Jobs are all about performance, but mostly performing what your corporate overlords deem as valuable.

What would you do if you followed the rules to a T but still lost the job you loved?

One guy recently vented about his situation. Here’s what he had to say.

I did everything right and still got laid off

I am a project manager who has over 9 years of work experience.

I always met deadlines.

I would remain late whenever something would break.

It’s rare to find selfless employees like this.

I flattened drama in cases where stakeholders were absent.

I deputized teams where there were insufficient resources.

I also made an additional effort when one of the bosses had to win.

Well at least he got something out of it.

I did not merely do my job, but I was handling chaos on a daily basis.

The emotive job would have occupied a full time job.

I have learned new competencies and gained credentials.

He gained skills.

I maintained my work according to the company objectives.

I unanimously said yes when the leadership shifted strategy without any reason.

I developed the skill of creating pleasant dashboards that can be used by the executives during board meetings.

Unfortunately these types of situations are becoming all too common.

They said I was important to delivery, and likened me to glue, bridge, or shock absorber.

The week before I was laid off.

No warning, no performance problem and no budget meeting.

Two former coworkers are in for a rude awakening.

I was informed over the phone that we are making some structural changes.

It is incredible how quickly you can find yourself being the pillar of the team and then get cut.

And that is the bad part: I have to share my workload among two individuals that were already burned out.

That entire situation sounds so disheartening.

And leadership has in another area put up a new PM position with reduced compensation.

Okay.

So yeah.

This is a tough lesson to learn.

You may do what you are supposed to, appear, earn it, and sacrifice, and be thrown away.

I would have liked to have more boundaries.

I hope I had ceased the attitude of equating loyalty with job security.

I have not lost hope in project management, but I no longer believe that the companies will appreciate you merely because you make an extra mile.

Lesson learned.

This stark realization seems to be spreading across the modern workforce faster each day. Let’s see what the good people of Reddit had to say about this one.

The comments didn’t miss the chance to say “I told you so”.

Some people took the chance to reiterate reminders.

Others apologized for the situation.

One person offered some wise words.

Another provided some dark comfort.

It shouldn’t be so rare to find a job that values people.

If you liked this post, check out this story about an employee who got revenge on a co-worker who kept grading their work suspiciously low.