Sunday, October 03, 2010
Week of Sept. 27-Oct. 3 | Your News & Comments
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118 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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I believe that today marks the first business day of Gannett's fiscal Period 10, as well as its fourth quarter; do you know where your budget is headed?
ReplyDeleteWhat is Gannett Health Services and is it connected to GCI? It seems to provide health insurance for some college students and employees in upstate New York.
ReplyDeleteHas Gannett branched out into the insurance business?
USA TODAY announces layoffs and consolidations for Circulation offices this Thursday (about 40 positions). Layoffs will come from the hard working class. None of the high paying, high level positions will leave despite too many "decision makers" tripping all over one another. If you're making too much money and not doing much, you're safe. For those of you working hard, be on the look out especially if someone from main office is coming for a visit this week?
ReplyDeleteNot sure, but the numbers haven't been good. We're waiting to see what the company announces for Q4. Given that this is the beginning, I figure they'll be announcing soon. If you recall, they've announced in the past that there would be no furloughs or layoffs for an upcoming quarter, and so far no such announcement has come. Maybe past experience has taught us to be worrisome. We're just waiting for the hammer to drop.
ReplyDeleteBloomberg is hiring 100 reporters, editors and Web technicians in Washington for a new Bgovernment web site. So the giant whooshing sound you may have heard was the rush of personnel from USA Today down I-66 to the District to apply. I mention this also because there is no reason USAT could not have set up a similar Web site, aimed at funneling Washington news to Washington contractors, lobbyists, etc., The old and very sleepy Congressional Quarterly magazine has retrooled in the last five years, and now provides similar news services for the well-heeled. It is making huge money, and the CQ magazine is now a sideline.
ReplyDeleteYes, there are opportunities in the new economy, and Gannett is positioned to take advantage of them. So why hasn't GCI seen these opportunities and grabbed for them?
Jim: Don't know if others are having problems, but sometimes when I post, I get an error message and the post is wiped out. I have to write it again, or forget it and move on.
ReplyDelete11:14 a.m.: I've occasionally had this problem, too. The Blogger publishing platform I use made a change its commenting software earlier in the summer; this may be a glitch related to that change.
ReplyDeleteIf 8:59 is correct, and 40 positions are going to be lost from the Circulation Dept., I wonder where the other 110 job cuts will come from at USAT? Appears the newsroom could take a significant hit. Anyone with anymore info or an educated guess as to when these layoffs are finally going to be announced?
ReplyDeleteThe rest of the USA Today job cuts will be in the newsroom decided by Susan Weiss and in advertising decided by Lee Jones and Lori Erdos. Does anyone have any clues as to the new organization charts and how many are staying? There will also be some small job eliminations in production by Ken Kirkhert.
ReplyDeleteJim, are you going to say a bunch of dumb things again? You know, like last week?
ReplyDeleteWhat's going on, is Gannett selling land to get cash? I noticed in my city the other day some land Gannett owned was being built on. Is this becoming a normal practice. Seems like a bad time to sell land.
ReplyDeleteGannett has been selling real estate at a furious pace for at least two years now.
ReplyDeleteThe 4th Quarter has begun.The third quarter
ReplyDeletenumbers should come in by Thursday for most locations.
In the past, the Friday following a quarter end
is when the memos and emails starting coming
from corporate to managers saying that cuts will again be needed to insure a stronger Gannett future.
Too bad for the people being cut,and to hell with their future.Or in some cases worse,
sorry,your publication is no longer a viable revenue source in the black,and Gannett will no longer publish in your town.Too bad deal with it!
Just because your town had a newspaper for 100
years ,so what,Gannett will close it like a
an old shoe store.Plan B is coming on Friday!
Might as well sell real estate. They don't seem to be doing very well selling newspapers.
ReplyDeleteLots of wheeling and dealing at USAT regarding who goes and who stays. Mostly among editors, whose back-stabbing ways are now being directed at each other,rather than reporters. Could be more than a dozen left out in the cold.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Gannett should sell the Crystal Palace. What a symbol of corporate decadence that place is. A lot of people lost their jobs in order for the company to support the over-the-top complex.
ReplyDeleteThe CP is a shining symbol of how so many over-extending corporations contributed to the mess we're all in now. What was Gannett thinking when planning this place with its granite counter tops in the restrooms and vast marble floors that seem to need maintenance every other week, not to mention off-the-charts utilities and Fairfax County real estate taxes? What arrogance. What an example of putting corporate image and creature comforts above jobs.
Nothing good has happened for this company or usat since the CP opened. Can't help believing that GCI is experiencing some real bad karma for such lavish indulgence. There were a lot of locations and more modest buildings that GCI could have wisely invested in. Instead, the people at the top, who thought the good times would never end, decided to go for the gusto and build something that has triple the amount of space needed, land and parking garages that are unused. There is six-figure artwork and large cafeteria that the company can't afford to keep open.
There is no newspaper complex like the CP with the exception of the NY Times. Unlike GCI, though, the NY Times actually pays its employees wages they can live on in a very high-cost-of-living area. Unlike the Gannett flagship, the NY Times is still a pretty good product.
Question, I asked for est. of my pension. Was informed that corp. no longer gives est. since pension was frozen back in 2008. Well since pension was frozen they should be able to give me the exact amount you would think. Under erisa does company have to provide this information??
ReplyDeleteI might be able to answer part of that question. I believe the company is still making annual cost of living contributions, so that would mean your pension balance is different than it was in 2007.
ReplyDelete10:47 AM
ReplyDeleteI believe the answer is a resounding "yes."
It's the revenge of the Blue Ball 3! It took a while, but their hex on Gannett and the Crystal Palace started working as soon as the stock overreached at $90.
ReplyDelete10:47 AM
ReplyDeleteHere's some information and contacts for pension help.
http://www.pensionrights.org/help.html
Re: 9:21AM
ReplyDeleteGannett is looking into renting out space (entire floors, any space that can be secured from open access) at Tysons. They already rent out meeting space on the first floor to groups.
Come on, 9:21, it's not the Crystal Palace that brought about GCI's downfall. It was the managers INSIDE the CP! Get your facts straight.
ReplyDeletePresident and Publisher at NNCO Promoted:
ReplyDeleteStory Link
Anyone remember this once-much-talked-about analysis of Gannett??
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thedeal.com/newsweekly/features/gannet-default-option.php
Turned out to be nothing but hot air
Response to 7:53 don't worry, St Cloud Times staff. Your paper has been dead for awhile now and non of you do anything so you will all be safe. Maybe the PP can bring donuts.
ReplyDeletePer Jim's comment at 10:58 AM: Gannett's pension was frozen on August 1, 2008. Employee pension balances have not changed since that time. For active employees, Gannett makes an annual contribution (in February, I believe) based on salary and years of service to the employee's 401-K account, to partially compensate for the frozen pension.
ReplyDeleteA source who appears to be well-placed says that, indeed, the layoffs at USA Today are starting this week. This source provided no other details on numbers, departments, or a timetable, however.
ReplyDelete7:54 I am not so sure that The Deal story is so much hot air. We don't really know how many investors have these naked CDs, and so are betting on GCI to collapse. We won't know until 2012 when the bonds come to maturity. This recent effort by corporate to take out $500 million in new loans to pay off some debt shows the story has some validity. That story also answered a question I had as to why the first effort failed to buy back bonds at handsome interest rates. There is a lot of hate-Gannett money out there betting against us.
ReplyDeleteRe: layoffs. Yes, bloody Thursday is said to be the big day, and the newsroom is reportedly going to take a big hit. I don't recall they did these before on the last calendar day of the month, but it seems important to do it on that day this time around for reasons I know not.
ReplyDelete11:48pm... You are not correct. Jim is- The pension balance receives a COLA increase which is about 2.2% per year.
ReplyDelete"Starting this week?" Is this expected to be long process?
ReplyDeleteI know I'm safe. Me and Hunke are teh budz. Truth.
ReplyDelete11:48 -- Your comment is contrary to the letter that corporate sent out when freezing the pension. That letter said that corporate would continue to make small cost of living contributions to the retirement fund each year. I forget the exact number but it was about three percent.
ReplyDeleteJim is correct on the pension. There is a cost of living increase. That is if the cost of living goes up. It is based on the CPI. The Consumer Price Index.
ReplyDeleteIn 2009, the Consumer Price Index fell for the first time since 1955. So there was no increase in the pension for 2009.
Even with another round of cost-cutting widely expected in the fourth quarter, Wall Street is taking a very dim view of Gannett, as demonstrated by its stock price. The shares are trading at a multiple of 5 and change, which is the range of the living dead. Sure, the stock is cheap by both price and P/E measures, but institutional investors believe that that cheapness is deserved.
ReplyDeleteMarymont was recruiting at SND this weekend and defending the design hub plan on Saturday. Even the SWAG we got had a Gannett flyer encouraging youngsters to apply to jobs. Marymont said each hub would have 75-100 people.
ReplyDeleteCrystal Palace is like an empty shell - impressive from the outside but deceiving from the inside. Little do people know from driving by. Am surprised that the gym and cafeteria haven't closed up by now and that bedbugs haven't found a home there yet.
ReplyDeleteGood God.....this is going to be ugly.
ReplyDeleteBedbugs require human blood to live. The inhabitants of the Crystal Palace are clearly bloodless, so bedbugs are unlikely to be found there.
ReplyDeleteThe agony at USA Today has been terribly, terribly unfair. Humane executives don't treat employees they supposedly care for this way, and the perverse way USA Today has done this round of layoffs has only added to the pain and agony. It has been almost five weeks since Hunke announced the layoffs, and that has meant five weeks of every eyeball in the newsroom tracking every stirring made by Susan Weiss. It has been five weeks of endless speculation, rumors and gossip. Five weeks of going home each night to talk over your future with your spouse. Five weeks of excrutiating agony. We are still largely in the dark over what is to happen, and it is unfair.
ReplyDeleteany idea if layoffs will occur at the Phoenix Offset print site?
ReplyDeleteThey like to RIF by the end of the month in order to avoid paying another month of benefits. If the employee is terminated by the end of the month, then health insurance goes to COBRA on the first of the next month, otherwise they have to pay for an entire month, or whatever, until the first of the next month.
ReplyDeleteIn Florida, criminal mischief and witness retaliation charges against former WTSP anchorwoman Jennifer Howe have been dropped.
ReplyDelete(HT TVNewsCheck)
I would bet that most locations just wish they
ReplyDeletewould get it over with by now.
I went through the 08 and 09 layoffs and cost cutting,and it was terrible.People were at each other's throats for weeks and then after
cuttings were made people treated 10 year co-workers who were laid off like they were nothing and just glad to see it wasn't them.
Just a terrible corporation,period.
I am glad that I started my own shopper and we
are thriving.It is stressful at times but nothing like working for Gannett.
When Gannett froze the pension plan in Aug 2008, they sent a statement to every employee in June of 2008 with the exact amount in their plan as of the Aug 1 freeze date. That is proper notification under ERISA. Now, how many of you still have that document is another story (I do). That's why corporate isn't doing estimates anymore. Plus, as mentioned above, they are making COLA adjustments each year so the amount will be a little higher than what was in the June 2008 statement.
ReplyDelete2009 layoffs came on Dec. 1. At least this time around people have had some warning that it is coming. Those of us who were cut last year had about two hours once the email came out to the time people started saying goodbyes.
ReplyDeleteI make $125,000 a year at Gannett along with a few of my other friends here in Gannett Digital and we are joking about how very little work we are doing since there is no oversight within Digital. Apparently, our boss Josh Resnik took a boondoggle trip to POLAND on the company dime.
ReplyDeleteWe have a contest of who can work the least amount of hours a week. It is great because we will still get our 20% bonuses as Josh promised us because we are "valued employees of Digital". He should only know that there are six of us that do very little work. The beauty of the Internet is that we all long our hours on foursquare to prove we are everywhere but Gannett's offices.
The other day, one of us saw Mr. Dubow and he said "Keep up the hard work". Little did he know I was checking in at the Lebanese Taverna for my four hour lunch and shopping spree. I even had someone from Mr. hunks group approach me for a job on his new digital team because I was "a really hard worker"! Ha!
I suggest others join in on the fun.
6:57pm, on 9/29: The only reason why the past five weeks have been agony for you is that YOU let them be. The writing's been on the wall for some time now, and as a fellow staffer that got canned/laid off/whatever, it wouldn't surprise me if a nagging feeling in your stomach, which first appeared shortly after you were hired and said, "Quit! Don't Work Here! Get The F*ck Out!" was ignored in hopes that things would work out.
ReplyDeleteThey didn't.
And, they won't.
Yes, it's a bad company. Yes, you're getting treated unfairly. Yes, yes, yes to a whole bunch of questions.
Here's the lesson you should take from this: You've let them abuse you long enough because you're an enabler. Lots of people are and were.
Stop the self pity, and stop allowing them to do this to you, regardless the amount of time you may or may not be there after today.
Move on. You deserve better.
NJ newsrooms are getting hit!
ReplyDeleteI believe the correct term in NJ is "whacked" not "hit".
ReplyDeleteJust something I picked up from Jersey Shore.
Paid Time Off's comment reads like B.S., designed to embarrass Resnik. But maybe someone else will confirm its truth.
ReplyDelete6:44, absolutely correct. In the same vein, its time to listen to your inner voice and realize that no company can harm you, no boss can worry you, and dont give any entity or person permission to do so. From the beginning to the end of your life, its YOU that you need to answer to, and YOU own your emotions and reaction. So if "laid off," smile, say thank you, realize the opportunity to come, and think of it like your wedding day -- a new start.
ReplyDeleteJobs come and go. Money comes and goes. No one here will become destitute. Anyone with the gumption to work for a newspaper, through holidays, weekends, nights, forgoing birthdays, anniversaries, parties, etc, has the ability to work in almost any situation, for any company.
We newspaper people are some of the best, most capable and hard working people in the world, and we should be damn proud of it.
So march into the new day, shining, determined, and ready -- and don't ever lament or look back, for you would be wasting your precious time.
6:44 speaks the truth. You need to take your life in your own hands, quit whining, and do something. This heyena isn't going to change its habits. No matter the quality and quantity of your work, you are expendible.
ReplyDeleteTo 6:57. We're not enablers. We're just trying to keep our family from living on the street. It's not that simple to just walk away. For all my other "enabler" friends, layoffs have been postponed until next week and it is expected to be worse than originally projected. Again we get to go home this weekend to our families, kiss our kids, smile, and pretend like everything is going to be alright. As many who have been laid off in the past, it was the best thing for them. Whatever the outcome, JUST DO IT!
ReplyDelete9:46 PM - I never got any such notice of how much is in my pension. Trust me, I'd have remembered getting one, because I've always wondered just how much is in there. (The freeze happened only months after I was fully vested, so I know there's not much. But still, I'd like to know.)
ReplyDelete9/29 6:57: Welcome to USCP's world. We had the same situation in '08 and '09. Layoff announcement, then weeks of nothing but speculation and gut-clenching fear until they started the closed-door conferences.
ReplyDeleteAt current rates, I'm now estimating that USAT will have lost in the neighborhood of half its advertising revenue by the end of the year compared to the pre-recession levels of 2007. That is about the same loss rate as for GCI's overall publishing advertising.
ReplyDeleteBut because of USAT's bigger ad base, the paper's 2007-2010 losses would be magnified. In total, that decline is as much as $150 million, according to the estimate I've worked up.
6:57 is correct. The pending-layoff situation at USA Today has created a miserable work environment. Well, more miserable than usual. The blame goes right to the top for this sick folly while the work continues to stretch an already thin staff.
ReplyDeleteThe people in the corner offices got us into this mess, spending like drunken sailors, mostly on themselves. It's unfortunate that every year this sacrificial ritual only hurts those of us who don't have a fancy title in front of our names or a yacht or summer home at the beach. Those who are most responsible for this disaster and the way it's being handled go on without so much as a scratch.
Even when the layoffs are over, and the dust settles again, those of us remaining will never forget how badly things have been handled for three consecutive rounds of layoffs here at the nation's newspaper. I am praying that the economy turns around soon. I want to watch the floodgates open as remaining USAT employees flee, giving every big boss the finger on the way out.
Well, if Part-time's post is true, or a little bit of fibbin' with a grain of truth: More power to him/her! Stick it to the horrible company that has stuck it to so, so many good, hard-working employees. And it's hardly a reach to think that Dubow and his appointed enabler/clowns wouldn't be fooled by this kind of scam. They have no idea who does what, after all. They just come up with new "reorganization" plans and lay off people as part of a numbers game -- nevermind whether those losing their jobs actually contribute value. So if digital part-timer is pulling down big bucks for half-time work, great.
ReplyDeleteAs for 6:44 a.m.'s comments: Right on! The people screwed the most in GCI are those who work the hardest and have literally no back-up plan if they get laid off because their entire lives were devoted to GCI. Now, they seek pity because they worked so, so hard and this doesn't guarantee job security? Like that's a new revelation? Were you not around for the last round of layoffs, or the round before that? Was there any semblance of reason with respect to who stayed and who left? Were the people who stayed actually the ones who made the most valuable contributions? Didn't think so.
Get smart people. Stop holding out hope that you'll make your career here and then feeling all sad and rejected when the inevitable comes. Start your back-up plan now -- or yesterday. Because without it, you'll be tossed out on your ear with -- what? -- a week, two weeks, a month, a day, an hour of notice? The people best prepared for GCI layoffs that I knew already had something to do as soon as they walked out the door. Who cares if it was a landscaping, or cleaning, or home-improvement/handyman business? It was something to do other than working for the worst-run news corp on earth, wasn't it?
@9:12 AM: Call HR and ask for a copy of your pension freeze letter. Just don't ask for a recalculation.
ReplyDelete@9:06 AM: Gosh, I hope you're wrong, but I don't know you or your sources. If you're right, I'm just done. Done. How much more can we take of this?
I was hoping layoffs would start today, just so we can get it over with. And you know what? If I get laid off, no matter how much I've mentally prepared myself, I'll probably still burst into tears. And it will be more out of relief than anything else.
Word verification: alingers. Hah.
Gannett, NYT, WaPo investing in digital startup Ongo Inc.
ReplyDeleteWas checking Twitter for updates on USAT layoffs when I found this link:
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2010/09/27/daily52.html?ana=from_rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+bizj_sanfrancisco+%28San+Francisco+Business+Times%29&utm_content=Twitter
To all still employed Gannett employees
ReplyDeletewho are worried and totally stressed,and near nervous breakdown about getting laid off .
You have known for nearly 2 years about the
coldness of the corporation you work for.Everyone has been through the the cruel way layoffs and closings have been handled.Profitable commercial pressrooms were shut down and presses sold,just to get rid
of the operators.
Newspapers that were in existance for 120 years were closed to cutback expenses.Lifelong newspaper people,publishers,managaging editors,
hardworking employees that were loyal to the business and to Gannett for most of their lives
were let go with no fanfair or remorse.
You have all known this would happen again
the hand writing has been on the wall,plain as day for all this time.Yet,day after day,you let
Gannett put you through this agony and you come to work and continue to try to make them profitable.You work hard,and stress out even worse so that they make profit.Yes,you are paid and your checks keep coming for this effort,
but at what cost to you.I have seen many of you
on the street ,you have aged very quickly,your
mental and physical health has clearly diminished in these last years.Yet,you remain.
What is the cost to you,all of you hard working,
good people,should have been trying to change
jobs in the last 2 years,not try to help Gannett,cause you know damn well they are not trying to help you!
How about getting over the pension questions.
ReplyDeleteJust call them to check your balance for crying out loud!
They will send you a check if you request to cash out or rollover!
Geez..
I hope one reason USAT has waited between announcement and layoffs was to give people the chance leave on their own (Pruitt, Kiely, etc.) and reduce the number actually laid off. Still, five weeks is too long to leave people hanging and it wouldn't surprise me if they still cut the full 130 IN ADDITION to the voluntary departures. Great place to work.
ReplyDeletePaid Time Off's comments do seem like B.S. because (if true) he or she provided way too much information. It would be very easy for managers to figure out just who this person is from the comment.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I'm in USCP and I certainly work fewer hours than I did two years ago. What's more, I draw a respectable salary and I am paid for every single minute.
I used to put in extra hours just because I liked the job. Not anymore. So, while the original post may be B.S. I wouldn't be surprised at all if Gannett is getting far less work for its dollar these days.
If you are still busting your ass, the question is, "Why?" Gannett has no loyalty. Do what you need to in order to keep your paycheck (not much considering the company's ridiculously low standards) then go home and enjoy life with your family and friends. Make plans for your next career. Save money. Do anything but worry about the future of this godforsaken company.
If you read the Retirement Income Bnefits Changing Effective Augist 1, 2008 it states."YOUR ESTIMATED ANNUAL BENEFIT EARNED THROUGH JULY 31,2008, as of the date of the plan freeze" KEY WORD IS ESTIMATED. Gannett always pulls this S...! Look at past information they always stated example based on an estimated 3% annual wage increase which is false and misleading information. Who over the past 10 years has gotten a 3% raise every year. NOT ME THATS FOR SURE. So as stated in another posting if pension is frozen they should be able to give you an exact figure.
ReplyDelete9:33 a.m., please be advised that people have been looking for two years. One person who was laid off two years ago is still looking. Those of us who have been left to float in the nebulous void of will they/won't they lay me off, have been looking. With almost six unemployed people for every job opening, it's not that easy. As the economy picks up, it will get easier, and there is likely to be a major exodus of staffers then. But for now, we're pretty much stuck, due to the need for money pay the bills and support ourselves and our families, and the need for insurance, especially those with pre-existing conditions. Be realistic.
ReplyDeleteI think a little investigative work by Jim might be necessary. The USAT layoffs seem to be delayed and a number of Gannett Blog readers want to know why.
ReplyDeleteSome people remain at Gannett not because they don't see the writing on the wall or don't have the abilities to do other things, but because we're in one of the worst job markets in our lifetime. If you have a family or other obligations, or if you're of an age where employers openly discriminate against hiring you, it is often more prudent to dance with the devil you know. Many of us will stay put despite our disgust with this company, the loss of friends and colleague and other Gannett-driven horrors. We stay because, in essence, we have to eat.
ReplyDeleteWe know that Gannett has never been considered an ethical or warm and fuzzy company. I've heard terrible stories about this company dating back to the 1980s. But, unfortunately, it's a big player in the biz and many of us have reluctantly had to swallow our pride to work here. Gannett has had no trouble filling jobs because if you want to work in this biz and are tied to certain geographic areas, you really have no choice.
However, Gannett's historically bad reputation has really taken a big hit in the last couple of years. Most newspaper companies have had layoffs, but none quite as ruthless, and in certain cases thoughtless, as Gannett's. Word gets around. It circulates throughout the industry and the J schools. There is an army of ex-Gannettoids out there revealing the dirty secrets of this company.
Once we're out of this economic downturn, I am betting that Gannett won't find it so easy to attract talented people anymore, let alone hang on to the good employees who are still here. Payback will be slow, but it will come. Gannett, including its flagship brand, is a company on the decline - a victim of its own mistreatment of employees, readers and advertisers.
For the peons: Watch this YouTube clip, and start singing it to yourself:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCKChuY6kZs
Your bosses and ownership don't care about you, even though they should: you're busting hump to help support them and those retired or much better off than you.
Start taking care of yourself. Believe in yourself. Get away from that evil place!
Re 9:52 a.m....You can bet they're going to cut as many as they can. Larger-than-projected cuts were extracted at some community papers even when positions were unfilled and when more people took buyouts than the managers had anticipated.
ReplyDeleteThe joke used to be that the accent was on the "net" of Gannett. Now it's that the "G" is for greed.
Except the joke's not so funny anymore, especially when the worker bees are slashed while multiple queens with little to justify their existence continue to inhabit the hive.
Ugh. I feel sorry for the USAT newsroom waiting for layoffs to happen. I was one of the people cut without any warning last December. While it was one of the most painful and shocking experiences I've gone through, I'm glad that the layoff came quickly without a lot of time to dwell on it.
ReplyDeleteI'm here to offer a little bit of hope to those worried about future employment. Journalism skills are transferable, especially if you've dabbled at all in new media. Within six months, I found a corporate writing gig without too much trouble. The pay is a little less than USAT, but the benefits are fantastic and I have a career future again. And I do my own writing as a blogger in my spare time.
So rework your resume and get it out there. Focus on the skills that you've accumulated and not the industry that's dying. Find another pool to swim in, instead of circling the drain. Prepare yourself for a few months of feeling like shit but realize that this, too, will pass. Don't let the USAT managers making these decisions break you. Survival is the best revenge.
9:33 we sympathize. We know the job market stinks. But your Plan B shouldn't simply be to go out on the market and hope some employer picks you out of the literally hundreds of people applying for the same fulltime job. Start your own engine. Get your own business going. You have marketable skills. The 'hired gun' contractual work is out there (because so many employers like GCI are cutting fulltimers in droves). This is the new work reality. And if you have a fulltime job with GCI but are hanging by the thread (like 99 percent are there), then start planting the seeds for your own business now. Because it takes time to build a viable one.
ReplyDeleteWhere I was in GCI, nearly one half of the employees had at least SOMETHING going on, doing it on their own time. Guess what? Those employees who had NOTHING going on, who thought all of their hard, hard, tireless work for lovely GCI would surely leave them immune to a layoff, got laid off and now have nothing. Those of us who could see the writing on the wall and set ourselves up for a 'real' backup plan -- even without a fulltime, traditional, benefits-paying job -- are at least able to keep moving forward without worrying that we'll lose our homes.
It's clear that nobody there can afford to devote the traditional 110 percent of their time to GCI anymore. Why bother? GCI doesn't recognize this kind of effort, or care. So you can be like "part timer" above (whether this is a real story or made up) and pocket the paycheck, take long lunches and otherwise kill time during the day -- or you can use those hours wisely finding ways to sell yourself on the free agent market. That what I did, and I haven't looked back. There were all kinds of long, sad faces on my last day with GCI. But I walked out with my spirits high and my head up, unafraid of anything. Hell, I felt sorry for those that were staying -- and for good reason! And, many, many months later, I'm still making it. True, it's a month-to-month existence. But so far it's working out and then some. And I'm free. Free from the cancer that is this failing, horribly managed, people-crushing corporation.
Want the same feeling of freedom when it's your turn to walk? Fine. But nobody's going to do it for you. Encouraging words of "hang in there" and "nobody would ever lay you off" are well-intentioned but naive and ill-conceived at best. It's verbal opium intended to make you stay firmly planted, nose to the GCI grindstone. Get your own motor started and take care of yourself first -- and last -- instead.
Design Center ... er, I mean Studio. Nice Euphemism corporate.
ReplyDeleteSomeone seemed a little pissed by the end of that 'Design Studio' webinar, don't you think?
ReplyDeleteInteresting how many things they weren't going to do will now happen for 'efficiency'
September passes without any word on layoffs at USAT. What gross incompetency. Make a big splash weeks ago about all these pending job cuts and then leave people hanging without any sort of update, details of where the cuts will be coming from, etc. USAT employees deserve better than this. To leave them dangling is just adding insult to pending injury. USAT management, and I am including some mid-managers, are without a doubt some of the worst human beings in any industry.
ReplyDeleteNJ 'hits' are signs of more to come. I explained in previous posts that the trend lines show a must-cut mode.
ReplyDeleterespone to:
ReplyDeleteThat said, I'm in USCP and I certainly work fewer hours than I did two years ago. What's more, I draw a respectable salary and I am paid for every single minute.
I used to put in extra hours just because I liked the job. Not anymore. So, while the original post may be B.S. I wouldn't be surprised at all if Gannett is getting far less work for its dollar these days.
If you are working less you must be in senior management. every one of my colleagues in middle management or lower works longer and harder than ever.
So D-day came and went. Were layoffs delayed due to the "leak" so that the blog didn't scoop it? Would corporate go as far as to actively try to discredit the blog by leaking false information about the supposed lay off day?
ReplyDeletewill put a bullet in my head if i hear "world-class" one more time. are you ad folks with me on this???
ReplyDeleteBeing at USA Today is like being in the crowd watching someone jump off a roof. Some are yelling jump, and others not to jump. It's a real dilemma, especially Hunke announced the reorganization and so committed us to a course.
ReplyDeleteThe difficulty is no one knows quite how to implement reorganization. Do they just go whole pig into the Internet and give up the millions they are making from the print product? I don't think the Crystal Towers wants to give up that cash. USA Today has positioned itself as a newspaper that uniquely serves travelers, so do they forget about the print product, and instead go for a general Web audience? If they give up hotel delivery, does that just hand that traveling audience to the WSJ and NYT? If they give up print, is there sufficent revenue from the Internet to run an expensive Washington-based news operation (doubtful in the short term). Which gets the most daily attention: the Web site or the print product? How is the print product going to be changed by a lower staff. Will it be one big exclusive A-1 story a day, or the current mix which readers like? Do they kill or reduce the Money section, or does any tinkering with Money just concede an advantage to the WSJ? If they carry through on the USA Today shakeup, will existing readers stay, or do we really care?
What to do? What to do? What to do?
@5:10, It's not about serving business travelers with a print product, or everyone with a digital product. The business traveler has also abandoned the print product in favor of mobile technology.
ReplyDeleteYeah right,GCI would leak a huge transition with layoffs countrywide,and closings just so that this blog would lose credibility!
ReplyDeleteGCI, in it's complete cruelness will probably
just drag this drama on and on until they decide to drop the axe on as many employees as possible.How about waiting until December like they did in 2008,Merry Christmas to all! and to the last one out the door ,turn off the lights.
You people who whore yourselves for a GCI check,
how do you live with yourselves? Damn ,after 2 years of knowing your career with them is nothing but agony and dreadful waiting as to when the end will come,2 years and you still come through their doors and ask to be punished
another day,week, month.....
I know it's a tough job market and all that,
but read here how many people are out there
implementing Plan B and are happy!
Announcements are delayed because numbers are worse than expected. More layoffs than anticipated two months ago. Department heads are trying to figure out how to make the cuts and still put out a product every day plus meet new demands.
ReplyDelete8:18 Yes, I know business travelers have abandoned print for digital. But that is not relevant the hotel circulation of USA Today. People get the paper at their hotel room doorstep whether they pick it up and read it, or not. The charge is included in the hotel bill, but they don't know it.
ReplyDeleteSo they are counted as circulation even if they step over the paper and go to breakfast reading digital.
This worked great in boom times, but hotels had the worst year in 2009 since the Great Depression, and they still have not recovered. Plus Marriott concluded they had no business being in the newspaper delivery business, and that there were clean-up costs for picking up newspapers that it didn't want to bear.
I think the trouble is the Peter principle: Susan Weiss has been promoted to a job she is incompetent to do, and so now is floundering badly. It's great to see this again in this company, which I have always thought was the manifestation of the Peter principle. Otherwise, how did we end up with so many incompetents in high positions?
ReplyDeleteYet more defections from USA Today today. Economics reporter Paul Wiseman is going to be the AP's economics reporter, and autos reporter Sharon Carty is also joining AP. The reorganization plan hits Money real hard, and the new paper won't have much interest in economics.
ReplyDeleteJim: call your old USAT buddies. People are jumping ship right and left -- even before the layoffs.
ReplyDeleteThe travel market? You gotta be kidding!
ReplyDeleteI regularly travel around the Northeast, and from what I've seen the USA Today copies sit untouched in a small pile on the front desk.
Gannett products are simply too shallow to hold interest these days. While there's no Gannett local in my home base, I have friends who've cancelled their's because there is nothing much to read.
So wake up Gannett. If you don't want to slide into oblivion start directing more money into your product and less into the pockets of your executives.
Does the bad news for Gannett never stop. Here's a story that says the Yahoo ad consortium is falling apart. GCI has made big bucks from this ad consortium and if it goes, I don't think the company knows what to do:
ReplyDeletehttp://newsosaur.blogspot.com/2010/10/schneider-exit-clouds-newspaper.html
8:28 -- Why? Did you not work all of your hours before? What I said is I know longer give the company ANY free overtime. I punch the clock and then I leave. The expectations for quality are pretty low so I don't worry about making that extra call, punching the story up one more time, etc. I'm already in a position where my work is better than most of what published so management really has no legitimate complaint about me.
ReplyDeleteI do the work that I'm paid for and nothing more. I suppose I was a fool in the past for showing such dedication to the job and putting in extra hours without pay. I will not, however, work longer and harder than before. What is the point?
The actual rollover of my pension was $4000.00 dollars less that the estimate they passed out.I really did not get a very good answer about the difference. They do have a formula that they use and it will come close. Someone in human resources should have the formula.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteKinda found it funny that in yesterday's design center/studio webinar Dickey spoke about how we need to retain our top talent and reward them. Is that why some of the best writers are leaving USA Today in droves. At our site in the last month we lost a good reporter to a weekly business journal, an assistant sports editor to an online venture and an A1 designer as well. I know of at least two others that are just about out the door as well. I did however learn where the light switch is, so I have that going for me.
ReplyDeleteFollowing is an edited version of a comment posted by Anonymous@12:02 p.m.:
ReplyDeleteSorry if this was covered elsewhere, but I didn't see it ...
There was a big webinar yesterday regarding the Regional Design Hubs (which have been renamed Regional Design Studios), with the schedule for rollout dates for each newspaper.
There were a couple of interesting things that came up:
1) Once the new front-end system is installed, the individual papers won't even have pagination capabilities on site. If there's a massive computer screwup with the "Studio", either getting things to them or back from them, or if there's a major situation or change on deadline, or if the individual papers see something with the layout that they want to change, it all has to go back through the "Studio". That has the potential for disaster, and it also confirms that there will be absolutely no design duties kept on site. Initial reports were that there may be 1-2 designers kept on at each paper.
2) Quoting Kate M. from the initial Q/A when this was announced:
"Will all of our newspapers begin to look alike?
No. Flatly, no. That is not the intent at all. The individuality of a newspaper is important. We will preserve that."
She announced yesterday that every paper will be forced to go through a redesign and use the exact same fonts for headlines, cutlines, body type, etc., so this "Studio" will be more streamlined. She stressed that the papers will distinguish themselves through their content.
Her promises to preserve that "individuality of a newspaper" didn't last long.
In an e-mail, a reader asked me to post the following:
ReplyDeleteWhen someone gets laid off or fired from a company, the normal psychology is to try to persuade your friends and acquaintances left behind to leave. I did this when it happened to me. I thought I was being helpful, or at least convinced myself I was. I've read some on that subject since.
In reality, we are insulted that people we know would continue to work for a place that treated us so badly. So we bug them to death about leaving. In real life, this puts a big strain on relationships.
So a word about all these posts: They are exhausting!
To those still employed: Of course you aren't going to jump ship. Most of the very people telling you to leave are still unemployed or underemployed. The bird in the hand is the way to go in this business climate. Plus, it's much easier to get noticed and offered a job when you are working than when you are unemployed!
Don't listen to them. I wish I could ask Jim not to post these, because they really drag people and the blog down. But our free speech heritage pretty much precludes that. Posters: Stop doing this to your former co-workers, please!
Finally, why is evil, evil Gannett laying people off? Didn't Jim just post that up to half of advertising is gone? And the other side of that coin: Rates are down, so it's worse than that. Common sense says layoffs are the only option. I imagine I'm in the pipeline soon and it will be a disaster for us. But it's not because Gannett is an evil empire. It's because our industry has experienced several seismic shifts and will never be the same. Companies, media, employees .... we must all reinvent. Good luck to all.
I sense USAT is going to spin the reason for the delay in announcing layoffs. This is a news organization that lies more than politicians and is as secretive as most of the industries it covers. Even the editors at USAT have fallen into spinning almost every conversation they have with staffers. No one is buying the b.s. anymore. This layoff thing, regardless of the outcome, has been handled horribly. You would think after three rounds of ruining careers USAT would have gotten the kinks worked out by now. No matter what they say when the announcement comes, don't believe it. "Job eliminations" and other catch-phrases are just part of the lies. Jobs aren't eliminated, people are. USAT has no honor, no integrity. This is no longer a legitimate news organization and I hope the public eventually catches on and makes this brand a non-player.
ReplyDelete1:57 xxx Finally, why is evil, evil Gannett laying people off? Didn't Jim just post that up to half of advertising is gone? And the other side of that coin: Rates are down, so it's worse than that. Common sense says layoffs are the only option xxx
ReplyDeleteI could not disagree with you more.
Layoffs would not be necessary if Gannett followed the path of the New York Times, and continued to produce a quality product even though the NYT is facing the exact same problems. May I note that the WSJ is expanding, and McClatchy has managed to maintain a measure of quality while flirting with bankruptcy. All Gannett does is layoff and furlough.
Layoffs would not be necessary if Gannett had addressed the problem of the Internet earlier. The Internet has been with us since 1995 and by 2000 it was recognized in the newspaper industry as a real competitive threat. Yet Gannett did not wake up to this until 2006/07, and it was too late and too timid.
Layoffs would not be necessary if executive compensation was divorced from stock options. The prospect of executives making millions by inflating the price of the stock has turned this company into a bottom-line, profit driven operation. We give lip service to the First Amendment, but the real action is reported to the SEC in stock options and salary increases. There might be a different attitude if Craig et al. pitched in and shelved their salaries and benefits while we all dig through this economic storm. They did not do this and instead got pay increases. Yes, evil, evil...
Layoffs would not be necessary if corporate let the papers manage their own affairs, and scrapped the central planning that now goes on. Why should the fabulously prosperous Wisconsin papers have layoffs or furloughs when they are not having the economic problems of USA Today?
I could go on, but you get the drift. This was all unavoidable.
2:30 here. I meant to say this was all avoidable.
ReplyDeleteI saw a situation occur where an ad rep who brought in accounts totaling more than 10x her salary, commissions benefits, payroll taxes, etc. was laid off during one of the rounds a while back. This lady was selling close to $750,000 yearly. Having managed businesses in the past, I am still attempting to determine what the rationale is for laying off an ad person who brings more in the door than they cost? Does anyone have any THOUGHTFUL advice to add on this one. I am curious about this because in my mind it never made sense, but perhaps there is some sort of logical reason to keep managers on the till and cut successful ad sales people loose?
ReplyDeleteJust curious if anyone knows why something like this might happen. Of course, I don't think her manager liked her, but stuff like that doesn't matter when it comes to direct revenue decisions, or does it?
Nice post 2:30. Gannett -- like most modern corporations -- is indeed an evil empire for the reasons you posted and others.
ReplyDelete1:57 -- If this is all just a reaction to business conditions, why do we continue to pay top management so much? Shouldn't management in a dying industry make a dying wage? The only way to defend the salaries they make is to point out that Gannett has continued to reap considerable profits during the worst economy since the Great Depression. But that opens another can of worms. Shouldn't the company simply be happy making a profit in this economy rather than trying to maximize that profit? I would argue that it is evil to get greedy under these circumstances, particularly when you are undermining your core product in the process. Too, much debt, you say? If that's the case, it's because top management made some very bad decisions and should be removed. Yet we're still operating with -- and paying excellent wages -- to the team that got us into this mess.
Essentially, Gannett is selling out its workforce while simultaneously presenting a weakened product to its advertisers and subscribers ... all the while lying and pretending that the product is better than ever. Mightn't that be evil?
There's little excuse for any of this. In fact, the only viable argument our top management has is to point fingers at other corporations and say, "They're doing it too." Well that's true. And they're just as evil and unscrupulous as Gannett.
5:23 How old was she. Until the pension was frozen, there was an incentive for corporate to force older employees into early retirement. Those who retire at 55 get 50 percent of the payments given those who retire at age 63. So it lessened the need for corporate to replenish the pension fund.
ReplyDeleteOf course, there was no age discrimination in these layoff decisions. But did you note how there were a lot of gray hairs on the layoff list?
The second reason involves studies by consultants who concluded younger people in the 18-35 age bracket were turned off by newspapers because they were staffed by older people.
It's interesting to read reports by the consultants today who find that the layoffs that swept American industry in this recession not only disrupted informal internal communications in businesses, but hurt business and were disruptive to those who kept their jobs.
It is a very old story, something about killing the goose that laid the golden egg, IMO. Funny how we have to relearn these lessons from time to time.
BTW, the layoffs had no effect in attracting 18-35 year old readers. Newspaper readership in that age category is now as low as 3 percent in some surveys.
I am one of those,in previous post, critizing the still employed by Gannett.
ReplyDeleteAnd no,I am not still unemployed,and giving advice for them to also be unemployed.
I started a shopper,took advantage of my experience and after more than a year of working our butts off,we are starting show a profit.
I am not a rocket scientist either,just took advantage of having ,good, hard working ,experienced people all working together
in a pleasant, yet very productive environment.
Yes ,life is great after Gannett.
10:57 It is not the former employees that are driving this blog. It is the current employees that provide the insight. I don't find this at work, but that is because everyone has become so cautious about making any comments about Gannett for fear of retaliation or being listed on the layoff list.
ReplyDeleteI love this blog. I learn something new about where I work every week. If there are occasional postings by former Gannett employees, that's fine with me. They don't scare me. I frankly think most former employees have moved along, and probably are participating in blogs involving their new companies.
USAT needs to be carefully studied by a business news organization or a university group, and now. This company is fascinating!
ReplyDeleteAn almost-was company now deeply confused and badly run: layoffs in a stall, no solid business direction, unclear goals. Add in novice-boorish-weak leadership, public print-bashing by the top exec, middling digital products, letting finance run the show... USAT is just tripping and fumbling and fucking up at every single turn. So breathtakingly stupid, you just have to sit up and take notice and be in awe of the breadth of it! This is a situation that comes by but once or twice in one's lifetime, so behold.
USAT is an outstanding business failure melodrama unfolding right before us, and in 3-5 years, when 7950 is owned by one of the dozens of Tysons-based Federal defense contractors, we will remember USAT in its final throes when it became a 2-section paper, then a free commuter tab, then finally, a newsletter company and a twitter trickle.
These days, friends, are the very best of times. Its too late and its not going to get better, ever. Technology and digital are not going to save the company. Advertising has left the building, forever. Our readers are turning away from our half-hearted pablum. Forever. So indeed, this is the end of the Neuharth National Newspaper experiment.
Take pictures, make vids, give a gentle kiss and say goodbye to the brand and its short and semi-sweet legacy.
I received notification that the 401k transition from Hewitt to Schwab was completed for my 401k brokerage account. So it looks like they completed this ahead of schedule.
ReplyDeleteThere are several mutual funds that I own in the brokerage side that have transaction fees. Unfortunately the somewhat reasonable $19.95 fee that Hewitt charged is now $49.95 under Schwab! $49.95 for a hands-off electronic transaction! WTF?
Thank you Gannett for finding another way to stick it to us.
Hey, here's a wild thought.
ReplyDeleteFor all those ex-employees who keep telling us there's life after Gannett, for all those ex-employees who castigate us for not jumping to Plan B right away, for all those calling the still employed cattle or sheep for keeping our heads down and continuing to work.... for all that animus that some of those posters have towards the workers still here...
Why do you still care? Supposedly, you're 'gone'. You've 'moved on'. You've put 'the evil Gannett behind you'.
Would you please? Would you put us behind you? Because honestly, I don't need anyone telling me how stupid I am because I can feed my family without government help - and if I have to live with things I have to do to make that happen, that's my problem.
Criticize the company, the leadership decisions, or the quality of the food in the cafeteria, I don't care.
But using your big brain to pick at the worker bees who've found a way to hang on to a job in this economy? That's just a little pathetic.
Jim, I wonder if you could post a poll: If you are a designer at a community newspaper, are you planning to apply for a job in one of the five new design centers? 1.) Yes, I'm applying and will relocate. 2.) No, I'm not applying and can not or will not relocate. 3.) Yes, I'm applying and already work in one of the five host cities. 4.) No, I'm not applying, even though I already work in one of the five host cities.
ReplyDelete6:30, I think those people expect you to do what they are doing. After all, if you are not bitching all of the time, then how will the company get better? Just look at everything their bitching has accomplished!
ReplyDeleteSeriously -- most of the people here need to grow up, stop whining, and move the fuck on. Find something else to do. Stop posting stupid shit here. Except maybe for Jim, we are all tired of reading it.
I was wondering why we hadn't heard from the corporte troll for several weeks now.
ReplyDeleteUSA Today was on top of the world despite there being some God-awful managers in the late 1990s. Those managers multiplied. They promoted all the wrong people, saved the jobs of people who should have been fired and fired people who should have been retained. When the recession hit, the catastrophe created by those managers was revealed. The good times ended. Those managers got too much credit for those good times and are not getting enough of the blame for the current situation. In fact, the "offspring" of some of those bad 1990s managers have been promoted yet again! Look, anyone could have managed USAT in the best of times. But it's going to take a lot smarter and more dedicated leaders than we have now to rebound from this mess. I mean better publishers, editors, DMEs...you name it. And just to be clear, not everyone back in the 1990s was incompetent. There were some outstanding leaders. Just not enough of them. For whatever reason, they faded away and left us with the current crop of idiots and frauds.
ReplyDeleteJim: Since you have done some work on this, do you believe USA Today is currently running a profit? The company doesn't break out USAT for us, so our knowledge of USAT's operations is very thin. I don't see how it can be profitable with the sparse ads, but I don't know.
ReplyDeleteAlso, do we know if there are profitable days for USAT? Would it make business sense to stop publication of the Monday paper, since it seems to have the fewest? Business people generally don't travel on Sundays so don't need a Monday newspaper at their hotels. What about the other days of the week?
7:28 a.m.: I just posted the following in another comment thread:
ReplyDeleteThere is reason to believe that USAT is now losing money. I'm confident in saying USAT is on track this year to have lost as much as $150 million in annual advertising revenue from what it took in three years ago. (That would be a loss of nearly 50% of its revenue base, in line with GCI's overall publishing advertising revenue decline during the same period.)
Certainly, it's possible USAT has cut up to $150 million in costs during the same period, which would mean that -- all other things being equal -- it's still profitable. But that seems like a stretch. Bottom line: There's reason to believe reader My Boss' contention that USAT could be facing a record loss in 2010.
10/02 @ 1:57pm: this sounds a lot like a NJ production manager who's succeeded at engineering the demise of most of his/her underlings just to keep on keepin' on at our favorite company in the whole wide world. One day you'll get yours and it ain't gonna be pretty. By the way, I'm still with you and have lost all respect for you for how you've gone about your business in the past year or two, although I'll never let you know it.
ReplyDeleteI guess the bad news will come soon enough.
ReplyDeleteAs a former manager ,I know the severe cuts that were made in 08 and 09,were made in a much more profitable situation than they face today.
Those thousands of layoffs and cost cutting methods were made in a time when profits were
less than projected in the budget by somewhere in the 5% to 10% range.Can you imagine now ,for the 4th quarter, they would probaly be thrilled with budgets that were only down by 10%.
To those sole family supporters that are still with Gannett, and are stressed for the fear of being unemployed, good luck to you all!Sometimes
good comes from something bad!
To those of you just waiting for the unemployment or retirement or really have wealthy or well paid spouses...no respect to you,get out now!
If anyone has a wealthy spouse that they don't want, I'll trade you. Gonna be a long winter, with lots of bills.
ReplyDeletehow many Gannett empolyees over 50 face losing their jobs if they don't relocate or are not offered jobs at the design "studios."
ReplyDelete