Thread regarding 3M layoffs

For those survivors still left

Has your boss already come around and told you what great "opportunities" you were being given, on top of your 50 hours of work per week. Just curious since I escaped the maplewood asylum 2 years ago and love retirement.

I remember during one of Mike's first cutbacks how we were being cheer-led to tell the remaining chumps what a great opportunity they were being given (sorry no promotion or pay increases) and they should be proud to be so honored with more work!

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| 3551 views | | 14 replies (last May 19, 2023) | Reply
Post ID: @OP+1mGz0HPK

14 replies (most recent on top)

Production people can impact the greatest to product quality that will hurt 3M image.

Treat production well.

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Post ID: @1byr+1mGz0HPK

The only thing I see and hear is a lot of quiet quitting in production. Minimum is all everyone does due to no incentives.

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Post ID: @1cjs+1mGz0HPK

“Retired and Happy” if you are so retired and happy why are you wasting your time posting on this site about how happy you are. You must be bumming you cant collect your paycheck and and delegate all your work.

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Post ID: @aqr+1mGz0HPK

@hmw+1mGz0HPK So true. After 3 years in a row of not being recognized for going well above and beyond my job title, I am just doing bare minimum. No more staying late in the lab or coming in on weekends to make sure a project is completed on time. No more. Heck, I ain't even working a full 40 hour work week anymore. Whats the use in trying hard if I do not get monetary recognition for it? Pay for performance my a$$

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Post ID: @yue+1mGz0HPK

When I raised concerns about morale to my boss during a prior layoff, he told me to tell my remaining team that they were lucky to still have a job. He thought that message would motivate them, especially with rumors of more layoffs coming down the road? That mindset is one of the (many) reasons I quit. As bad as I feel for those impacted by layoffs, there is also a feeling of relief for them. You can't see how poisonous that environment is until you leave.

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Post ID: @dno+1mGz0HPK

The quiet quitters have figured out that they can work super hard and get an average ranking at the end of the year on their performance appraisals or they can squeak by and do the bare minimum and get the same ranking. The days of getting rewarded for hard work are over….at least at 3M

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Post ID: @hmw+1mGz0HPK

Completely agree with both KeepOnKeepinOn and PullTheRipCord. I used to love my job and my team. I thought my lack of motivation and happiness (at work only) was just a temporary funk I was stuck in and it would go away. I also thought it was just me for a while. We’re over a year into this feeling now and it’s just not a great place to work anymore. Others have agreed in this forum and in real life. I’ve been expected to do two jobs since last year, and people say “well you were promoted so you should be thankful”. Eh. Sure, “promoted” is one way you could put it. Two jobs for one salary is also kinda free labor. Lol. I’ve kind of been hoping I would get the lay off call these days. I dread logging into work, and I just shut the computer at the end of the day (sometimes early) because the firehose is never ending. And it’s all “urgent”. Every single email and ping is the most urgent thing in the world. So I stopped caring how long it takes to get back to people. My ability to pretend I care is totally gone, and I’m very very honest now as well. Said things I shouldn’t have. I’m kinda over it. I’ve decided to just do what I can at work, but truly live in my mornings, lunch break, and evening after work. Put my effort into my real life and let my work be just that. Work. We’re here to enjoy the world, not work. Do I want a job I love? Heck yeah. But there are bills to pay and dependents to think about. I’ve made my peace with it.

I sure would love people to stop saying “work harder because the quiet quitters are ruining everything”. The system has ruined everything. The quiet quitters are just trying to enjoy life outside of that system and find a balance. Don’t say we’re slackers. We just find the world more interesting than being a cog within the four walls of an office making the higher ups richer and richer. Wow that was longer than I had originally meant to type. Sorry about that. Lol

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Post ID: @vai+1mGz0HPK

Reduced roof,

I remember being a people leader when I was "given a list" of choices to terminate. I had to pick someone from a list of 3 or 4. Funny thing, one of the people on the list was a supreme buttkisser and marginal employee. I absolutely hated HATED the Roman empire edicts to fire people to help make the next quarter's earnings target. However, though it still bummed me to release anyone, at least that call was the right one.

You are EXACTLY right. 3M gets 40 hours. Not one second more. They have chosen to destroy the two-way street of loyalty when then went Ultra GE 23 years ago. You reap what you sow.

Please to all good 3Mers be careful out there!!!!

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Post ID: @klw+1mGz0HPK

Don't hate,

You are spot on. Just keep your sanity as best you can and take care of family and personal health.

Why did this company destroy an incredible heritage in the 1st 100 years? A lot of us despise everything GE and it started when the board screwed this company hiring a guy who was rejected as GE CEO in 2000 when Jack Welch retired. Mcnerney is the cancer or perhaps std that infected this company.

Take care of your coworkers and loved ones. Roman, tireman, etc. Don't care a dime about you.

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Post ID: @ned+1mGz0HPK

I’ll be damned if I’m going to work 60-80 hours/week during the few precious weeks of summer we get here in MN just so M&M can give an extra $80k/yr to the shareholders. 3M gets 40 hours and that’s it. If they want more productivity they can hire more people. Not going to k!ll myself just to get laid off next earnings call.

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Post ID: @cfr+1mGz0HPK

Keep on and rip cord,

You two embody the 3M of the 1980s. What a great company. Ethical. Employee focused. Generous. Proud to be here. Teamwork. People loved working here and really loved each other. We got to know and meet families of employees.

I got "lucky" based on my birth year being in the early 1960s and then joining a great company in mid 1980s.

The 3M empire shined brightly until Dec 2000, when 3M board ignored the culture and innovation engine and hired the shiny new coin. A GE buffoon. James McNerney will have to answer to his maker for how many lives he destroyed with his short-term focus on cost cutting (layoffs) and "efficiency" (more layoffs) while bragging to CNN business what a great guy he was to "reinvent" (destroy) 3M.

My recommendation to you and your teams:

  1. Care for each other. People need support.
  2. Focus on your personal safety and those on your team. Tireman isn't going to spend a dime to save you. Be out in field often if you are in the plants to keep an eye on your brother or sister in 3M.
  3. Even if you WFH, leave work at 5 and shut it down. On weekends, stop reading email at 5 pm Fri then resume 7 am Mon.
  4. Remember that you are working for a living, not living for a working (pardon my text, Huey Lewis). Never ever give a ruthless employer more than a 2nd thought. This isn't the 3M of the 80s or 90s.
  5. When layoffs happen and they try to pass the full workload on the rest of you, decide what you can SAFELY do and don't make one more pound than that. If you pick up the pieces and work your bu-t off to break a production record, that will inspire the bosses to cut more hoping for another miracle. Even if the boss threatens to "fire you all" it is really he/she who will get replaced by tireman if he/she can't cheerlead you to making more with less.

Be careful out there (from a great show of my college days, Hill Street Blues).

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Post ID: @xjc+1mGz0HPK

Completely agree with both KeepOnKeepinOn and PullTheRipCord. I used to love my job and my team. I thought my lack of motivation and happiness (at work only) was just a temporary funk I was stuck in and it would go away. I also thought it was just me for a while. We’re over a year into this feeling now and it’s just not a great place to work anymore. Others have agreed in this forum and in real life. I’ve been expected to do two jobs since last year, and people say “well you were promoted so you should be thankful”. Eh. Sure, “promoted” is one way you could put it. Two jobs for one salary is also kinda free labor. Lol. I’ve kind of been hoping I would get the lay off call these days. I dread logging into work, and I just shut the computer at the end of the day (sometimes early) because the firehose is never ending. And it’s all “urgent”. Every single email and ping is the most urgent thing in the world. So I stopped caring how long it takes to get back to people. My ability to pretend I care is totally gone, and I’m very very honest now as well. Said things I shouldn’t have. I’m kinda over it. I’ve decided to just do what I can at work, but truly live in my mornings, lunch break, and evening after work. Put my effort into my real life and let my work be just that. Work. We’re here to enjoy the world, not work. Do I want a job I love? Heck yeah. But there are bills to pay and dependents to think about. I’ve made my peace with it.

I sure would love people to stop saying “work harder because the quiet quitters are ruining everything”. The system has ruined everything. The quiet quitters are just trying to enjoy life outside of that system and find a balance. Don’t say we’re slackers. We just find the world more interesting than being a cog within the four walls of an office making the higher ups richer and richer. Wow that was longer than I had originally meant to type. Sorry about that. Lol

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Post ID: @jwv+1mGz0HPK

KeepOnKeepinOn, you have summed up my sentiments exactly. I am often a koolaid consuming cheerleader for my several dotted line project teams and direct reports. Something in me died in the last 18 months and I just don’t have it in me anymore. I really want to be positive and hopeful but I just can’t be. I have said things I should not have, I have spoken out of turn, and I have gotten so comfortable saying “I have no idea”. Most of our functional counterparts have been cut and we are a very few left standing. I used to have survivor’s guilt, but when I looked really hard at myself I realized I am jealous and wish I could be put out of my misery. Where is our Dr Kavorkian? I would not want that for my family but what about me … I won’t stay sane at this rate.

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Post ID: @kks+1mGz0HPK

The environment at work is one I have not experienced before. Even those who one would expect to be ‘cheerleaders’ are feeling the pressure and pain from the deep cuts this round. And everyone is thinking, how will everything get done.

For myself, part of me wants to be positive and excited for the new structure, etc.. yet there is a tremendous amount of pressure knowing if we don’t get it right.. more cuts. All that as well as care and concern for our many colleagues directly impacted with an elimination and supporting them to full time placement.

Workloads for some are increasing drastically and then not so much for the ‘lucky’ ones.

You are So darn lucky, you made it! Many of us have a new reality knowing we likely won’t make it to ‘push the button’. Enjoy retirement, you deserve it.

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Post ID: @gmz+1mGz0HPK

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