You’re a Data Leader About to Get Laid Off. Here’s What You Can Do

Gabriel Zhang -

As of this article’s publication, over 15,000 data and analytics professionals have been laid off since January 2022.*

The job market - especially the tech industry - is experiencing one of its most turbulent eras since the turn of the millennium. Nevertheless, if you’re a data leader who has good reason to anticipate being laid off, here are some practical steps that you can take to prepare yourself:

Administration

First and foremost, if you have been terminated, make sure that you receive a signed letter with your full name. Depending on your legal jurisdiction, your termination may not be valid until you’re served a physical document.

Once you’ve received your notice of termination, it’s essential to clarify several key points with Human Resources (HR). These include:

Termination date: Ascertain your official last day with the company, and when you’ll receive your final paycheck. Severance package: Understand the details of any severance package that may be offered, including how it is calculated, the payment schedule, any conditions that may be attached to it, and its tax implications. Employee stock option plans (ESOP): If you’re enrolled in an ESOP, clarify your rights regarding vesting and the exercise of options post-termination. Benefits continuation: If your health insurance is sponsored by your company, find out how long it will remain active, and whether it can be extended. Retirement Plans: Inquire about the status of your retirement accounts, such as options for rolling over these accounts and any deadlines for making decisions. Your visa status: If your residency status is tied to your employment, understand the ramifications of your termination on your visa and any support the company may provide for its extension. Transition assistance: Determine whether the company provides any support services to facilitate your transition, such as outplacement services for job placement or financial assistance for relocation. Return of company property: Discuss the protocol for returning company assets, including the possibility of purchasing or retaining items such as your work laptop. Non-compete and confidentiality agreements: If you have signed any non-compete or confidentiality agreements, address how these will affect your job search and future employment opportunities. Outstanding responsibilities: Inquire about any duties or projects that you need to complete prior to your departure. Bonus clauses: Clarify the status of any pending bonuses, including the applicability of clawback provisions on previously awarded signing bonuses.

Things to Download

As you approach termination, the following are some items you may consider downloading, but always ensure your actions comply with your company's policies and any applicable laws:

Employment documents: Secure copies of tax forms, recent pay slips, and an employment verification letter for your records. Personal files: Download any documents that you own, such as training materials that you’ve created, ensuring they're free of proprietary or confidential company data. Performance reviews: Copies of performance evaluations and other feedback documents can be valuable for articulating your contributions and achievements in future job interviews. Professional contacts: Save contacts of clients, partners, and vendors that you’ve acquired during your employment, respecting any limitations imposed by non-disclosure or confidentiality agreements. Work portfolio: Collect work samples for your portfolio, after removing proprietary content and ideally with your employer's explicit consent. Consider re-creating documents to avoid confidentiality breaches through document version histories. Personal software / tools: Retrieve software or tools you've personally purchased and installed, provided you hold licenses for personal use.

Things NOT to Download

Likewise, it’s crucial to understand what you should NOT take from your company computer or network, for both ethical and legal reasons. Here are some key items to avoid:

Proprietary company information: This includes business strategies, internal processes, client data, and any confidential information proprietary to the company. Emails and communication records: Do not transfer company emails or communication logs to personal accounts. Internal databases and files: As a data leader, you’re likely to have extensive access to the company’s most important databases and tools including, but not limited to:
  • read and write-access to customer, product, and financial databases,
  • administrative access to data warehousing and business intelligence platforms,
  • configuration, management, and monitoring capabilities on cloud database services,
  • access to development and testing environments for data products,
  • access to Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems,
  • access to tools that manage data governance, privacy, security, and compliance,
  • and more.
All of these form part of the company’s proprietary data, and their unauthorized downloads can result in legal consequences and damage to your professional reputation. Software licenses and programs: Do not download software that belongs to the company, even if you have been using it for work.

Handover

As a data leader, ensuring a thorough and effective handover is crucial for the continuity and stability of the data analytics function within the company. A well-planned and executed handover process will also help cement your positive reputation in the industry.

Some key considerations for your handover process include:

Documentation: Ensure that all analytics projects, systems, and processes are well-documented. This includes data models, analytics methodologies, data governance policies, access rights to data assets and tools, critical deadlines, and any custom-built solutions or proprietary algorithms your team has developed. Knowledge transfer: Schedule sessions to transfer knowledge to your successor or team members. This could include walkthroughs of ongoing projects, insights into critical data sources and their nuances, and an overview of key stakeholders and their data needs. Data security and compliance: Review and hand over any compliance protocols and data privacy practices, ensuring that your successor is aware of any regulatory obligations, such as GDPR or HIPAA, and how compliance is monitored and maintained. Even if they have not been spelled out in detail by HR, it is ethical thing to do for the customer. KPIs and reporting systems: Detail the key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics used to measure success in your role. Include how these are tracked and reported, and any insights into their historical trends and anomalies.

Networking

As you prepare for a career transition, leverage your social and professional networks:

Current colleagues: Gather the personal contact details (e.g. personal email, phone number, and LinkedIn profiles) of colleagues you wish to stay in touch with. Realistically, you’ll never meet most of them again after leaving, so it’s crucial to secure these contacts now. References: Identify at least one or two individuals, preferably those who are senior to you or have worked directly with you, who are willing to provide references for your forthcoming job applications. Former employees: If your company has conducted mass layoffs within the last 1-2 years, you might consider reaching out to ex-colleagues and employees who have affected in previous layoff rounds. They may be able to offer you invaluable insight on the job market and coping mechanisms. Extended network: Proactively reach out to your wider network - be it your university alumni groups or acquaintances on LinkedIn - for advice and potential referrals. Last but not least, always be networking, even when the market recovers in the near future. You’ll never know if you’ll need it again

Employment Resources for Data Leaders

As a data leader, you may want to look into recruiting agencies that focus on data talent, such as Harnham, Burtch Works, Datapeople, IQ Workforce, Smith Hanley Associates, etc.

Traditional recruitment agencies such as Michael Page, Hays, the Adecco Group, Randstad, Korn Ferry, and Kelly Services sometimes have dedicated recruitment sections for data and analytics professionals as well.

Mindset

While all of the above tips are pragmatic, arguably the single most important aspect in this transitional process, is a psychological one. While everyone prioritizes work and career differently, getting laid off will always sting to some certain. But remember that your value as a human is separate from your value as an employee.

Fortunately, the data and analytics sector is vast and continually evolving, offering ample opportunities if you wish to remain in this field. The recovery of the job market is a question of when, rather than if.

Last but not least, there’s a Chinese saying that “休息是为了走更长远的路”: the purpose of rest is to prepare for a longer journey. If you’re a data leader facing a layoff, take this opportunity to rejuvenate and recalibrate. Regardless of where you are in your career, your path ahead is full of potential and promise.

** The above is calculated by assuming that 1 out of every 30 persons of the 460,000 people laid off since Jan 2022 (courtesy of layoffs.info) works in a data / analytics role.*