Could Gannett be waiting until after next week to announce the big newspaper division layoffs, because someone thought victims should enjoy one last Thanksgiving -- right before they get canned?"All I want,'' one reader said yesterday, "is the spoiler to this poorly written tale of corporate malfeasance."
[Photo: Butterball]
Could Gannett be waiting until after Thanksgiving to announce layoffs? Wow, that's real nice of them. My bank says that they won't forclose on my house until after the holidays. The federal government is offering extended unemployment benefits for when I lose my job with Gannett. I guess this crappy economy is bringing out the holiday spirit in everybody, including those at the helm of this rolling shipwreck. Now if the three spirits of christmas can visit CD and make him see the error of his ways, all will be right in the world. NAH! Ain't gonna happen!
ReplyDeleteThis is a bullshit post! All it's doing is fostering even more misery and stress for the folks waiting for the ax to fall -- folks who do not have the luxury of taking a buyout.
ReplyDeleteThere really isn't much of a difference between a buyout and being laid off outright.
ReplyDeleteThere really isn't.
The difference between a buyout and a layoff is the same as the difference between your mistress and your wife.
ReplyDeleteThey all have their positive sides, it's just a matter of desire and timing....
But most of the time you wish you had never heard of either one of them, and you'd just rather be at work.
All buyouts, layoffs, firings, terminations, dumpings, tossings, axing is all going to happen on December 3rd.
ReplyDeleteThis will give Santa Craig time to review the list and check it twice over the Thanksgiving holiday while he is stuffing himself with turkey.
I think you're right on target, Jim. I was expecting to hear word yesterday (Friday), but all was quiet. Next week, 90 percent of the newsroom, including many top editors, is going to be gone for the bulk of the week. The week of Dec. 2 is it.
ReplyDelete6:30: Does that mean the 10 Percenters (a great name someone else here coined) can be said to have lost their jobs because of Craigslist?
Merry F'in Christmas and to all a good night!
ReplyDeleteThere is something postponing an announcement at USA TODAY. Not sure what it is, but I think most people would rather just know as soon as possible.
ReplyDeleteCurious as to why there aren't more people on here discussing the rather obvious pending news at USAT? Maybe everyone has just given up. The work environment is so bad, so confusing and frustrating, that perhaps it simply doesn't matter anymore.
When they laid me off, in a moment of self-protection I asked if I could take a salary cut. IMMEDIATEDLY the HR "Director" said these parting words:
ReplyDelete"The decision is final."
I'll always remember that, especially after all the long drives, unpaid overtime hours and 'above and beyond" work I performed.
7:28: Regarding USAT, I have it on good authority that several positions have been or are about to be slashed in editorial. I feel for you all in Tysons.
ReplyDeleteWhy I'm surprised at everyone. Do you really think they will let us know December 3rd? Hell NO! They will wait until the day after Christmas to tell us. We need to fill-in for all those who are on vacations! Good time to clean up your desk.
ReplyDeleteOn that 'the decision is final' comment: That, sadly is also part of the training HR people get in how to handle layoffs. You speak in utter absolutes and you cannot offer even a glimmer of a chance that the person can keep his/her job. The whole point of the meeting is to terminate the person's employment, period.
ReplyDelete'The decision is final' is a trained response to any inquiry about job-keeping. You might as well be talking to a robot.
8:26, any idea what level positions are going to be cut at USAT? Mid or upper managers? Staffers? God forbid they touch any of the online folks. They all apparently walk on water, although I will be damned if I can figure out what some of them do. Like last year, the newsroom bosses will probably turn around and hire more web staffers as soon as the laid off people are gone. What an insult. Yet, few ever seem to get rattled by this stuff. They continue palling around with the people who are making these calls, believing in them, trusting them, laughing at their stupid jokes. We should freeze them out and make it known we aren't buying this crap anymore. Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
ReplyDeleteYou also mentioned "several." With the fear of sounding insenstive, that is a surprisingly low number of job cuts for such a large newsroom. Has anyone heard how many people might get cut at USAT? Is it several, or is it more in line with how many were bought out last year?
Wonder why they are delaying the announcement and leaving themselves open to an entire weekend of speculation? It's become fairly common knowledge that there will be job losses at USAT. You would think they would want to cap wild rumors and just lay out the facts ASAP. Funny how almost everytime they have a chance to be honest and open about things (even unpleasant things), they remind us that we are NOT all in this together. It's them against us, so hopefully they save the somber tones next week and just spew out the facts like the corporate puppets they are. Save the baby pictures and funny jokes. No one is going to buy that act anymore. While you're at it, you know what you can do with that popcorn...?
Yes, it's getting personal now.
USAT advertising staffers, already were solicited this, week for voluntary buyouts. If,, too few accept, other cuts will, be made. Rumors are floating, about other departments, but, no ,one seems to have definite answers.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I am not, rmichem, but I play him, on Jim's blog.
If it's any consolation, 8:01, those in HR (or even editors or any supervisor in any department) who do things like say "the decision is final" in a robotic way will have to answer for their ways eventually. Those who find honor in only looking out for themselves or their immediate families will be judged harshly by the universe. We all have a responsibility to go against the grain when need be, regardless if it leads to our being fired. Yet Gannett is filled with people who lack that kind of courage and integrity. Therefore, the company is now in the shape it's in because people who should have stood up and been more human, more honest and open, decided to manage by the playbook and cover their own butts. This is why corporate America is collapsing. Too much ass kissing for too many decades.
ReplyDeleteAs I look around my office on a daily basis, I am sometimes overwhelmed by the amount of lies that aren't even considered lies because they've been rolled into company policy.
When people begin pushing back against the Gannett, maybe the tide will turn. Maybe in their own lives things will improve and their children won't hear "the decision is final" in the jobs they might lose one day. Maybe when this HR person is on their death bed, reviewing their life, maybe they will then have some perspective on what they did and didn't do in the workplace.
Everyone needs to wake up, become more aware of right and wrong and not follow a script that has become so corrupt and void of values that it is destroying the entire economy. But we need to be honest and open about our anger and objections, and not just take 20 sick days a year to deal with it. Managers need to speak from the heart and not just the company manual. We need to connect and feel that that "hello" in the hallway was an honest hello and not something someone learned in a management seminar.
And most of all, lawyers need to stop running companies into the ground and allow people to be people. What we have now at most Gannett properties is a mish-mash of illusion and fear brought on by years of attorneys' bad advice and a passive-aggresive workforce that fights back in ways that are far more damaging than most lawyers and CEOs could ever imagine.
Yes, seems like things are stirring at USAT, but there is no one central source to uncover these secrets. Horrible communication once again at USAT. Whatever meetings are called next week...well, too little too late. You suits blew it again and let this blog steer the news that you all should have had the guts to tell us in a cohesive and prompt manner. Strange that a newspaper would be so ineffective at releasing news in timely manner and constantly allow leaks here. I am personally getting sick and tired of reading about cutbacks on this blog, regardless of what department they are in, at my own newspaper and my own bosses saying nothing.
ReplyDeletePut the blame on Ken Paulson for dragging his feet or being too afraid to buck the system and demand that he be allowed to share what he already knows. Any cuts in editorial at USAT should have been announced by now. A strong editor wouldn't have saved it for a holiday week. And if the MEs know, they get some of the blame too for not being honest and forthright with their staffs.
ReplyDeleteYou know, all HR would have to do is add an I'm sorry, the decision is final. Those two little words go a long way in softening the blow but in Gannett you never hear them. The other two are - Thank you.
ReplyDeleteUSAT constantly publishes old news in print and online, so it doesn't surprise me that the managers-editors don't have any sense of urgency in sharing news that directly impacts their staffers.
ReplyDeleteI agree with 10:58, that a "thank you" or "I am sorry" is all that is needed sometimes. But HR (and other supervisors) are so scared and in some cases jaded, that any hint of being genuine or caring is almost impossible.
ReplyDeleteBut beyond that, shouldn't the company do more to help relocate people? Gannett is a big firm. Maybe some jobs could be tranferred if people were willing to move.
Just seems to be no creativity in saving some jobs. And there is certainly a ton of waste in other areas that need to be addressed.
Speaking of a lack of urgency, wonder why Jim hasn't weighed in on the happenings at his old paper? Probably just waiting for the meeting next week, but not his typical style of wanting to break news before his old bosses can release it. You're missing a great opportunity to stick it to them, Jim.
ReplyDeleteRemember, Jim has told us that in essence, we're his ears and eyes. Not sure he's going to be able to do much with this latest pending news from USA Today unless someone comes through and feeds him the facts about what is going to be announced.
ReplyDeleteI will concur that he has been uncharacteristically silent on this one, not even putting a call out to find out what's happening.
I am not the Superman of Sources; I rely on readers of this blog to ferret out information about Gannett's hundreds of businesses -- among them, USA Today.
ReplyDeleteInformation about layoffs at specific papers is being guarded by a small number of people at each work site. Cracking into that isn't easy.
Most important, I have no desire to "stick it" to anyone -- at USAT or elsewhere.
11:11 am: You've now got your call, at http://tinyurl.com/63zcqq
ReplyDeleteWhether it's your intent or not, you are indeed "sticking it to them" with this blog. Not criticizing. Just stating a fact and, for the most part, enjoying it.
ReplyDeleteI understand that some folks in management wish this blog didn't exist. But there are plenty of others in management who think otherwise.
ReplyDeleteIn any case, keeping a blog merely to "stick it'' to my former employer would be fun for about a nano-second, and then it would get boring very fast. I keep this blog as a public service for the benefit of employees and others who want to make informed decisions about their careers and investments.
I think the layoffs will be coming the week after Thanksgiving because we need "all hands on deck" to put together some of the biggest papers of the year... There's some serious newshole to fill this next week. Having to cope with a huge workload in the midst of colleagues getting laid off is not a good idea, so it'll happen in early Dec. Those are my thoughts, anyway.
ReplyDeleteOur entire ad sales staff is off on Friday.
ReplyDelete