Dear former employer...

[ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies]

Nope. Not Lotus. A certain Atlanta-based ISP that recently made the news with a newly appointed CEO who has a track record for preparing companies to be acquired, and for the recent 50% layoffs.

[Lemur866]

Well, if they’re laying off 50% of their employees, the company is pretty much hosed and headed for the sausage factory. No wonder they’re spreading the hosage around.

[nashiitashii]

@gigi

My father was working at IBM in the early 90s when IBM was buying people out right and left. Normally you had to be 30 years in (and age 55 had something to do with it). They offered a five-year credit to get people to take early retirement. Pop was at 24 years, and they gave him the five years plus one year paid sabbatical that would count toward his service. So he got to retire with full pension at 48. VERY unusual circumstances.

My father was also laid off from IBM during the early 90s, and was closer to the pension offer than yours. He was only a year or two away from the 30 year mark, and got shafted, but at least got a partial pension. What they did for your father is extremely unusual.

[ZebraShaSha]

@nashiitashii

My father was also laid off from IBM during the early 90s, and was closer to the pension offer than yours. He was only a year or two away from the 30 year mark, and got shafted, but at least got a partial pension. What they did for your father is extremely unusual.

What his father knew was even more unusual still.

[jakeline]

@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies

Nope. Not Lotus. A certain Atlanta-based ISP that recently made the news with a newly appointed CEO who has a track record for preparing companies to be acquired, and for the recent 50% layoffs.

Haha… we need a club for those of us who were laid off from that certain company. I was laid off from the Pasadena office about 4.5 years ago, and actually, that was the best possible thing that they could do for me. I’m really surprised they kept the sabbatical this long.

[ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies]

Finally deciding to leave on my own was the best thing that could’ve happened to me too. I have very bittersweet feelings about the company in general. I learned volumes working there.

That reminds me of a point to my rant that I’ve neglected to make. Sabbaticals were grandfathered up to a certain starting date. Meaning that there were comparatively very few people who were part of the recent mass layoff who: a) had the grandfathered opportunity to earn a sabbatical b) had earned it already but hadn’t yet taken the time off. What I’m trying to say is that it was not a crippling precedent for them to set to honor the purpose of the sabbatical (loyalty) for the people who were reasonably close to earning it. If memory serves, her hire date was almost at the end of the grandfathered period. So the argument of deciding where to re-draw the line farther and farther forward wouldn’t really be an issue in this particular case.

[gigi]

@nashiitashii

My father was also laid off from IBM during the early 90s, and was closer to the pension offer than yours. He was only a year or two away from the 30 year mark, and got shafted, but at least got a partial pension. What they did for your father is extremely unusual.

I’m sorry to hear it. My father wasn’t being laid off; they were just upping the incentive to get out, until it got to a point where he didn’t lose anything to take it.