Have you ever started to work for a company and thought to yourself that this is the company that I will stay with until I retire? Your initial thoughts are great co-workers, the work is easy for me, no pressure and a wonderful boss. It was only after you had been working there for a few months did you realize that in the good years everyone was happy but when poor upper management decisions went south the first thing the company did was lay off people.
Well I have work for 3 of those companies.
The first one had a layoff about every 3 years. Each time roughly 20% of the workforce went. Then for the
next 3 years they would hire more, then layoff. I was with them for almost 15 years and managed to stay off of the layoff radar range. I often wondered why and finally asked one of the VP's. It was not due to the fact that I was invaluable or liked by upper management, no it was simpler than that. It was my bottom line, I was cheaper to keep than a co-worker who made more than me. Yep, get low pay and keep your job or get higher pay and get laid off. The company was sold in the end to another corporation who promptly shut that location down.
The next company was a smaller family owned operation with about 250 employees in 2 countries. The work was easy and the pay was decent, not high but enough to live on and I thought that I would be there for 20 years like some of the older employees. Little did I know that they either got in tight with the family of owners or had been laid off and come back multiple times. In just under a year there were 2 layoffs and yes you guessed it right, I went in the second round where I joined 50 of my co-workers at the unemployment office. In less than 6 months later they were hiring again and I applied but it seemed that only those who had been there for years and years got back in. Oh, did I mention that they hired them back at minimum wage? Yes it was their way of cutting wages.
I currently work for a nice company. It is not large but it has been growing for the past 2 years. They have money and lavish it on company parties, picnics and bonuses. Lately the work load has been slowing down so I did a bit of research. I talked to one of the production workers who was helping out in another department and asked why he was there. His reply was no work orders and added "I have seen this before." That led to a conversation where I found out that he has been working for the company for over 4 years and gone through 3 layoffs. He says he is use to it and it happens. All I can think is "damn, I thought I would be here until retire," here we go again............................
Well I have work for 3 of those companies.
The first one had a layoff about every 3 years. Each time roughly 20% of the workforce went. Then for the
next 3 years they would hire more, then layoff. I was with them for almost 15 years and managed to stay off of the layoff radar range. I often wondered why and finally asked one of the VP's. It was not due to the fact that I was invaluable or liked by upper management, no it was simpler than that. It was my bottom line, I was cheaper to keep than a co-worker who made more than me. Yep, get low pay and keep your job or get higher pay and get laid off. The company was sold in the end to another corporation who promptly shut that location down.
The next company was a smaller family owned operation with about 250 employees in 2 countries. The work was easy and the pay was decent, not high but enough to live on and I thought that I would be there for 20 years like some of the older employees. Little did I know that they either got in tight with the family of owners or had been laid off and come back multiple times. In just under a year there were 2 layoffs and yes you guessed it right, I went in the second round where I joined 50 of my co-workers at the unemployment office. In less than 6 months later they were hiring again and I applied but it seemed that only those who had been there for years and years got back in. Oh, did I mention that they hired them back at minimum wage? Yes it was their way of cutting wages.
I currently work for a nice company. It is not large but it has been growing for the past 2 years. They have money and lavish it on company parties, picnics and bonuses. Lately the work load has been slowing down so I did a bit of research. I talked to one of the production workers who was helping out in another department and asked why he was there. His reply was no work orders and added "I have seen this before." That led to a conversation where I found out that he has been working for the company for over 4 years and gone through 3 layoffs. He says he is use to it and it happens. All I can think is "damn, I thought I would be here until retire," here we go again............................
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