Well, I'm still here

[redbird]

I'm still employed, but my company laid off nine people here today (and more in the related offices in Iowa and Texas, I believe).

We got the information from our managers this morning, in brief meetings by group, with not much information. At 2:00, the CEO held a company-wide meeting in which he basically said all the expected things about it being difficult, and the economy, and that the company will be okay in the long run.

I hope so, but our specific niche depends almost entirely on state education budgets.

Nobody is feeling very cheerful here. (The laid-off people are already out of here, including one who got a call asking him to come in on a day he had taken as personal time off. I don't know how much they told him over the phone.)

Comments

[zingerella.livejournal.com]

Gah. That sucks—the layoffs, I mean. It sucked when we had to do it, too. Seems like everyone in textbook-publishing is nervous.

Things are finally beginning to feel busy and active here, six weeks or so after the layoffs. Nobody is exactly what you'd call complacent, but we're starting to feel like a cheerful place to work again, making plans to hold a less-expensive winter gathering in January (in place of the company-funded evening I'm told is traditional), and holding bakesales to fund the same. Periodically, someone will mention that a former co-worker has found a long-term contract somewhere else.

Still, it sucks.

I'm glad you survived this round.

[athenais.livejournal.com]

My boss told me confidentially she looked forward to taking all next week off as they couldn't make her fire anyone if she wasn't around. I don't know what that means, but I am hoping it means only that the next round of layoffs aren't until December.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

"Nobody is feeling very cheerful here."

I'll bet.

Good luck.

B

[jesse_the_k]

Keeping my fingers crossed.

[amaebi.livejournal.com]

Cautious, contingent congratulations.

[kightp.livejournal.com]

Oh, dear, good luck. I have a number of friends who've survived similar layoffs, and they all report that the mixture of sadness for one's laid-off colleagues and relief for oneself is just terribly, terribly stressful.

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

That the new Administration (if I have it right) asked/required someone to come in on a day taken as personal leave time-off, in order to be fired (and, presumably, remove all personal property immediately) suggests to me that a good many employees are likely to be ...ummm... somewhat less unhappy about being fired in the future than they would have been if they had a more decent employer.

Sadly, I seem to thinking along the lines of "Instead of a Christmas bonus, this year, we're going to ...."