"The Company Inc. does not love you,
never did, and never will."
-- Anonymous@9:11 a.m. today, following recent reports of more threatened layoffs across the company.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Quotable | Once more, but with feeling
-- Anonymous@9:11 a.m. today, following recent reports of more threatened layoffs across the company.
29 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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True, no company is capable of love.
ReplyDeleteBut that doesn't mean the company can't be run without compassion.
I believe that when Peter Miller was CEO of Gannett there was compassion for the ideals of journalism, and a respect for those who strove to be quality journalist.
That all went out the window with the anti-union mentality in the 1970s when Al took charge. Journalism became a product that was to be produced on the cheap in monopoly markets.
I'm reminded of a line from the baseball movie Fever Pitch, when the main character is sitting with his other hopelessly die-hard Red Sox fans at a bar after losing their third straight game to the Yankees in the ALCS and asks:
ReplyDelete"Have they ever loved you back?"
But, perhaps like that movie, there will be an astonishing comeback for newspapers.
Good point 10am. Gannett has a long history of not treating employees well. The culture has always been "what have you done for me lately" with no regard to service record.
ReplyDeleteHaving worked for Gannett a long time and then for two other industry leaders I'm in a postion to compare and contrast the company through those experiences. As such, I would argue Gannett really does a lot of things very well - better than any other company. However, they are on the bottom when it comes to management of people.
Well said, 10:00.
ReplyDeleteI would add that the one Gannett newspaper that tried to elevate the journalism it was producing a few years ago (long after Al was gone) has again fallen back. USA TODAY simply is going through the motions of putting out a newspaper, but I don't see the kind of reporting, graphics or presentation I saw just a few short years ago. Wonder when the public will notice and the circulation will take a more serious dive?
Guess it doesn't matter because Gannett doesn't care about journalism or journalists anymore. That has been proven time and time again in the last 18 months or so.
Jim -- Are the threatened layoffs that you mention those that are reportedly going to happen in Detroit and those in Hawaii? Or are there are more reports of possibilities across the whole chain.
ReplyDeleteJust curious, I'm a regular reader and don't remember reading anything about a companywide plan ... at least not from what I would consider a reliable source. It's always valuable to hear about rumored timelines, etc. I, personally, would like to try to position myself to go in the next round if they're still paying severance.
11:26 am: Yes, I was referring to Detroit and Honolulu.
ReplyDeleteMany Gannett employees invested way too much in their careers. They had ulcers, stress-related emotional problems and divorces to show for that devotion. No matter how much they gave, it was never enough. Yet they struggled on, hoping for just a shred of recognition or appreciation.
ReplyDeleteAnd no matter how much they "loved" what they did, the poster is correct, Gannett, their editors and publishers and the public never said "I love you" back. Or even "I respect you."
I think it was because those in control believed that when we got our paychecks it was recognition enough.
My password for this post? "selairee."
RE: 11:26 AM
ReplyDeleteAren't layoffs always a company-wide plan? I mean they many not happen all at once like we've seen recently, but as a publisher if you're not making your corporate set goals, you're forced to cut costs. Over the past few years we've cut and consolidated everything we possibly can.
All we have left to cut is ourselves.
"USA TODAY simply is going through the motions of putting out a newspaper, but I don't see the kind of reporting, graphics or presentation I saw just a few short years ago."
ReplyDeleteExactly. There was a time when Tom Curley and Dave Mazzarella put talent behind USA Today. They had quite the team back then. Not perfect, but what is.
Content, advertising, circulation all grew. When John Curley retired as CEO that all changed. Dave retired early, and Tom was pushed out.
Pretty mush rudderless since. A damn shame.
Face it, everyone. This company used to be a news/information company that had a certain ideal about what community newspapers and tv stations were all about. That changed when we started picking up the Louisvilles, the Des Moines, the Phoenixs and the UK papers -- and all the debt that went with them. We are now a holding company, no better or worse than those new-agey sounding companies you see advertised on televised professional golf tournaments but cant figure out what they do.
ReplyDeleteIt was Army Timeserer! who wrote that, actually.
ReplyDeleteNot only is Gannett a laggard in the area of people management, but also, amazingly, in the area of finance. The company paid TOP DOLLAR for acquisitions during the peak, pre-crash years of the newspaper industry and it paid TOP DOLLAR for its own stock, all the while amassing HUGE DEBT that it has to reckon with today. That, my friends, is why Gannett has exercised such Draconian methods of cost control. If it had been content to grow organically and not buy back stock at inflated values, it wouldn't have so much debt, and the money used to pay off debt would have been used to sustain operations, maintain product quality and satisfy paying customers.
ReplyDeleteOn our copy desk, every male reported various physical symptoms of stress and had sought professional help of one kind or another to help alleviate them. I know this because my Zenger bossie admitted as much shortly after I took a cardiac stress test. Good times, good times, grinding out that nonsense, killing myself, the regular doses of Chinese food, pizza and sheet cake at my desk...
ReplyDeleteStop complaining about the stresses Gannett created for you.
ReplyDeleteYour life is exactly that: your life. My GCI property -- and it's not a big one -- has a small gym and I used it to lose 100 pounds.
Gannett helped make me a leaner, healthier and happier person.
How do you feel about that?
Everyone thinks they are the exception to the rule that Gannett really values their work but the reality is that Gannett believes everyone can be replaced.
ReplyDelete"Stop complaining about the stresses Gannett created for you.
ReplyDeleteYour life is exactly that: your life. My GCI property -- and it's not a big one -- has a small gym and I used it to lose 100 pounds.
Gannett helped make me a leaner, healthier and happier person.
How do you feel about that?
5/20/2009 2:45 PM"
Oh yeah! Another corporate warrior.
Imagine your shock and dismay (yet to come) when you realize nobody gives a fark what you think, say or do! Keep living the fooled life...
But that's the whole thing, and it doesn't matter if you work for Gannett or not - you CAN be replaced. We're all replaceable. Hard lesson, but true.
ReplyDeleteBut can you leave a legacy? Will people speak your name with respect? When the young 'uns are having their round of drinks, will they tell a good story about when you were there at newsroom? Will they talk about how you covered that story and/or helped them nail that investigation?
If you can achieve that with your co-workers, then be happy. You've succeeded and it doesn't matter if the company loves you or not.
Did anyone see that story today about federal employees placing more importance on a good boss (defined as someone who tells the truth and does so without spinning or delaying action) than salary or benefits? I suspect that is true of most private industries too, and is why USA TODAY has such bad morale. The leadership at USAT is weak. The salaries are acceptable by media standards. But many of the editors at USAT (particularly on the second floor) are so woefully lacking that it's amazing they've risen into power. I mean, truly amazing.
ReplyDeleteMost of you talk about Gannett as if it were a person. You people really need to wake up. A job is a job is a job. You contract with your employer to do the best job you can and your employer promises to pay you for it. The relationships are not part of that bargain. The relationships are what you make of them. And the leadership is only as good as the people who fill those leadership roles. And each newspaper is different. Yes, corporate dictates certain structures because they're like mom and dad, providing the axel grease that keeps your company's wheels turning. But it's grossly unfair to lump all the individual papers into one image as you all tend to do. A psychiatrist would have a field day with the way you all refer to Gannett. Gannett doesn't love you, Gannett doesn't care about you. Gannett did this, Gannett did that. Gimme a break. You all need help. And trust me, I'm not management. I don't work for the company called Gannett. Nor do I work for Mama or Papa Gannett. Get over it.
ReplyDeleteshirley in texas is spot on.
ReplyDeleteat what point does one just stop and realize that so much effort is focused on destructive behavior.
and all this just to survive another day.
some graduate student out there could write a doctoral thesis on the inbred corporate culture at gannett over the past 3 decades.
i believe it will happen, warts and all
No, that's where you're wrong, no one is replaceable. That's why Gannett has such a problem with churn when they lose a rep.That rep and their relationship with advertisers, the community and other colleagues is unique and cannot be mimicked or replaced.It is one of the main problems with loss of revenue.
ReplyDeleteHey Fever Pitch, that comeback was REAL it wasn't just part of that movie.......Last week Sheryl Crow, this week Jimmy Fallon, wtf is this blog coming too.
ReplyDeleteI was a teenager when USA Today came out, loved the color, thought that this was the future and bought a subscription. Then soon afterward cancelled it. It was an important lesson that helped me all through life, namely prettier isn't necessarily better. I was smart enough then to not be satisfied with a synopsis of the news. I did, and do, want the full story. I don't know where the elevate journalism nonsense or the cared about journalism BS came from, but obviously this is the problem in our company. The employees we have don't have any clue what a newspaper should be or do. I've yet to encounter a legitimate 'journalist' in this company, though I've met many who 'were'. USA Today taught America that breifs were all the news they needed which made it easy for the entertainment industry (read: internet) to take control of modern 'news' dissemenation. I am certain I've used poor grammar and had misspellings in this post, so before your weak-ass editorial readers piss all over me, no- I have no association with any editorial department.
ReplyDeleteIf you used a company gym to lose 100 pounds when the hell did you actually work?
ReplyDeleteYou must be an HR person, doing equipment maintainence.
I'm a reporter at a smaller property. I worked out twice per day: Once before my work day started and once afterward.
ReplyDeleteI am in no way a pro-corporate element. I'm pissed at GCI, too, but blaming the company for your physique or mental state is silly.
9:46 -- Everyone is replaceable, but it's true that you can lose an employee who puts a dent in the company's bottom line or image.
ReplyDeleteBecause newspapers are -- or at least used to be -- personatlity and talent driven, it means a lot when a popular sales rep or columnist leaves. But they are certainly replaceable. Herb Cain is no longer alive, but the San Francisco Chronicle is still publishing ... at least for now.
The people who say that you must remember this is just a job are right. If you feel like company practices are giving you health problems, then quit living your life that way. You are in control of what you eat and drink and the hours that you work. Obviously, there's a lot of stress working within this company, but it's just a job. That's the way GCI looks at it and it's the way we need to look at it as well.
I realize I was expendable. All I would have liked was a little lead time, just a heads up that would have given me time after 15 years to plan for myself and my family after I went out on a tremendous limb for these clowns. Not an editor telling me everything was secure two days before the abandonments were announced.
ReplyDelete2:44 -- I feel for you. I don't think there's an executive editor or publisher in Gannett that you can "trust" to do the right thing for his/her staff.
ReplyDeleteThey take marching orders from corporate and often they don't even know what's up. If they refuse to make the demanded cuts, then they get sliced first.
That's one reason you have so many low-talent "yes men" and "yes women" in leadership positions. They value the corporate game more than actual leadership skills.
I was rehired at a Gannett property two months after the company I left it for laid me off. When they "took me back," they made me promise that I would not leave again any time soon. Imaginee my shock when I was laid off seven months later -- literally weeks before my husband had planned to put our house up for sale and relocate with me.
ReplyDeleteMy point? Sometimes bosses and corporations ask things of you that make you feel as if you have made a PERSONAL bond with them.
Lesson learned. When you go to work for someone else, you are agreeing to a BUSINESS transaction. Period. There is no loyalty. No personal relationship at all. Gannett and any other employer will promise you the world -- and expect you to do the same. But promises are worth nothing.
It did not bother the publisher at my site one iota that I would have been laid off twice in one year, had moved away from my husband to work there, and had four children to feed.
If you're still employed at Gannett, or at any other business, THEY DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOU.