Thread regarding Chesapeake Energy Corp. layoffs

I do not work at CHK but I have lived in Oklahoma City my entire life and have MANY friends that currently work there or have worked there. I hear about ALL of the goings on in that company. As an outsider, and citizen of OKC, I can say I'm proud of what AKM did with the company and for the entire surrounding community and this city. Think of all that OKC has thanks to AKM.....Classen Curve, Pops, revamped NH Plaza, Deep Fork Group, Whole Foods, Arcadia Farms, OKC Thunder, the list goes on and on!!! He is a visionary and a class act that believes whole-heartedly in taking care of his people and helping enhance their lives. He should be mentioned in the same category as the Putnam, the Nichols, or the Hefner families....all of which have various parts of town named after them. Rather than bitch, complain, moan, and bash him from your miserable little dark closets where no one can find you, why don't you try to do something to better yourself and this city without AKM doing it for you. Maybe you have amnesia, but I doubt you were complaining when AKM had CHK clicking on all cylinders. I have followed this company for many years. It was the darling stock of Wall Street many times over. The stock went from $0.75 at one time to $70. No one was complaining then. They shattered earnings for some, I don't know, 20 years!!! They made huge profits for the shareholders year after year until only recently and that was only due to a commodity crater. One mistake casued all of this. Had NG remained up, this message board wouldn't even exist. Had gas even remained in the $5-6 range, all of you would be growing your little 401Ks, watching your stock grow, cashing your bonus checks, etc. The execs are not the only people that AKM made money for. He GAVE you stock and made YOU returns for 20 plus years! I didn't hear any of you complaining when you were getting bonuses not once, but TWICE a year. I didn't hear any of you complaining when you had the largest charity Halloween party in town and actually got to skip work to attend it. No one complained about taking their family Christmas pictures under the lights or by the beautiful flowers. No one bitched when they got to go to the Fortune parties and get drunk on the bosses dime (for being one of the best places to work in the entire country, I might add). Or how about all of the Thunder tickets they GAVE to the employees. Show me another company that does more for their staff. As for the new so-called leadership, welcome to plain, boring, bland, robotic, corporate America. At one time AKM introduced himself to every single employee. DL is so far up Wall Street's and Archie's ass, now you'll be lucky to ever see him in person. Do you think he gives two shits about you or your kids or what your parents do or what your interests are? He is Archie and Karl's puppet and you are DL's puppets. They could give a shit about you or your job, or your home, or your mortgage, or even give a flying shit about this city. They want to rid you of all things not profitable. Happiness in the workplace comes about 99th on their list of 100 most important criteria in building a successful business. They know nothing about people or keeping them happy. They are robots and only know one thing and that is how to make Wall Street and their fellow Execs money. DL will hide behind the smokescreen, obscure, and vague emails. He'll tell you they're building the greatest company in the business....yeah greatest in exactly ONE aspect....the bottom line. At some point, the bottom line is not everything. A comfortable, friendly, sane, fun, yet efficient work environment is nearly as important. Your company is only as good as the people that work for it. If the employees aren't happy, then what's the point...unless of course, you don't mind being miserable robots. That makes for a GREAT company right? No character, just worker bees who have ZERO self-respect. I too have read all of the emails and articles. My biggest issue with the whole ordeal has been the management's terrible handling of the layoffs. DL claims the companies "Core Values" are integrity, transparency, and open communication. Throughout this whole transition, he/they have not held tight to ANY of those values. Rip the damn Band-Aid off! Quit dangling the carrot (or lack thereof). You owe it to the lives you are changing. This is a classic example of how NOT to handle layoffs. Do your evaluation behind closed doors rather than going to the media to tell them that you are "restructuring". Call it what it is for God's sake. We're DOWNSIZING!!!! Enough with the clouded comments. Make your cuts all at once. The way this is handled is like saying to someone, "We might come armed to rob your family within the next few months, but we're not telling you for sure or when." What a careless way to treat people. It's an utter lack of respect not only for the people that are let go, but for the people who remain, but have to sit and wait in fear of their jobs. They have put fear in each and every one of you. How can you trust this new regime that this will all be over on Nov 1. Why? Because DL said it would be? Archie has said for a full year that there will be cuts. For a year, people have gone to work every single day wondering if they will have a job at the end of the day. What a crock of shit! This management needs to grow some balls and treat people with respect. Get it over with and move on toward creating your "best company in the business." This city embraced CHK and its people. From here situation forward, CHK will be viewed in a negative light with the citizens of this city. Is it still going to be a company we are proud of? Why should it be? Because they treated their employees so well? I think not! The company is moving onward, but definitely not upward!