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Subject:Re: Layoff logistics and etiquette From:Jo Francis Byrd <jbyrd -at- byrdwrites -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 22 Oct 2001 15:23:39 -0500
The idiots who ran Heartless R Us (the outfit that I spoke of earlier,
the one that laid off a manager and he found out when he called the
sysadmin to find out why his password wouldn't work) announced massive
layoffs - I forget the percentage they said, but when you consider only
about five people in upper management left (voluntarily or otherwise),
it amounted to about half the work force. After the fact, they
discovered the numbers of the layoff came under the provisions of the
Warren Act - the one that covers plant closings. Meaning they had to
give us 60 days notice. Of course, we learned of the coming layoffs
weeks in advance, so you can imagine the morale level - and production
level - of the employees.
Well, guess what? They couldn't get their act together in time (gallows
humor said they couldn't even fire us right!), which meant our
termination dates were thrown into the next year. They came out slinging
the axes on Veteran's Day, and they wanted us out as soon as we could
get out. It was horrible. The halls were awash with virtual blood; an
absolute massacre. However, thanks to the Warren Act, our actual
termination dates didn't fall until late January of the next year
(giving us a two month head start on job hunting), meaning they had to
pay us for our next year's vacation - on top of the generous severance
package and outplacement services they provided.
Some of us came out well, though at the time it was The End of the
World. I ended up leaving that field and becoming a tech writer, making
more money and having a LOT more fun doing it.
Well I WAS making a lot more money. The market's hell on contractors
right now....
Jo Byrd
Janice Gelb wrote:
Funny you should ask: my company is going through its very first
layoff right now, after 19 years in business. Unfortunately, they
treated it like other company policy changes and decided to be up
front and communicative about what was happening. Therefore, on
October 8, they announced that there was going to be a layoff of
9% of the company, or 3,900 people. Guess when they're going to
announce who gets laid off? By November 1...
You think 4 to 6 hours is agonizing? Try three to four *weeks*!
People are very jittery, not sleeping, trying to figure out
layoff strategies, and finding it extremely difficult to
concentrate on their work.
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