LAYOFFS!

Relic · #1 11-13-2008, 10:09 AM

Started work this morning by scanning through my inbox to see what emails had come in overnight.
Lo and behold, there's this nice one in there by our CEO announcing lay-offs today. The dreaded L-word that's becoming more and more common everywhere as of late.
I've been sweating it out now for 3 hours, I'm still here. 5 more hours to go... this sucks.

Anyone else here working with layoffs looming on the horizon?

bwv1013 · #2 11-13-2008, 10:11 AM

sorry to hear that man. hang tough, we're all pulling for you.

blueskid · #3 11-13-2008, 10:21 AM

my place as well
we were told yesterday that our entire office was on the block, except for the study coordinator, who is expected to go half time.
we have a couple of months to hope that a study gets sent to our site and we can stay open...so much for vaccine research with the university as being a safe place to work.
not that i can really complain, i was leaving in jan to go to school full time anyway. i just feel for the other two in the office, and the one left behind to do a 3 person job on half time

TheoFly · #4 11-13-2008, 11:20 AM

Damn - that sucks man. I know what you are going through. It happened to me several times over the years.

My last job was outsourced back in June so I have been looking for a job ever since. Fortunatly I got a bit of a severance package so it could be much worse. At least there is lots of time for bass playing now ....

Hope you aren't selected to hit the road. Problem is - even if you stay your work load will likely increase, but not your pay.

NJL · #5 11-13-2008, 11:24 AM

what a drag!!

MJ5150 · #6 11-13-2008, 11:25 AM

Check this out....I show up at the office last Monday morning early. I say hello to my boss, and then go get a cup of coffee. I came back to my office, and noticed my boss wasn't at his desk, but all his stuff was. He was even still logged in to his PC.

In the three minutes I was gone, my boss was laid off and escorted out of the building. Our big boss came by his office to tell him, and then told him he could go home. Everything stayed in his office until the weekend when he came and got it. It was really eerie to walk by his office all week and see his stuff on the desk and such. This was the guy who interviewed and hired me. Is that crazy or what?

My wife works as a PM for the same company I do. Her boss was also laid off on the same day. We are owned by a huge company. Our division was profitable the last two quarters, but not enough to offset the losses in other divisions. We lost three people because of it.

-Mike

rayzak · #7 11-13-2008, 11:29 AM

Man, I'm very sorry to hear that.
I've been going through a series of temporary layoffs for most of the last 8 months. I'm actually off right now until Dec. 8th.
Temporarily it's not so bad. Collect umemployment and sub-pay and get a lot more bass time. But if things don't look up soon, this temporary layoff will become permanent. That's a scary thought.

Relic · #8 11-13-2008, 11:38 AM

Update - well, looks like I survived this round. Earlier, our union announced that they would post the list internally once all terminated employees have been notified. They just posted it. There are a LOT of names on it including many I know.
I haven't been notified and I'm not on the list so...
This is like the 4th time in 8 years that I've been through this crap.
Beer tonite. Lots.
Any suggestions on a good "I miraculously survived yet another round of layoffs" brew?

BTW - thanks guys

MJ5150 · #9 11-13-2008, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Relic

Any suggestions on a good "I miraculously survived yet another round of layoffs" brew?

Something cheap. You best be saving up some money in case you get clipped in the next round.

-Mike

Joe Gress · #10 11-13-2008, 12:02 PM

Tom Smykowski: Well-well look. I already told you: I deal with the *** **** customers so the engineers don't have to. I have people skills; I am good at dealing with people. Can't you understand that? What the hell is wrong with you people?

Just kidding, glad you made it.

DudeistMonk · #11 11-13-2008, 12:04 PM

Quote:

Any suggestions on a good "I miraculously survived yet another round of layoffs" brew?

Yuengling...its moderately priced which is important...and its tasty 2.

Although scotch is my "Man do I need a drink today" drink...beer is more like "I could go for a beer"

Bassman7PM · #12 11-13-2008, 12:08 PM

I managed to survive 2 rounds of "rightsizng" and 1 round of "synergizing".. don't you just love the Political Correctness. Well, my boss came in the office totally expected (she works in another city and rarely if ever comes to downtown Chicago) and we were asked to come to the conference room individually. Long story short, I have less than 60 days to either find another job within the company due to my job being labeled as "Surplus" or I'm out the door. Looking at our internal website there are NO jobs listed. Gotta Love It!

DudeistMonk · #13 11-13-2008, 12:11 PM

Quote:

I managed to survive 2 rounds of "rightsizng" and 1 round of "synergizing".. don't you just love the Political Correctness. Well, my boss came in the office totally expected (she works in another city and rarely if ever comes to downtown Chicago) and we were asked to come to the conference room individually. Long story short, I have less than 60 days to either find another job within the company due to my job being labeled as "Surplus" or I'm out the door. Looking at our internal website there are NO jobs listed. Gotta Love It!

That sucks man...

You think corporate job = security and stability....nope just the illusion of...I'm starting to think I should have just been a scuba instructor or a garbage man or a pro-musician.

After I started here they canned my two direct bosses...they called it "being impacted"

stratovani · #14 11-13-2008, 02:13 PM

I work building and repairing endoscopes for the veterinary industry. Right now there's absolutely no work for me to do so they're having me work in the machine shop doing simple menial jobs, which I understand since I'm not a trained machinist. But I fully expect to be layed off sometimes in the near future. I pray it won't be until sometime in the new year, getting layed off just before the holidays sucks the worse of all.

Recessions - you gotta love 'em!

bmc · #15 11-13-2008, 02:31 PM

Sick feeling isn't it? Been there and are there now. 30% cut in staff rolling out in 2009.

Wish I was there buy a cold one for ya Matt.

MakiSupaStar · #16 11-13-2008, 03:28 PM

yeah. I've been there. Part of the reason why I went into teaching. Now that I have tenure, my job is pretty secure [knock on wood].

jive1 · #17 11-13-2008, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MakiSupaStar

yeah. I've been there. Part of the reason why I went into teaching. Now that I have tenure, my job is pretty secure [knock on wood].

Until we see you surrounded by TV cameras using your jacket to conceal your face.

flakeh · #18 11-13-2008, 03:43 PM

My entire city's employment base is in the automotive field. about 3000 workers have been layed off so far, and another couple thousand more by the end of next year.

My town has 33k people in it, Its becoming a **** hole.

eedre · #19 11-13-2008, 03:52 PM

In everyone's experience, what kind of work ethic did the people who are being laid off have? Do companies randomly select everyone?

Where I work- it seems to be pretty fair. People who have been laid off were consistently turning in par or sub-par work or have been here a short while.

Relic · #20 11-13-2008, 03:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eedre

In everyone's experience, what kind of work ethic did the people who are being laid off have? Do companies randomly select everyone?

Where I work- it seems to be pretty fair. People who have been laid off were consistently turning in par or sub-par work or have been here a short while.

We're unionized so by and large it's by seniority. It would really be better for the company to cut the "dead weight" and slaggers but, it is how it is..