loyalty to employers....vice versa
I wanted to put my 2 cents in about this loyalty statement as brought up by Trish.
Both myself and a coworker, had worked for this large Insurance Co in Mass for a long time.
Me, almost 18 yrs, her almost 20 yrs. We both worked in various positions over
the years but had been in the same department for over the past 5 years . We were laid off with
not even a " gee lets do what we can to keep you in the company after all the years
of dedicated work". I know this is an "old fashioned" way of thinking, and I have read the
studies and know that in today's workforce most people hold many jobs in their lifetimes, but
my question is this, why is loyalty to a company not appreciated? Is it that it is not expected
any longer? Is it a fact of life today that a company would rather lay off experienced workers and
hire inexperienced at a lower rate? Please fill me in. We are both searching for work and
I want to know what to expect in today's workforce. Thanks in Advance. :)
Although individuals appreciate loyalty, companies are not individuals. They do not make decisions on a personal basis. If they're laying off 10% of their workforce, and you're that 10% then you get laid off. I know it doesn't feel that way, but it isn't any more personal than winning the lottery would be. Of course winning the lottery is a lot better.
Sometimes in layoffs, they do away with an entire department. In those cases, they either outsource the function for less money, absorb it elsewhere in the company or just stop doing the function. Other times in layoffs, each group gives up a percentage of staff (everyone loses someone, or everyone with the lower political clout loses someone). Sometimes in those cuts they lay off based on the job function of the people involved, sometimes by the last hired. Sometimes they lay off people who have been around a long time and cost more money because they no longer feel that the extra value added by experience outweighs the cost. In simple terms- they may not need a brain surgeon to put on a bandaid.
I do honestly believe that every company I've worked for (and there have been several) struggles greatly when layoffs occur. The individuals involved do not relish having to let people go and they do feel badly over it. That doesn't help you of course, but I really don't think that most of them are grinning and wringing their hands in delight while they drop the axe. At the same time, hard business decisions do have to be made.
So, my advice is to put your hurt feelings and resentment aside. It sucks but again, it isn't personal. You have to step over that bad feeling so that you interview well with the next employer. If you come off desperate, ticked off, negative or depressed over it, you won't interview well.
There's also a lot of good help on the resume board to get your resume ready and good help on the Interview board for interviews. Make use of any services your company is providing from the layoff too. Don't wait until your severance and/or unemployment runs out to start looking. It may take quite some time to find something else so get on that right away so you don't run into a wall.
All the best!
Tess
Hi Tess,
Thank you.
You are right. It is not a person but a company!. I have moved on, I am seeking
new employment, but I did not know If it is a common occurance, but you are correct
forget it and move on. That will be my mantra. Thanks again for the good advice.
I was laid off by a large telecom company that was vastly corrupt. thenwent bankrupt. It has since disappeared--the name has beenchanged to protect the guilty, most of whom are still there.
Since this company attacked me and my family by laying me off, I took abit of time in the couple of years following that sorry episode toattack that company. How? I engaged in a quiet, informalcounter-selling campaign. I became involved in a business of myown that involved contact with owners of other businesses. Iwould ask them who their telecom provider was? If it was myformer corrupt employer that had laid thousands of people off,including me, and ruined the finances & careers of many of them, Iengaged them in a discussion about corporate ethics and supporting thebad actors in the American corporate world, and reminded them of therecent history of the company and what they had done on such a grandscale (the largest corporate bankruptcy filing in the history of theUnited States). As it turned out, it was fairly easy to turnthese business owners around, and many of them cancelled their telecomservices with this odious cesspool of a company and switched to anothervendor. By the time I ended this little personal campaign Icalculate that just around $100,000 of annual revenues were removedfrom their books and given to other telecom companies. I foundthis to be fairly satisfying, though it represents a drop in the bucketto their total revenue. You can make a difference.
While tramky's experience points to what a corrupt company will do, most companies are not that was.
I went through six rounds of layoffs, letting go people who I liked and admired. The company was losing money, was trying to sell itself and needed to cut costs. Every one of those layoffs hurt me and even though HR said they would break the news to the employee, I insisted that I do it.
When I got hit in the 7th round, I knew it wasn't personal. I, too, had put a lot into the company. I didn't view it as an attack on me or my family although it created some real financial hardships.
The other side may not be so nice. At my first job the owner was a great guy. Never laid anyone off, paid great, trusted everyone like family. He suddenly closed his doors when he defaulted on his bank loan and 15 employees were out of work with no warning or severance.
If you worked for a company for years, spilled your guts for them, thenthat company does this kind of thing to you, it most definitely IS apersonal attack. They lied to you for all those years, happilytook your work, education and life, then trashed you AND your familyand damaged you financially. That is by definition a personalattack. You've just been mugged, and for a lot more than thewatch on your wrist or the 35 bucks in your pocket.
When the person who does the actual laying off task says 'this isnothing personal', or 'we had to hit a number', or some other claptrapas that, they are LYING to you and are far more concerned about theimpact this has on them than on you. If YOU are laid off and alot of other people are NOT laid off, it is most definitely a specificand personalized decision.
And as for the approach of 'getting on with it' or 'moving on with yourlife', that approach serves the corporation that laid you off. They want to be off the hook with you the minute they escort you to thedoor and ask for your ID badge. Of course, since they just put anend to your livelihood most people must 'move on' because they don'thave the money or opportunity to invest in a little professionalretribution--they must immediately begin putting their shattered lifeback together and earning money so they don't end up homeless in thestreet or asking their parents for money at the age of 40. That'sright, just 'move' and ignore that K-bar sticking out of yourneck. Every mugger would prefer that their victim not filecharges; it would be so much easier that way.
Tramky- I appreciate that you're still upset over this. If it makes you feel better to feel that it is a personal attack, then ok, it is. I don't know what that gets you but clearly you feel better thinking that, so have at it. Personally, my theory is more along the lines of "hell with them, you're not getting any free rent in my head, I'm moving on."
Tess
I think it's very difficult to try and generalize about the underlying philosophy of downsizing and layoffs among companies. On the other hand, businesses exist for generally one reason - and that's to make a profit. When companies start losing money, regardless of the reason - and not every reason has to do with bad management or greed among the most senior officers. Sometimes there's dip in the economy or consumer confidence goes south. Sometimes another competitor enters the marketplace and drives the competition out. Sometimes a new product makes an existing one obsolete, or a hundred other reasons that aren't personal or a reflection of bad or greedy management. The point is, reducing costs to just stay in business, let along make a profit can mean reducing loyal, dedicated, and talented staff. It may sound trite to suggest that "business is business," but there is some truth to the old adage that most companies aren't running charitable institutions. My own business has had ups and downs and we've had to reduce staff and take pay cuts during tough times, and I can tell you that it's very painful to lay people off who you like, admire, and who have helped you turn a profit, but it's the organization that has to survive when it's all said and done. If a company is operating in the red, many times people are the most expensive item on the balance sheet. It's never fun to lay anyone off and many companies will provide outplacement services to departing employees. There are all sorts of things companies can do to help departing employees, but it would make no sense to drive a company into bankruptcy for the sake of keeping old friends employed for another few weeks or months - only to see the entire outfit fold.
Paul W. Barada
The Negotiation Expert
Well, I think most people understand that layoffs are necessary when a company is losing money (unfortunately, many times the company is losing money due to management's poor decisions, but management keeps its jobs, and the workers pay the price--just ask former Kodak employees).
But, try this on for size, everybody: a company that is very profitable decides it wants to be more profitable and proceeds to lay off long-time loyal, competent employees. And when do they do this? The week before Christmas! That's right--no warning, no prior discussions of the possibility of layoffs (company was making huge profits; who'da thunk about layoffs?), nothing.
In this case, this company could very well have afforded to keep these people on until after the holiday. It's not a large firm, and the number of employees wasn't so many that it would have cost the company a lot of money.
Now that is a despicable, nasty, rotten thing to do to folks who have given years of their lives and of their talents (this was a very competent workforce, for the most part). Not saying it was personal, but certainly a nasty, unneccessary bit of business. Why not wait until these people had a happy holiday with their families, then let the axe fall?
And I think you let corporations off the hook too easily when yousimply sit back and say 'well, business is business." That isquite so, and as I did when my last corporate employer cesspool laid meoff, I made it MY business to attack THEIRS, with small-scalesuccess. It's just business, after all, and I was giving theirsales people a bit of competition. It was & is my view thatthat company should NOT have been permitted to emerge frombankruptcy--it should have been liquidated.
When a company makes $80 billion in market value disappear within acouple of months and essentially evaporates the personal finances andstability of thousands of employees, don't expect any thinking personto simply shrug their shoulders and say "well, that's business." If you think so, then you--and all of us--have set the bar too low.
What was done to me and thousands of other employees of this &other companies is, in my view, a crime. A personal one, likeassault or robbery. A crime that is shielded from meaningfulprosecution by Federal bankruptcy law.
I imagine there are some people who do not go to the police or who donot fight back when they are mugged, assaulted, robbed, orwhatever. Are you suggesting that they are wrong to think theyare victims of an actual crime, and should just shrug it off by saying"well, that guy needed some money" or "I really didn't need or deservethat diamond wedding ring that the mugger took from me; oh well, easycome, easy go."
How have we gotten to accept the notion that it is OK for large-scalecorporate muggers to continue operating with impunity & withoutrestitution while their victims just get to reassemble what is left oftheir lives and financial security if it's not too late?