Laid Off Workers Are Creating Online "Layoff Clubs"

Feb. 24, 2009 - PRLog -- (Burlingame, CA)  These days, layoffs dominate the news.  With increasing regularity, household-name companies are announcing job cuts, some with layoffs as large as 10,000 employees or more.  Almost no one is immune to layoffs.  They are occurring in almost every industry, in every state and at every level of the organization.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the economy has lost 3.6 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007. Getting downsized is a highly disruptive moment in a person's life. Former employees are often emotionally upset, confused and unsure of what to do next.  Even communicating with each other and former colleagues becomes difficult as corporate emails, business addresses and cell phones are often immediately invalidated.  

However, some downsized employees have taken matters in their own hands.   Cheryl Noori from Citibank was recently let go along with over 15 of her colleagues in one of several layoffs in their Nevada-based division.  Since this was the first time they had gone through this process, they needed to share critical information regarding the career transition process that could save the group immeasurable time and money.  She looked for a solution similar to the Microsoft Sharepoint system, which they were using at Citibank.  After investigating a few solutions, she found the social collaboration Website called Qlubb where she could instantly form an online community. The group was called "Second Citi" and started with just a few members.

While no one person knew everybody's email addresses, word quickly got around and soon everybody was able to get online and enter their own contact information. Nearly all of her colleagues were able to quickly get online and to share their personal contact information with each other.  Soon, even current employees were joining in to stay connected with their former colleagues.

They use the group email features and Website to post links to job sites and to share job hunting tips.  In addition to connecting virtually, they are able to plan a biweekly luncheon so that they can get together, network and support each other.

Other people who were laid off at different times began to join the group. The initial group of 15 has grown to 88 people and continues to grow rapidly.

"The current economic environment is extremely challenging for many people," said Sophia Chiang, CEO of Qlubb, Inc. "We designed Qlubb from the beginning to make any group of people immediately get online and organized.  We are really glad that Qlubb can be of immediate assistance to the millions of people affected during a highly disruptive time in their lives."

Qlubb is available for free at http://www.qlubb.com.   Starting a Qlubb takes just 10 seconds and people can start securely collaborating immediately without registering.

About Qlubb
Qlubb is a Burlingame, CA-based provider of Web-based social collaboration solutions for real-life groups. Whether it is a playgroup, classroom parent group, sports team, family, club or hobby group, Qlubb helps most any group of people connect, share and get things done. Qlubb strengthens ties within the group while also helping groups increase participation, be better organized and be more efficient.

Qlubb is very easy-to-use and takes just a few seconds to start a fully-functioning site that includes a fully integrated private collaboration site, group email, shared calendar, signup sheets, automated reminders, photo sharing, public Web page and much more. Users are not required to register, requiring just their email address and a password set by the Qlubb creator.

Media Inquiries
Andy Yang
andy@qlubb.com

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Qlubb is a provider of Web solutions for real-life groups to get online. Whether it is a playgroup, classroom parent group, sports team, family, club or hobby group, Qlubb helps most any group of people connect, share and get things done. Qlubb is available at http://www.qlubb.com