I took a vacation day on Monday and I don’t work on Tuesdays. I did check my work email during this time and felt a twinge of worry when I saw a “Staples Integration” meeting sent at high priority and then an email from my boss saying to come talk to her when I was back in the office.
Well…it was good news for me. I received a letter of continuance from Staples, which means I still have a job, at least for the time being. And there was a nice surprise on the letter as well – the hire date that Staples is recognizing.
You see, I started at Corporate Express in May 2001. But after Adrianna was born in 2005, I decided to go to part-time. My boss at that time had me work as a “contractor” even though my job role hadn’t changed and I never really left. Fast forward to 2006, when I got a new and amazing boss who made me an offer I couldn’t refuse to come back full-time. It had been over a year since I was “officially” a CE employee, so I was told by HR that they couldn’t reinstate my seniority or my vacation (again, I had never REALLY left the company). My boss pushed and was able to get my extra vacation time to me, but not the seniority as HR wouldn’t budge. So my “new” hire date became November 2006.
This means that if I were to be laid off, I would only show almost 2 years of service rather than 7, which does have a place in how much severance I would receive.
Anyways, back to the new letter of continuance I received today. Somehow, some way, the powers-that-be saw fit to put my original hire date back to May 2001. Hooray! I am so excited about this. I signed the letter right away. 🙂
Many people that I know and work with were let go this week, though none in my immediate department. It is sad to have to go through this. There is still no final decision on the systems that the AIM team users, let alone a decision on the automated forms processes and their development. And so I will continue to wait and work hard. I love my job and am thankful every day it remains available to me.