We have recently experienced the same issue. We did not renew a contract and therefore contract went to another institution.

I had moments when I wanted to just tell people what I thought, but I had to remind myself that it would not benefit me to burn my bridges. We never know when we might have to ask for a reference or even use someone within our network to assist in the future.

Just remember that every person that you meet, work with and associate with is a part of your network and they may be able to assit you in the future.

Hope this helps

I had the same situation several years ago. It was very difficult. What made it even worse is when someone from the other office asked, "How long have you worked here?" When I said nearly 15 years, he said, "Well, I guess it's time for you to move on anyway." I don't think he even realized what kind of jerk he was.

In any case, as stated above, don't burn your bridges. You might end up getting a job from someone you once worked with, or need to network with them to get other positions. It's definetly hard, and you don't want to put in the extra effort, but you are still being paid to do a job. You have to try and stay positive, because if you don't, when you do go to look for another job, the negativity will show and you will have a harder time to find another position.

Good luck.

I have unfortunately had to go through this at two different businesses that were shutting down. I have always been very devoted to my employer at any given time, so even though we knew we were about to lose our jobs, the way I saw it, when I went to work every day I was expected to do my job just as thoroughly as if I was expecting to retire there. Knowing a job will end is no excuse, in my book, for a lack of professionalism, even though many of my co-workers did not feel that way. In fact, for one of the two times this happened, I gave my two-weeks notice about two months before they closed because I was tired of being one of the very few who actually wanted to put in a hard days work every day. Others were just goofing around much of the day, even literally playing football in the storage room one day for a couple hours. I didn't want to be around such unprofessionalism. My advice would be to be as good a worker as you always were; at least you'll have something to be proud of when it is all over.

I would agree with the "lead by example" and "maintain your network" folks. Really, with having to work with the slackers, all you can do is YOUR job as best you can while working around the slackers. Hopefully the Powers that be notice ( or you "make" them notice) and are given an excellent reference. I would also check into whether or not you can go on job interviews during your "normal" working hours. Some companies will allow this since they are closing.

I don't think a retention bonus at this point is a good idea unless the "leaders" are rewarded aboive and beyond the "slackers". Why reward the slackers for their bad behavoir now that they don't have a lot to lose?