They laid off 23 people at the place where I work today

[undeterred]

Each person who was being laid off got a phone call telling them to come to Human Resources. From there they were asked to leave and told that their personal items would be shipped. This happened in the middle of a work day to people in several different departments. Kind of like the rapture but they went home to their families. Rumors are that HR didn't get through the whole list of people that were going to be laid off.

At the end of the day the company sent out an announcement that there would be free fresh fruit tomorrow. Gee whiz, that ought to cheer everyone up.

(I'm a contractor who they are supposedly going to hire, so I have no idea if this affects me- probably not.)

[Viva_La_Revolution]

1. Wow. that sucks.

How many people do you think work there?

[undeterred]

3. About 348-23

Its a manufacturer of large engines. I do computer support and I had 348 end users.

A few higher ups have turned in resignations lately and found new jobs, so they must have known it was coming. I think the company is being sold, but no one knows to whom or what that means.

[Nicole]

2. Did they give a reason?

Are they hiring contractors at a reduced pay scale?

Enjoy your fruit!

[undeterred]

5. No reason, we just know from the rumors

that we might be sold. Nobody was getting any work done today, in fact I think the whole week is shot. I was in the middle of a computer issue with one user and now he's gone. Nobody has the slightest idea who is taking over the work for any of these people, so its going to be a little chaotic for a while, I imagine.

[Nicole]

8. That sucks

I hope you can keep your job. I would be looking into Plan B though.

[NJCher]

29. independent contractors

Usually get paid more because there are no health benefits.




Cher

[blues90]

36. I was fired the same way

With their at will clause you can be fired and have no recourse at all . This happened to me after working 12 years for the same company . At the end of the day I was called to HR and thought nothing of it since I was manager and I was always being called to HR for some issue about other employees . I must say it was quite a shock since i had not one bad mark or even a file to put one it . I found out real quick that at will covers their ass unless you are none white or female then they play it safe and keep records and hand out warnings just in case of sexual or racial backfires .
I even went online to a lawyer site asking if this was proper and all i got was there is nothing you can do at all . I was banned from the lawyer site because i said the lawyers were on the employers side and it was obvious they were .

The only thing that was on my side is I did get unemployment because of the years I was there and because of the lame reason they gave for the fire . It was customer complaint , I worked with the customer complaints and they did not give me the nature , just that it was a complaint .

[Canuckistanian]

4. Check your contract

The terms for your employment should be spelled out.

My contract says that if I want to quit, I have to give two weeks notice. If they want to let me go, it's without any notice and they don't have to specify a reason.

Sweet deal I worked out, huh?

[blonndee]

6. That's a sorry-ass way to treat people.

A fucking phone call? Your personal items will be shipped? Outrageous, only I'm not surprised at all.

Likely, your status as a "contractor" is not endangered--you're probably replacing those who lost their jobs. This is based on my experience as a so-called "contract employee" who was much cheaper and didn't get any benefits. At three separate jobs.

They can shove their fresh fruit up their rotten corporate asses.

[Lib Grrrrl]

7. My Thoughts Exactly

Once I got laid off VIA FUCKING EMAIL!

I actually got an email, at my home email, telling me not to bother reporting on monday, that my personal stuff, and final check would be shipped.

My thoughts exactly about the fruit!

[ChairmanAgnostic]

10. being self-employed is scary, but if I get laid off, I know who to blame.

erh, I mean, ah, erhh, . Never mind.

I have been let go a couple of times, and I was pleased each time.

[bearfan454]

45. The fucks where I used to work would meet you at the door.

They'd have your stuff all boxed up.

[otokogi]

9. they laid of ten in my group of 12, out the blue, couple weeks ago...

the eve before they whacked the #2 manager, then the next morning the #1 manager and the rest of the group... only kept 2.

worked with these people for over 10 years... :cry:

[Skittles]

11. what really sucks

is to work for a company 18 years, then get told you're laid off and they take your badge and walk you out the door like you are some kind of criminal...that's what happened to me

[Lib Grrrrl]

13. They Do That To Almost Everyone, Anymore

Only one time did it ever happen different for me. And that was when I already had my box packed, turned in my letter of resignation, laid my badge on my boss's desk, and refused to wait for security escort, telling him...I can find my own way out, thank you.

[Thickasabrick]

23. Wow....that blows. Seems to be an epidemic. Was it recent too?

[Skittles]

43. no, and I got a job within the same company two weeks later

but there is no loyalty left in me for that g.d. place

[shanti]

39. yup, i've seen that happen

like they are afraid that you'd sabotage their computer system or something...:eyes:

[lumpy]

41. I have always believed that it should

be a requirement for employees to have the benefit of contracts with employers upon hiring to prevent unqualified firing or employee turnover.

[niyad]

14. welcome to DU--gosh, that really sucks. gee, isn't our economy doing well

[Mr_Spock]

12. Sent 15 of 20 of our engineering jobs to China last fall

they are cheaper ya know :eyes:

[lonestarnot]

15. And it's crash time.

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Rainscents]

17. Your turn is right around the coner...

You sounds like a real winner.

[mcscajun]

19. Got some news for you: no job is safe, no matter HOW hard you work.

People get "laid off", (screw that, it's FIRED) for loads of reasons that have nothing to do with performance.

Your compassion is overwhelming, BTW. :sarcasm:

Enjoy your stay.

[TahitiNut]

20. Isn't it past your bedtime?

:eyes:

[mcscajun]

21. Seems he's been Put To Bed Permanently.

:)

Transparent fool that he was.

[lonestarnot]

28. heh heh heh

missed it damn it.

[TahitiNut]

30. Well, he got 2 more posts in before Boot Hill, for a total of 3 inane,

`... imbecilic, slack-jawed, knuckle-dragging keyboard-farts so completely typical of the species as to make them indistinguishable, one from another. They're the Borg - mindless and robotic. Incapable of spelling the simplest of words, the very notion of a higher order brain function seems a laughable ass-piration.

[lonestarnot]

32. ass - piration indeed!

[Throd]

18. Reminds me of that Saddam video...

when he siezed control of the country by calling out the names of government officials at a mandatory meeting he convened. Those people who had their names called were escorted away by armed guards. We all know what happened next.

[devilgrrl]

35. Yeah, it was so worth all the blood shed to get rid of him...

years after we installed him into power and armed him to the teeth.



Yeah, we do all know what happened next don't we now?

:sarcasm:

[niallmac]

22. Why can't this be considered an emotional assault?

Theres no reason for such a callous dismissal. No notice?
Having your livelihood ripped away without so much as a heads up seems to me to be
criminal. I swear I would just love to see this nations workers begin to re appreciate the
reasons we had unions in the first place, Jimmy Hoffa or no Jimmy Hoffa. Without a union
we are dog shit.

[Selatius]

25. It'll never fly in court. An employer can fire you as long as he doesn't..

violate the five protected classes according to the Civil Rights Act of 1964: Race, Color, Religion, Sex, and National Origin. Since then, you also cannot fire workers just because they're disabled according to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

If it's an issue of downsizing or outsourcing, they can fire you almost without question. You're an asset, and you're expendable. That's the lowest common denominator in capitalism. There are those who aim higher and try to treat workers better, but in the end, those who aim lowest ruin it for everybody.

[niallmac]

26. Right. It's business. It is essential to Capitalism being agile, but

in this kind of case IMHO..It's wrong.
One of the real strong points of this country
and our party was it's concern for the little guy.
That's gone now.

[Selatius]

27. Since Free Trade became en vogue, outsourcing/downsizing is more popular

So a lot of people are going to get axed in the process. On the other hand, the owners still get to make money, and they save on production costs by gaining access to far cheaper workers to make their products. When it comes to being "efficient," it no longer makes sense to pay an American worker the wages he's been getting with health care and a pension when the employer can go to a country that either won't allow or has very few labor unions, weak environmental protections, and low or non-existent labor standards. China is a good example.

The Communist Party crushes labor unions as they represent a threat to the Party's authority. If there are unions, they operate under the domination of the Party, and even then, they are limited in what they can do because the Party is doing business with corporations that use the laborers. The forced labor camps for criminals and political dissidents in China are sources of free labor. There is nothing cheaper than free prison labor. Well, technically, they're not free because you have to "compensate" the Party, but in the end, your balance sheets show so much cost savings.

[rman]

42. Economic assault more like,

Being layed off from one day to the next, no time to prepare, to look for another job - it should be against the law, which it is in many other 'civilized' nations.
But such a law would infringe on corporations' rights to make ever more profit, and their making profits does help everyone in the end, right?..

[zulchzulu]

24. What type of business...location...?

That does suck. I went through that torture back in the Dot Bomb Daze.

[NJCher]

31. Speaking of layoffs

Well, I have a friend who was laid off two days ago. They called a meeting of the entire company at three locations and 52% of the work force was laid off. They each got a letter telling them whether they stayed or went. After that, boxes were issued and they were told to pack up and go.

My friend was doing a spectacular job for them and it meant nothing. She had received wide acclaim from her co-workers for the job she did but this wasn't even taken into account.

This had nothing to do with the economy but it had to do with poor planning on the part of the company. It's kinda' like the situation we're in with bush at the helm: the utter stupidity of the leadership is going to hurt us all.




Cher

[benburch]

33. What sort of work? nt

[NJCher]

37. answer: pharmaceuticals

My friend was a researcher for them. It's very sophisticated, specialized work and something that takes a good deal of search, database, and medical/science knowledge to do. She was paid a good deal of money, too, but from where I sit, every bit of it was earned. I'd hear about some of her information requests and not even have a clue as to how to go about obtaining the info.

Like I said, these jobs are very specialized but on the other hand, NJ is "pharmaceutical alley."

She is, btw, a fellow DU-er.




Cher

[upi402]

34. "Welcome aboard!" & "Welcome to the family" when we get hired

turns to "Leave the premises immediately and do not return"

Company's have the nerve to question employee loyalty and dedication...:eyes:

[NJCher]

38. Welcome to The Family

Reminds me of when I took a job with a large corporation and on my first day, the human resources person said to me, "Welcome to the (name of company) family."

It nauseated me! I replied, "Family? I already have a family. What the hell do I need another family for?"

I'll never forget the look on her face.




Cher

[rucky]

40. What would happen if the company showed a little compassion?

seriously, what are they afraid of over in HR (which does have the word "human" in its name)?

what are they afraid of, besides looking these people in the eye - which is the least they deserve?

[undeterred]

46. Some of these people have been there a long time

One woman has a baby due in July.
One man has had prostate cancer - he called in sick yesterday but they called him at home to come in and be laid off.
One of the managers took the day off.

[NMMNG]

44. And companies wonder why there's so little employee loyalty.

:sarcasm:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=1400386

[undeterred]

47. Today they laid off some more people

One of them said he needed to finish some action items at his desk and he deleted some files. I am in IT so that's how I know. The thing is, we back up every night and there is nothing that can't be recovered so there isn't much someone can do to hurt us.

Maybe I'm just a bleeding heart or I've been through this too many times myself, but I still think it could be handled better.

When you tell a hardworking employee that for no fault of his he is losing his job as of this minute, that person goes into a kind of shock reaction. If they have poor impulse control, they might do something they shouldn't. It would have been kinder to him if we had shut his account down while he was being told the bad news so that we could have prevented him from doing something foolish. Lots of things would have been kinder.

The only thing that really counts is the bottom line. Someone says each manager needs to cut x amount of salary money on Tuesday. Someone makes a decision and it may or may not be an employee who deserves it. It could be someone who was giving a poor performance or someone who just got a great review.