Layoffs at the end of the year

[cantdrv55]

Companies tell employees how they value them all year but at year's end, they layoff a few, if not more. It's just a lot of lip service to squeeze out more production from their people knowing full well they're going to be handing out pink slips later. Corporate only cares about the bottom line no matter how much they say they care about their people. Effing sucks.

My SIL just got laid off. She worked some really long hours as a middle manager. She travelled to several times zones many times a year. I guess she should be happy to have been well compensated while it lasted. She said it just sucked that she fell for the BS about how much they valued her contribution throughout the year and so she was completely blindsided. The holidays are going to have a different meaning for her from here on out.

[sc_rufctr]

I got laid off back in February. The best advice I can give your sister in law is not to dwell on it and get out there ASAP.

Basically I was laid off to make room for a manager who was friends of a senior manager.
(Long story but these two managers live together and they also go on holidays together. )

Thing is a local customer account has gone South in a big way because this incompetent idiot that replaced me.
He pushed back on the customer and wouldn't budge. He just worked to the contract and he kept muttering about transparency.
(The IT community in my state is small and I was told about it from the customers point of view)

The customer expected more for their money & they didn't get it. They're now going through a dispute process and it's looking ugly.

Honestly I'm glad I got out when I did.

[slow&rusty]

Originally Posted by cantdrv55

Companies tell employees how they value them all year but at year's end, they layoff a few, if not more. It's just a lot of lip service to squeeze out more production from their people knowing full well they're going to be handing out pink slips later. Corporate only cares about the bottom line no matter how much they say they care about their people. Effing sucks.

My SIL just got laid off. She worked some really long hours as a middle manager. She travelled to several times zones many times a year. I guess she should be happy to have been well compensated while it lasted. She said it just sucked that she fell for the BS about how much they valued her contribution throughout the year and so she was completely blindsided. The holidays are going to have a different meaning for her from here on out.

Very true, the corporate environment is a tough one and you have to be prepared to not financially overextend yourself just in case you find yourself in this situation. Hard work and dedication doesn't guarantee anything anymore.

[KFC911]

I did the corporate rodeo gig for a few...it wasn't pretty almost every Dec for a LOT of folks along the way. The stories I could tell .

Handing out "pink slips" at the annual Christmas party....'cause everyone would be there....

Ho, ho, ho....

Buncha ho's

.....it'll work out though!

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by slow&rusty

Very true, the corporate environment is a tough one and you have to be prepared to not financially overextend yourself just in case you find yourself in this situation. Hard work and dedication doesn't guarantee anything anymore.

^^^^ This....same as it's been for the past few decades however....jmho.

[tabs]

You owe a corporation nothing..you do your job they pay you.

If a cprporation will give half a days pay to the employees to go to my funeral and lower the corporate flag to half mast is the day i give any corporation any loyalty.

You essentially are working to further your own self by working for a corporation and not their's. You had better keep these ^^ realities straight in your head or get run over..

[Adrian Thompson]

First off sorry for your sister. I managed to go 29 years in the work place before I finally got downsized at the end of March. It took me 3 1/2 month to find a new gig. Honestly as many people will tell you, it's the best thing that's happened too me. I'm in a job with better benefits and better money and I'm much happier. After so many years working I gave myself two weeks off to decompress then got down to searching hard. I treated searching for a job as a job in itself and went at it hard. I was also amazed at how useful LinkedIn was in reaching out to old contacts and amazed and the feedback I got. I've heard that 85% of professional jobs come through your network rather than job postings and eventually that was true for me as well. Good luck to her and anyone else in this situation.

While getting laid off before the holidays may seem suckey, in some ways I think it's better than doing it in January after the average family has over spent at Christmas. Hopefully while the holidays will be tough, they can avoid a lot of the typical expenses and not be saddled with extra debt.

[Tobra]

My sister has been with Hewlitt Packard for 19 years and they just did a big layoff right before Thanksgiving. Happy Hollidays from HP

[sc_rufctr]

Hewlitt Packard is just about done and most of the large IT providers are in trouble.
They're borrowing money to stay afloat but big changes are on the horizon. (Including the India based ones)
The bigger ones are already at three times the dept to income ratio. Low interest loans and fiddling the books makes this normal.
We're talking many billions in debt. They better hope the economy doesn't tank anytime soon.

CSC merged with HPE to form DXC... 2 years after the merger DXC just recently announced that they will spin off 3 of their 5 businesses.
What that essentially means is that the merger failed. FYI: About 80% or large scale mergers fail.

https://www.channele2e.com/news/dxc-seeks-to-sell-three-businesses/

They ****ered themselves when the large scale IT service providers started to off shore work.
Anybody with half a brain knew what would happen but the executives pushed it anyway.
It seems the long term interest of a company isn't their number one priority.

What does this mean for the people that work for them?
Virtually no job security and poor workplace moral & it's only going to get worse.

Disruption isn't always a bad thing. If you're talented and have a good reputation you should land on your feet.

[KFC911]

^^^ or ya do a monkey roll

IBM, two mega-banks, then RJR/Nabisco as it was broken up....I had had enough .

I retired rather than transfer to HP (same salary/benefits ) back as HPE was just forming....best thing I ever did .

Greed is Good .....naw...but it sure is for just for a few....jmho.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Sadly the days of loyalty to your company being reciprocated are largely done, at least at the large corporate level. Textron is a local aerospace company, they had a large event over the summer to hire interns and new grads, then offered early retirement to a number of more experienced employees, and then just had a large layoff last week. Nice way to reward guys with 20+ years of company loyalty.

[SCadaddle]

A few years ago when the economy around here got really tight, the local and largest Engineering and Surveying Firm held their annual Christmas party on a Friday afternoon before Christmas. Gave the field hands the first half of the day off with pay IF they would show up for the party that afternoon. Of course they all did because they needed to pick up their payroll checks.

Unfortunately, a significant portion of the field hands started partying a little too early and at the Christmas party everyone that was an employee had to submit to a "random drug test". Needless to say, they downsized considerably. It was epic!

[widebody911]

Originally Posted by Tobra

My sister has been with Hewlitt Packard for 19 years and they just did a big layoff right before Thanksgiving. Happy Hollidays from HP

I had been at HP almost 18 years when I got the axe a couple of years ago. We were given 6 months to find another position within the company. I managed to land another job with about a month and half before the end date, so I went on "vacation" and started the new job, ran out the clock, and collected my severance. It was awesome getting 2 paychecks for a while.

[Scott Douglas]

Shades of '92 when I got l let go. Out of work for 18 months. Tough times but we made it.

[Rusty Heap]

I once got laid off 2 days before christmas.


Call me old school as far as being a "part of the Boeing Family"


I did my 25 years, wife has 33 years.


Boeing used to be a Family. You said you worked there with PRIDE.


sigh. Follow the Money, and large corporations are simply about increasing $$$ in quarterly returns.

Originally Posted by Rusty Heap

I once got laid off 2 days before christmas.


Call me old school as far as being a "part of the Boeing Family"


I did my 25 years, wife has 33 years.


Boeing used to be a Family. You said you worked there with PRIDE.


sigh. Follow the Money, and large corporations are simply about increasing $$$ in quarterly returns.

Exactly. Boeing was poisoned by the McDonnell Douglas culture of short term stock price thinking after the merger, and lost its key discriminator: engineering and production excellence.

I was there for 12 years and went through three layoff cycles. Managed to avoid it myself, but was forced to give out a fair number of WARN notices righty before the holidays.

Sorry, I was going to delete Mad's double post and I hit the wrong button and deleted the one in between and I can't get it back. To the poster, please add back your thoughts.

Again, my apologies. —Zeke

[rfuerst911sc]

Large corporate America is a crazy ride ! My wife and I started our careers with GE in their defense business . GE decided to get out of DOD business so we were sold to Martin Marietta man they were 30 years behind GE Didn't stay MM that long then along comes Lockheed and a mega merger of cultures ......... what a friggen mess ! Saw lots of good co-workers get hacked while lazy a$$ kissing SOB's were kept . Somehow my wife lasted 30 years and I made it 26 before retiring , they paid well but what a pressure cooker then add in a healthy dose of incompetence and it's amazing I still have a liver

My dad worked for IBM for many years before retiring , I still remember IBM's slogan of " we never layoff " ............ my my how times have changed .

[stealthn]

Sorry to hear.

Luckily I learned early on that no one was irreplaceable, go laid off in the 80's due to O&G down turn, then when the company I was at was bought I decided to start my own company, going on 24 years this year!


The latest (sad) trend I have seen is companies laying off veteran older workers replacing them with much younger ones. Not sure if it's due to age/thinking or money, probably both...

[Skytrooper]

Waiting for my turn. My company is being parceled off to other companies within the corporate umbrella. Hopefully I can last until next December when my army pension kicks in. That might be a stretch though as they are planning on giving the landlord the keys in March 2021. Time will tell...