You go to bed completely unaware that when you wake up the next morning, your job will no longer exist.

As in the case of Jetsgo, now perhaps better known as Jetsgone, unknowing employees found out that the airline quickly lost altitude overnight and went down in flames when it came time for them to show up the next day.

Out of work after the low-cost carrier shut down its operations, employees were not only left wondering where to turn with questions about salaries owed, vacation pay and benefits, among others, but there were also life-changing effects to deal with.

So, how do you survive the Day After the company you work for crashes and burns? Experts say in instances such as this, there is life after death.

Mike Sturk, Business Edge
Baxter Bean and Associates president Chuck Bean has turned the personal shock of job loss into a business to assist others.

"The key is not to take it personally," says Chuck Bean, president of Calgary-based Baxter Bean and Associates, a strategic direction and training company that provides customized services in the area of leadership, sales and sales management, and human resources. "You have to understand that it's not a personal thing. It happened to them (the company) and it probably didn't happen because of them (the employee)."

Bean talks from experience, as early in his career he went through a similar occurrence. Working in Calgary for a nationwide automotive wholesaler, Bean was put out of work when the company unexpectedly went belly up. He only found out when a locksmith called him on behalf of the receiver.

"I asked, 'Why are you calling?' I was 21 years old at that point. I said, 'What? You're doing what?' The locksmith said, 'Your company is going bankrupt,' " recounts Bean. "At that time, the senior management in the company had been relieved of their power, so it was a matter of not knowing anything. No officer from the company had called me, they were done.

"It was such a sudden change. We went from an operating business to closed," says Bean, who was the company's western manager. At least 50 people lost their jobs.

"That bankruptcy was a shocker. We (my wife and I) had a tiny baby and we found ourselves in a very serious position with no income and the company car was gone, too," adds Bean.

In this instance, there was some warning. Senior managers were told the company was in trouble, but they also thought there was a four-month period during which they could turn the business around.

However, just one week after they received the initial dose of bad news, the locksmith called Bean to come to the office.

"The commitment I made to myself then was that I would never ever find myself in that position again. So it was a tremendous learning experience," says Bean.

But while job hunting is an important next step, a company's former employees still need to tie up the loose ends that emerge out of the shutdown.

The good news is that employees of a newly closed business will likely be able to collect wages owed, says Geoffrey Howard of Vancouver's Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP.

"Generally speaking, for a variety of legal reasons, the wages earned up to termination are usually paid in full and this includes vacation pay, but - and it will vary according to the specific province or company - it is often difficult to collect any severance pay," says Howard, an expert on employment law.

Howard suggests that if there are any problems in obtaining these funds, employees should check with their local employment standards office and make a claim there.

"They will help you collect on the statutory minimum termination, as well as back wages," he says.

As to other claims an employee may have against the now-closed business, proceedings will depend on whether or not the company has filed for bankruptcy protection.

If the company has filed under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA), no one will be able to take any legal action, says Howard, though if they have just shut their doors, an employee has the ability to make a claim.

If legal action is an option, the employee should find an employment lawyer with a good knowledge of insolvency law - often the local bar association will have a referral service. At the same time, Howard says, a worker could try to follow the company's asset trail and see if it has the ability to pay out. That way it might make it easier to decide whether to take legal action.

"It's a very tough situation for (these) clients," he says. "They've lost this income and they may have a very tough time recovering anything, and you don't want to throw good money after bad."

Meanwhile, retrieving any personal belongings left behind in the office should not pose a problem.

"An employee is entitled to recover their own property. The tricky part, though, is often a business is operating in leased premises and quite often the landlord is not paid," says Howard, who adds that the landlord has no right to seize and sell an employee's personal property that was left at work even though he may have the right to seize the employer's property.

"If the employer is still in control of premises, request permission to clean out your desk with a supervisor present. If the employer is not in control, find out who the landlord or his agent is, contact them, and ask for one of their people to come in with you," says Howard.

For certain items, such as family photos, there will likely be no questions. But if you just bought a brand-new laptop computer for yourself and did not have a chance to bring it home, be sure to bring in the receipt so that you'll be able to prove it's yours and not a part of the company's assets.

Once these preliminaries are over, Bean emphasizes that it's important to put yourself right back on the market.

"I do believe employers really, really want to hire people that have a level of commitment to themselves or their goals and that's really displayed by taking action right away," he says.

"In the world according to Chuck, take immediate action. Do not wait. Do not get caught up in the lull of complacency. Not everyone is able to do that, and if you do believe you need a little bit of a break, take a break but take the minimum amount."

And even though it may sound like a cliché, there may well be a silver lining in that dark cloud. Bean's job loss resulted in his landing a job in sales after four months of pounding the pavement.

"I found myself in a new career of sales and it turned out to be one of the best things I ever did," he says. "I realized that you could be angry, that you could take it personally, but nobody is Superman. You can't take it personally. You've got to move on and the smartest people in the world do that."

DUE DILIGENCE
To try to prevent yourself from landing a job in a company that might go under unexpectedly, Ross Bradford, a lecturer with the department of strategic management and organization at the University of Alberta’s school of business, offers the following
suggestions:

* Watch for warning signs that the company may be in trouble. Empty order books with employees sitting around doing nothing could be one example, while a cutback on previously paid-for perks could be another. A more likely signal would be a
paycheque that bounces.
* Be careful. If you do notice that things are looking shaky, don’t immediately jump to conclusions – you may only have a fraction of the total picture. Also you could inadvertently make things worse, like a run on a bank. “People could panic and quit, and the
business might (really) go under. While you might have a clue
you still have imperfect knowledge,” says Bradford.
* Pay attention to industry forces. Airlines, for example, have struggled since the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the outbreak of SARS. Very few have been profitable and most have recently sought bankruptcy protection. Restaurants are another area for attention, says Bradford, noting that it is not uncommon for restaurants that are not part of a major chain to come and go, and even some chain restaurants have been known to shut their doors.
* Try and check out the employer’s track record to see its past history. For example, have any of the top brass failed in similar ventures before?

(Laura Severs can be reached at laura@businessedge.ca)