UNEMPLOYED!!!!

[Ritchie_Darling]

So, our business has been sold. NOT ARTISAN BASS WORKS!!

My regular job was at a funeral home. And today they let 6 of us go with zero notice.

ARSE!!

 

[Selta]

Is this Artisan Bass Works? Sucks that they did that. Hopefully they at least gave you some sort of severence deal. Good luck job hunting!

 

[Fat Freddy]

Guessing that ANSIR technology didn't catch on as hoped?.....

Good luck with your job hunt....

 

[catcauphonic]

Suuuxxx! Sorry to hear, i hate when that happens

 

[blastoff99]

Dang, I am so sorry. Here's hoping you get something even better soon!

 

[two fingers]

There's really no good answer.

Scenario 1
The owners come to all of the employees and says "Gang, we're looking for a buyer for our company. We will be selling the business as soon as we find one." You guys all freak out and start looking for other jobs looking out for yourselves. Screw the owners.

Scenario 2
Exactly what happened. They kept the whole deal a secret. When the sale went through you guys freaked out since you were let go. Screw the old owners for looking out for themselves.

There's no "everybody wins" scenario.

 

[Alkali Ike]

I think if the company has 50+ employees they have to give 60 day notice or something like that. In the US anyway.

Good luck.

 

[Ritchie_Darling]

Is this Artisan Bass Works? Sucks that they did that. Hopefully they at least gave you some sort of severence deal. Good luck job hunting!

NO NO NO!!!!!

NOT ABW!!!

The funeral home where I had my "real" job.....

 

[Ritchie_Darling]

Guessing that ANSIR technology didn't catch on as hoped?.....

Good luck with your job hunt....

Not them.... The funeral home where I worked...

 

[MJ5150]

Scenario 3:
Current owner approaches staff and let's them know he has found a buyer for his company. The buyer intends to keep all staff on board through the transition, but the future beyond then is unclear as those questions can't be answered now with any certainty or accuracy. Any employees who want to leave now, sure can with ABC amount for severance. If you agree to stay on through the transition, you will receive XYZ if your position is terminated.

-Mike

 

[two fingers]

Scenario 3:
Current owner approaches staff and let's them know he has found a buyer for his company. The buyer intends to keep all staff on board through the transition, but the future beyond then is unclear as those questions can't be answered now with any certainty or accuracy. Any employees who want to leave now, sure can with ABC amount for severance. If you agree to stay on through the transition, you will receive XYZ if your position is terminated.

-Mike

So, you're going to be able to sell a company after everybody jumps ship and you're short-handed?

If the sale was forced due to money troubles you have extra money laying around for all the "ABC" and "XYZ" payments?

You would turn down a potential buyer who doesn't agree to the terms of paying severance?

You are assuming a lot of facts not in evidence.

 

[Stumbo]

Scenario 3:
Current owner approaches staff and let's them know he has found a buyer for his company. The buyer intends to keep all staff on board through the transition, but the future beyond then is unclear as those questions can't be answered now with any certainty or accuracy. Any employees who want to leave now, sure can with ABC amount for severance. If you agree to stay on through the transition, you will receive XYZ if your position is terminated.

-Mike

4) For each employee terminated now, here is X severance pay.

 

[Fat Freddy]

Not them.... The funeral home where I worked...

Guessing that ANSIR technology didn't catch on at the funeral home either then........

Still wishing you much luck in your future employment search.....

 

[MJ5150]

So, you're going to be able to sell a company after everybody jumps ship and you're short-handed?

If the sale was forced due to money troubles you have extra money laying around for all the "ABC" and "XYZ" payments?

You would turn down a potential buyer who doesn't agree to the terms of paying severance?

You are assuming a lot of facts not in evidence.

I make no assumptions. I lived through that twice. When Mellon Bank sold out to Bank of New York (2008-ish) and when the IT company I worked for was sold to a larger MSP (2015).
Mellon told us after the deal was done, so not quite exactly telling us first. But, the exact scenario I described did happen. I opted for the short term and took another job right away.
The IT company owner told us he was thinking about it. He made the deal, the new company started blowing people out 4-5 months after the deal closed.

It just happened to me a third time this past November, but that owner offered no one any severance packages. He just assured us no one would lose their jobs.
He laid the deal out for our team (23 employees not including him), minus the $$$ details, and asked us all how we felt. Two people quit within the month. Everyone else is still here.

It's been my experience in these situations that the buyer has the technology/skills/staff/resources to run the company they bought, so it wasn't completely necessary that every single legacy employee stick around to keep the company they just bought from going under.

-Mike

 

[hbarcat]

There's really no good answer.

Scenario 1
The owners come to all of the employees and says "Gang, we're looking for a buyer for our company. We will be selling the business as soon as we find one." You guys all freak out and start looking for other jobs looking out for yourselves. Screw the owners.

Scenario 2
Exactly what happened. They kept the whole deal a secret. When the sale went through you guys freaked out since you were let go. Screw the old owners for looking out for themselves.

There's no "everybody wins" scenario.

Scenario 1 happened at the small manufacturing company I worked for about 15 years ago. The owners called a meeting with all 15 employees and announced that they had committed buyers who would relocate the company to another state and we all had 60 days before the current operation was transitioned from production and delivery of current commitments into full closure.

Of course everyone started looking for other work and we were down to 7 employees before the deal fell through for some reason. We struggled to get the business back into normal production and it took us at least a year to become profitable again. It was a rough time, especially for the owners, who would sometimes go months without getting paid, themselves.

 

[two fingers]

I make no assumptions. I lived through that twice. When Mellon Bank sold out to Bank of New York (2008-ish) and when the IT company I worked for was sold to a larger MSP (2015).
Mellon told us after the deal was done, so not quite exactly telling us first. But, the exact scenario I described did happen. I opted for the short term and took another job right away.
The IT company owner told us he was thinking about it. He made the deal, the new company started blowing people out 4-5 months after the deal closed.

It just happened to me a third time this past November, but that owner offered no one any severance packages. He just assured us no one would lose their jobs.
He laid the deal out for our team (23 employees not including him), minus the $$$ details, and asked us all how we felt. Two people quit within the month. Everyone else is still here.

It's been my experience in these situations that the buyer has the technology/skills/staff/resources to run the company they bought, so it wasn't completely necessary that every single legacy employee stick around to keep the company they just bought from going under.

-Mike

Understood and appreciated. But still, we don't know anything about the company in the OP's scenario. Mom-n-pop or part of a huge chain? What about the mortuary market in the area? Big town or small town?

Banks and IT companies are probably many tiers above (financially speaking) what we're talking about here. I don't know for sure either. Bit you make it seem so cut and dry that any sale of any business by any owners to any buyers can be done in a way that markedly softens the blow to employees. That simply isn't always so.

I have experienced selling a small business and been an employee when a slightly larger business was sold as well (back when I sold musical gear.....you may remember Brook-Mays Music).

Luckily, I sold to an employee who kept everyone on. But if he hadn't bought when he did I would have sold to whomever could pay my price because at the time I couldn't afford to hold out for a deal where my employees were guaranteed anything.

We don't need to argue all night about it. Short version is neither of us has enough information to know if the former or present owners are jerks. The place could have been hemorrhaging money for all we know.

 

[MJ5150]

Understood and appreciated. But still, we don't know anything about the company in the OP's scenario. Mom-n-pop or part of a huge chain? What about the mortuary market in the area? Big town or small town?

Banks and IT companies are probably many tiers above (financially speaking) what we're talking about here. I don't know for sure either. Bit you make it seem so cut and dry that any sale of any business by any owners to any buyers can be done in a way that markedly softens the blow to employees. That simply isn't always so.

I have experienced selling a small business and been an employee when a slightly larger business was sold as well (back when I sold musical gear.....you may remember Brook-Mays Music).

Luckily, I sold to an employee who kept everyone on. But if he hadn't bought when he did I would have sold to whomever could pay my price because at the time I couldn't afford to hold out for a deal where my employees were guaranteed anything.

We don't need to argue all night about it. Short version is neither of us has enough information to know if the former or present owners are jerks. The place could have been hemorrhaging money for all we know.

I'm with you bro.
I was just throwing out scenario #3 to compliment your two, not because I thought it applied for this situation, but just because it could be an option.

My apologies if my post appeared argumentative.

For what it's worth, the funeral home business is big money and there's a few big players that control most of the country.

-Mike

 

[-Asdfgh-]

I make no assumptions. I lived through that twice. When Mellon Bank sold out to Bank of New York (2008-ish) and when the IT company I worked for was sold to a larger MSP (2015).
Mellon told us after the deal was done, so not quite exactly telling us first. But, the exact scenario I described did happen. I opted for the short term and took another job right away.
The IT company owner told us he was thinking about it. He made the deal, the new company started blowing people out 4-5 months after the deal closed.

It just happened to me a third time this past November, but that owner offered no one any severance packages. He just assured us no one would lose their jobs.
He laid the deal out for our team (23 employees not including him), minus the $$$ details, and asked us all how we felt. Two people quit within the month. Everyone else is still here.

It's been my experience in these situations that the buyer has the technology/skills/staff/resources to run the company they bought, so it wasn't completely necessary that every single legacy employee stick around to keep the company they just bought from going under.

-Mike

In the UK you always get some severance, although the notice period was reduced from 90 days to 30. Where I work my notice period if I want to quit is 90 days.

 

[Munjibunga]

When companies are acquired, the new management often will have already identified all the people they consider not useful to them, then fire them immediately. That way they can reassure the remaining people that their jobs are not on the line (at least in the immediate future). Sorry to hear about your misfortune.

 

[murphy]

What a terrible position to put you in
My deepest sympathy