#WorkplaceWorries #CompanyAcquisition #JobSafety
Hey friends, exciting news…well, kind of. So, the company I work for got acquired, and I’m feeling a bit lost about what to do next. Has anyone else been through this before? Here’s what’s on my mind:
– I’ve never paid attention to an acquisition before and I’m feeling super anxious 😬
– I work from home, so it’s not like I can easily chat with coworkers about this
– The industry I work in isn’t exactly bursting with job opportunities right now
Our managers are telling us to speak to HR if we have concerns, but I can’t help but worry about job security. What are some red flags to watch out for during this time? Any tips on how to navigate this uncertain period?
Let’s share our experiences and support each other through this! 🤝#StrongerTogether
Unfortunately acquisitions always means layoffs.
Management will say everything will stay the same, everyone is valuable, everyone is important for the coming together of the two companies, blah, blah, blah.
Slowly but surely the bloodletting will start while management lines their pockets at your expense.
Start looking for work now.
I’ve been through so many of these from both sides of the acqusition. It’s like clockwork.
Man, I feel you. I’ve been on the receiving end of two acquisitions and neither went well from my perspective.
Red flags: If the new benefit package is worth less than you are making now and the new company doesn’t make you whole it’s a sign they either underpay their current employees or aren’t too concerned about the new ones. Keep your head down and your eyes open for a better job.
How it goes depends on the specifics of the companies involved. I worked at a single office engineering consultant that was acquired by a multinational. Nobody was let go, we get paid the same to work less, and get involved in much bigger projects.
Everything that anyone says is speculation. Nobody can predict what will happen in your specific case. I know that you want to look for signs or try to read the tea leaves or figure out what the future will be. Things could improve. Or things could get worse. Or things could be just the same.
No jobs anywhere are every guaranteed. If there will be layoffs, management won’t give you a heads up or tell you anything. That always comes without warning.
Your choice is to just wait and see if things get better or worse, or start looking for a new job.
I’ve been through several acquisitions (on both sides).
The bottom line is you don’t know what’s going to happen. HR won’t give any guarantees around job safety because, frankly, even they don’t know most of the time. Depending on how early it’s been announced, only a few key executives may know all that much.
Acquisitions can happen for lots of reasons, so in reality it depends. I was in one acquisition where the acquiring company didn’t actually do much with us (for a good 3-4 years). The changes were mostly at the top at VP and above. Sometimes in other cases they move quickly and all sorts of things change.
Depending on the financial health of your company and the business, sometimes the company’s assets are worth more than the people, so they’re basically just buying the company to get all the assets/equipment. Or maybe you’re a strong company and they want you to keep going as-is.
On the other hand, I’ve seen personal growth too because this can mean teams get larger, responsibilities increase, and now you have more to do. Maybe two teams of 10 people get combined into a team of 16, so while 4 people are lost, there’s more responsibility and room for growth.
Best thing you can do is keep calm, handle your work well, and don’t be one of those super protective people of your job. Be open and flexible. I’ve been at companies where we acquired another company and the people who are super crazy and protective are the ones you want to let go, not the good hard workers who are open-minded.
Never hurts to keep your resume updated and keep option open, but don’t immediately panic either.
If you are part of the company talent you should be fine.
If you are a shared service that overlaps with the other company like HR, IT, payroll, etc you may be in trouble.
Mine got acquired a few months ago as well. It’s been all positive talk and part of the acquisition was an agreement for no layoffs this year.
I’m also in a WFH position and in tech. I’m very much of the opinion that my job is way too easy and should likely be replaced or scrapped. I’m trying internal training and getting some training certifications paid for during company time. I have ten years with the company so I figured if I do get laid off I’m at least entitled to some payout and I can take the new training with me.
Inquire if the acquisition includes opportunities for new training or learning.
So in my short career I’ve had the experience of 3 times being part of the acquired company. Number one they always say shit like culture won’t change, don’t worry about your jobs, since they bought you for a reason. Culture can change very easily with new rules. Always some people will be laid off, in a year or so after things start to be integrated. Usually it’s positions that have clear redundancy in the parent company, like HR, and other areas where it kind of doesn’t make huge sense to have two departments or too many people for one company. The people usually selling or making the product are usually fine, unless the lay off do to money issues which is different. Also usually takes years to fully integrate systems, and the temp situation is usually so shit you never want to use it if you can get away with it.
On the upside if your benefits and vacation sucks currently, they try to get everyone on the same plan, so if they other presence in Canada you might benefit from better plans. I’ve had it go both ways, like losing nice benefits or getting other good ones. Also you can see some people take advantage of the situation by learning the new systems leading the way to move up, just mentioning since it’s a thing where you need someone to help smooth out integration and depending what you want that can be a decent path to look at if you have that sort of freedom.
Sharpen up your resume and start looking / networking. Also, look at what is appropriate severance so if they bring you in and ask you to sign something – you’ll be prepared!
Good luck!
DO NOT speak to HR if you have concerns, HR is never on your side they’re there to protect/ serve the organization. If anything consult an employment lawyer.
Expect layoffs.
It depends… was it a vc firm? If so there might not be layoffs as your company may be a strategic investment in a bigger thing. I’ve been in companies that were bought by VC firms and we actually went on hiring sprees!
But if you’re acquired by another business they likely are not after the talent, and they will definitely layoff and consolidate at some point…
But at the end of the day it’s all speculation.
You just go to work, do your job to the best of your ability, and try to impress the new boss.
You’ll probably be fine, unless you’re in a shared services department (accounting, HR, etc.) They acquired you for a reason, and laying off production staff isn’t it.
It will be really stressful, though. I’ve always been on the acquiring side of the coin, but I know integrating people into a new office culture isn’t easy.
Do you have an employment contract or an employee??
Depends on the new parent co. I worked in M&A, we let anyone go within the first 1-3 months, rarely had to… if we had 4 accounting staff and we operated 30 similar sized business with 3, we’d potentially let 1 go.
You can sit tight and see where things land. If you’re nervous, find another job. Personally, if this happened to me, I’d line up another job and hope I got let go for a sweet payout…
Our company acquired a competitor, which was a similar size in the US and like 10x bigger in Canada. Despite the fact we bought them and their business model fucked up, based on financial reports, their management still in charge here, and after a year most of our people left, myself included. It’s a shame as we had a great, efficient, and professional team and now Canadian part of this business has turned into shit the acquired company has been before acquisition.
So my advice is look for another job
Run
Start looking right now.
Don’t listen to what management have to say. They have to say what was scripted with the only goal to slow you down and distract your mind so you will only focus on delivering the remaining value.
It’s not always bad news…
First acquisition was in 2009 when the smallish civil engineering firm I worked for was bought by a large corporate engineering firm. At that time not a ton changed, really it was just the name. There was more red tape for the PM’s and other senior managers but the grunts continuing being grunts.
15yrs later in still here and just finished acquisition number 3. The team I work with has changed but our department head and one other senior PM were part of the original firm.
My advice is not to panic. Don’t jump ship to just jump but definitely keep your eyes open for opportunities.
I’m happy I stuck it out. I enjoy the work, have a ton of flexibility and I have a great boss who values my knowledge and experience.
Find a new job before you are fired.
Your management will keep things status quo for a while. They want to maximize profits. Remember this. This is always the driving factor.
They will look at the two companies and decide where their better assets are. Remember that you are an asset to your company. You’re also an expense. They will look at their people and decide who does the job best and lay off the ones who do the job worse. This is the end game though. In the meantime they will tell you all is well.
In the beginning they will analyze they will talk. They will get to know the people they acquired. Typically the acquiring company keeps more of their employees. Not always though.
They will decide what physical location they want the company in.
Your HR area will say lots of politically correct things. Some of them will seem out of place and strange. Given time they will start to make more sense as you will see the posturing that is going on. They will likely start to reduce your benefits. Whether that’s The pizza lunch you used to have, The Christmas party, or your benefits package. All of these things will get consolidated.
Some people will get laid off. The company will try to lowball them on their exit package. If you’re one of these people, you should definitely talk to an employment lawyer. You will likely get considerably more money if you do.
They might ask you what you do. This is a trap. If you describe your job as a lower tier than your current one, then they will use that as an excuse to redefine your role. There are many tricky HR things that may or may not happen. Remember every communication that comes out right now has a purpose, if it seems odd, ask yourself what it might be trying to accomplish.
Hopefully it’s not private equity or you might get replaced with an ai chat bot
So many downers, last time this happened to me I got a promotion, nearly double my salary and a career path to management.