Chrysler to employees: Take two weeks off

Porsche-O-Phile · Porsche-O-Phile's Garage

http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/13/news/companies/Chrysler_shutdown.ap/index.htm?cnn=yes

Wonder if it's unpaid. The article doesn't say. . . Anyone know what the deeper story is here?

Chrysler takes vacation in July

The carmaker is shutting down for two weeks this summer, forcing all employees to take the time off.

March 13, 2008: 1:08 PM EDT

Chrysler employees worldwide are told via email to go on vacation for two weeks in July.

DETROIT (AP) -- Chrysler LLC is telling employees worldwide to take a mandatory two-week vacation in July.

Chrysler informed employees of the plan in an e-mail sent to employees that was obtained by The Associated Press. Chrysler spokeswoman Mary Beth Heilprin confirms the e-mail was sent.

Chrysler plans a corporate-wide shutdown the weeks of July 7 and July 14. Heilprin says some employees may be asked to stay on to work on special projects.

It's common for automakers to shut down plants in July, but this would also affect salaried workers.

Chrysler says the shutdown should help it boost productivity and efficiency. Heilprin didn't have any details about why the decision was made.

URY914 · URY914's Garage

And the locks will be changed when they come back.

Buckterrier · 03-13-2008, 10:11 AM

As the article says, it's not uncommon for the OEM's to shutdown in July. Hell, for 17 years I had a two week vacation every July. Believe it or not most hourly guys relish the break.

Buckterrier · 03-13-2008, 10:11 AM

Oh, it's not paid unless you have vaca time.

lendaddy · 03-13-2008, 10:13 AM

What movie was that where the golf coach told the guy to take two weeks off then quit the game? That would work here.

onewhippedpuppy · 03-13-2008, 10:44 AM

It's pretty common in the aviation industry as well. Depending on business, many of the companies have a summer week vacation, as well as a vacation between Christmas and New Years. With many employees taking vacations during the summer and around Christmas, often times overhead exceeds productivity, at least in certain areas of the company. This way everyone can take a vacation at the same time with limited costs to productivity.

Jims5543 · 03-13-2008, 10:50 AM

I worked for a industrial pump company that did this. Every summer around July 4th and every winter around Christmas the place closed for 1 week, no exceptions.

You planned your vacations accordingly.

71T Targa · 03-13-2008, 10:56 AM

IBM has done this here as well. Shut down between Christmas and the new year. You take vacation, or go unpaid.

stevepaa · 03-13-2008, 11:24 AM

United Tech did that some years ago.

widebody911 · widebody911's Garage

HP does this as well; one week between xmas and new years.

Moses · 03-13-2008, 01:30 PM

I think I'll take two weeks off. You know. A sympathetic gesture.

Years ago my uncle worked for International Harvester. Great company. He would get the mandatory two week vacation every year, sometimes twice a year. He never minded. Sometimes the vacations were announced on short notice. He'd pack up his truck and go fishing in the Sierras. He loved that company. They were good to him.

Porsche-O-Phile · Porsche-O-Phile's Garage

Interesting to know - I guess it makes a certain amount of sense, but OTOH it seems a little weird.

I had a good friend of mine get strung along for quite a while by a former employer (small company, fledgling, etc.) and they gave him the same line about "we need to know if you're willing to be a team player in the short-term" (meaning: go without pay for a while). He did. Company went under a few months later. He never got a dime for the work he invested - for free.

While I'm sure a lot of it is "good intentions", those don't pay the bills. If the company had succeeded and done exceptionally well, maybe he'd have reaped some benefit for being one of the "team players", but I guess we'll never know. It's possible they'd have just said "thanks for the effort, you can start getting paid again" and that's it, or possibly been given back pay for the time spent working for free. Or a bonus. Or nothing. Who knows? There was no contractual obligation or promise made.

As a general rule, as long as I'm a W2 "plain-old grunt" employee, I don't work for free. Ever. I don't care if they think of me as "not a team player" or whatever kind of guilt trip games they try to lie on me. I'm there to make money - both for them and for me. I ain't a charity. If I want to take risk and work for free, I'll start my own company.

If I were a partner, I'd have a different attitude about it, since you then have a legitimate ownership stake in the company and I would feel VERY differently about working for free - at that point, it's an investment and if it pays dividends, I'm sure to see something for my efforts, not just a (potentially) empty promise of it.

Just the way I am I guess - not right or wrong. I wonder about others' opinions of this.

Moses · 03-13-2008, 02:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

Just the way I am I guess - not right or wrong. I wonder about others' opinions of this.

No doubt. Working for free only makes sense if you have a stake in the possible upside. This is different, though. They are talking about mandatory unpaid vacation.

Porsche-O-Phile · Porsche-O-Phile's Garage

Yea, I suppose I might be willing to do that. Shoot at this point I'll take any time I can get away from this place - paid or otherwise. So long as it's not for too long. . .

911Freak · 03-13-2008, 02:45 PM

I wonder if it has anything to do with the massive restructuring of the dealership network (ie they are trimming the low producing dealers) and the elimination of several models....... In my Corp career I've noticed a pattern in which when the major tough decisions are being made, then implemented they don't even want the secretaries around to leak the details...Cerbrus has major cost cutting plans on the horizon for all divisions, and I wonder if this is the time they will start to implement them....They are going to do what they do best..cut with a sharp scalpel, emotionally un-attatched and with ruthless precision..

We'll see!

But I was an employee...I'd start looking for another job asap..no matter my position!

Joeaksa · 03-13-2008, 04:18 PM

Friend of mine works at a GM plant and they have done this in the past. Its not anything major...

lendaddy · 03-13-2008, 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joeaksa

Friend of mine works at a GM plant and they have done this in the past. Its not anything major...

It is rare for management, the lines always go down for two weeks, but they do changeover, maintenance, planning, catch-up, etc.. during that break normally. It is odd to shut the whole beast down.

MBAtarga · 03-13-2008, 05:41 PM

I love this line:

Chrysler says the shutdown should help it boost productivity and efficiency.

Based on that, why don't they send everyone home forever? - their productivity and efficiency would sky rocket!

onewhippedpuppy · 03-14-2008, 08:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

Interesting to know - I guess it makes a certain amount of sense, but OTOH it seems a little weird.

I had a good friend of mine get strung along for quite a while by a former employer (small company, fledgling, etc.) and they gave him the same line about "we need to know if you're willing to be a team player in the short-term" (meaning: go without pay for a while). He did. Company went under a few months later. He never got a dime for the work he invested - for free.

While I'm sure a lot of it is "good intentions", those don't pay the bills. If the company had succeeded and done exceptionally well, maybe he'd have reaped some benefit for being one of the "team players", but I guess we'll never know. It's possible they'd have just said "thanks for the effort, you can start getting paid again" and that's it, or possibly been given back pay for the time spent working for free. Or a bonus. Or nothing. Who knows? There was no contractual obligation or promise made.

As a general rule, as long as I'm a W2 "plain-old grunt" employee, I don't work for free. Ever. I don't care if they think of me as "not a team player" or whatever kind of guilt trip games they try to lie on me. I'm there to make money - both for them and for me. I ain't a charity. If I want to take risk and work for free, I'll start my own company.

If I were a partner, I'd have a different attitude about it, since you then have a legitimate ownership stake in the company and I would feel VERY differently about working for free - at that point, it's an investment and if it pays dividends, I'm sure to see something for my efforts, not just a (potentially) empty promise of it.

Just the way I am I guess - not right or wrong. I wonder about others' opinions of this.

I agree with you Jeff, unless your "commitment" has an eventual upside. An example is an accountant buddy of mine, who pretty easily averages 60 hrs/wk as an auditor. Right now he could jump to another company, get a 50% raise, and work much less. BUT, the way this company works, he's almost guaranteed to get a large promotion within a few years if he keeps up the pace. Once that happens he will make a significant amount more money than he could otherwise, and work much less. Sometimes you have to pay your dues.