Thread regarding Essilor layoffs

This is the cold hard reality and I am reading again through this long post to prepare myself for a 1 to 1 meeting with my manager today...

You are welcome. Good luck to you!

Either this is a bot or this response was "placed" here...shady company...run far and fast

Thanks I appreciate this!

I hope my humble experience is helpful to you:

Managers know when they are asking too much (I know, I have been one) and it is their job to "motivate" or "pressure" workers to do the impossible in the face of staff cuts and increased workloads. This is all to the end of the bottom line. It really has nothing to do with you personally.

So, what is the brave truth you are to speak? "I appreciate you are under pressure to increase productivity. However, due to the increased workload and lack of sufficient staff, I cannot comply with your requests to produce more than what is reasonable for one worker. I can only do the work of one person, obviously. I would like to mention that presently I am attempting, unsuccessfully, to juggle the workload of a small team by myself. Are there any new hires coming in to help relieve the burden? To help you plan, here is what I am personally capable of doing {be very specific and say what you plan to accomplish} and here is what I cannot/will not do {list excessive tasks} due to time restraints. I look forward to finding solutions for our mutual problem. I wanted to make you aware of this dillema, as this does not appear to be a temporary redistribution of tasks. I am willing to work {x hours/week} as per our hiring contract, and am willing to work {x extra hours for x weeks} to go above and beyond for the team. I'm sure you can understand work life balance is key to mental health. I look forward to your solution."

That is not perfectly articulated, but the point it is to SET A BOUNDARY. Managers are being paid to manage. Let them earn their paychecks by managing workload. SET CLEAR BOUNDARIES. Keep it all in wiritng, and if you have verbal conversations, recap them in emails afterwards. Keep a file of these communications. Once you put your foot down, you will find that most managers will back off. Shockingly, the pushiest managers often react very quickly (and favorably) to a clearly set verbal or written boundary. Once they see intimidation will not work, and that you are aware of how inappropriate it is, they will most likely stop that behaviour toward you. This might be a very difficult lesson to learn (becasue it is so scary to do) but is the single most valuable tool in my toolbox. Give it a try!

If you must, have another job lined up - then try these tactics for yourself. That way, you will have the experience and your own evidence that "the truth" works.

On the other hand, always be honest with yourself about what you can and cannot handle in your workload, don't be a victim, stay humble (never entitled or outraged), keep resentment in check, practice gratitude, and ALWAYS communicate what you are working on and what you have accomplished in weekly emails to your boss, oh, and... do your best.

Do not worry if manager does not respond to your emails- don't let that scare you! Regardless of their response or silence, continue to work within your set boundaries, and reference these emails in future emails if the harassment continues: "As I mentioned on July 6th and again on August 18th...{re-establish boundary}."

In the meantime, communicate what you are planning that week in a paragraph to your boss each Monday morning, and send another paragraph about what you accomplished that week on Friday. Ask if they would prefer for you to prioritize differently. Make mention of any overtime or issues you ran into. I cannot stress enough not to be scared if they don't respond to you. At best, they are too busy to respond or need to think about it, and at worst, silence is a power move by bad bosses who are attempting to intimidate you through uncertainty. Follow up anyway.

You got this. Good luck.