Been a while since I updated this...They finally signed the contract and are putting forth a timeline. For me though, since I moved to the new position I am not impacted but everyone around me has their meeting with HR next week.

Awesome.

Transition is supposed to be done by the first week of august. Doing the 'knowledge transfer' to the outsourcer now.

Fan-damn-tastic.


Rumors are going wild - they posted the jobs the outsourcer is going to offer and they are very slim... A lot of folks have no intention of going to the outsourcer at all.

I'm sure that everybody would get the hell out if they could during this "knowledge transfer" thing. Actually that'd be pretty awesome if so many people left there was no knowledge to transfer at all.

It would be awesome in a vengeful kind of way.

There are quite a few people who have quite a lot of time with the company invested. They are looking at sizeable packages up their exit. So most will stay but all indications that I see at this time is that of those folks only a few intend to go on with the outsourcer and nobody sees a future only a stop gap.

The jobs they offered to the population were few compared to the population of folks who are being replaced. It's really kind of saddening to watch, it affects me as well since all of my operational responsibilities are being taken over. I have to go through it too but when the music stops I have a chair. I just don't know what that chair will look like really.

the hits just keep on coming...

So the 'packages' offered to people were tiered.

If you take a job with the outsourcer you get about 25% of what you would get if you were just being laid off.

Well, they have been saying that for MONTHs now and only that. No other real details about how the payout would go. The separation date for folks who are going to the outsourcer is today. Today these folks who have accepted jobs and are getting the 'reduced' package found out that this package is a structured payout of 40% next week and the remaining 60% in December. They had been told previously they would get paid the full amount TODAY but not in writing. If you are offered a job with the outsourcer and don't take it - you get nothing. so a log of guys just pulled their names out of consideration entirely.

Now, all of these guys I have spoken to are pissed beyond belief. Had they known the package payout would be like they none of them would have even considered it. Their entire plan was of course to start looking for a new job while they had the outsourced job in hand.

From my team only 2 guys are left (besides me) - the remainder have found new jobs and went on their way. One of the guys left got an offer last week and he is taking it but because of this whole package dumbness he's loosing his unvested 401k (vests in 2 months!) and the entire package he would have gotten.

He's got a new, good opportunity but he's pissed about leaving all that money on the table. He's wondering if there is any legal recourse he can take.

Believe nothing "they" say, and look out for yourself. I hope for your sake, it isn't Hpeds, their track record is long and hideous (the last part of the acronym I just coined, not HP). Corporate America execs have caused just as much harm as politicians imo, and that's saying a lot. I worked for 3 different 100+ year old Fortune 500 companies (along with IBM), only to see them mismanaged into non-existance as the execs at the top plundered literally tens (sometimes hundreds) of millions during the process...it's brutal, but "is what it is" :(. Good luck Mike!

ps: you co-worker is SOL imo...

I agree - he is SOL as far as all that cash on the table. If I were him, I would at least consult a lawyer. These guys are shafted - the company changed the rules the day before things were supposed to happen and that just isn't fair to these people.

It has really made me not want to work here.

The company pushes 'fairness' and ethics hard but apparently it doesn't apply to them.

Once again i agree with the Reverend Tabs.

My last company was consistently on of the "best 100" to work for over the years, and they always championed "their people" as the reason why. One Division/Dept after another outsourced/sold while the CEO salary doubled from 7 to 15 million last year. It's the new American way and has been for the past two decades :(.

I didn't read this whole thread (Tab's post), but he's clueless when it comes to the field Mike (and I) are/was in. We're talking TOP notch, fairly paid professionals being replaced with "made in China" crap for the most part. This recent "too big to fail" banking fiasco began back in the mid-80s as "big" mediocre (to be kind) banks consumed the small (well run banks) over, and over, and over as execs were bought with golden parachutes. Now the Walmarts (of banks and other industries) are the ones left standing. It's got little to do with Tabby's post...but simply greed at the top imo.

Sucks.

We are on that list as well - regardless of what I put in the survey I have filled out the last few years...

Of course that is the reason but that doesn't make it right or fair for them to change the rules at the last second to accommodate their needs (which they neglected to begin with).

I think this is a last ditch effort to retain folks because the the out sourcing company is not picking up things at nearly the pace that they were expected to. Not even close.

"They" never have and never do, regardless of the outsource provider. It's a VERY sad joke that clueless management teams buy into and despite the way they spin, it NEVER turns out good imo. As a porsche analagy, it's like taking a Supertec/Steve Weiner/John Walker built motor and replacing it with Motor Meister "special" :(. Good luck Mike...I feel for ya buddy.

Why do you think I'm working so hard on that other thing?

To be honest, I chose to stay at the beginning of the year. I had a mostly comparable offer at a good place but I would have left quite a bit of money on the table. I made arrangements to stay but I had the power to do that and a lot of these other folks simply don't.

Still, at this point - I have very little power and influence left in the company.

I was flattered today by being approached by another company about participating in an interview next week. It has a lot of potential and the only thing keeping me where I am is some chump change and the time to study for that test I've been working on.

I have 8 headcounts open in your field right now....I can't get projects completed because of resource limitations. WTF is wrong with this world?

Trust me, they either planned this from the beginning or are flying by the seat of their pants and making it up as they go.

We had lay offs coming at a former employer. While the company denied it daily everyone knew it was coming. Not knowing how deep they'd cut my group or what the criteria was going to be I made a list and told them start from the bottom.

So eventually it came down and they give us a list of who we get to keep, obviously my preemptive advice had been ignored.

The keepers were to be taken to one room and the others to the cafeteria.

It was pretty obvious which was the good room and which was the bad room.

HR comes to me asking "where are a, b and c?"

I said they are in the good room, they were on the stay list, here look.

"That's a mistake, they're also on the go list, you need to go get them and bring them in here."

I said, Bull****, they have been sitting at their desks for weeks stressed to no end and they now think their jobs are safe and you want me to go tell them April Fools? You guys screwed up, not me. You want them in here you go get them.

"uhm, ok, we'll deal with them another time"

Which they never did.

Mike, I hadn't been on Pelican for quite some time till a few days ago when I responded to that other thread, so I didn't know you were going through this bs (I still haven't read this thread), but I can relate. Don't get discouraged..."other thing" or not, doors WILL open for you. Trust me, I've seen it a LOT over the years, and though it sucks going through it, invariably, to a person, they always seem to land on their feet in a better place/position when all is said and done. Only you can judge the opportunities that come your way. Just an FYI, two of the positions I accepted weren't even posted job openings...previous co-workers had "moved on" and "sold" me directly to the hiring manager. HR avoidance :). Good luck!!!

This. One position I had was with a top tier bank. We were buying other banks left and right (called mergers). We bought a large regional based in Atlanta, and that bank kept hiring folks right up to the very end...relocating people (families) to Atlanta even the final week, and then on a Monday announced to their people that THEY had bought us. Very few had jobs within a few months and had to relocate to NC if they chose to remain. Yeah, it's ruthless :(...

In my last position, I had to watch as half the workforce (4000 company wide - all the same day) was taken one-by-one to their manager's office and then escorted to the door. Many were literally "irreplacable" and it made NO sense at all. They all landed OK in the end, but this was a few years ago.

This process has been going on for 18 months - I think that they are just surprised about how many folks were able to find better jobs in this economy.

I'm never seen or heard of an outsourcing project go worse than this one is going.