My boss invited me to lunch. What are the odds I am getting fired?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Doubtful it is firing, but it could be changing duties or responsibilities.

I would, between nw and Thursday though go through all your stuff and make copies of anything you wanted. If, and I really again don't see this happening, he was to fire you over lunch I guess it could be to get you out of the office. So grab anything you need now.

Have a friend with a firing story. Sensed he was about to be fired, started copying files (his files, not stealing, his mistake for keeping stuff on his work machine). Had just started emailing stuff to a personal account when they came in to fire him. He kept one eye on his working machine to make sure everything he wanted got sent out, and dragged out conversation til it was all sent.

Why did he get fired?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Doubtful it is firing, but it could be changing duties or responsibilities.

I would, between nw and Thursday though go through all your stuff and make copies of anything you wanted. If, and I really again don't see this happening, he was to fire you over lunch I guess it could be to get you out of the office. So grab anything you need now.

Have a friend with a firing story. Sensed he was about to be fired, started copying files (his files, not stealing, his mistake for keeping stuff on his work machine). Had just started emailing stuff to a personal account when they came in to fire him. He kept one eye on his working machine to make sure everything he wanted got sent out, and dragged out conversation til it was all sent.

Why did he get fired?

I don't honestly remember. This is The IT world, and way back in the day, when companies were bought and sold and jobs came and went and people moved around a lot. Definitely not cause friend was a bad employee - he's a stellar guy, and has consistently done well. This may have even been pre-2001 bust, waaay back in the day.

[Anonymous]

This was the plan at my old office. Renewal contracts for the ones the boss was happy with, let's have lunch and I'll give you some contact information for a good friend of mine for the lazy one.

[Anonymous]

Probably about a promotion or raise

[Anonymous]

What happened!?

[Anonymous]

I'd be surprised if you were getting fired. Most bosses aren't going to invite you to lunch to let you go. They'll call a meeting, you'll arrive in the office with a member of HR in the room, and you'll be terminated. They're not going to do a song and dance over ceasar salad to fire you.

At our firm, it's pretty common for bosses to go to lunch with employees as a means to engage them, build morale, learn about their current work efforts, interests, future plans, etc....

Good luck, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Probably about a promotion or raise

Another to echo this. WHen I read OPs post, my first response is that she's getting a promotion of some sort. OP, it's Wednesday. you have some time to think about what type of promotion might be offered and what type of benefits you might need/want to take on the new challenge.

I too work for a small office and my first raise and my first promotion both took place over surprise lunches. (no notice). All in Dec. Now, by the end of Nov. I am ready with my mental self evaluation and also know what others in my field, doing my job, are earning. I also think about what I want for professional growth in order to be ready to discuss.

Unless you know something about your performance that you are not sharing, I think this is a VERY good thing for you. Be ready!

[Anonymous]

If your company is in the red and struggling, I doubt it's a raise. But since you do specialized projects, I bet the CEO is going to talk to you about either taking on more work, or letting you know your job is in danger. I doubt it's firing outright, due to the fact it's lunch.

Just go in prepared to listen, and try not to worry.

[Anonymous]

I would not want to fire someone over lunch. What if they tweaked out or started crying in the restaurant? Who wants to deal with that?

[Anonymous]

At my old job, when an employee was let go, the manager and someone from HR would go to the employee's office. The person would be fired, the manager would leave the office and the HR person would stay with the ex-employee. I can't imagine having lunch with your boss and then getting fired.

[Anonymous]

Small companies do not do all the paper work or have an HR department. Sounds like a talk about reducing hours and pay and/or giving you notices that they can't keep you(but will work with you to help find a new job) How bad are the loses? Has anyone else been let go?

[Anonymous]

Hello, OP here. The meeting is tomorrow and I will let you know how it went.

We don't have a separate HR department - there is one person handling HR (in addition to other stuff). It is pretty much impossible for this to be a raise, because the company is struggling financially. Losses range between 50 and 150k a month, though the trend has been kind of positive and we just won a fairly big contract. We are actually owned by a much larger foreign company and they are absorbing our losses but have closed a few of their other offices abroad in the past several months. Many people (more than 50%) have been let go over the past 2 years but no one recently. Also, many people have left. I am also looking for a different job (have 3 options currently cooking at different stages) but would still be absolutely devastated if I got fired.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hello, OP here. The meeting is tomorrow and I will let you know how it went.

We don't have a separate HR department - there is one person handling HR (in addition to other stuff). It is pretty much impossible for this to be a raise, because the company is struggling financially. Losses range between 50 and 150k a month, though the trend has been kind of positive and we just won a fairly big contract. We are actually owned by a much larger foreign company and they are absorbing our losses but have closed a few of their other offices abroad in the past several months. Many people (more than 50%) have been let go over the past 2 years but no one recently. Also, many people have left. I am also looking for a different job (have 3 options currently cooking at different stages) but would still be absolutely devastated if I got fired.

OP , if you're not getting fired, it might be good to proactively ask for/suggest other ways to contribute to the company (given that you haven't had much to do).

[Anonymous]

OP let us know! I think it is probably something along the lines of "hey, we have this great opportunity for you... it's in addition to your current responsibilities... and you know we can't give you any more money... interested?"

[Anonymous]

You're being put on a performance plan. You have to start adding more value to the company. This is not firing, but prologue to firing unless you can find ways to add to the bottom line. Use the advance notice to think through your response to this scenario. (And though I don't think you're getting promoted, go ahead and think through that as well).