First off I am very sorry to those who got cut, one who did is a good friend of mine.
We had a saying in the Mount Laurel office for Mattel lay offs: L.O.P. time! It stood for Lay Off Pizza. Every time Mattel ML had a lay off they served hot pizza afterwards to the survivors to calm nerves. It was so gross witnessing the groveling employee survivors thankfully scurry away with a hot slice on a drippy paper plate like a rat with fallen table scraps. Many of us refused to eat it as our toy comrades corporate blood was split. We would walk out and refuse to eat the grievance slop. Still, MML was the best office I ever worked at, it was the people not the company. I still work with many of them to this day.
I was part of the Mount Laurel NJ Office closing in 2004. I was one of the few who was offered to transfer to CA. How they handled that closing was utterly disgusting and still makes me sick to this day. They started a 6 month program called the 180 initiative to "turn things around" (even though our office was very profitable) After the 5 month mark they called us to an offsite meeting where Mark Sullivan dramatically popped out from a curtain like a cheap celebrity to announce the office was going to be closed. Many in the room gasped as the two faced hack peaked his mustache bristles out from behind the curtain but just as many knew what was coming. It was like a Nazi death camp in terms of that Mattel had set up. We are professional adults, how about just announce it in a professional manner. They squeezed us for the last cost cutting profits and canned everyone. even the one offered had to interview for their jobs again. The prima donna Hot Wheels team finally got their wish to gut TYCO R/C and diminish the Matchbox brand. They, sadly, were a driving force of that closing sorry to say. (BTW- How is TYCO R/C? Oh that's right the dopes bumbled that line to nothing.) I saw first hand what a political infighting environment El Segundo was/is and knew I was going nowhere. Best decision that I made was to quit on the day my contract expired and I told them months in advance what I was doing. I never looked back since. It will be difficult for many, the benefits were great but you will be better in the long run. They always made you just comfortable to not leave. sometimes a forced boot is a good one.
Bottom line if you kiss the right ass at Mattel and botch your lines your a rock star! Management always survives and when they get a fat slice of LOP it comes with a fat check. They still have the Jim Handy good old boy club mentality they refuse to let go of. Hasbro is going to eat them alive in the coming years.