My company eliminated approximately 200 positions today. I know of nearly 10 people from our division with whom I worked or knew socially who are out on the street right now. There may be more, as a bunch of emails were not answered or people were not available in the corporate IM.
I realize this is part of business. Companies do what they can to be profitable, to remain "lean and hungry," and to hopefully grow in the future.
But that doesn't stop the sting when it happens to you.
Luckily, most of the people with whom I work were spared this fate today. And I can rest better tonight knowing that this round is done and jobs should be safe for "a while."
But I do wonder about those who were let go. Many people don't plan for these events and do not have the wherewithall to combat it when a company lets them go. I hope that those with new mortgages, new children, and other responsibilities will be okay until they find new employment.
From what the VP of our division told us, the company provided fairly considerate severance packages to those who were let go. That should ease a little of their burdens while they start looking for a job.
About a month and a half ago, our company announced plans to "reorganize management" and to "create better synergies" in departments. My first thought was, "Oh, great, more layoffs." Why can't those in upper management remember what it was like to hear words like that? Why couldn't they respect their employees enough to add, "And there is a chance that some layoff could occur" so we would be prepared when this day came?
I am sure it is written in some manual somewhere why management does not, should not, or cannot let its employees know when cut backs are going to occur. I just wish I could find that passage so I could understand. It seems so disrespectful to me to just up and call 200 employees and say, "Your job has been eliminated. Have a nice day."
I will soldier on, doing the best I can. But my faith in the company is shaken right now and I need to gain some perspective.
And let me extend a heartfelt "Good luck!" to those who were fired today.
As much as I complain about the way schools are run, at least I know that I have a job each year that will encompass that school year.
ReplyDeleteOur site admin fired several non-tenured teachers on the spot this year, which is seldom done. It shook a lot of people out of complacency and into action.
I agree with you that most people do not have the financial resources to weather a lay-off, but with the cost of living at such astronomical highs, it's understandable. When mortgages are running $5k a month, who can save enough $$ to have the 3-month safety net all the experts tout?
Our economy is running at a very fast pace, and it's bound to crash and burn before it can right itself. There's going to be a horrendouse teaching shortage in the state: perhaps some of the newly-fired would want to consider a career in education?
Companies don't "prepare" people for possible layoffs for two reasons that I can think of. First, people they don't want to layoff might leave. Second, they simply don't care about people, it's all about the company and it's bottom line.
ReplyDeleteAs a side note, I read The Disposable American recently and it has some sobering stats regarding people that are laid off. The book quoted the worker-displacements surveys issued biennially by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which state that two years after a layoff that 1/3 of all workers still haven't found a new job and even if they do find work 40% of them don't make as much as they did at their old job.
I feel a lot of sympathy for people that are cast aside by their company, often times the worker didn't do anything wrong, they just happened to hold the wrong job at the wrong time.
I thought it was supposed to be a 6-month safety net?