I've been "restructured" out of a job

[Talon]

This week was the proverbial Red Wedding Massacre at work.

On Monday 4 people were let go, 2 of whom were 12 hours shy of passing their probation.

By mid-week casualties climbed to 10.

Yesterday the executioner's axe came for me.

I was given the usual corporate double-speak platitudes. It wasn't performance, the company's restructuring, business decision, blah blah blah. I wish these suits followed the ways of the Starks: The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword.

I'm not shocked even though I should be. Maybe I'm still numb, or hungover. Up until yesterday it was believed the company hired too many people, and needed to trim down the new folks. Now we know, no one is safe.

With my departure, morale at the office is lower than the shadow of a snake. My former team lead said he was sick to his stomach when my name came up. Reception lady actually called me in tears to offer condolences. I must admit somewhere in my shriveled blackened ice-encrusted heart, I'm touched. I hadn't realized I left that much of an impression on people

As for silver linings, at least I don't have to do another week of bloody nightshifts. And unlike so many others, I'm getting 5 weeks of severance pay. Gonna take it easy for a few days, then well, you know the routine.

Employed. Fired. Repeat.

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

A company I used to work at called it "Cost Optimization".

It really bothers me companies have to be so fanciful about letting people go, especially since it usually seems they don't give a shit who gets fired/laid off so long as it's no one on the executive board.

Wishing blessings for you in the future.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

And of course, it's always the more experienced people who are let go because they're just so darn expensive.

Not terribly long ago, there was a bloodletting among pricing and IT folks at clearance swamp corporate. End result; weekly ad set is a baffling, frustrating, scream real loud experience. We won't have enough signs, we'll have the wrong signs, we'll have signs for two different prices and the item scans at a third price, items scan correctly in the store radios but incorrectly at the register, price checks FOR DAYS.

The state consumer protection folks aren't too happy about our lack of pricing accuracy and are threatening "further action." So corporate's solution is to make the stores do an extra ad audit every week. An extra ad audit with no extra payroll allocated to actually do it.

[Food Lady]

My former team lead said he was sick to his stomach when my name came up. Reception lady actually called me in tears to offer condolences. I must admit somewhere in my shriveled blackened ice-encrusted heart, I'm touched. I hadn't realized I left that much of an impression on people

Oh, that's sweet. I'm glad you had a boss and coworker who valued you even if corp. didn't. Can you use them as references?

[Racket_Man]

A company I used to work at called it "Cost Optimization".

.

I have heard it called "Right Sizing"

OP Sounds very familiar as that seemed to happen to me frequently enough back in my IT career. I was "laid off" more than I voluntarily left for "other opportunitites" (like another job or just to get the hell out of the company that was seriously crashing and burning)

[DGoddessChardonnay]

I have heard it called "Right Sizing"

OP Sounds very familiar as that seemed to happen to me frequently enough back in my IT career. I was "laid off" more than I voluntarily left for "other opportunitites" (like another job or just to get the hell out of the company that was seriously crashing and burning)

Or as I recall back at the WD when they started closing down "underperforming" stores back in 2004: jump off the sinking ship.

When my store was closed down in the spring of 2004, that left only 3 stores in the Greensboro area. The closest one to my home I had worked at previously and knew they had no positions (I'd been transferred out b/c the store had too many full time associates, or that's what I recall being told by the manager.)

Other two stores were just too far away to travel and they didn't have anything either, so I did the only thing I could.

Took the 6 weeks' severance package, my closing inventory bonus and ran like HELL all the way to the Litter Box (which I started at a week after I'd left WD.)

The following year (2005) every remaining store in both North and South Carolina were shut down. WD had drastically cut back the number of stores and their operating areas as a result of bankruptcy reorganization (they eventually came out of bankruptcy and, IIRC are now owned by another grocery chain.)

So actually it sounds as if this company did you a favor . . . .not sure though how Unemployment works in your area, but I found out here back when I had to leave WD that I had to wait until my severance package period was exhausted before I could even apply for benefits (meaning if I had 6 week's pay, I had to wait the entire six weeks before applying - which for my family wasn't going to work.)

So what I did was started applying at other chains as soon as I found out my store was closing. Had my intervew the Monday after I'd left WD, started my job the following Monday (wanted to take at least the rest of that week off before starting fresh.)

And I've run into former coworkers who never went back to work . . . they just collected their unemployment benefits until they were old enough for social security.

Unfortunately, we younger workers don't have that option. But either way, we're always here whenever you need to vent.

[telecom_goddess]

I haven't said anything but the same thing happened to me over a month ago. I and 60 other people were laid off in one day. I'd been there over 12 years too. I'm still looking for work.

I hate my life.

[Food Lady]

Twelve years? No one is safe. I'm sorry this happened. I'm hoping the people who look at your resume will look upon that experience favorably.

[Gilhelmi]

Legend goes (before my time), my company was hit hard by the 09' recession. They had to lay many people off.

But there is good news. They learned from the experience. Before, we made parts only for the Aerospace industry. Today, name an industry, any industry, we probably make parts for at least one company in that industry.

I love the small/mid size companies, the management can see what is happening and adjust course to save the company. Also, many people who had been laid off are now working for us again today. Helps that the top brass cares about us.

[smileyeagle1021]

I love the small/mid size companies, the management can see what is happening and adjust course to save the company. Also, many people who had been laid off are now working for us again today. Helps that the top brass cares about us.

Quoted for truth. A lot of layoffs aren't due to outsourcing, economic problems, or any of the other excuses that executives like to give. Yes, outsourcing has happened, and in and of itself isn't a bad thing, it can be done horribly wrong, and we've seen that more often than not, but it has also been done right. Yes there are economic problems, but a lot of places haven't really let that phase them. What it almost always comes down to is the people at the top were too arrogant to realize that just because they were successful in the past doesn't mean they will be in the future.

[Talon]

So I got together with former colleagues to munch on nachos and get drunk.

Rumour was the order for the Massacre came right from the top. The owner thought we had too many people, and out we went. Also owner may be planning to sell the business.

My dismissal letter claimed the company's expansion plans didn't work out, they had to do cost review, let go people because of it, blah blah blah.

Whatever the real reason, they were certainly truthful about dismissals having nothing to do with performance.

Of the people spared from my old team, one guy is never ever on time no matter what shift he's working. He is really smart, but seems to have let that go to his head to the point where it's hard to train him.

Another survivor has to be constantly baby-sat, because as soon as he's done a task he just zones out. One time he was loafing on his phone while a manager was right behind him glaring. I furiously messaged him to get the fuck off his phone, but he wasn't even looking at his desktop. *facepalm*

Another just completely zones out whenever she encounters a problem she doesn't know how to handle. Doesn't ask questions or notifies anyone. Apparently when she did something wrong and was called on it, first she tried to weasel out of it, when unsuccessful she threw a NeverMyFault-style temper tantrum.

Oh and a bonus, unrelated to this massacre. One of my former colleagues quit several months ago, because they refused to give him a raise. He told them he could make more money elsewhere, and they told him "go ahead." He did. His departure ended up costing the company a client. I don't know how big a contract that was, but the client was one of the Big Three Telecom providers in Canada. So a big name they lost, for a company that seems far more preoccupied with marketing and image than with their core business.

So in short, former company appears to have no fucking clue what they're doing. Whatever, not my problem anymore.

[Racket_Man]

So in short, former company appears to have no fucking clue what they're doing. Whatever, not my problem anymore.

HMMMMM The above statement seems vaguely familiar to me. It was fun to watch from the outside/sidelines as a couple of businesses I either left ( I saw the writing on the wall) or got laid off from went down in a SPECTACULAR scene of flames and destruction.