grinch
For the last couple years I have been fortunate enough to work for an employer which was actually expanding its IT department at a time when most everyone else was contracting. I knew that would not last forever and now it is apparent that the party is over. Since the top management turned over a few months ago there has been some reorganization and consequent job loss for those who couldn't or didn't want to fit in.
Then the Friday before Thanksgiving came the first round of downsizing, and it's likely to continue into the new year. I've been through this before and I hate it. Morale is low and it's the topic that comes up in every conversation. It's hard to be cheerful when you see somebody you work with packing up their personal belongings in a cardboard box. Doesn't exactly make me look forward to getting up in the morning.
I just hate it that others have such power over my life.
Posted by Bill Hopkins on December 14, 2003 03:39 PM
Retirement is GREAT!!!!
Posted by: Mary Lou at December 14, 2003 10:08 PMAh yes...downsizing, reorganizing, laying off...whatever you want to call it, it's not a happy time. My husbands company is currently doing this also and I'm saddened and anxious as well. We have seen a few of our friends who have been with the company 10 years or more, have to pack up and leave. This makes me angry--Do they really have to do this around the holidays? What's another month or two?
Hang in there and here's wishing you the best.
Posted by: Retro Girl at December 15, 2003 12:48 AMI'm always befuddled by how the "hard-times" thing works in the U.S. I have almost never heard of someone being laid off here in Japan. When times are rough, like at the company I work for now, everyone takes a cut in pay, including the president of the company, and tightens their belts until good times return. Laying people off is considered extremely bad management and bad faith, and is only resorted to in the most extreme circumstances. There is even a guage for how hard the management is trying to work out the problems: if the president doesn't look more tired and worn out than anyone else in the company, then all the workers below have a right to take him or her to task. This seems normal to me... laying people off without trying to figure out alternative ways to retain the workers seems like a blatant disregard for the reason why people work together in the first place.
Posted by: butuki at December 15, 2003 10:15 AMOh I LIKE it!! Sounds like a great way to run a company to me. I can just see telling the Admiral (I worked for the US NAVY) that he didnt look tired enough...hta he needed to get his nice white uniform a little more dirty! LOLOLOL
Posted by: Mary Lou at December 15, 2003 11:59 AMBeen there/Done that.
I so hated others having control of my life, I vowed to take it back and never allow myself to sell my soul again.
At times it's been a struggle. I've never equalled my corporate salary as a free-lancer, but oh do I love my life.
Good luck to you.
Posted by: Dan at December 15, 2003 12:41 PMMary Lou, working shouldn't be such a nightmare is how I see it.
Bill, my thoughts and hopes for good will are with you and your coworkers.
Posted by: Joel at December 16, 2003 02:30 AMYou're right!! Why downsize during the Holidays???? How cruel!! They should do it in the summer when it is warm so if people lose their houses they won't be out in the cold!!
It is scarey thinking about losing your job. Boeing does this all the time. I heard this morning that Boeing won another contract so they will be hiring about 1,000 people!!
