I used to work for a company with fewer than 20 employees, the type where “we are a family” and had a lot of pizza parties. It was my first actual job, and I did not know those patterns were red flags yet.
One day, the company realized they were under a lot of financial stress. We had to finish a project as fast as we could, and until then, we had to work 6 days a week, which lasted almost 3 months, and we also had a 25% pay cut, lasting more than 6 months. Like many employees, I stayed in the company because I believed my boss, who told us that the financial struggle was temporary and that the project we were finishing would take us to a whole new level in our industry. He was already showing us his plans for a new office, promising promotions, and to pay back every cent we lost from the pay cut.
It was hard, but we were a family who worked a lot of extra hours paid in the form of pizza. I stayed with the company because I believed in this bright future my boss was painting, and even though the pay cut was tough, my employment contract was unchanged, and I thought there is no way I'm not getting paid my full yearly wages in the end. Silly me.
Once we finished that project, my boss called half the employees to a big meeting and fired them. Weeks later, the rest of the employees were called to individual meetings with HR, where we were told the company was closing, and we had two options. We could either leave the company and receive the money the company owed us because of the temporary pay cuts or give up that money and keep our job in the “NEW” company they were opening with a new partner, who they claimed would take the company to a whole new level in our industry. We had a week to decide.
I asked them what happens if I sign this contract, give up the money, and next week I get fired? They said, “we are all on the same boat here.”
As an immigrant, my status in the country dictated that I had to be employed, or I would have to leave the country. I knew I was being taken advantage of this time. I tried to find a new job, but I only had a week to sign the contract, so I signed it.
A month into it, they said the new company was also closing. We had goodbye parties, we spoke about our plans for the future, and life moved on.
Months later, I found out the core employees knew it was all a “move” to avoid paying the money they owed to the rest of the employees and any other debts they had. They had done the same thing before but told us it was just rebranding. The core group remained and the company was still going!
Until that day, I was okay with the idea that my boss was an asshole, but to realize that many employees who organized a goodbye party for the company that was closing and had full conversations with me about their plans for the future after this company was gone. They knew what was happening. They knew that I, along with many other employees, were falling for it and having thousands of dollars taken from us. To say that was surprising is an understatement.