The bloodbath has begun

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Remember a couple of weeks ago I started a thread about our new VP at work? When I came in this morning the department director was packing up his personal effects. (I mentioned in the other thread that the writing was on the wall. In reality, he had been offered a choice between a lower position or a severence package. He took the latter.)

Only a few minutes later I was talking with a workmate about “C”'s departure, when another employee (“G”) came in to say that “V” was on her way out. Soon after we heard that “G” herself and another woman were gone.

A total of eleven people were axed.

We had a meeting, and something struck me as rather funny. The new VP said that the duties of the people who were laid off would be transfered to other people, or that new people would be hired. But they had to figure out what the laid-off ones did and how they did it. Ar? Wouldn’t it make more sense to know what these people did before getting rid of them?

Before “C” became our Director, morale was at an alltime low. People were quitting, and others were thinking of quitting. We weren’t making any money. After “C” took over the department and the former VP came on board, morale increased exponentially. At the same time we started bringing in gobs of money and the division was the darling of the company. When layoffs did come, employees were given notice and offered bonuses not to quit before they were laid off. As it turned out, most of us kept our jobs.

Now Ms. Smiles-Like-A-Cheshire-Cat is the VP and layoffs are sudden. The department’s morale has plummeted. She’s gotten rid of an entire sub-department without, apparently, having a plan to get the work done. I wonder what that will do to profits?

My own job is safe for the moment. For the moment. I applied for a home loan last week. I hope it goes through quickly. If I’m not laid off, then I can make payments. If I am laid off, then I can dump my $755/month apartment and move into my $500/month house up in the cool green Pacific Northwest. I’m just hoping the timing works out.

Wish me good luck.

2

best of luck, sometimes there is a silver lining in a layoff.

the morale plumment is tough to handle sometimes. it has been 3 months since we had layoffs and 2 people were brought back, but morale has not bounced back.

3

Good luck Johnny. I hope that loan comes through soon.

4

I was expecting to be laid off two years ago. A co-worker said that the only reason I was on the layoff list is that everyone knows how much I want to relocate, and a layoff would allow me to do so. The standard package is: Two week’s in-lien-of-notice pay, one week’s severence pay for ever full year of employment with the company, any unused vacation pay (of course), benefits for three months, and job assistance by a company that helps laid-off workers find new positions. So assuming I take no vacation I’d have about four months’ pay. (Of course, I am taking a week off in a couple of weeks.)

If I had been laid off two years ago, I could have bought the house I’m buying for $60,000. Today it costs $96,000. (It’s a small three-bedroom on a quarter acre.) Still, I’ve been looking at houses for a year. I’ve found nothing as good as my friend’s place (which has a new roof, repaired foundation posts and blocks, improved drainage, new electrical, and new plumbing). So now is as good a time to buy as any. (Actually, I couldn’t have bought this house because my friend bought it. But I could have gotten a similar one.)

In any case, this new VP has sucked all of the fun out of working in the department.

5

here’s hoping it all works out for you.

speaking of the pacific northwest did you know there are private islands for sale? in washington? check out private island online. i’m considering maine or nova scotia. i love the wash/british columbia area but a bit put off by the tsunami possibility.

6

Best of luck to you!

It sounds as if you work for a large company (directors, VP’s) - I spent the past 15+ years doing so, and six months ago decided I’d rather be Controller of a smaller, private company and maintain my sanity. If our company goes under, I’ll be the first to know.

It is all about timing - I was laid off one month after we moved into a (better but less expensive) house six months ago. I shudder to think how we would have made it if I’d been cut while we were still in the old house with its huge mortgage. Good karma radiating towards you!!

7

You don’t like the tsunami potential, but you don’t mention the three volcanos? :wink:

I’d assumed there were islands for sale, but I wouldn’t like the logistics.

Got an e-mail from the VP when I got in this morning. “Please come by my office so we can discuss [the e-mail thread].” She was working from home today, so I’ll see her tomorrow. The maddening thing is that what she wants to discuss has exactly nothing to do with my job, yet she seems to want me to take a leading role in it. Is it a test? “Let’s throw something totally bizarre at this guy and see how he reacts.”? Well, I talked to another VP to see what it wants from my VP. Got some information which he e-mailed to me. Here’s the thing: we lost four people in our immediate area. Every one of them was equipped to answer any questions she had on this issue! There isn’t anyone left who knows everything about it. (And only one or two people who know just a little about it.)

The issue is that we need to get our data vendors set up on Oracle so we can pay them more easily. If I understand the situation correctly, I need to identify the vendors we buy data from and see which ones did not respond to the request to get set up on Oracle. I got the list of respondants from the other VP, and I got a list of the vendors who send us data from another employee. So I need to see which of the vendors on the second list are not on the first list. Then I need to contact them (apparently) to try to get them to play by our rules. I don’t know what happens if they don’t. (For example, they might say “Um… No. Unless we don’t have to do anything, we don’t want to sell you data.”) As I said, this is completely beyond the scope of what we do in our department, and would be better handled by Sales or Marketing. But I’ll give it a bloody try.

In other news, I’ve asked to learn more about our products. Right now, we just make sure the data is correct (“validated” and quality-checked) and get it to the database. No one in our department is trained on how our customers use our data. I want to learn this for two reasons: First, it’s good to have an understanding of our products even if we’ll never sell any of them. (Again, this is the function of our Sales and Marketing departments.) Secondly, it would be nice to know how to use them in case I want to look for a job with one of our contributors. (Right now the only time we pull reports is for QC purposes.) So learning how the customers use our products will make me more valuable to the company, and also increase my marketability.

In further news, I signed the disclosure statements for the house and filled out an auto-pay application. I spoke with the Lender and he said he wished all of his credit decisions were as easy as my case is. I said, “Well, they could be with our Business Owner Profile, Business Profile, Intelliscore…” He said I’d have to talk to the head office, since he is “just a peon” and can’t make the decision to buy our products. I told him, “That’s okay. I’m not actually a salesman!” He said I should be. :smiley:

8

Thanks. I try to cultivate good Karma. I’m not always successful, but I try. (Some people say I’m a very trying person! :smiley: )

9

Hang in J LA, I feel for you. My CEO paid me a personal visit today, to convey a customer’s opinion of me: “Thanks, you rotten bastard”. They don’t even know my parents!

10

Well, the “meeting” went okay. She knew I didn’t know anything about what she was asking of me, but I came prepared with all of the information I found.

I also talked to her about a way to increase our business, and she was intrigued.

11

you just made yourself extremely valuable. hhhhmmm, that usually lay-off proofs ya.

i did think of the volcanos, that is how the tsunami will wipe my poor little island off the map. not to mention the earthquakes… sure is beautiful up there though… perhaps one could be on vacation during natural disasters.

12

I saw a really interesting documentary on tsunamis. They were talking about a 100-meter wave that hit Puget Sound a few hundred years ago. :cool: And of course, everyone says Seattle is toast if Mt. Rainier blows its top. I have a little capsule of Mr. Saint Helens ash that my dad got.

I don’t believe in “lay-off proof”. I’ve been collecting foreign data (mostly Canadian) on my own initiative so that I can show that it might be worth it to expand into new territories. “C” (the Director who was laid off) said that headquarters (in England) would be more interested in European data. But I think Canadian data would be useful for the North American operation. I mean, it’s free. We’re already getting it. But we’re not using it. Why not provide it to our customers ourselves, instead of forcing them to use our competitor’s products? (Our competitor is also a global corporation who cometes against us in the U.S. Their position in Canada is like our position in the U.S.) We would have to modify our database to accept foreign addresses (and we’re building a new database that will take the place of the existing one in two years). We’ll also have to modify our data validation program to allow for Canadian postal codes, which are longer than U.S. ZIP codes. Then it would be a simple matter to have our sales/marketing people “spread the word” that we’re offering Canadian data. They could first contact the people who are sending us Canadian information in the first place, since they would be the most likely to use our products. Then we could start building the business by contacting Canadian companies directly. Data can be transfered electronically so it wouldn’t cost them anything.

The only snag I see is that I’ve heard our competitor uses off-shore workers, which allows them to keep prices low. (My company is outsourcing the work on our new architecture, but the data gathering and processing is domestic.) Still, we could acknowledge that in the beginning our Canadian information might not be as comprehensive as the American information and charge less for it. A “loss leader”, if you will.

The market is there. We’re already getting a lot of Canadian data that we’re just throwing away. It would be easy to add it to the product. And if the company ever needs a representative in Vancouver, BC who happens to own a house just on the other side of the border for easy commuting, I know just the bloke to volunteer! :smiley: