Anything to worry about?
A small wave of layoffs has already begun at Internet giant Microsoft. Axios reports, citing an anonymous source, that Microsoft has not fired more than 1,000 people. WirtschaftsWoche ran the headline on October 4: “Heads will soon be rolling at the top.” The layoffs will primarily affect executives. Do we now have reason to worry in Germany too?
dr Ilkka-Peter Ahlborn, specialist lawyer for labor law, explains this topic on his website. Because it is often assumed that managers are defenseless in the event of dismissals. But this is not the case, in fact managers enjoy the same protection as any other employee. The employer may only give notice for operational, personal or behavioral reasons. The former would be the case in a recession, because operational reasons include a significant drop in sales or the closure of operations. The dismissed manager can still sue against the dismissal and demand a severance payment. However, the judge can award a maximum of twelve monthly earnings, unless the employee is 50 years of age or older and the employment relationship has existed for at least 15 years, in which case it is up to 15 monthly salaries. If the employee is 55 or older and the employment relationship has existed for at least 20 years, they can be awarded up to 18 monthly earnings. Of course, the employee must not be above the statutory retirement age. So there are a few ways to respond to a termination.
Crisis as an opportunity?
The magazine Markt und Mittelstand also reports that management staff changes more frequently. An example of this is provided by the MDAX group Knorr-Bremse, which has now hired its fourth CEO since 2019.
However, how should a manager act on a personal level after a termination? Coach Sabine Votteler explained in an interview with WirtschaftsWoche that one must first be aware that a termination is actually nothing personal and should not be understood as an insult or ingratitude. Instead, you have to learn to understand that the company and you just don’t fit together anymore. Since a dismissal can also come as a surprise in gloomy economic times – and many executives are not prepared for this, as they assume that others will be affected – according to Votteler, one should first allow oneself a break of a few months. Managers often have a full schedule and are always running at full speed, so a break can help to gather strength and thoughts in order to possibly discover new perspectives, according to the expert. This is how you can turn the crisis you are in into an opportunity. Votteler advises asking yourself questions like: Who am I? What I want? What do I still want to achieve in my life? In the same everyday life, many people would forget to ask themselves such important life questions and thus lose their dreams.
Many people want to see their job as a life purpose and not as something that just makes money. Of course, this also applies to managers. Coach Sabine Votteler also recommends this. Therefore, one should not shy away from self-employment, especially in old age. A good severance payment could help here, for example, to start over. A BDU survey also speaks in favor of self-employment at an older age, which showed that despite the shortage of skilled workers and high demand for managers, companies are reluctant to hire people aged 60 or over. According to WirtschaftsWoche, things get tight from the age of 50. It can therefore be advisable for managers who have been laid off to become self-employed, especially at this age. According to Votteler, you have to take off your blinders and always be willing to learn, then the path from dependency to independence can still be successful in old age.
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