Hah! That reminds me of network admin at one job who always knew about any pending M&A activity because, as Postmaster, he’d get the bounce when some executive inevitably fat-fingered an address.
Friend was at a software company where they told people they were getting WFRed at the company Christmas party. He did not stay long after that.
I don’t know what WFRed means. I suspect fired. But I was pissed. I called the labor board in Colorado about just leaving early because since I was being layed off, why the hell stick around twiddling my thumbs.
Work Force Reduction
There’s also RIFed, Reduction In Force.
And my personal favorite HR euphemism, Assigned to the Not Going Forward Team.
At one point a company I knew had an offsite meeting. With bus transportation provided, and assigned seating. The buses went to two different locations…
Sorry about the “WFR” jargon. We’ve had so many that I forgot it’s not universal! Google thinks it means “Wilderness First Responder” more than Work Force Reduction, though the latter is there if you scroll down.
Ahh. Thanks.
That company I used to work for went under right at the height of the GIS explosion. Yes they where in GIS. This was 35 years ago.
One of my dearest friends, a supervisor, was let go for not imposing the only 2 - 15 minute break bullshit. This was a 24/7 shop. As a third shift supervisor she stood up for the other workers, and was fired.
The company failed. Surprise, surprise, surprise.
And rightsizing which replaced downsizing.
At AT&T a while ago they published an upside down org chart, with customers at the top to show how important they were. Someone in my group then said that someone who was laid off or fired was “promoted to customer.”
makes perfect sense:
Look at it this way: if I were your “supervisor / mgr” I have no knowledge of you leaving before you spill the beans. But once you do, your “behavior” is on my watch and responsability and there is only one thing I can do: keep you off the system.
Everything else would make me an irresponsable mgr.
I worked for a place in the 90s that had just had a big layoff. The President had a bunch of “motivational” posters said “RUTHLESS” and then some text about how we were going to kick ass with the new lean team. The dark humor was “Ruth was canned last week”.
It is a classic example of closing the barn door after the horses have gone. When you are laying off someone, cutting access immediately makes perfect sense. But when someone is leaving? And they didn’t do it for everyone. This is why no one says where they are going anymore.
This pointless paranoia was rife at Intel. When you left for the day a guard would search through your bag, to find what, I don’t know. We were doing probessors, so there aren’t lots of circuit boards or anything. Maybe hard copies of circuit diagrams? They did not look for or prohibit thumb drives which is how one would steal info if they needed to.
I read and reviewed a book by the chief architect of one of the Pentiums. They did the same thing in Oregon, but he was high enough in the chain to be immune from the search. He told the security management the whole thing was stupid, since he would never hire someone too stupid to figure out how to smuggle out data if they wanted to.
that sounds a lot like: We take your word for it …
(hey, not only did they steal our database, but also lied that they would not start at a competitor)
sorry, if you are in IT or other pivotal job, there is only “you are out NOW” … and I gather, IT people understand that (and probably layed off people, too ).
I worked in radio broadcasting as an on-air personality for many years. In this field, tenure can be remarkably short.
If you quit, they expect two weeks notice, but sometimes will just let you go now, fearing that you might go on the air and do or say something crazy while working out your notice. I’ve known people who have done that. Stories are legion about people who have done awful things before leaving. Like the guy who bulk-erased every tape cartridge in the studio on his last day, leaving them with no music or commercials to play.
For me, I’ve almost always worked off my notice and left on good terms. The one time I didn’t, it came back to haunt me, and I learned a hard lesson from that.
If you’re fired, you have two minutes to get your headphones and any other personal belongings and vacate the building. No “goodbye” show for you!
My brother worked in radio for a couple of years in the mid-80’s. He thought it was going to be his dream job but became disillusioned with it quite quickly. Not much money, they wanted him to do sales calls between time on the air. Lot of back stabbing A-holes to deal with. Tons of turn over in every position.
He was on in like 3 stations but got out of it in under 3 years. Too bad. He has that “radio voice” if you know what I mean.
I was in college radio for years. I absolutely loved it and made some amazing friends. We’re still in touch. Through that I got to meet many professional radio folks. The writing was on the wall in the late 80s and I could tell it was a tough career. You could literally find out on Friday that the station was changing format on Monday so pack your crap.
There’s a risk that (a) a person who is leaving on good terms plans on stealing data and or doing damage on the way out and (b) hasn’t done so yet, vs the reward of having the person do a controlled turnover of their work and specialized knowledge. IME as a software engineer, companies have always thought the reward has always been worth the risk.
I mean sure, if an employee gets into a screaming match with their boss and storms out the door, or turns in the resignation the day after they’re put on a PIP, then yes, the risk seems much higher. But treating every voluntary employee resignation as huge risk that must be mitigated by showing them the door is ridiculous. IMHO it’s really just punishing them for their “disloyalty” in daring to leave their at-will employment.
I freelance these days, so zero notice on either side.
Although I have never been fired, when I have decided to leave, I have always tried to do a handover of sorts. I am not a bridge burner.
It is a symptom of treating every employee as a replaceable cog in the machine, who can be swapped out at a moment’s notice. This often does not turn out well for the company.
I wonder if the open expectation that you will steal if given half a chance actually creates an atmosphere that you might as well steal if given half a chance- A self-fulfilling prophecy.
My position is a little unusual as I am scheduled out some 5 months ahead with other people depending on and resources committed to that schedule. There is also a desire that I wrap up as much outstanding work as possible before leaving. Not all of my work is such that someone else can simply step in at the same stage or a particular matter. So I believe the expectation/request is 6 mos notice. I’ll check back with you next June-July! 