What To Do If You’ve Been Laid Off From Your Job

Odd times are upon us and people are being left unemployed by the millions, others have taken severe pay cuts and some are forced to leave work to stay at home with children and those they must care for. 

All the anxiety, uncertainty and frustration is completely valid but it will pass and things will get better. 

It may not come to a surprise to many of you that I’ve been laid off at my job as a travel agent. Of course during these strange times where most travel has ceased to exist, those that work in the travel industry are massively unemployed. 

It can be frustrating not knowing what to do next, so this post is meant to provide a bit of advice that should relieve some of the stress you’re experiencing from being laid off. 

Here are 7 things you should do if you’ve been laid off from your job:

1. Take A Deep Breath, Relax And Trust That Things Will Get Better! 

The first thing most people do in bad situations is panic, although it’s a natural response I’m urging you to trust that things will be okay. So, take a deep breath, relax and let’s get through this together! 

Stressing will only make the situation harder to cope with so gather yourself and have faith in the process. This would be a great time to get into meditation and mindful thinking to help process the emotions you’re dealing with. 

2. Find Out If You’re Eligible For Unemployment Benefits 

Many of those that have been laid off recently are now eligible for emergency financial support from the government. Canada has rolled out an emergency fund called the Canada Emergency Response Benefit  and is also available for those who aren’t eligible for EI. 

I applied for this when it was launched and received my money within 3 days after applying just as promised. 

If you’re in another country do some research to find out what kind of support your country is offering. 

3. Review Your Health Insurance Benefits 

Some employers will allow you to keep your benefits for a month or two after you’ve been laid off, so find out what your situation is so you can respond appropriately going forward. 

If you aren’t covered anymore then it’s time to look into some health coverage options and make sure you have an emergency fund should you need to use it. 

4. Go Over Your Finances Immediately

This step is crucial to getting through the next few months of unemployment and if there’s any crucial advice out there for when you’ve been laid off this is it.

Assess your savings, debt and income you’ll expect to be getting while unemployed and change your monthly budget accordingly.  This is now a time where you’ll want to cut back on subscriptions, cook more at home and overall decrease your spending as much as possible. 

5. Clean Your Space For Peace Of Mind 

An unorganized space makes it extremely difficult to get productivity and creativity flowing. 

Now that you’ll have some free time to do things you couldn’t before, clean your space and create an area where you can map out your daily duties and be productive. 

You’d be surprised at how much more you get done when you have a space that reflects the way you want to actually live. 

6. Make A Plan  

Short term goals can be anywhere from 1 week to 3 months, long term goals can be from 6 months to over a year.  

Goals are essential for figuring out your next steps and what direction you want to head in.  

You probably have a million things running through your mind and you don’t know where to start. That’s perfectly normal, the best thing to do is to get all of your thoughts on paper and start mapping out the life you see yourself living this time next year. 

Whether you want to look for a new job, start an online business or learn a new skill, reach that goal by making a plan and execute daily tasks that will allow you to get there! 

Download our FREE printable Daily Planner to help you get started on building the life you deserve! 

7. Enjoy Your Time Off! 

Getting laid off is not all that bad, especially if you were working a job you didn’t enjoy or were feeling burnt out and ready for a break. 

Now you have a moment to yourself where you can just enjoy being alive, so don’t rush into doing a bunch of things at once, just take it day by day and know that every effort counts. 

Although we’re not in the best of times, there’s always a reason for what happens and this is something that we’ll all be able to learn from. 

The best thing to do right now is to support each other, believe in ourselves and do whatever makes you comfortable. We’ll get through it and come out better than ever before! 

If you were completely unsure before, hopefully now you have a rough idea of what to do if you’ve been laid off from your job.

How are you coping with getting laid off? I’d love to hear your responses in the comments! 

I recently published a FREE digital Finance Tracker for those who are at home, have been recently laid off and need a way to organize their finances. You can download it here! 

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