Back when I was in r&d at the Research Triangle (IBM) fresh out of college, GSK had a huge presence at RTP....either of you ever involved with that? Just about every single employer at RTP was a dream gig....back then.

My how times change :(

Greed is fine, it just has to be motivated with the right incentives.

For example, most publicly traded companies focus obsessively on next quarter's numbers. Their current actions are looking ahead a full year at most, and "strategic plans" rarely go past a couple of years. The culture in publicly traded companies is one of short-term results at all costs and the fallout in a couple of years is the next CEO's problem. The sad thing is it didn't used to be this way, but the rise of hedge funds and mutual funds (with their large ownership stakes) and LBO's created such a culture. Once upon a time, a publicly traded company could have a bad year or two and actually spend the time to enact a sustainable, long-term turnaround. The CEO's head also wasn't on the chopping block when a quarter didn't meet "expectations".

I lived it Chris...you are not wrong :)

BS it only gushes up seldom trickles or even drips down

I agree. I lived it too. It was a three month panic cycle of trying to make earnings so the stock didn't tank. Most our income was from shares vesting ratably. :confused:

Related story...The company we took public specialized in the prognosis of many types of cancer, as well as a tumor registry and cryo-banking. We were super top heavy in institutional investors (hedge funds, pension funds, mutual funds). One morning a University released a paper on a successful therapy targeting angiogenesis in tumors, possible a future cure for cancer. The institutional investors DEMANDED we hold an investor relations meeting. All these arrogant rich Fu@Ks sat around a conference table demanding a strategy for handling this crisis. I stood up and said..."I can think of a lot worse things than your investment crashing because they found a cure for cancer!", and I walked out. I was never allowed to speak to investors after that.

Flatbutt, SKB was an awesome company. My favorite job of all. During the change, the diagnostic division was spun off. All downhill from there.

This^^^^ "Trickle down economics", a Ronald Reagan mind trick.

Only for meetings and conferences. After leaving the bench I did a lot of consulting at our global sites. First for lab robotics, then lab control systems. After that I got into Regulatory Affairs and Compliance. So a lot of travel.

SKB/GSK must have had 6 buildings full of people. When I retired we were down to 3 (IIRC).

Our company got bought a couple of times and is now in the hands of a private equity firm. Five years ago we had a lavish Christmas party, people enjoyed working there, and now we are left with Luby's style cafeteria holiday lunch buffet that we should be thankful for. Attrition has been high, new hires lacking, and raises or bonuses hard to come by even though the company is growing.

So thoughts of an early retirement have been swirling about my mind but I don't want to leave my friends and co-workers in a bind if I were to give two weeks notice. I need to come up with a plan that makes the company realize what I should be worth to them and if they don't care, negotiate a way out that doesn't put clients and co-workers in a bad place. This probably be a separate post.

A golden shower! Wheeeee!

and it continues... Things are just barely humming along but a whole bunch of good people have now moved on. I'm one of the last "originals" left nationally.

There seem to be more sycophants around trying to gain brownie points from the few mid level mangers that are left.
Announcing their successes via an email? I've never been able to respect people like that.

My plan is to stick around and do the best I can. I still have what I would call a good job & there's a part of me that's curious as to how bad things can get. It has certainly been interesting so far.

So here's a question. What can you do if you think the company you work for is making unethical decisions?
As far as I can tell they haven't broken any laws but they've certainly done some awful things to people that worked for them for a long time.

Our Outsourcing company has been inplace for a year now, and they have $%$%$ up so much it's not funny... They've genuinely cost us more $ fixing their mistakes than they have saved, by a a wide margin... management is still standing behind their decision ( and bonus) but it's out in the open now, and sooner or later we'll walk it back, it almost always happens....

... and that's it. I was made redundant today. SmileWavy

A nice payout after nearly 19 years of service $$$... So the plan is to take some time off and maybe travel to Denver to catch up with my BIL and sister.

Onwards and upwards!

The megacorp I work with has lost one of it's main clients, and due to production issues, may lose another 25% client. We have enough to keep us all working for a few years, but unless a rabbit can be pulled out of the hat, so to speak, they may start the downsizing process....just uin time for a nice early retirement with a 25 year pension (6 years until I can pull from 401K which is fully funded by it's top 50, fortune 500 parent company.)

It's been over ten years now for me....no regrets whatsoever. Enjoy the rest of the journey Peter!

If you have a decent 401k/IRA....make sure you are aware of 72(t) distribution rules...to avoid IRS penalties. Been a lot of bad info from corporate/financial types forever regarding these....don't know if it's changed.

Congrats and my condolences?!?

Glad you got a good payout and you don't seem too upset. At least you seemed to have seen it coming. Good luck with whatever you decide to do next.

All too common these days and I suspect that it will continue, especially with family owned businesses with no succession plans as the kids have no interest in the business.
Went through this as well. Transdigm Group bought us. "No immediate or big changes", blah, blah.... Staff reductions almost immediately, over 50 offered buyouts, more staff reductions and drastically increased work loads. I was designated as a "franchise player" and kept because of 25 years of experience with the company. I endured 4 years of greatly increased hours, incredible stress and constant concern about what I could not get done. Came back from a ski trip and pulled the plug 3 days later. I remember, with glee, the long faces on the mahogany row players that day:)
Been retired almost 7 years and am loving every minute of it. My division has struggled with high turnover, hires from outside the aero industry who come cheap and a serious decline in quality and delivery.
BTW, the CEO of Transdigm was paid $61 mil last year and over $250 mil over the last 5 years.

Peter, enjoy the break and make it permanent if you can. You will not regret it.

Threads like this make me glad I never got on the large corporate hamster wheel. From the outside looking in I have seen several large companies get larger through mergers. And often the few contacts we had at the company get replaced, and we lose a client because the new person has no idea how to contact us for that service. And on many occasions, the few really smart guys that were doing the work get replaced by the bosses favorite ass kisser. One one occasion, the three guys that knew the job the best at one company all were fired. They formed their own company and went on to find new clients, and often the old clients went with them, because they knew the three guys were the brains of the former company. One of our good customers is a company that formed from the smart ones fired at a mega company.

Just remember guys, you work to live, not live to work. Those corps seem to really like to push people .
You only get one life, make sure to live it a little bit, and not sell your soul for a $. ( as I embark on my 3rd 12 hour day in a row ) .
Wifey just went through this. Big corp purchased her little company . Worked her like a dog throughout the merger. It took a little over a year . 2 days after she got them through the last hurdle, she got her walking papers.
They paid her well, but really used her up .
Im glad to be in my dirty cold garage today, totally in control of my own destiny.

I've been through several mergers and buy-outs in my career, all of them went fine with no real drama or negative consequences. In the end I would say they were mostly positive.

But obviously I am the exception to that rule.

Or maybe everyone else is just following the GENERAL ELECTRIC business model. That never ever ends well.
Did you know that GE was the very first corporation to screw up a wet dream?

First, Congrats Peter. From your tone, it sounds like you got a decent severance package. Take a deep breath now and take that trip to Denver...take the long way. SmileWavy

Fastfred, you got it right. The corporate hamster wheel is pure hell.