# Layoff the Identities By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2023-12-06 When is it reasonable for one to recommend that one gets laid off? One may seek a severance package or an extended vacation and feel confident that they will find another job. In this case, recommending one be let go could be advantageous. However intellectually understandable, many couldn't pull the trigger if placed in this situation. There is a self-preservation instinct that adjusts one's risk tolerance and probability estimation. One will likely find it challenging not to take the deal because finding that next job isn't as certain, and this situation is a trick or test of loyalty. Best to keep one's mouth shut. But what if it's in the company's best interest that one is laid off? Furthermore, what if one's job is to make layoff recommendations? To do one's job well, one should recommend that they are laid off. This situation is not hypothetical. Some people are accountable for making these recommendations, which inevitably means they should recommend themselves some of the time. Yet, one never hears of such situations occurring. Some of this is the survival instinct of the individual clouding their "objective" judgment. The rest is simply people not doing their job well. But who can blame them? I can, and the organization can. After all, they are not paid to protect themselves but to protect the organization. This highlights a fundamental flaw in how we think about people and their identities. Many people have a different identity at work, which is expected. However, when can one truly not be one's self? Can a person have two identities? Perhaps when times are good, but when survival enters the picture, suddenly, one is only one's self. What if it was acceptable and desired that people be themselves at work? What would that look like? What would need to change about work, identities, and values? The world of organizations would be a different place, indeed. #### Related Items [[Identity]] [[Layoffs]] [[Work]] [[Organization]] [[Survive]]