Wear orange, celebrate all things Optum.
Ummm...not.
To be fair, all this was planned before the big announcement regarding closing the site. I was on the board that helped plan Optum day, I helped choose the swag and contributed ideas on how we could have some fun.
We did manage to have some fun. There was some pretty nice swag - luggage tags and flashlights and sandwich bags to keep lunch sandwiches cool. There were stress balls, tote bags, manicure sets, grocery bags and t-shirts. All branded with the Optum logo as one might expect.
It provided a little bit of closure for some. People were able to get together for a half hour or more and commiserate with one another on the less than bright future. Others encouraged one another to see the open window rather than the closed door.
Endings are hard. Sometimes nearly unsurvivable. This one is a lingering illness that is going to last sixty to ninety days for some. Not a clean cut that can heal with a small scar. This is a ragged, raging infection for a lot of folks who are lost and angry.
It hurts. Every time I think of one of my friends or acquaintances and see the worry and hear the concern they have for their immediate future I can't help but worry for them and with them. I'm convinced that I will get through this but they are not. For some of these people, this job was the only one that hired them and paid more than minimum wage. For some this was the only job they were able to land because they experienced age discrimination. Before I got this job in September of 2013, I couldn't even get Wendy's to call me back. Age discrimination is alive and well and nigh on impossible to prevent or prove.
There is a lot of fear out there for the former employees of Optum that were walked out of the building after turning in their badges and passes and cleaning out their lockers.
Most of the time, fear doesn't serve us well. It is too easy to fall victim to its venomous "what if" scenarios. Fear is excellent at conjuring those ghosts. We are experts in letting the ghosts of what ifs take over our thoughts and eventually our lives.
The only thing to really do is accept that this is going to happen and the mucky-mucks in the higher echelons of United Health Care/Optum really don't give a damn about the people they impacted here in such a callous way. They are so far above the regular people working in the trenches they don't even realize what they do. They have no idea that they are sending us emails asking us to refer people to United. They have no idea that the human capital people can't answer the most basic of questions. They have no idea these people sound like robots who couldn't give a flying F about the cast off employees they are talking to. The working people who are taking the lay-off on the chin and trying to make sense of it all and trying to find a way to survive - all with good manners and grace.
Once one is able to accept that this thing did happen, then one needs to look at the situation logically. Figure out how a budget can be tightened, look at what skills were used or learned and put them on a resume, create a resume with one of the many free templates on the Internet and figure out your next step, and the next, and the one after, until there is a plan in place.
Maybe there are some skills you see come up frequently in job searches. For me, Excel is going to be the thorn in my flesh. There are a lot of administrative assistant jobs out there, but the bulk of them require you know MS Office and that you are really comfortable with the spreadsheet. Alas, alas, I am not. I see a course or two in my future.
Then work the plan. Update the plan as needed. Evaluate the plan and amend if needed. Lather, rinse, repeat. Lather, rinse, repeat.
My friends, we can all get through this latest onslaught in our lives. It is time to knuckle down, buckle down and get back in the game. Each one of us is going to be responsible for the greatest comeback in our careers. Don't give up, don't lose hope.
Develop your plan, amend as necessary and then get out there and work it. In the process, show our past employer that we got this and they screwed up and lost an excellent, exceptional employee.
Go into the future, chasing your dreams and leave our former employer behind in the dust. Who knows, maybe Norman or Larry or Dirk will come to us one day looking for a job. Okay, well maybe not, but it is an awesome thought, isn't it?
Later, rinse, repeat. Blow-dry, spray and knock their damn socks off!