Euphemisms for Job Loss

Euphemisms for Job Loss Euphemisms for Job Loss Euphemisms for Job Loss By Maeve Maddox The unfortunate occasion of being dismissed from employment can be expressed in numerous ways. Some of the more familiar expressions are: to be made redundant to receive a pink slip to be dismissed to be discharged to be laid off to be let go to lose one’s job to be fired to be got rid of to be booted out to be given the boot to get the sack to be sacked to be given one’s marching orders to get the ax/axe These homely expressions still appear in headlines: Pentagon gives pink slips to thousands of soldiers, including active-duty officers Digital strategy to axe tens of thousands of central government jobs Thousands of Woolworths staff face sack in Christmas week Thousands of Doctors Fired by United Healthcare However, when it comes to carefully worded announcements issued by people doing the firing, today’s reader must exercise advanced skills of textual interpretation. Here are some of the ways firing people is described by public relations officers: realigning the workforce reallocating resources focusing on involuntary attrition rightsizing the company offering unpaid leave with the option to pursue new employment eliminating redundancy smart-sizing the company redeploying workers rewiring for growth eliminating positions rethinking our future adjusting to shifts in demand rebalancing human capital re-engineering simplifying streamlining going in another direction And my personal favorite: decruiting. decruit (verb): to remove people working for an organization from their jobs because they are no longer needed. Clearly modeled on the word recruit, this poor little misshapen invention is already being used without scare quotes: the phenomenon of companies announcing their various intentions to decruit vast numbers of people.  Ã¢â‚¬â€œStanley Bing, Fortune. Teach leaders what they must know to decruit workers when necessary. –from a brochure for a business leader workshop sponsored by Penn State. Let go of the unalterable agents. If you can’t change their work habits, then change their work place. Decruit them. Let them go. –â€Å"Tips to Lead Your Company to Success,† Miami Association of Realtors. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:50 Idioms About TalkingBody Parts as Tools of MeasurementArtist vs. Artisan