At the moment, I have zero workload (The same is true for my co-workers). We don't have a project to work on, so there's no reason to be physically in the office. From the rumors going around, the situation will stay like this until the end of the month. While managers and team leads sort out the project direction and personnel issue, we just sit around doing nothing. The main reason I still show up to work is so that I can meet with my manager in case he wants to talk to me.
Everyone I work with is fairly stressed out with the situation. All the contractors were eliminated swiftly. They were given less than a day's notice of their termination. One contractor didn't even know he was terminated. He showed up to work one day and his badge failed to work. Eventually, he got into the building and started working. Later in the day, he heard a rumor that the contractors were eliminated, which he then confirmed with his manager. He then packed up his stuff and left. The night before, all the contractor's employers were notified about the termination. The contractor's employer probably didn't have enough time to notify the contractor about the termination.
So far, I know of two full-time employees (non-contractors) that have been laid off. I also know of a handful of people that have been asked to look for an alternative position with-in the company. Instead of laying off people, the company would rather have them stay and fill other open positions if possible. Each person that finds another position decreases the number of people that need to be laid off. If a new position is not found, it doesn't mean the person will necessarily be laid off. The company also wants to keep employees around in case their expertise is needed. If the new project is understaffed, the company can always pull the employees back if they are still with-in the company.
As an indication of the seriousness of the situation, one of the persons that have been asked to find an alternative position is my team lead. From a job performance standpoint, he has definitely performed well and is nowhere near the bottom of the performance bucket. Even if a person performs well, their job is not safe...
