Latest / Women Who Ship / 5. Layoffs RX Part 2: When you've been impacted
Transcript
- Sarah: Hey friends, imagine this. Everyone in the company has been told that layoffs are coming, and you will get an email within 15 minutes letting you know the status of your role. It is the longest 15 minutes of your life. When the email finally arrives, your heart sinks. You have been impacted. Welcome back to Women Who Ship. In part two of our series on navigating layoffs, we are talking about the messy reality of what happens when you are the one who loses your job. If that's you and you found this podcast because you were recently impacted by a layoff, I'm sorry that happened to you. I was also impacted by a layoff earlier this year, and it has been one of the most difficult challenges of my career. Unfortunately, this is a story that's all too common in the tech industry this year. A recent report by Forbes indicates that 120,000 tech employees have been laid off so far in 2026, and we're only halfway through the year. This also represents a 66% increase from the same time period in 2025. And we can't deny that AI is definitely playing a role in the increasing layoffs. We're seeing that models are accelerating in their ability, and the tech industry is at the leading edge, benefiting from these efficiencies. We're also seeing that tech CEOs are normalizing the replacing of headcount related to AI. Unfortunately, layoffs don't always hit everyone equally. Looking at major layoff periods across 2022 and 2023, women were 65% more likely than men to lose their jobs due to a layoff. And we've also seen around that same time frame that female leaders in tech dropped from 32% in 2022 to 28% in 2023. So as a woman, you may have found yourself more likely to be included in a layoff. As that impacted employee, you're probably navigating some really complex and possibly contradictory emotions. You could be feeling a deep sadness at losing your dream job. You know, this was a job that you really loved, you had been working hard at, perhaps you had been there for a while, perhaps you had been successful in it, and you were chasing those big goals. And now that has all come to an end unexpectedly. You could also be missing your friends and colleagues. You likely developed a great social network for yourself in that role. And now those relationships are harder to maintain with the distance and lack of day to day interaction. Now, on the other hand, you could be feeling a sense of relief. All of those high stress projects that you were working on are now no longer your problem. Someone else has to keep those rolling. Or you could be in a situation where you sensed that layoffs were coming. And now at least you have the relief of knowing that you've been impacted and you can move forward from there. It's no longer just this nagging concern. Though there could be some new fears that have popped up. Maybe you haven't been in the job market for a while and things are radically different, especially with the advancement in AI than what they were the last time you were navigating a job market. you could be coming to the realization that you may not be able to replace that same role like you had, given the changes being driven by AI. We spend roughly a third of our waking hours at work, and we often tie both our identity and our self-worth into what we do for a living. So all of a sudden, having that pulled away can be quite destabilizing. There's also just the reality of when you deal with a layoff, the exit is quite silent. Typically, when you change jobs due to your own choice, like a retirement, or you've found something else, there's a celebration that occurs where maybe you all go out to lunch with your colleagues, or maybe you get drinks after work, But there has been some type of celebration of the impact that you had on the company, and that doesn't exist in the wake of a layoff. Even though layoffs are common and rarely related to performance, you may face a real stigma that causes self-doubt about your skills. This drop in self-esteem, combined with the loss of your daily work purpose, often causes people to withdraw from their social connections at a time when you really should be doing the exact opposite. For women in tech, layoffs exacerbate an already difficult situation with attrition in the industry. So we see that 50% of women leave tech by the age of 35, and that is a 45% higher attrition than men. The most common reason given is due to a lack of support and inclusion. And quite unfortunately, in recent years, one in five companies have rolled back. their diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, which really limits women from receiving the type of support and inclusion that they so crave from the industry. There's also the real reality of what things can look like at home for a woman in tech. So even if a woman is a primary breadwinner, she often shoulders 75% of the caretaking and duties at home. So sometimes when you experience a layoff, it's easier to just exit tech entirely than to try to go back to a very high stress career when you're also shouldering so much of the duties of caretaking in the home. While getting laid off is a major source of grief, it can also serve as a powerful moment of reset. You can use this forced pause to reconnect with your life outside of work, take time to learn, and give yourself the space to imagine your actual dream career. And as usual, I have a few tools to help you do this. So my number one tool is to process your grief and to keep your routine. For listeners of this podcast who listened to the last episode, you know that I will do just about anything to avoid feeling a difficult emotion. And that was exactly the same in the wake of the layoff. I was feeling deep grief and sadness over losing my dream career. And so instead of receiving that Grief, I decided to react to it by getting very busy doing other things. So I've been working on getting my coaching certification. So I doubled down on working on all of that. I also did a lot of busy work to get started on my business, like developing my website and developing my processes for my clients, getting everything set up with my LLC. All of those busy tasks that would keep my mind off the fact that I was very sad about losing my dream job. But fortunately, I was in the coaching program. And so some of my fellow trainees in coaching held space for me and allowed me to feel that grief, to process it, to really receive it in my body. And that allowed me to move forward from a space of wholeness and healing. I would also recommend using mindfulness meditation to make space for really big difficult emotions like grief. I did use a mindfulness meditation app to find a program. You can search for a program on grief. And I use that to really make space every day. to process that feeling, to allow my body to receive it and to move forward, not from a space of reacting or resisting the emotion, but really receiving it. I would also suggest keeping to your routine. Now, this may just be because I am a big routine person, but I know it really helped me in the wake of a layoff to stick to something about my daily schedule that was consistent. For me, that was my morning workouts. I like to get up, get my workout in first thing. And that helped me to keep that normalcy of the daily schedule. For you, it may be something else. Perhaps you. want to keep that school drop off or pickup schedule and that keeps the consistency for you. Maybe it's something like a daily family meal time as well. All of those are great ways to keep that safety in consistency when you no longer have the day-to-day of a job to go to. Also something that I learned from my husband, who had retired over the last few years was to not try to do everything at once. you have a lot of space to fill now, space that used to be taken up from work. And so instead of diving in and trying to do every tour that you've put off for the last six months all at once, you need to build out a good schedule that allows you to spend some time working on things that you would like to achieve, maybe some chores around the house. Maybe you want to put in a few applications or search for jobs. Build yourself in blocks of time to take care of those things and spread them out over the week instead of trying to like fill up a full eight hour day like you had been used to. Another thing I found really helpful was allowing myself to really flow with the rhythms of my body. So oftentimes I get kind of tired in the afternoons, I lose energy. When you're working, you don't really have, you need to stick to your regular like eight to five schedules. So you don't have the freedom to stop working at that time if you've lost energy. But this is something that now I can do in my day-to-day. If I feel like I'm losing energy in the afternoon. I can stop working on things and move on to something that allows me to reach My next tip is to stay connected. Make social connection a priority for you, whether that be connecting with some of your old colleagues from work via LinkedIn or online, whether that be attending networking events in person, meeting new people, or going to social events that you typically would have gone to. We talked earlier about how. Sometimes a layoff can come with a stigma. And if you're meeting someone new and you have to address this really painful situation in a new interaction where you're meeting someone for the first time, or maybe you're even just interacting with someone who is only an acquaintance and it feels kind of difficult to touch on this very painful experience that you've recently been through a layoff, don't let that stop you from having that social interaction. What I would suggest is just before you go out and before you know you're going to be meeting new people or interacting with acquaintances who maybe don't know you that well, just think through how you're going to address the layoff. Make sure it's just something kind of like, yeah, you know, I was laid off earlier this year, and now I'm thinking about what my next step is. So that it's not really touching upon this really painful experience for you, and you still get the benefit of being out. And being connected with other people. It's so important. In person is a great opportunity to keep yourself motivated, to keep yourself positive with those social connections. If you can't do it in person, I'd still even recommend some online, you know, Zoom meetups or coffee dates with your former coworkers so that you still have that connectivity with others And you're not allowing yourself to get depressed and withdraw. For one thing, studies show that your network is actually really beneficial for finding your next role. People with a larger social network are better able to find re-employment faster by tapping into that network of people that you either know online, on LinkedIn, or in person. My next tool is to learn a new skill. So you now have space in your schedule to maybe do some learning that you've been putting off. Perhaps there's a certification that you wanted to achieve, or there was some way that you wanted to upskill to contribute to your current career path. Maybe you want to learn more about AI and you wanna try some things that you hadn't been able to do when you were busy moving projects forward at your former job. Now you have plenty of space. for learning, for continued growth, for professional development that you didn't have available to you before. You also could explore some new options. Maybe you want to explore new creative paths. For me, that looked like doing my coaching certification. That was a new area that I wanted to explore and learn more about and achieve a certification in. I have a friend who's very artistic. She takes drawing classes and she is spending time taking interior design classes, which are well outside of the things that she was doing in tech. But these are ways that she's continuing that learning, growing, upskilling, and just being a better person is going to make you better at your next role. So, my last tool is to imagine your dream job and do it without boundaries. You may start from what your previous role was, what you liked about it, what you didn't like about it, but really sit down and think without limits about what you would want in your next role. Where are you working? Are you fully remote? Are you in office? Are you hybrid? Is there a specific city you want to work from? Think about the company and the industry. So, what is your ideal company to work for? Do you prefer a fast-paced startup? Would you like to work for a stable enterprise? Or perhaps are you thinking about moving into the nonprofit world? What kind of product or service do you like helping to build? Think about what's your ideal role and title. Do you want to try to replace what you were already doing? Do you want to see if you have transferable skills that would work well in a different position? Do you want to think about whether you'd like to take that next step up and make the case for advancing your career after this layoff? Then think about what kind of problems you like solving. Do you like building things from scratch, zero to one? Or do you prefer scaling an existing product or possibly turning around a struggling team? What I want you to do with this is really think through what's most important to you. You know, what are these things about this list that would be non-negotiable? And what are some of the things that maybe you're a bit more flexible on? By really defining this well for yourself now, then when you go out and apply for jobs and have interviews and research companies, You're doing this from a space of moving with intention towards the career that you truly want next. So that's your homework for this week. Imagine your dream job without boundaries. Pick one aspect, maybe workspace location, maybe industry or scope, and define exactly what it is that you want so you can make your next move highly intentional. Thanks for listening. I'm glad you're here. Let's go ship some good stuff together. Sarah Williams: Before we wrap today, I have a very exciting announcement. If going through a layoff has taught us anything, it is that external certainty in the tech industry is an illusion right now. You cannot wait for the market to settle down or wait for your confidence to magically return to go after what you want. That is why over the next 10 days, I am dropping a special three part mini series called Beyond Certainty. Turning great work into the recognition you have earned. I help high-achieving women in tech turn great work into the promotion and recognition they have already earned. But it is incredibly hard to get that recognition if you are feeling anxious about AI disruption, navigating post-layoff role uncertainty, or watching others get credited for work while you are waiting to feel ready. In this series, we are going to talk about why the typical fake it until you make it advice. Just does not work for women in tech. Instead, I will introduce you to a practical framework that will help you stop second guessing yourself and start building real grounded self-trust so you can claim the space you belong in. These will be bite-sized, highly actionable episodes released over the next week and a half. Make sure you are subscribed to the podcast on Apple or Spotify so you do not miss a single one.