Getting Laid Off as an Expat

On a Wednesday morning, I received a calendar invite from the CEO of the company that was sent to all employees. Immediately, I knew what the meeting would be about. 1) We were about to have layoffs and 2) I would most likely be impacted. How did I know? Well, sometimes you just have a feeling. But I would be lying if I said there weren't signs.

There had been whispers about an impending layoff coming. It's no secret that the economy was struggling. Business was down in both Hong Kong and globally. Not just for the company that I was working at, but throughout the industry. Over the last few years, I've seen a staggering number of former colleagues, friends and family get laid off across sectors and jobs. Whether it was software engineers, product designers or marketers in tech, finance or real estate - no one seemed to be safe. In fact, an estimated 40% of Americans will get laid off at least once in their careers. From this point of view, I wasn't shocked that it might be happening to me.

But what makes my experience a little more complicated than others is that I'm an expat from the U.S. on a Hong Kong work visa, so there's a lot to think about when it comes to considerations, next moves and timing. Here are some of my thoughts on what happened, how I'm feeling and what's next for 2025 in case you're going through something similar or you find yourself in this position in the future.

What happened? Preparing to get laid off.

From the moment that I thought I might be impacted, I was in preparation mode: I started saving down my important information, I told ChatGPT I was about to get laid off and asked what questions to ask HR, and most importantly, I leaned into my friends, especially those who had gotten laid off over the last few years. I asked them about their experience getting laid off, their severance packages, what they did with their time and what they would have done differently. It was helpful hearing others' personal experiences getting laid off and beginning to shape my free time in the coming months.

I know this sounds crazy, pre-planning my severance before I even knew if I was going to get laid off, but I'm someone who loves planning so this process really helped me and I'm glad I wasn't caught completely off guard. Truth be told, it even made me start looking forward to it!

Immediate steps after getting laid off

About 24 hours later, I found out that I was impacted. One thing no one tells you about getting laid off is the life admin and logistics that come with it. After spending the day saying goodbye to teammates and telling friends, there was a mountain of admin work to do over the next week. First, I had to go back to the Hong Kong office to physically return my laptop, work phone and access card. Then, I had to think about my options for my Hong Kong visa, insurance and getting a phone plan in Hong Kong since I had been hotspotting from my work phone over the last three years (that's right, I never had a phone plan beforehand).

After I tackled most of the life admin, I took time to relax. After all, the layoffs happened a couple of weeks before Christmas, so there was no point in jumping into the process of looking for another job as companies were starting to wind down for the year. Self care looks different for everyone, but for me, this meant catching up on sleep by sleeping 8 to 9 hours a day and binging the latest season of Emily in Paris since she's also an expat working at a marketing agency abroad. After a couple days of resting, I found myself inspired to revisit my never-ending Hong Kong bucket list and started to tackle a few hikes, while exploring some new places in the city that I hadn't gotten around to yet. I also took time to catch up on books, podcasts and with friends as we entered the holiday season.

How I'm feeling

Overall, I feel okay, but the entire process has been a roller coaster:

1. In chronological order, my initial reaction was shock. Even though I've seen so many get laid off over the last few years, somehow, you never think it's going to happen to you. When it does, it's hard not to get caught off guard no matter how prepared you think you are.
2. My second emotion was relief that it was over and knowing that I could now solely focus and plan for what's next.
3. Then, it was stress thinking about my work visa and the dread of potentially finding and interviewing for another corporate job.
4. The sadness hit me when I went to the office to return my laptop, because I realized that what I'll miss most is not the work - it's the people. I loved my line manager and my team, but also, the people who I saw in the office every day that you sometimes take for granted. One of those people for me is an admin who helped with all of my logistics when it came to moving from the U.S. to Hong Kong, like helping me relocate, find my first apartment and do my Hong Kong taxes for the first time.
5. Finally, I felt free. To put it bluntly, there's not many times in your adult life that you get extended paid time off. Whenever I had a friend get laid off over the last few years, I couldn't help but daydream about all I could do if I had paid time off to rest, travel or pursue a fun side quest or passion project. Now that I've gotten this time, I fully plan on taking advantage of it.

What's next for 2025?

If I look back at my career so far, this is the first time I haven't had a corporate job since I graduated in 2016. In the short term, I'm taking this time as a mini retirement. I'm sleeping in, finding out what routine works best for me and really figuring out how I want to spend my days. And as my previous colleague said, learning to be a human again outside of the corporate world.

So many of us are hard wired to be busy with work and our social lives, and I'm really enjoying being comfortable with doing nothing and seeing where the day takes me. For the first time, I have headspace to spend days however I want to and with the new year, it's a good time to revisit my goals.

It's not all rest though. I've had a number of people ask if I'll be a full-time content creator. While that wasn't my initial plan, I do think it's a sign and opportunity to try something new, at least in the short term. I'm already taking on more content work on Instagram this year, but now that I have the time, I want to take on something new to challenge myself and expand my creative skills. I love making content, storytelling, filming and editing, so I decided to try long-form content this year on YouTube.

I also have a lot of travel coming up in the first half of the year. I just got back from Taiwan and Japan, and am headed to Boston next week to visit my grandparents, then and then back in Boston for my friend's wedding in May. So I definitely won't be bored and I'll have a lot to share. Getting laid off is never easy, but it's also a unique opportunity to step back, reflect and reevaluate what you want to do next, whether it's finding a job that's similar to your previous one or following your gut instinct to take a chance on yourself and try something new that's been at the back of your mind. It gives you rare breathing room to make sure you're working towards a lifestyle that inspires you. And who knows? It could open new doors that you never would have dared to open yourself.

If you've gone through something similar, I hope sharing my experience helps you feel less alone, and if you're interested, feel free to subscribe and follow along on YouTube.

Thanks for reading, and here's to a new 2025 season!