A reader writes:
Pre-pandemic, I was on a game show. The game show itself isn’t well known, but I did win a small but not life-changing sum (think like three months salary after taxes). My coworkers knew I had been on this show, but per the contract I signed, I wasn’t allowed to reveal the results until the episode aired. I ended up using the entire sum to pay down my student loans, which — not being able to see the future — seemed smarter at the time than putting it in my savings. (I do have some savings, but not enough for this economy.)
The episode has aired within the past few weeks and a few of my coworkers have watched it. The issue is that we just went through a pretty large round of layoffs, and I overheard two of my coworkers, Willow and Xander, gossiping about how unfair it is that Buffy was laid off but I wasn’t. I work as a part of a (formerly) two-person team, and am now doing Buffy’s former duties as well as my own. Willow said that because I have all that game show money and Buffy doesn’t, it’s unfair that she’s now jobless. Xander expressed concern over Buffy’s kid and pointed out that I don’t have any kids, and so it wouldn’t be as expensive for me.
I really liked Buffy, and she and I were hired at the exact same time. I have no idea why she was laid off and I wasn’t, it’s just one of those things.
(My coworkers know how much I won before taxes, because they make a big deal of it in the show. It’s four months salary before taxes. But it’s not like “I can live on this for a whole year” money.)
I’m worried that my coworkers’ gossip may spread and make me a target in the next round of layoffs. I also don’t like the fact that they seem to prefer Buffy over me. I fully acknowledge that I may be reading too much into this, and that ultimately layoffs are out of my control. Is this worth bringing up with Willow and Xander? Should I just dismiss this as gossip, and pretend I never heard anything? Should I reveal that I already spent the money? Any advice would be much appreciated!
Your coworkers are really wrong here.
If they thought about it, they’d realize that they probably don’t want layoffs to be done on the basis of who most needs the work. Should we lay off people without kids first? Or maybe married people first, since they have a spouse to help support them? What about Jeff, who has those expensive student loan payments? Or Jane, who got that inheritance from her grandmother in the spring? And doesn’t Cecil live rent-free in his parents’ garage?
That’s not how it works, and that’s not how anyone should want it to work. When employers get into the business of judging employees’ personal financial situations (or more accurately, what they think they know about employees’ personal financial situations, which might not even be correct), bad things happen. You make layoff decisions based on business needs: what functions and roles you can realistically cut, sometimes factoring in performance, tenure, etc.
That said, their friend just lost her job, and they might be worried about their own jobs too. When people are emotional, they sometimes say things that don’t hold up to logical scrutiny … and sometimes they say things they won’t really think a few weeks later.
It’s pretty unlikely that their comments will put a target on you if there’s another round of cuts. Managers involved in layoff decisions are unlikely to be influenced by this kind of griping. Even if it did give them pause, they’re highly likely to realize the absurdity of thinking that a few months salary significantly changes your financial situation to the extent that it should enter their thinking.
As for whether to say something to Willow and Xander … if you just overheard this the one time, I’d let it go. It could be the kind of remark that was more blowing off steam than anything else. But if you start hearing it repeatedly or they’re saying it to others, then sure, there’s nothing wrong with saying, “Hey, I keep hearing you saying this, and I want to let you know that especially after taxes, the money from the show wasn’t the sort of significant bump you’re thinking. I spent it on bills. I need my job as much as anyone does.” Of course, you don’t have to explain that to them, and they’re in no way entitled to your financial details. But it sounds like you’d get some peace of mind from setting the record straight. I’d just resist that impulse unless you see evidence that this was more than a one-time conversation.
I won money on a game show, and my coworkers resent that I wasn’t laid off was originally published by Alison Green on Ask a Manager.
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