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- A Florida baby boomer decided that after a demoralizing layoff, remote work might be the solution.
- She said she was switched into roles she didn't want before being officially laid off.
- She's now taking coding classes to more easily find remote employment.
Jane didn't see her layoff coming.
The baby boomer worked for 17 years in various jobs at a major financial-services company in Florida.
When her office suddenly shut down a few months ago and laid off its employees, it was a shock, she said.
Insider has verified the identity and employment status of Jane, who was granted anonymity for her fears around speaking out about her past company.
The layoff left Jane frustrated: Should she stay in the industry after such a demoralizing event, or should she start over in a new industry that she might not love?
Still mulling her career options, she scrambled to find a new job, saying she applied to over 20 a day. She ultimately landed a position as a project manager at a much-smaller company in a different industry. She said it's not her endgame but a necessary gig that had helped her reclaim her power and move on from the pain of a layoff, as well as feelings of not being valued by her former employer.
Returning to an office five days a week, as her current role requires, isn't for her, she said. Jane realized that, more important than the industry, she didn't want to have to deal with the stress of office culture and bureaucracy anymore and decided to start seeking out remote work. Fully remote roles are dwindling, though, and as of September, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported just 3% of the workforce was working completely remotely.
She decided tech was her best bet for a remote job and started taking classes on Codecademy, an online platform offering free coding classes. Some more-advanced courses are offered for between $17.50 and $30 a month and could take between a few weeks and a few months to complete.
"I eventually want to get a remote position, and the only remote positions that are going to end up being out there anymore are going to be webmasters or something like that," she said. "So that's why I'm retraining myself. I've just decided I made that call."
Jane said this would allow her to more easily transition to a remote environment and fulfill her career goals.
"I decided to learn coding after being laid off and wanting something that could never be taken away from me," she said.
As more and more companies roll back remote-work options put in place amid the pandemic, workers must decide what matters to them. Some are committed to remote work, opting for pay cuts or career pivots to keep working from home. Others are happy to return to the office, saying it provides a cleaner separation of work and life. Meanwhile, more companies require their employees to return to at least a hybrid structure.
Pivoting to a new career path
Jane said she could anticipate something negative coming down the pipeline at her previous job, though nothing as severe as a sudden layoff. Jane said her bosses were out of touch, unaccommodating with remote work, and overly demanding.
She said her bosses made it clear that she wouldn't see any more significant pay increases at the company and that she was repeatedly shuffled to positions outside her wheelhouse. She started as a complaints manager. Last year, though, as part of a company reorganization, she got bumped down to customer service, then moved down again to customer advocacy.
Jane's experience is similar to that of other workers who've said they've been "quiet cut," meaning they've been forced into new roles that don't closely align with their skills — which sometimes leads workers to quit.
Ben Wigert, the director of research and strategy for workplace management at Gallup, told Insider that quiet cutting, whether intentional or unintentional, was typical when managers rotate someone off important projects, provide more negative feedback, pass them up for promotions or pay raises, or micromanage. Companies sometimes may do this to trim head count while avoiding layoffs.
When she got laid off, Jane had no options to switch to another company branch without moving and maybe taking a pay cut. Her experience with this company, she said, made her rethink whether going into an office was even worth it. But she needed the security of a job, so she found one paying a comparable rate to her old one with similar benefits while she prepared for a switch to fully remote work.
"It's a totally different career path. I just went a different direction," Jane said. "But I sold myself on the job."
She gets less paid time off at her new company, and she said it's a temporary role as she took coding classes and worked toward a future in which she didn't need to commute over an hour into the office every day.
Jane said this transition would allow her to make more money, have better benefits, and be more productive. She also appreciates how she wouldn't need to be "under somebody's eye all the time," she said.
"Coding and IT classes are something that is never going away, at least in my lifetime, and through research, I have found that many IT and coding jobs are remote," she said. "I want to do remote work because I can travel and enjoy my life a bit more than being chained to an office."
Have you recently made the switch to remote work? Are you over the office? Reach out to this reporter at nsheidlower@insider.com.