The Difference

There’s many words and phrases I hear people misuse on a daily basis.

Today it’s being fired versus being laid off.

They’re not the same thing.

When you’re fired from a job, the connotation is that you, as an employee, did something wrong. You acted out in the wrong manner, or your performance dropped or your actions went against what is accepted and appropriate in the workplace.

What I find in most cases where someone says they were “fired” is the person in question is being terminated because of reasons other than their actions or performance. They’re being terminated because of downsizing, or redundancy due to a merger or a company closing it’s doors. A person being terminated in the last 3 examples I gave are not being fired, they’re being laid off.

“Fired” has a very negative connotation to it. If you use it, make sure it’s in the proper context.

A good rule of thumb to determine if someone was fired:

If there’s a really juicy story on why they were terminated, then they were probably fired.

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