Anyone Can Be Fired At Any Time, Even Overnight Via Email
In case you’ve forgotten that any of us can lose our jobs at any time, we have this story from Business Insider:
At 1:34 a.m. PT on Monday, Zirtual, a virtual-assistant company, sent an email to all of its employees saying it had ceased operations, effective immediately.
Zirtual fired 400 employees via email, and it appears that many (most?) of the employees had no idea that this was coming:
“I woke up this morning thinking it was a normal Monday morning. I was going to wake up, have my coffee, and have my weekly morning call with my client,” Carol Murrah, who had worked for Zirtual for 2 1/2 years, told Business Insider.
This firing also affected Zirtual customers, who suddenly found themselves without their zirtual–sorry, virtual — assistants. Business Insider shared this tweet from a highly unsatisfied customer:
New Start Up Idea! Sign users up for a $1k per mo service, then shut down 13 hrs later. Crap @zirtual beat me to it! pic.twitter.com/XpHkZTmXr0
What do employees do when they lose their jobs overnight?
Despite the lack of communication from leadership, former employees have created a Facebook group and a Slack team so they can stay in touch and share what little information they have received. They are scrambling to educate themselves on how to be come 1099 contractors, how to get in touch with old clients and how to rebuild their careers.
Meanwhile, Zirtual’s CEO Maren Kate took to Medium, writing:
After failing to secure more funds, the law required us to terminate everyone when it became clear to us that we wouldn’t be able to make the next payroll.
[…]
During the last twenty-four hours we have worked out a deal where Startups.co will purchase Zirtual, and all its assets, and restart the service — to offer our clients support and give us the opportunity to hire some of our Zeople back.
I guess that’s good news for the… um… Zeople.
And at least getting fired is a clean break. You could be asked to continue working your jobs without pay, which is what Rick Perry has asked of his presidential campaign staff. From National Journal:
Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s campaign team in South Carolina is no longer being paid by his presidential campaign, National Journal has learned.
“Pay is only one reason people do this,” Katon Dawson, Perry’s South Carolina state director, said in an interview. “We’ll be able to live off the land for a while.”
I mean, the song does say this land was made for you and me.
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