So given that most of GM is an open office, do you think will they will walk over to you or IM you to come to a room? Then will you see the affected people at their drawer with security?
Will their badge just not work that day and security will be at the front who will guide the affected employees to a room?
I think it will happen on Feb 4 or Feb 5.
It’s sad. They make you do the walk of shame twice.
You get a Skype message from a manager to meet with a director (2nd floor here in Austin.). Meeting is about 15 mins. Another manager walks you back to your desk and watches while you pack up your belongings. They take your laptop, badge, cc and phone, if you still have it. I was not laid off but several people around me have been and that is the gist of what happened to them. No idea what happens in the meeting.
VDOC Warren speaking here. They waited for me to get back from lunch. They had another group manager follow me from the 4th floor elevator to my cube. He made small talk then called someone on the phone as he walked around a corner. My supervisor in Phoenix immediately IMed me. I was asked to go to a conference room on the first floor of the VDOC which was still under construction. Austin had already conferenced in. There was an HR rep from the Tech Center proper present who absolutely refused to give me his name for the record despite my asking several times. He did not have a visible GM ID on either that I could read and take note of. My director made a video cameo and stared me down without saying a word like he was ringside at a sporting event. My first level HR rep read a rote statement informing me that I was being terminated immediately. I asked why. I was told for "ongoing performance issues". The group manager in the room was stunned. I have an earned PhD, a Kettering Award, 4 patents, a Tool Method Invention, and publications to my name. My phone was immediately taken away from me. I asked for it back to call my attorney who was negotiating a separation package for me at the time and had already in contact with a GM lawyer in the RecCen. My request was declined. I was not threatening to sue. I was just trying to find out just what the hell was going on. My ID was seized. I was given a separation packet which consisted of roughly 4 pages. A Venn diagram and one page of phone numbers stand out in my mind. All of the phone numbers went to contract workers who did not have a complete grasp of GM policy. No one could answer a single one of my separation questions. No one bothered to return my calls. (Heated emails were subsequently exchanged with my old HR rep in Phoenix per the GM attorney.) I was not allowed to return to my cube. The meeting lasted perhaps 10 minutes. The last thing I saw was my supervisor in Phoenix with his head in his hands. I was later told his former manager at the VDOC had conferenced in by phone and that he had never witnessed anyone being fired before. I was escorted out of the building to my car. The secretary boxed my desk up and it was FedExed to me in two boxes a week later. A cup got broken and my favorite coffee mug of 9 years got dented. Know that GM IT in Austin willfully broke federal and state law in firing me. I am disabled. I requested a separation package after my director weaponized my teamGM and could not substantiate that I only met 70 - 80% of my objectives. His opinion stood despite escalation through HR channels. An employee who receives a separation agreement has 21 days to review it with an attorney and an additional 7 days to rescind it by Michigan law. I was fired on day 17 of that window despite being protected by the Americans With Disabilities Act. GM IT Austin had actually threatened me ahead of time. They told me they looked into it and could fire me. I told them I didn't doubt it from what I had seen after returning from medical leave but that I would highly advise them to get a second legal opinion because I was protected by federal law. They actually mocked my disability after a series of strokes. Nice huh. Two Austin HR reps were fired afterwards by GM Legal in Detroit for cause. One of them was Ahmed's right hand man. My separation agreement was reinstated without question by GM Legal. The GM lawyer was wonderful to work with. I was terminated on April 21st. I was rehired and voluntarily retired via attorney to attorney on April 24th given that a weekend fell between those dates. I was paid through the end of August which I had initially requested in my separation agreement. My benefits were good only through the end of April. That was a major snafu. I was supposed to have corporate medical and life insurance for 4 months. Once you are terminated you are coded differently in the system as an ex-employee and there is no override. GM Legal gracefully agreed to pay for any medical bills I incurred until I was re-insured through another medical insurance provider. It does not make a difference if you have additional paychecks coming in or not. The day you are terminated is the day of record. All benefits cease at the end of the month that you are terminated. Payments come out of the check on the 15th of every month. Be very aware of that fact. Ask for any benefit continuation promise in writing in the layoff meeting. Expect separations to be performed surgically. HR reps and managers will stoically stick solely to a script. There will be no deviation. You will not have a chance to challenge them. Click click click - one and done. Next in line please type of thing. Good luck as the sh--storm begins in earnest this time around.
From what I was told today, you will be invited into a conference room by a director level person in your department and be told in person.
Apparently you’ll keep your work phone though
During the bankruptcy layoffs, we saw managers walk up to a person working and escort them to a conference room. Security guards were posted randomly throughout the building.
In the conference room, the person would get a package from HR and the “employee services” person, explaining their benefits and available placement services.
I’m not sure how they got their personal belongings.
For contract workers, the contract company representatives would come in and collect their employees’ things.
I’m sure there’s no warm fuzzy way to do this, but what I saw appeared to be as swift and least humiliating as possible.
I wasn’t laid off though, so what do I know?
Ok cool. Hook Em
Same with me Kelly , a contract employee too. I was allowed to walk in though with security. I was told they had to cut all contract people so they could make their way to cut the salary employees , to avoid salaried people throwing a fit contract was cut first. If you think about it , it's kinda clever in the fact Managers will have a clear view of who was productive and not productive , this will make it easier to cut unproductive salaried positions.
They'll probably invite you to a 1:1 and tell you they will bring your stuff down to the front.