Hi all, 

In the pouring rain, 11 people showed up to my first outdoor meetup for laid-off folks in Berlin.

Organising meetups is nerve wracking. There’s always a chance no one shows up – pouring rain, life, etc etc… For that case I have a mantra: if no one shows up, no one will know no one showed up. And I do the event anyway.

But 11 people showed up. And here’s the answer to the question in the subject line: no, you were not laid off because you were bad. A room full of laid-off people made that very clear. We usually don’t know why we ended up on the “to lay off” list and not the “to keep” list, so we connect our worth to it and prefer not to go there. 

Have you ever seen a person openly sharing how they navigated a layoff? Rarely, right?

That evening, we went there. And I noticed three patterns you never hear at a “normal” networking event.

→ Companies’ layoff playbooks are dreadful. Finally unpacked in a group setting, not only in 1:1s… we talked about some of the undignified ways companies lay people off. This topic keeps on giving – so much that I’m creating a “jerk move” vs “decent thing to do” guide for companies. More on that soon.

→ Being laid off is systemic, but society still treats it as a personal flaw. Like if you don’t have a job, you’re not a “full” human. How far did we all get brainwashed into thinking we’re only worthy if we bring value to the economy – don’t get me started… But anyway. That’s why reviews for my layoff work are anonymous, and why I decided not to take pictures at this first event. People need help but don’t want to show up as “I needed help, but if I say so, this might backfire.”
The closer I get to my mission of de-stigmatizing layoffs, the more pictures and people there will be.

→ The traits that put you on the “to fire” list in one company will secure your spot on the “to keep” list in another. Same person, different circumstances. Some of it is simply being in the wrong place. Some of it can actually be worked on.

And one thing I didn’t expect or strategise around: the people who showed up asked for a way to stay connected.

So I guess this is the beginning of a community.

Go laid off & fabulous!  

P.S. I am hosting the next one in two weeks, register here -> https://luma.com/0xcq27fp

Stories of mere existence

My first date for the meetup was the 27th of June, when we had 40 degrees in Berlin. I rescheduled to the 4th of July – 15 degrees and pouring rain. For a picnic type of event, less than optimal. My first reaction was to reschedule again, but this is not who I am. I did the event anyway. Zero regrets, though so many things could have been better, including my own preparation. But now I know.

Made me think about all the other things I keep on unconsciously rescheduling…
Like the content series “why I was let go despite having the best hard skill set and best visibility in the team.” This thing will directly feed my mentorship program and yet… This is very hard to kick off, so I keep on rescheduling it. 

What’s your thing you keep on rescheduling?

The ask:
This month I’m looking for partners – lawyers, career transition coaches, educational centres working with German unemployment vouchers (AVGS). If you know one, send them my way – here is my LinkedIn.

That’s all for now, folks.
Love, Anna from Pollo Digital

Hey all,

How did being in a layoff make you feel? Did you feel fabulous? I bet not many of us did. I did not. And yet – this whole layoff experience is a wake-up call for so many of us – that no job is permanent, and ultimately, taking agency over your own professional life is key. This is what I learned helping many people navigate layoffs smartly – and no, it is not about the money. It is about that agency and empowerment. 

Would you rather fold, or follow your own path even in the layoff? That’s why my work is evolving from “How to survive a layoff in Germany,” with its bureaucracy and limited information, to an ecosystem for an empowered exit, with a plan and a vision. Because yes, before, during and after the layoff – we have more agency than we possibly think. This is why I am working on my…

PARTNERSHIPS! 

I am working closely with a trusted lawyer, and working on partnerships with AVGS educational centers (this is when the unemployment agency covers your educational or coaching costs), career and founder coaches. If you have someone who should be in my network for me to refer the wonderful laid-off people to – reply to this email!

Working with people who are trusted by my own community is crucial to me, because being laid off might be a bit… lonely. We don’t quite talk about it, all shush-shush about it. Well, not me. I believe that accessibility of information, knowing your options and human exchange make everything better. This is why…

I am hosting a picnic-style meetup for all the fabulous laid-off folks in Berlin, this Saturday 27.06 starting 6PM in Gleisdreieck. Right now, the weather is showing 39 degrees and I am secretly hoping that Berlin will pull its regular Berlin weather spin and we will not actually have a temperature that high. I am optimistic and the plan is on! 😀 We are 40 people on Meetup and Luma, so cool – you can sign up here -> https://luma.com/xmc1l5eg

For those who are joining (and for those who are not) -> that’s me in Berlin on the Warschauer Brücke, laid off and fabulous. At the picnic, I’ll be carrying this sign, so it’s easier to find us 🙂

Don’t hesitate to come back to me if you have something worth sharing for what I’m building – community matters.

That’s all for now, folks
Anna from Pollo Digital

Hey all,

I’ve been playing around with the name “Generation Layoff” recently. Generation Layoff goes beyond pure numbers – we are talking about a complete shift in employees’ trust.

Look at the epic layoff announcement at ClickUp. What’s so special about this one is that the CEO did not try to make it look like a cost-cutting measure. This layoff did not need to happen. It is apparently how we win the future now.

Framing an unnecessary 22% layoff as “innovation” while promising million-dollar salary bandwidths for the people who stay is just not sustainable human-driven business, yet here we are.

Eroding trust. Because those who stay, and saw their colleagues get HR-slaughtered, now no longer trust their employer like they used to.

And yet… Layoffs can be a fantastic wake up call for some of us. How? Well, imagine having witnessed the leaders in your company make bad decisions. That’s human, some of the leaders don’t even trust their own “business decision” story. You, however, get to pay for them screwing up. So many of us go: why don’t I get to screw up myself, instead of being laid off or waiting to be laid off?

So here is when many people make a glorious decision to take a leap and stop working for companies – and I’m happy to see more and more laid off people transitioning to founder or a freelancer. And those founders and freelancers? They are also “Generation Layoff”.

Because Generation Layoff includes them all:

Founders and job-hunters who were laid off, people who stayed and witnessed the forced exodus, people leaving because of the layoff’s aftermath…

A layoff has shaped them all – but my sweet spot, after helping people out of the layoff crisis, is how employees build trust back in themselves when entering the next stage, whatever that stage is.

And I like people who trust themselves to make the right mistakes, setting out on their own, because they trust that they’ll make it.

The challenges we go through are very similar, yet many of us keep it quiet. Because being laid off is still treated like a stigma – you don’t really talk about it. So this is why:

I’m going to host meetups this summer, called “Generation Layoff” – for everybody pre-, during or post-layoff – to create clarity and address our challenges. It is going to be a very chill event, nothing heavy, pure community and support. 

The first one is happening on Saturday 27th in Berlin, picnic-style to embrace Berliner Summer. Join us! 

P.S. I’m building a “How to be a dick during a Layoff” – guide for the companies. Kinda like the “Being laid off in Germany guide”, except, in that guide I truly want to help employees, in this other one, I kinda mock inhumane practices of companies. I hope at least that can change the default we all got used to. 

If you’d love to share your story to help me create it, book a short call with me. All interviews are anonymous, unless you wish otherwise. 

And the stories of mere existence are back!

This time, I had an interesting conversation with a friend who’s considering starting his own business. He mentioned that “Diary of a CEO” might just be derailing you from your own path. Learning from others shouldn’t delay you from living your own life, unapologetically making your own experiences.

Got me thinking about all the stuff we do that feels like moving towards our goals but is actually just performative – because we’re not doing the hard things.

Like me buying serious sporty gear at Decathlon and then very slowly walking to a restaurant without raising my heart rate by a single beat. But damn I look sporty.

What’s your sporty gear?

That’s all for now, folks.

Love, Anna from Pollo Digital

Hey all,

I finally get to share the learnings of my insane “viral post” week.

Surprise: Most people reaching out for my resources on smart layoffs are not the ones in the layoff. Most of them are in active employment, preparing. Not what I expected at all.

We are talking 100,000 impressions and 82 saves on LinkedIn, 58 downloads, 27 testers, dozens of helpful conversations… I so hit the nerve there. And then came the external data:

Only 11% of workers in Germany are actually engaged at work and invested in what they do, Gallup research says. 

11%!!! What about the other 89%?

Think about it – “Survivors” that now need to carry extra work and implement AI in their companies. Only 11% are up for a challenge. 89% might as well be… quietly preparing for a better exit, maybe looking for a different job.

Some grind even harder, showing their worth. But here’s the question: 

Are you doing your best work when you internally know all of it might be for nothing because any day, you might be let go?

Living in constant tension goes beyond declining engagement, I can tell you from experience – I fooled myself into thinking that the harder I worked, the more I could handle the uncertainty. Wrong – I could fool myself (my superpower), but you can’t fool your body or your psyche. That tension cost me a teeth-grinding habit so bad I needed a mouth guard at night. The daytime damage was on me.

I don’t have a good closing point. What I have is…. 

-> Companies have a huge trust gap to close.

-> Employees have a task of staying in the zone of their control to not completely lose it.

-> And I truly believe that with a dignified, informed and empowering exit, you set yourself up for a better start by staying in your control zone, which is close to impossible the longer you stay in the uncertainty zone.

If you feel that you need support figuring out this tricky tension – please do reach out.

That’s all for now, folks.

Love, Anna from Pollo Digital

Hey all,

Things are moving fast. After my post about being laid off went viral – again – I found myself buried in work and many introductions. And my subscriber count doubled, so hello to all of you new here!

Let me get you up to speed with what I’m doing with this whole “Being laid off in Germany” work.

Turns out, being laid off has started to feel like another Tuesday for many people. So weird and sad that it has gotten so normalised in Europe and this does not sit well with me.

Why? What happens in layoffs stays behind closed doors. In Germany, we don’t know how companies communicate and execute layoffs – and what consequences it has for employees.

Zero transparency. Zero accountability. Maybe I start a movement of dignified layoffs, who knows.

Another piece is the emotional impact a layoff has on your professional confidence and how you approach your network afterwards. How do you move on with your job search? And if you decide to build something of your own – how does a layoff keep influencing you? We started treating layoffs as something so normal, but they are not – for our psyche they are still an insanely abnormal event.

If you’ve been laid off, try reaching out to your former boss. The feeling is not great, there is a certain taboo and awkwardness, on both sides.

And in the middle of all of it are immigrants, whom I want to help most. Being on a visa, not speaking the language, not understanding the cultural norms of negotiating in Germany, not knowing your rights – it adds such a damn layer of complexity to an already fucked up emotional experience.

If I can help more immigrants in Germany avoid questionable decisions in the negotiation and come out stronger after a layoff, I’ll feel that I am really, truly doing something good. And I am so happy to see that it is already happening.

Can you help me?

I am in the problem-definition phase with real people – that’s why I am inviting people who downloaded my resources for a short research interviews. 

Would you jump on a 20-minute call with me to tell me about your pre-, mid- or post-layoff experience? If you had one, of course. 

My plan is to later use that qualitative data (anonymously, of course) to run a large survey. The report I’ll create will become a tool of transparency on how companies ran layoffs and what impact it had on employees. 

The paid clarity sessions with me are great too. They help me help you. I provide strategy, clarity on your situation, your options, the best negotiation structure, and my lawyer’s recommendations if needed.

Reply to this email if either of those is you or if you know someone it would help.

Stories of mere existence

This email’s story of mere existence happened to me. A person who downloaded my “being laid off in Germany” guide emailed me back saying it was so insanely helpful, asking for my PayPal to support my work.

Gosh, the best feeling ever! And he did PayPal me. 5 euros. And then he…. unsubscribed.

The path of entrepreneurship is certainly a never-ending source of humans being humans. 

In the next email I’ll update you on my post-layoff progress and my cultural fit mentorship work.

That’s all for now, folks.

Love, Anna from Pollo Digital

Hey guys,

I simply stayed in Georgia after my vacation and settled down in a little town called Mtskheta. Love this freedom – it’s worth working hard for. Also, I’ve started dedicating one hour every morning to writing, and things like positioning, clear communication, and a better grasp on my publishing have been developing like crazy.

So, some updates:

Sadly (or not) I have decided to stop working on my startup in the area of deepfake protection 

Quite dramatically, too – I pulled back my incubator application, and this one I was really excited about.

I’ve dedicated a year to it, many potential co-founders, many different angles, tons of biz learnings later… I’ve realised it is time to let go and choose myself. Why chase something that isn’t working well and not work on something that is working beautifully – like the Pollo Digital one-woman-show company, whose newsletter you are reading right now.

My grown-up entrepreneur friends say the first one must fail and this is the one that hurts the most. It certainly hurts – I even wept a bit. I am certainly not giving up my entrepreneurial spirit – Go Pollo Digital!

Now, that Pollo Digital

What I do there is tied closely to helping people through a layoff, and beyond and help them land in a German local work culture, which is a tricky one. Let’s focus on my mentoring through a layoff.

Why mentoring people through a layoff? Because a lot of people come to read or watch my stuff mid-layoff and for me, a layoff has transformational power.

Here’s why: In employment, you can hold one of two positions.

→ Proactive – when you are choosing roles you enjoy and that serve your career, leaving when a job stops serving you.

→ Passive – when you are staying because you’re scared you won’t find anything else.

Other reasons exist, but the bottom line is fear. You’re scared to leave.

The second one is quite sad to me. I made that mistake myself – instead of leaving, I stayed another half a year, waiting for the layoff. Strategically and money-wise, it was the right call, and I’m glad I did what was best for me and not for the company. But almost a year later? What a waste of time and mental space.

That’s why the first thing I ask when employees reach out to me during a layoff: what is this job for you- is it worth keeping?

The moment I hear the word “scared” – scared to lose it, scared they won’t find something else – I know there’s much more going on than just the layoff situation.

Getting fear out of your decision-making will enrich your life in ways that were previously unthinkable.

We treat our jobs – and our lives – like a draft. Except this draft is it. There is no rewrite.

On that dramatic note, I’ll cut the long read here. I’m happy to offer mentorship where we dig into why you’re living your life like a draft and how to stop. Reach out ❤️

Stories of mere existence

Chuck Norris passed a few weeks ago. Here’s that iconic story of him and the tiger:

“So I (Chuck Norris) went in and bent down and petted him, and all of a sudden you heard this groaning. The trainer says: get up very slowly and back up. And the tiger did – he slowly got up and backed out.”

RIP Chuck.

In a way, me choosing to dedicate myself full time to Pollo Digital over my deepfake startup makes me feel like damn Chuck Norris. 

The ask

Who do you know who’s facing a layoff and would benefit from talking to someone who went through it and came out stronger? 

Reply to this email and let me know. 

That’s all for now, folks. 

Love, 

Anna from Pollo Digital 

Hey there,

I’m gradually coming back after a short vacation – and happy with what it did to me. In this one: layoffs in Germany, and external validation in its various forms – algorithms, grants and accelerators.

Layoffs in Germany keep on rolling.

The industry is booming, depending on which side of it you are on.

I spoke recently with a friend – branding lead at a large HR tooling company in Berlin. The profitable angle, she confirmed, is helping companies execute the layoffs. There is very good money in that.

I’m sticking with employees anyway.

Companies present termination as a mutual agreement. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t. Layoffs and unemployment are still taboo enough in Germany that people sign things they shouldn’t. I want to demystify the process and help people come out stronger.

That’s the angle. It stays.

I am done with LinkedIn algorithms. I am done chasing platforms. I have said this before and meant it less. I mean it more now.

Metrics make sense if you are a product. I checked – I am not.

Human beings are more complex and fluid. We are terrible at being measured. The algorithm does not know what to do with us. Frankly, neither do we – but that is a different problem. So the algorithm that does not understand us tries to control us.

In my mentoring I keep coming back to the same question: what do you actually want?

For me the answer is embarrassingly simple – it should be fun and it should pay. When those two things are in order, the numbers tend to sort themselves out. Not always, but more often than the other way around.

About that external validation thing that takes different forms… 

A friend who has been running a business for many years said: stop applying for things. Either you’re building or you’re not. I applied for an accelerator recently. And a grant.

And I thought about how strange it is that we hand other people authority over our lives and then act surprised when they use it. We wait for feedback from people we will never meet.

Real business is simple and terrifying. Show up, say what you charge, do the work, get paid. Everything else is a rehearsal.

At least now I’m applying for things knowing I’m using them as help to do the hard thing. I need help and I am happy to accept it. I want to do something with this in my work – why we give up agency so easily and what it costs. And why it feels like the primary choice for most of us. 

Stories of mere existence:

I try to leave the EU occasionally. It is good for the soul, or whatever is left of it.

The guesthouse in Tbilisi had a loose balcony door, a ceiling that had clearly been weeping for some time, and a dog named Richie who effectively controlled all movement in and out of the building.

The owner brought me cake and homemade wine. I was not sure if this was hospitality or compensation.

When I was leaving for Mtskheta, he threatened to come and beat up anyone who caused me trouble there. I thanked him. It seemed like the right thing to do.

It was the closest to home I had felt since 2016, when I visited Novosibirsk last time.

And you – how was Easter?

The ask:

If you think my services could help someone, or there’s someone I really should be talking to – please connect us via LinkedIn.

That’s all for now, folks. 

Love, 

Anna from Pollo Digital 

Layoffs in Germany

Layoffs in Germany are far from over. My first consultations – helping immigrant employees navigate HR’s intransparency and figure out their personal situations and goals – are already showing me that this topic will only gain more value. One guy reached out saying his company is doing exactly the same process I described in my YouTube video. Wild.
I have a whole YouTube playlist where I share everything I’ve experienced and learned about layoffs. Use it – nothing is behind a paywall. Bluntly sharing my own experience worked, and we have little of that out there.
Cultural personas
I keep creating these based on Erin Meyer’s Culture Map. They show what kind of “cultural fit” Western tech workplaces are built around – and what most immigrants lose the moment they arrive, because they didn’t grow up with the “right” cultural code. I’ve now analysed the US cultural archetype separately. In tech, those who embody these traits are considered leadership material. If you’re not aware of your own cultural blind spots – or your boss isn’t – this can make you hit the glass ceiling, or cost you your job.
Personas are a great research method and I think they’ll feed directly into my soft skills work for immigrants. Request a specific country – I’ll add it to the list.
On International Women’s Day
I published two posts – one on the inherited patriarchal status quo we’re still stuck with, and one on the gender pay gap. Both went viral and brought some offended men to my comments. Surprising how it still happens on LinkedIn. The topic keeps on giving.
Good news
Pollo Digital is now supported by a German startup grant (Gründungszuschuss). A big step, and a lot more flexibility to do my own thing. Go Pollo Digital, go me!
I’m thinking about turning my application papers into a template for the resources page – drop me a line if that sounds useful.
The human condition
From Jonathan Preston’s “Becoming Pro” via The Daily Show: scientists in Japan invented a robot capable of recognising its own reflection in a mirror. “When the robot learns to hate what it sees,” said Jon Stewart, “it will have achieved full humanity.” Make of that what you will.
The ask
Pollo Digital’s positioning is still a work in progress. If you know someone who needs clarity on their work situation – I’m actively helping. The people I most want to help are immigrants in Germany and FLINTA. Soft skills, unfair layoffs – all of it.
If my services could help someone you know, connect us on LinkedIn.
That’s all for now.
Love, Anna from Pollo Digital

Hey there,

Hope you are well and enjoying this beautiful Saturday evening with your loved ones. Writing to you from the messy middle here, I believe that clarity comes faster in action so I’ve been up to many things, as usual

• My LinkedIn post got viral – Generating is NOT creating. If you generate a song, a video, a text – you skip the thinking process. When a CEO of an AI generation tool sells me that “their tool is empowering content consumers to finally become creators,” I am not buying it. Flipping consumption from consuming content to consuming another addictive AI generation tool is a dirty business approach. We must use more of our brain if we want to create.

• I am finding a new narrative – by creating “Cultural personas” based on Erin Meyer’s Culture Map. These personas are based on the country people were socialized in. Personas are an amazing research method and I believe they will help me with my soft skills work for immigrants and with the Layoff guide and calculator. I have already created and published personas on Russia, Germany and the UK, and analyzed how they’d work together in one team. US is next. Do you have a request?
• My YouTube – I keep recording three videos a week. I am obviously hating myself on camera and super unhappy with the quality, but if there is one thing I’ve learned: in order to get somewhere in a sea of unknowns, you have to start doing. Subscribe if you like it. Use it as a tool to combat your own perfectionism – if I can upload videos with hardly any editing, you can feel better about publishing your stuff.
• AI intensifies work. With AI, we work faster, longer hours (without being asked) and take on a broader scope of tasks. Sounds like a big screw-you from the universe. Self-regulation is more important than ever. Have you checked in with how you are feeling when working with AI-assisted tools? Do you feel the dopamine kick when you finally see the output? We need to make sure our work runs by our own mental preferences and not by AI tools.

Fun Stories:

I was having dinner with four fantastic immigrant women in Berlin – all content queens, founders. One of them, Hannah, asked us all about the most random job we’ve ever done.

One of us had to spray-clean buses with a watering hose but was reassigned because the hose kept throwing her back. She was moved to placing papers from one spot to another.

And yours truly – I was promoting a canteen in Novosibirsk as a teenager. The place was called “Fork & Spoon.” I was the spoon. Make of that what you will.

What was your most random job?

The ask:

• My positioning is a WIP, Pollo Digital could turn into a product, could stay my personal branding project or it could turn into a consultancy. No answers here yet. But one is certain – I want to help people like me, immigrants in Germany and FLINTA as my focus. Soft skills, unfair layoffs – all of that. 
• If you feel my services are helpful for someone, or there’s someone I really need to team up and talk to – please connect us.

In the next email, I will talk more about authenticity and hopefully share some great news.

That’s all for now folks.

Love,

Anna from Pollo Digital