Thursday, April 02, 2009
Thursday | April 2 | Your News & Comments
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84 comments:
Jim says: "Proceed with caution; this is a free-for-all comment zone. I try to correct or clarify incorrect information. But I can't catch everything. Please keep your posts focused on Gannett and media-related subjects. Note that I occasionally review comments in advance, to reject inappropriate ones. And I ignore hostile posters, and recommend you do, too."
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frisked!
ReplyDeleteHow is it that the stock is STILL above two bucks? I'd maybe take a chance at six cents or so.
ReplyDeletePulling together new production hubs doesn't seem to produce the sort of savings I am expecting corporate to demand in this quarter. There is another shoe that is about to drop, and I am afraid it will be a huge one this time.
ReplyDelete12;25
ReplyDeleteI have to agree...their nefarious minds are working double time
The company's focus for months has been on the negative...lay offs, consolidate, furloughs, pay freezes, cut cut cut...except when it comes to their bonuses. Even "Best Practices" was put on hold for several months and that's a great tool for sharing what sites are doing right! It's understandable to analyze the way we conduct business to see how we can better ourselves and save expenses in this down economy. Instead, corporate is always dwelling on the negative and focusing on cutting cutting cutting no matter how much profit your site may be making! Why aren't they focusing on the positive and exploring innovative ways to make money? We can't because corporate has our hands tied and mandates what we do. The sites making a profit should be left alone because evidently something is going right for them. The sites not making a profit should be receiving the cuts because in the meantime corporate is robbing Peter to pay Paul and it pulls everybody down. Sites are rewarded for not making a profit with pub/director/mgr bonuses as if they're making a profit. If corporate continues to reward sites who are making profits with layoffs and furloughs to the point of not being able to conduct business properly, who will be left to make the profit?
ReplyDeleteGuys, it’s going to be a busy few months ahead of us. Just remember that changes are needed. Changes are good. Its natural to resist change but as the business environment changes, we must change with it or perish. Please take these changes as signs that the captain is not asleep at the wheel. Hang in there troops, a lot of questions will be answered in the coming weeks about our direction. Jim, for evidence of some positive ad growth, why don’t you see what ad reps are feeling? I am sure a few would be more then happy to talk to you. Just a hint. Keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteI resent to being spoken to as "Troops"! Especially when you ask for all of the sacrifices to start from the bottom! Gannett does not and will never care about the lower employees as long as corporate is making their bonuses!This,"troop war", against the economy is only to divert the attention away from corporate sitting on their hands while stocks drop and they line thier pockets with the workers sweat and blood in layoffs and furloughs. The only way this corporation will ever respect it's employees is the day they all unionize! Gannett never should have been given the right to eat up all the t. v. and newspapers that they have! We haven't seen the end of the pain, "Troops"! Change is good, even when it means you get escorted to the curb! Big change means they are going to screw the litle workers again and not pull apart the multiple layers of the management that creates the ass kissing and negative anti-union repores on this blog! Hope everyone is grabbing their socks sounds like they are going to run this corporation into the ground for the few sakes of the "pharoahs" running the comapany "Troops"!!!
ReplyDeleteIt would be more fun to see a goliath fall than see my co-workers taking furloughs and laid-off for the sake of management and coporate bonuses! "Bring it on!" Like the Dummy bush said!
ReplyDeleteDamn 1.31 am, hope the kool-aid doesn't ask you to commit suicide in the end! Just like guyana and "JIm Jones"! You have a college degree look it up!
ReplyDelete1:31 -- Nice use of a cliche, but change is not always good, and the changes that newspapers are undergoing are downright awful.
ReplyDeleteWho gives a shit about ad revenue if we're getting it by posting pictures of scantily clad women on our news sites and taking once proud local papers and regionalizing them?
Understandably, Dumbo and his cronies care, but journalists certainly don't. There's not enough money in journalism to stick with this line of work just to put out the sort of shit that Gannett asks for these days.
The quicker we can all get out the industry the better off we'll be. But, hey, thanks for the pep talk.
Did anyone else have more layoffs today? Some newspapers in the community division or whatever it's called had some layoffs. City editor, copy editor. And a full-timer now part-time.
ReplyDelete1:31 -- Who said the captain was asleep at the wheel? Clearly he's wide awake. After all, he's the one who spotted the iceburg and demanded that we speed up and chart a course straight toward it.
ReplyDeleteConsidering the golden parachutes our captains have in place, it is advantageous for them to sink the ship. And they are obviously more than happy to do that.
I'm sure they're happy to have people like you on board, though. After all, there has to be somebody to play in the band.
"We the people", control this blog not the company goffers that repeat and distribute the mind swelling garbage that you have been feeding us for years! Oops sorry , my bad, "BULLSHIT!!! Thats what this management and corporate has instilled into the minds of new co-workers and sending the older ones out! Gannett has run its coarse and the crooks that run it are about to realize that they have tapped the company for all the "CASH" it can. Good riddence leave. Gannett isn't what it was and never will be! The sooner they break this company up the better "True americans" will be. I stress that because the people that steal and outsource aren't true americans!
ReplyDeleteThank you jim for everything you do!
ReplyDeleteThanks for letting me do it, 2:44 am!
ReplyDeleteNope, my friend, it is you that have excelled!
ReplyDelete1:31 AM wrote:
ReplyDeleteGuys, it’s going to be a busy few months ahead of us. Just remember that changes are needed. Changes are good. Its natural to resist change but as the business environment changes, we must change with it or perish."
True, I'm not fond of change, but I'd go along with it better if I didn't get the uncomfortable feeling that Corporate is just making this shit up as they go along. It's like watching a chicken with its head cut off run around the barnyard for a while to see if it can find its head again.
"Please take these changes as signs that the captain is not asleep at the wheel."
Asleep? No. Clueless and with no idea where to steer us? Absolutely.
Honesty, sometimes these days it seems like Corporate folks WANT newspapers to die so we can go on to ... what? Some Internet model that will make zero money? Outrageous.
4/02/2009 2:19 AM
ReplyDeleteScrew you...................whinner
HOME DELIVERY at Asbury Park Press Home Delivery is Out. Neptune, Keyport & Navesink Warehouses to close May 3rd. PCF scores another one.
ReplyDeleteToo everyone left (almost everyone) it's been good working with you. Good Luck.
Jim, anything new on the rumors about layoffs next week?
ReplyDelete1:31am
ReplyDeleteThe great ad reps have already left the company. They're done with the industry and realize it's over for newspapers.
"In a company of 30 employees, if you do a great job, there is a good chance you'll be recognized. But in a company of thousands? It's easy to be missed. And easy to be laid off."
ReplyDeleteReally good post at harvardbusiness.org on "Why Small Companies Will Win in This Economy" -- http://alturl.com/bdiq -- and although he's mostly talking about financial industry, you could apply it to the argument that newspapers aren't necessarily failing as much as newspaper corporations are failing.
Even Regional Regeneration Hubs won't help the Gannett skin jobs anymore.
ReplyDeleteDaily Record a/k/a Daily (Wretched) just laid off 2 people. One in classified, one in online sales
ReplyDelete1:31
ReplyDeleteSince you're clearly on the inside, can you answer the question, often asked, about why the community papers that are profitable aren't left alone to continue what they're doing right? Why are we subject to the furloughs, layoffs and out-sourcing when we are getting it right? The more you take away from us, the more difficult it becomes to create a product the public wants and will pay for.
THE FINAL TOLL at the News-Messenger in Fremont, OH, and the News Herald in Port Clinton, (sister papers): One city editor who oversaw both operations, a copy editor, a graphic artist and a full-time reporter at the N-H who is now a 20-hour parttimer.
ReplyDeleteCurious if the big wigs have shown up at any of the other Ohio newspapers today, axe in hand?
1. Massive layoffs coming in Q3. Around 4,250 to 5,500 employees
ReplyDelete2. Small targeted layoffs will occur throughout this quarter without major announcement.
This is the note that Saridakis sent to his team and other Gannett executives explaining the move of Jennifer Carroll to Content One.
ReplyDeleteTeam,
As you may have already seen the attached press release, Gannett Digital’s Content & Audience (C&A) team, led by Jennifer Carroll, have officially moved over to support and grow the Content One initiative.
When I joined Gannett last year, my first priority was to build a team that would focus on one of our strongest assets…Content. I appointed Jennifer Carroll to lead up this effort. Jennifer took on this challenge and built a great team that focuses on content sourcing and audience behaviors.
Our premise was and still is quite simple. Content drives an audience in any medium. This has been the case in print, on radio, on television, on the web and now in mobile. Our advertisers (local or national) are buying our audience. Therefore, it is understood that our focus on Content generation, acquisition and distribution is core to our long-term growth and diversification strategy.
By joining the Content One team, the C&A team will help solve a larger problem for all of Gannett’s distribution channels (print, broadcast, digital-web/mobile).
As for our day-to-day operations within Digital, nothing really changes, except reporting lines. We are still focused on driving audience and subsequent advertising revenue through distribution of unique content. The Content One team will support our product initiatives and revenue goals.
With regard to specific Digital product initiatives and future opportunities, we will still look at everything and base our decisions on three fundamental questions:
1. Does this initiative grow revenue?
2. Does this initiative reduce costs and make us efficient?
3. Does this initiative make us more competitive?
I want to thank the Content & Audience team for their dedication to our mission and look forward to leveraging their expertise as part of Gannett’s most important initiative…Content One.
Chris
"Changes are good. Its natural to resist change but as the business environment changes, we must change with it or perish."
ReplyDeleteThe real change that is needed is a purge of executive leadership and a total rewrite of Gannett's septic corporate culture.
Sadly, management will always "resist change" when it means owning up to their own massive failures.
It has been change or perish for years. Dubow and all his toadies chose "perish." They'll float safely to the ground on their golden parachutes.
Confirming MY BOSS at 10:24.
ReplyDeleteIndeed massive layoffs ARE coming. I hear 3000-4000. I've REPEATEDLY said on here that Gannett is looking to get rid of the artsy people like designers and graphic artist and copy editors would be consolidated and that has come true (see hubs stuff).
I'm telling my source, and again I am sorry I can't say who that person is or where, is saying all non-union papers will be undergoing layoffs starting now actually, but really kicking in April 6. Folks you thought the last round was bad. You ain't seen nothin yet. It is going to be bad. VERY bad.
That Saridakis memo explains everything. Now the idea of Content One is clear. What a brilliant concept.
ReplyDeletesorry I know this is bad, but I meant 3000-4000 layoffs and some paper closings that could bring the total amount to more like 5000 or higher
ReplyDeleteSaridakis' memo makes some good points in general. Yes, content is the most important ingredient.
ReplyDeleteHowever, he completely misses the most important selling point of a community newspaper: It is supposed to offer the audience news of its community that the audience cannot find elsewhere. ContentOne promises to eliminate most, if not all, of that.
Where are you people hearing these rumors about massive layoffs? Is it mere speculation or good, solid tips?
ReplyDeleteSaradakis' plan is great if you don't want people to buy local newspapers. My local paper is already so bland that I don't read it. Nationalizing the content will make it even less appealing.
ReplyDeleteWhy? Because there are already many better sources for the nationalized news that Content One can provide me.
The Web model may work with this because it's free. But it will certainly kill newspapers. If my local paper suddenly becomes a shell housing USAT copy I can guarantee the community won't embrace it. But that's OK, there's a community weekly waiting in the wings that will surely pick up the slack.
Let's all think back to that incredible piece of cinema...Pretty Woman. Richard Gere plays a character who gets very rich breaking up companies and selling off the pieces. And for the men in Jim's audience, consider a junked car. If you sell it as a whole, it's worth maybe a hundred bucks. BUT, break it up for parts and you can triple that amount.
ReplyDeleteNow look at GCI. Do you SERIOUSLY think these upper management guys are NEWSPAPER people?? No. They are bottom feeders. They have raped and pillaged a dying industry for fat bonuses. They cut Gannett to the bone, watched the stock rise and then sold off their shares. Now, they are taking what's left and selling it off for parts or closing down divisions and taking write offs.
This is strictly business here guys. There are no tears being shed for the dying business of newspapers. This is just Get in, Get What You Can and Get Out. And then, all they want to know is...What's Next?
I feel truly bad for those of you who view this as more than a business.But you have made a career in a dinosaur business and the end is near.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete"There is another shoe that is about to drop, and I am afraid it will be a huge one this time."
ReplyDeleteJim drops the soap.
This is a lot of snake oil. So the community papers are bitching that USAT has taken all their revenues and given nothing back. So corporate responds by putting together page-ready pages for use in community papers, composed of stale USAT stuff. But look at the community papers and count the national and international stories that are left. They are few and far between because the papers have gone local-local. Putting national and international news back into community papers only squeezes them even more, requiring them to devote space to columns of stuff they don't want and don't need. This has to be the silliest idea I have ever seen. Community papers need LOCAL stories, not national and international. And the only way to get more local stories is to hire more reporters to find them.
ReplyDeleteThis morning 10:24 am posted the following in part:
ReplyDelete"Indeed massive layoffs ARE coming. I hear 3000-4000. I've REPEATEDLY said on here that Gannett is looking to get rid of the artsy people like designers and graphic artist and copy editors would be consolidated and that has come true (see hubs stuff)."
Unless Jim Hopkins posts a story there is no credibility. We all know that something is going on in the world circulation and some consolidation of editorial staff in some NJ papers. Putting this kind of stuff on this blog is really cruel because it just upsets everyone and is not good. 10:24, unless you can quote your source and he/she is credible, you're doing no favors to any of us. So, is this accurate or is it just rumor and possibly bullshit?? Let's hear from you.
10:39 MY BOSS: Artists from what dept? Newsroom or advertising? Editorial designers? Are they wanting to send all ads to 2AdPro? Please confirm.
ReplyDeletexxx1. Does this initiative grow revenue?
ReplyDelete2. Does this initiative reduce costs and make us efficient?
3. Does this initiative make us more competitive?xxx
1. No. There is no ad revenue in selling national or international stories in community papers. National ads have collapsed. It will provide space for house ads.
2. No. It actually increases costs because community papers will have to add pages to accomodate the new pages. That means more money for expensive newsprint. Nor does it make us more efficient, because local editors are going to have to rip these pages apart to get them to fit into their particular and individual press width, type font, etc.
3. Hard to see how it can make community papers more competitive. They already are competitive, although less so now statehouse beats and many local beats have been abandoned. We don't even have any presence in Washington anymore, now that Gannett News Service has been stolen by ContentOne.
11:49 -- You're right, but the post you mentioned was echoing comments by "My Boss" who has been proven mostly correct in past posts. For instance, he announced that there would be furloughs and pay cuts days before the official memo.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Jim confirmed yesterday that his sources have told him that layoffs are coming next week. He said in another post that he's still trying to sniff out details so that he can write an in-depth post.
But, the layoffs that are currently taking place piecemeal at Midwest and East coast papers lend even more credibility to this. Considering the consolidation that hubs would create most of this sounds at least reasonable, although April 6 seems a tad early. But, if GCI is really desperate to cut costs, it can always temporarily suspend the production of sections and bring them back when the hubs are in place. There wouldn't be a huge downside -- except reaction from readers -- as nobody's buying ads right now anyway.
in a meeting today the boom was lowered on all the district managers for the ausbury park press in monmouth and ocean county nj. they will be turning home delivery over to pcf and closing 3 warehouses in may no date for the others sometime in the fall. gary santos spoke at this meeting, what an ass he had no answers for the simplest of questions i guess thats why he gets the big bucks.i tend to agree with the gentlmen who said we should have a union.why don't these high payed asshloes take a pay cut,i could live off what they make for 2 years if not more but lets just shaft the little guy you know the guy who busts his ass while you sit on yours.they reap the benifits of everyone elses work.
ReplyDeletei used to love my job now i hope eveything blows up in there faces.
9:47, thanks for the laugh. That was good.
ReplyDeleteLooks like Wall Street is applauding the "cut and hack until it bleeds dry" tactics Corporate is showing.
ReplyDeleteSo much for the working Man/Woman. Corporate greed will endure no matter what the cost is to the economy and society as a whole
Word verification:
Less-ess-u
Here is something that got dropped on our dept. at our staff meeting this morning. Management is going to rewrite our job descriptions and add all the new duties that we have had to assume from those that were laid off. In many cases, work that is totally out of class i.e. IT people working on platemaking equipment since IT was combined with operations. One should note that this is a rewrite and not a "reclass" so we are not getting any more pay for this additional work. A quick call to the labor board confirmed that unless you have a signed work contract, there is nothing that can be done. My question is... Did my signing my job description as an acknowledgement of what is expected of me at my last review count as a "contract"? and is there any legal recourse other than just having to quick as a matter of principle? Any comments would be appreciated.
ReplyDeleteRe the note at 10:28:
ReplyDelete4. Give the customer (reader) what they crave.
Nah. Scratch that. Won't work and it's too much work. Stick with the first three moronic concepts.
1:27 -- I'm not a lawyer, but I don't see what you could do other than quit.
ReplyDeleteMany companies are making employees take pay cuts -- basically re-writing their employment agreements -- and the employees are forced to take them.
You might have some protection if you have a union contract. Or a contract that states you will get such and such payout if your job duties are significantly changed. In other words, contracts like those that Dumbo and the other fearless leaders have.
If you don't have one of those, I believe you're an at-will employee and it's a tough break.
Sorry. I really feel your pain. I've often wished there was something I could do to fight back against this corporate goliath. But when you need a job, you need a job.
I would advice this, though. The minute you have a viable offer from another company, take it and walk out the door. You'll feel better about yourself.
Republic Direct, AZ - 4 layoffs this week, more to come.
ReplyDelete1:27:
ReplyDeleteAgain, I'm no legal expert but I am fairly certain that an "at-will" employee with no union representation has no recourse against a rewrite of their job description.
Other than to quit.
I forgot to say in my other post... Thanks Jim! you give us all a place to share and to have a voice even if it is unheard by our kool-aid swilling corporate overlords!
ReplyDeleteAs for 1:27,
Thanks for the comment, and I agree. I'm waiting to hear back on a couple of interviews from some solid prospects, as soon as I get an offer from either, I am so outta here. Sad part is, everyone in our department (aside from the supervisor and manager) is actively looking, and slowly but surely people are leaving. The manager makes crude comments to those that quit, and makes them document every facet of their job before they leave, and expects them to thoroughly train everyone on their job before they go. I want so bad to just leave a resignation letter and walk out, but of course that would do no good as they would hold out any unearned vacation time from your last paycheck! Oh well! life is full of compromise I suppose :)
No buyers visiting Tucson. Citizen apparently still publishing next week.
ReplyDeleteThe Dow surpassed 8000 and Gannett still sunk below it's open. Pathetic.
ReplyDeleteActually I have a question from those who have left Gannett on your own. Lets say I find a new job and quit at the end of May. Do they send me all of my unused 2009 vacation as a check? I guess the same would apply for a lay off.
ReplyDelete2:39
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned that everyone in your department was "looking", with exception of your manager and supervisor...
You may be surprised that THEY too are looking, they just aren't broadcasting the fact. It's coming to the point where you can't afford to give up any more folks who get the work done! Smart managers know that the show can go on without them, but not without worker bees!
Anyone who isn't looking for opportunities at this point is a FOOL.
To 3:25,
ReplyDeleteAt our location you accrue your time based on how long you've been employed. If you quit you only get the time you have accrued thus far that year, so if you take all your vacation as your 2 weeks notice you will find yourself without a final paycheck.
As for the other poster regarding the bosses not looking, I would hope they are looking, because if they think they are above the axe they are sadly mistaken!
1:46 I know that feeling, It feels great....I felt like Ray Liotta in Goodfellas when he walked out of the clink.
ReplyDeleteword confirmation: lenin, go unions
It's about to get interesting, folks... next round will include publishers and yes, even HR staffers.
ReplyDeleteMan I hope Bill Albrect is one let go if its publishers laid off. Most of us do. He's done little to help pull us out of our mess despite having takan over as advertising director months ago.
ReplyDeletePublishers included? I doubt that.
ReplyDeleteDespite how many of them are worthless toadie little Hitlers grovelling at the feet of Gannett corp.
I wish someone had fired my former Gannett publisher before he had the chance to ruin my career permanently.... but that's too late.
Maybe some of these idiots could be canned before they ruin any more lives.
Does anyone have a (serious) answer to this question:
ReplyDeleteFor the people in NJ being consolidated and who have to reapply for their jobs: If you are not one of the ones they select, are you still obligated to stay until May 1 in order to get your severance?
Meaning three weeks of enduring the pitying looks from co-workers and the humiliation of everyone else knowing you're out after they announce who does get selected.
Or do they do it more like, we'd love to have you help if you're willing to stay til May 1 but if not, your severance would start sooner? My understanding is that those in this situation already were given a packet with a letter that says "your position is being eliminated and you will receive a severance effective May 1."
If you want to leave right then and there, once they tell you that you're out, can they decide that you get no severance?
@4:46 -
ReplyDelete"even HR staffers"?
In the last year nearly 1/3 of all HR positions in the company have been eliminated, making it the function with the highest percentage cut.
If I could, I'd like to post 1:31 a.m.'s post for tomorrow:
ReplyDeleteGuys, it's always darkest just before dawn. And there are a lot of reasons to think that dawn could be arriving anyday. The important thing to do is to keep working harder, harder enough to make up for the person who has been laid off or furloughed, and don't ever complain about anything. Be a team player. It's all going to work out great for everybody when this tide turns, and it's turning, trust me. The fact that more layoffs are being speculated on is a mere road bump on our superhighway toward the end of the rainbow. A lot of very smart people are working on your behalf, so don't ever question anything that they do. We can weather this storm if we all pull together, except those folks who are no longer with us and those wo are about to be tossed over. Not even Noah could take everyone. But for those of us in the corporate offi -- I mean, for all the rest of us, happy days are going to be he again soon enough. Just hang in there, and if you could volunteer to do something extra, like deliver newspapers during your furlough week, that would be just swell. Keep your chins up, my dear friends, and your eyes closed. It makes you an easier target.
No offense but whats the point of HR people at the papers anyway? We go to Hewitt to do all of your benefits. I hate saying this because the HR people are so nice, but probably the reason they are so nice is that they don't have to do any work all day. Also, I know this may sound stupid for me to say but buy GCI stock. Its going to shoot up the next few months. Will it go to 60,70,80? Hell no. Will it go 6 7 or 8. Most likely. Buying at 2.40 a share and you do the math. I am not going to say anything more about that other then don't miss out.
ReplyDeleteword verification: cash in on GCI
6:36 That cliche filled horror makes me puke. Darkest before the dawn? Sure, and I have been hearing that for more than two years now, and yet there is now news of more layoffs and cutbacks in store for us. Just work hard and do what is assigned, and you will survive. Sure, but the workload has increased so much it has become impossible to deal with. The stress is phenomenal. I have friends with booze bills for the first time in their lives because they now regularly stop by a local pool hall to let off steam after their shifts. My best buddy in the office just split with his wife, and he blames what he's gone through at work. It's far from over. There is worst to come. I know that because every time in the past I have felt it would be OK, it wasn't.
ReplyDelete6:36-
ReplyDeleteSounds like Appleton's publisher. Loads of worthless drivel/hollow words. "I can't promise that you'll have a job tomorrow"...is her mantra. well no sh*t! "Go home and hug your family"--thanks for the suggestion! Fake. Fake. Fake.
Most know that all she really cares about is keeping her own gig for as long as possible.
Sad to say, there are no true leaders left in this company.
6:59 pm The 2 HR people at our site are hard workers and work non stop. I'm not in HR but work in the same area and I never see them dawdling.
ReplyDelete@5:34 Whoo-hooo, what you said! I didn't write that but I sure could have. Makes me wish we could IM and compare notes! Sadly, there are too many of those little toadies with publisher titles in Gannett. There are probably dozens upon dozens who could write what you wrote.
ReplyDeleteBut you know, publishers get the biggest salary and benefit packages at these community sites. Cut a publisher and save three, four, five frontline workerbees? I would not be surprised at all to see publishers and some other OC types gone.
5:55, the answers to your questions are yes, no and yes. You have to stay until they let you go to get your severance. There is no way in hell they would give you a package if you walked out before they wanted you to.
ReplyDeleteRe: HR people being laid off. First they took away our local HR guy, and gave us a woman on rotation with other papers in our state. Then, she quit coming as frequently. Then, she was gone completely, and we were assigned someone from the nearest metro paper, who to my knowledge hasn't been here once. Maybe she got laid off too? Our "HR" is done through the publisher's secretary, but mostly it's just us asking each other how/where to do something online until someone remembers or figures it out. God forbid anything actually happened that would require an HR person.
ReplyDeleteRe: Other layoffs. I can only hope the speculation is wrong. But let's wait and see before freaking out. When they told us ahead of time in the last round(s), everyone complained it was cruel. Now that they're doing it sporadically without telling everyone the plan ahead of time, it's equally brutal.
Jim, what if you posted a survey that employees and former employees could take and then you could send it to the right people to help them decide how to handle these situations. A la the game Zobmondo, "Would you rather... know job cuts were coming and worry for weeks you could be one of them, OR find out your job or a co-worker's job was cut only when it actually happens?"
There is no good way to handle that textbook lose-lose situation, no happy spin you can put on "your services will no longer be needed." Good luck to those who are on that end of the conversation and to those who have to tell someone that in this economy.
12:03, you're wrong when you say "My Boss" has been mostly correct. His earlier posts said there'd be furloughs, that everyone would be cut the equivalent of a week of pay, and that massive layoffs would be announced last Monday. The only thing right in any of that was the furlough, which Craig Dubow said in January was likely to happen. He and anyone else posting about thousands of layoffs are simply lying to draw attention to themselves and to amp up anxiety in everyone else. Don't pay any attention to them.
ReplyDelete1:27
ReplyDeleteThere are labor laws both federal and state. Gannett walks the line of what is legal and what isn't and does not want the government scrutiny. Stand up for yourself and start at the State Labor Board.
You've been on the mark all along. Do you see these as across the board layoffs or targeted areas for Q3? Surprised it wouldn't be Q4 to write off for the year.
ReplyDeleteMy Boss said...
1. Massive layoffs coming in Q3. Around 4,250 to 5,500 employees
2. Small targeted layoffs will occur throughout this quarter without major announcement.
The poster who said that the company has "no real leaders" any more could not have been more correct.
ReplyDeleteSadly, this miserable company HAD a number of great neaders in both newsrooms and in upper administraive management.
However, Gannett.. alonmg with a number of pathetic publishers, forced out, fired or ruined these leaders.
Hey! The good people all quit - starting in 2000.
Look at the leadership at the smaller community newspapers today, with their plunging circulations and no clue what to do - pathetic, pitiful, and disgusting.
And worse, NONE of those good people would go anywhere NEAR a Gannett newspaper today.
Big Bill Albrecht says no more layoffs in St Cloud Corporate just can't do that.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous @ 8:50 p.m.- the only good thing about knowing in advance is that someone might, just might, have a chance to put aside some money. I beg all of you who are still employed at any newspaper to start saving, and start saving fast. It's the only thing we can really do to protect ourselves (unless of course anybody's found that magical job that pays enough and is immune from the economy?)
ReplyDelete"Jim, what if you posted a survey that employees and former employees could take and then you could send it to the right people to help them decide how to handle these situations."
ReplyDeleteJim, what if you got a clue and posted only credible info, rather than letting every stooge in Gannett come in and release monkeys from their butt?
@11:06
ReplyDeleteI've never seen a monkey fly out of anyone's butt here. Therefore, I can only assume that this is just a personal fantasy of yours. One that lacks credibility.
In addition, most of the monkeys have been laid off, or grounded. No flying allowed. Only teledefecation.
Unbelievable. There are STILL some of you out there who are admonishing posters for "scaring" people by talking about massive layoffs and furloughs. Do you need brick walls to hit you on the freaking head?? Your all concerned about the "credibility" of various rumors?!? WHO CARES! Look at it this way.
ReplyDeleteYOU work in the newspaper business. The newspaper business is in the TOILET. YOU have a really good chance of losing your job! No one is trying to scare you or upset you (heaven forbid) We're TRYING to get you to see the handwriting on the wall and prepare yourself as much as possible.
Do you watch CNN or MSNBC and get all upset with them for saying the economy is bad and unemployment is high? I hope not because, if you do, you better pull your head out of your ass, up your Prozac and face REALITY. Who cares if it's 1000 or 5000 layoffs...it's GOING TO HAPPEN! Didn't you see that this morning, The Chicago Sun Times declared bankruptcy? Don't you read the posts where people are talking about what's happening at the GCI locals??
My advice is...just keep burying your head so you don't get all SCARED. Then the slap of reality will hit you 10X harder then it would have if you had just faced reality!!
Hey I HAVE seen monkeys fly out of someone's butt. It happens everytime Big Bill Albrect talks!!!!!!! Then they all slip arm and arm out the side door. If he says there will be no more latyoffs, than I think they have just been more than confirmed.
ReplyDelete9:25 -- "My Boss" was not as wrong as you indicate.
ReplyDeleteHis timeline was off, yes, but only by a few days. He was wrong when he said everyone would take a pay cut equivalent to one week, but workers at the corporate office did have to do this.
Clearly, he is limited in what information he is getting, likely because of where he works.
I think he got too much right to be blindly guessing. Maybe things changed slightly after he posted his "facts."
Do I take every post he writes to the bank? Absolutely not. Does he seem to be more tuned into what's going on than most of the people who post here? Yes.
Rupert Murdoch declares that newspapers should start charging for the web. What a concept! Is he a rocket scientist or what. Anybody with half a brain has said or thought that years ago when newspaper web strategy was being developed. In Gannett world and most other newspapers the idea was to build it and they will come. But, the idea of putting the entire story out there for free and seeing how many pages views you can get became an obsession and the print product took a back seat to web pride. The revenue model was late in developing and wasn't bundled with print advertising and didn't compete with the pay for click models that are prevalent on the Google type search sites. Paying by page view that only a small portion or share of voice will see lends itself to transient advertisers because they can't feel the ring in the cash register because the online ads are passive with little call to action. The better way of doing it would have been to provide full web access to the web if you are a print subscriber and charge a web only fee for those that don't do print. Too simple? Maybe. But some one should have tried it and we might not be in the mess we are in now.
ReplyDeleteHR? What the heck is that? We have a pathetic set-up here.. Might as well ask the night janitors what is going on, Nothing is relayed to us. We get the answer, " There is nothing I can do". Well there is, DUH, give me the damn phone number at corporate and I'll call myself. Get off your butt and help people.
ReplyDeleteYou jumped when publisher Jim Carey needed soda or that smelly popcorn he ate. Or if he needed his stapler filled. Or his special toilet paper supply was running low. Yes, he wasnt good enough to use the regular Pine bark we have. God forbid you had to endure one of his tirades or subsequent 4 hour meetings on why his car was low on gas. Idiot. I think its called "Short man syndrome." Same thing Bobby Collins had.
They need to Sh*tcan the inept Directors on board there who have no clue what they are doing, with the exception of the IT Director! I remember him as being knowledgeable, very versatile and definitely NOT one of the BORG.
The lemmings are being lead to the edge of the cliff.. Better hold on, its a long drop.