CELPIP Reading Part 4 Practice Test: Norwind Layoff Options

Layoffs in the technology sector are usually reported as a single figure, but those affected face a set of difficult choices. When Norwind Software cut roughly a third of its Winnipeg staff in late winter, those let go had a month to choose between a transfer to the Toronto head office at the same salary and in an equivalent role, with the position guaranteed for one year; severance of two weeks' pay for each year of service; or full tuition for a two-year college program plus three months of salary.

Dorothea Klassen, a software tester with Norwind for more than twenty years, had expected "an offer that took people's circumstances into account." With her husband's business and her mother's care home in the city, relocating is out of the question. "Retraining is not a serious option for someone my age. I would finish a diploma in my mid-fifties and compete for junior positions with students half my age." She has accepted the severance, although she doubts anyone in the city is hiring people with her background.

Kenji Iwanchuk, a developer in his twenties, took the transfer. "I have no children and no mortgage, so this seemed like the right moment to make a change. Rent in Toronto is much higher, and I share an apartment now, but I would rather be at head office, where the decisions are made, than at a branch that has just been reduced."

Quentin Redekop, a labour economist with the Canadian Institute for Workforce Studies, is cautious about transfers. "Firms that cut this deeply often make a second round of reductions within two years, and recently transferred employees are frequently among the first to go." His research also shows that workers who take severance and use the time to search carefully generally end up in better positions.

Kasia Halloran, a counsellor with the Manitoba Job Transition Centre, notes that the next college intake is not until September. "Many of my clients like the tuition offer but cannot see how they would pay rent in the meantime." On a brighter note, employers in other provinces increasingly hire software testers who work entirely from home.

Having been laid off twice myself, with nothing more than the legal minimum on both occasions, I 6. Choose…can sympathize withfelt reassured bywas moved byam unconvinced by the complaints in this article. Klassen, for instance, chose the one option that the complaints in this article. Klassen, for instance, chose the one option that 7. Choose…keeps her close to her familypays her while she studiesrewards her long serviceguarantees her a position, yet she still seems to feel badly treated., yet she still seems to feel badly treated. 8. Choose…Contrary toBased on research bySetting asideDespite warnings from Redekop, workers who take severance and search carefully tend to find better jobs, and that was certainly my experience the second time around. I would have been tempted by the college program myself. Iwanchuk, meanwhile, has accepted Redekop, workers who take severance and search carefully tend to find better jobs, and that was certainly my experience the second time around. I would have been tempted by the college program myself. Iwanchuk, meanwhile, has accepted 9. Choose…a lower salaryhigher living costsa demotion in ranka job in a new field in return for a place at head office. In the end, in return for a place at head office. In the end, 10. Choose…IwanchukRedekopHalloranKlassen is the only person in the article with something at stake who treats the layoff as a chance to move forward. Change is rarely comfortable, but it is not always a bad thing.