An employee with 37 years of service was let go yesterday with no warning. No poor evaluations etc. The manager was forced to do it. Nobody knows why. We don't know if there was a package involved but assume there was.
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How many "friends of the family" or folks of "questionable parentage" are still "working" and on the payroll? How many of the incompetents who have been promoted far, far above their level of incompetence remain? Are they there as some sort of "Corporate Conservatorship" agreement?
There are several people there with over 30 years logged at the company. No one can figure out what they do each day and are known as “gravy trainers”. So just because you have the years of service doesn’t mean you deserve to hold on to your job. Everyone at any job is, just a number. No one is or should be exempt just because they have been there a long time. Things change and evolve. It could be that after that many years:
- The role is no longer needed
- The role has surpassed the employee’s knowledge/experience
- The employee has become complacent and thinks they can’t be touched
You have to know the entire story to understand the reasons behind someone being let go.
Now, to follow that, there are also instances when dedicated employees that have given years of their blood, sweat and tears - get sh!tted on.
It’s the nature of the beast sometimes. Again, at the end of the day, we are ALL just a number.
Low performers (on a Performance Plan) get 4 weeks when fired. If job is elliminated: 4 weeks plus 2 weeks / year of service from year 2 to when fired, maxes at 52 weeks.
They have been trying to classify people as "low performers" to save the big severance payouts.. guess they didn't find enough.
"Of course he's letting the more senior and more expensive people go. He's trying to sell the company."
Wait, what? Sell the company?!? No, no, no, IPO-readiness (wink).
Of course he's letting the more senior and more expensive people go. He's trying to sell the company. Cheaper salaries are more attractive to buyers. He has no allegiance to you no matter how many years you've been there.
I have friends still there too, but they know what they are doing. They are all in their late 50s or early 60s, ready to retire if a layoff hits them.
The younger people who remain risk getting laid off in a recession. They are either willing to take that risk, or they don't understand their situation, or they choose to believe it is not happening.
I took the voluntary early retirement package in 2021, and stuff like this was a big part of my motivation to do so. I figured it was better to leave and receive a pile of cash rather than be told to leave and get nothing. There’a definitely a “jettison the expensive older people” mentality at work, no matter how the loss of knowledge hurts the company. I gave SAS more than 35 years, and it’s still a great comfort to refer to them now in the third person rather than the first person. I do worry about my friends who are still there, though.
Which group? because that describes more than one :-/
Yesterday I heard entire group in building Q was let go due to lack of revenue from their projects.
Don't make assumptions. There have not been any packages. The only obligation is what is stated in the termination policy.
If it helps, I volunteer to have a lower age.
Interesting. The SEs went last time, and it looks like most of them were senior. The push to reduce the average age of employees to under 30 is galling.
Interesting that they let 5 'low performers'. As you stated, it's usually the opposite.
I'm waiting for some of those Senior Directors to get their notice. There's one in particular that's especially worthless but appears to be 'protected' for some odd reason.
Regarding the 5 low performers, I am amazed to hear this. Often, its the out of the box thinkers who are targeted.
Heard about ~5 low performers let go from one of the solutions engineering teams. All on the same day.
Yea, in Cary. I don't know any details just that it was a handful of folks.
Sales where - NC?
I heard some sales folks were let go last week. 37 years, dang, that is near founder level! I would love to see them offer an early retirement package with a rule of 80. Age plus years of service equals 80 or greater.