County. Hospitals are restricting visitors and deferring elective procedures. Companies that had been doing better during the summer months are once again facing income squeezes, and with that comes new rounds of furloughs and/or layoffs.

It’s not necessarily your fault that you’re now job-less. Before 2020, there were lots of people who were feeling fairly invulnerable, job-wise. People who work for a company with a history of relative job stability. People who had 29 years of service with said employer. People who were supervisors.

If you’ve been furloughed, you may have a job to return to (assuming both you and your employer can weather the current storm). But if you’ve been laid off, you need to plot yourself a new course.

Here are things you need to do immediately:

1. Take a deep breath.
   1. The odds are, it will be okay. Obviously not ideal, but okay. Believe in that. The world goes better for positive people!
2. Don’t sign anything.
   1. Not immediately. Get a lawyer to go through your paperwork with you (yes, this is probably a virtual meeting these days, that’s okay).
3. Find out if there’s a need for employees in another aspect of your company.
   1. Is there an area still hiring? Is there a float pool? Is there a general re-deployment need due to COVID-19?
   2. Even if this isn’t want you want as a long term solution, it’s something to consider for the short term. However, it may come with a substantial pay cut, so it could dramatically affect the pay-out rates of PTO, etc.
   3. It may also cause you to not get a severance package. Depending on your situation, you may prefer the severance package.
   4. Examples
      1. Were you working in administration, but have current credentials as an RN that you could return to floor work?
      2. Do they need door screeners, COVID-19 test staff, or any other position where regular need for quarantining has caused need for a bigger staff pool?
4. Request a laid off letter from HR
   1. This may already be part of your departure packet.
   2. Read it, carefully. Request corrections of anything wrong or omitted.
5. Find out when you’ll get your last paycheck.
6. Find out what your severance pay is.
   1. Do you get some days, weeks, or months of severance pay?
   2. Are you getting a payout of accrued PTO and/or sick time?
   3. Calculate what that plus your savings means for you in terms of survival time; weeks or months for which you can pay your essential bills.
7. Save out copies of your annual performance appraisals.
   1. Some can do this themselves, by logging into the annual review tool and saving out PDFs of your reviews (hint, you should have been doing this every year anyway)
   2. If you can’t, make sure to ask for them to be provided to you.
8. If your financial situation permits, assess whether you want to increase or decrease your 403b/401k contributions for your remaining paychecks.
   1. If you need the cash now, then obviously cash is king.
   2. If you were thinking you were going to be able to max out your 403b/401k contributions but were spacing those out for the purposes of obtaining a match, that match is no longer a consideration. Depending on the job market, and the size of your emergency fund, you may be able to continue to invest in your future.
9. Find out when your employer-sponsored health insurance coverage ends.
   1. If you need care, and can still get it given the lock-down on elective care, getting it before your employer-sponsored health insurance coverage ends may save you hundreds or thousands of dollars.
10. If you have stock options, find out how long you have to exercise them.
11. Read about your pension plan. Read about your 403b/401k payout.
    1. Find out if/when you have to start taking payout.
    2. Now may be a good time to go see a financial planner.
12. Line up potential references
    1. Not every company will do more than verify your employment history window. But you may be able to get around that with the people you’ve worked with.
13. Figure out your health care going forward.
    1. A layoff is considered a major life event, where you could enroll under your spouse, if that’s an option.
    2. You may also consider COBRA, or plans on your state’s ACA marketplace.
14. Register for unemployment.
    1. There’s no filing for time past, that money would be strictly lost. So get on this.
15. Collect that final paycheck.
    1. Verify that it was the dollar amount you expected. This includes checking for PTO/sick time payout, and 403b/401k contributions.

.

And there are things you need to do soon:

1. Take another deep breath. Take a walk outside. Get some good exercise, and listen to the birds. Snuggle your cat or dog. Hug your spouse and your kids if they’re still in your household.
2. Understand your current cash flow, and reduce your budget.
   1. While ideally we’re planning for a short term income drop, that’s not the way to plan. Hope for the best, plan for the worst. For now, trim that budget down. If there’s other income in the family (a veteran’s pension, a spouse, etc), see if you can get your expenses down to fit within that, so you aren’t draining your emergency fund. COVID-19 has been draining enough on everyone’s finances, as grocery prices have skyrocketed, leaving your emergency fund intact for things like furnace repair this winter is a great plan.
3. Let friends and family members know.
   1. While your pride may sting, especially during this time of not running into people in person, you need to be proactive about reaching out. There are many employers in industries whose work is on overload right now, maybe they know of a position you can apply for. And they can be there emotionally for you. No matter how well prepared you might be, being laid off stings emotionally, and humans are social creatures.
4. Figure out what you’re willing to do for work in the current environment.
   1. Is it vital to you that you work from home (whether for child care, or personal/family medical risks)?
   2. Think about your skills. Both in terms of what you used to do, and how they can be parlayed into useful abilities in other fields. In fact, if your current field is generally suffering from layoffs (not just at your company), then now may be the time for a career change.
5. Start pursing job hunting. This (plus or minus #5) is now your full time job.
   1. Update your CV, your resume, start a cover letter template, update your LinkedIn.
   2. Prepare for interviews. In some companies that’s a behavioral interview. In other fields, that’s a technical interview.
   3. Remember that in the current environment, job location requirements that would have forced you to move in prior years, may no longer be a restriction. You may still be able to live right where you are, if that’s of interest to you.
   4. At least in the short term, if you need to get food on the table, consider temp jobs, part-time work, or work in another field; or lucrative locums where they pay above normal hourly rates often along with food stipends and provided housing.
6. Is now the time to open your own business?
   1. Make sure it’s not one that would cause a lot of financial risk. Also make sure that it meets your current needs to be at home, if applicable.

Whatever happens, know that you are your own best investment. Take care if it. 40 hours a week on the couch bingeing on tv and overeating don’t do anyone any good. Chin up, deep breath, get a hug and some exercise, and then get to it.

To quote Red Green, “Remember, I’m pulling for you. We’re all in this together.”