In a comment today, Anonymous@9:49 a.m. writes:
I knew I was going to have to lay off people for a month before they were told. I wished I could let them know, so that they could have prepared -- postponed the Disney vacation, make the old car last another year, not bought the dream house.
And yet, out of the six times in the last five years I've been asked to give a list of names for layoffs, the hammer has only fallen three times. Should I have told them all every time to put their life on hold? It is no kindness to point out the sword over Damocles' head.
Ultimately, we're all adults. I know that my number coming up is just as likely as theirs, and no doubt my boss has had to put my name on a RIF list.
I've got my six months' savings socked away. My family doesn't go on trips, we have cars old enough to get their own licenses, my house is worth less than half the average home price in my state. If my staff made different choices, that's on them.
At this point in the recession, we've all had plenty of warning that we all have a target on our backs. Rather than trying to read the tea leaves to get a week's advance notice on the inevitable, get your finances in order and then enjoy each day of employment as it comes.
As always, other views are welcome. Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.
And yet, out of the six times in the last five years I've been asked to give a list of names for layoffs, the hammer has only fallen three times. Should I have told them all every time to put their life on hold? It is no kindness to point out the sword over Damocles' head.
Ultimately, we're all adults. I know that my number coming up is just as likely as theirs, and no doubt my boss has had to put my name on a RIF list.
I've got my six months' savings socked away. My family doesn't go on trips, we have cars old enough to get their own licenses, my house is worth less than half the average home price in my state. If my staff made different choices, that's on them.
At this point in the recession, we've all had plenty of warning that we all have a target on our backs. Rather than trying to read the tea leaves to get a week's advance notice on the inevitable, get your finances in order and then enjoy each day of employment as it comes.
As always, other views are welcome. Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.
This note is incredibly accurate. Each month, I updated an "expense contingency plan" that gave our group a set of options (3 percent, 2 percent and 1 percent). Then, we would await word from corporate via group on how much we should cut.
ReplyDeleteAfter a certain point, the only way we could reach a cut number, particularly deep enough and quick enough, was through RIFs. Were we told to do RIFs? No, that was usually "a local decision." But after you cut everything else that you could cut, people were all you had left. So, yes, virtually everyone was on my RIF list at some point, depending upon the range and speed that was dictated by group and corporate.
I hated carrying this with me. I would walk through the halls of my building, talking to my employees about life and kids, dreams and fears, hopes and, sometimes even, journalism and serving our community. They would probe me, searching for some sign of whether they were safe or not. The truth was that none of us, not even me, were safe at any time. I became practiced at the art of saying something without saying anything. And I was dying, a little bit at a time, every day.
I once calculated that the savings realized in one year of our group's RIFs just covered the executive bonuses given to Craig, Gracia, Bob, Evan and Michelle. All of that pain and misery so we could afford the extra pay given to executives already making so very much salary. Of course, my RIFs were the gift that kept on giving, as they reduced our expenses year after year. I am sure the Gang of Five told themselves that as they enjoyed their bonus money.
Please spare me the defense that they were being rewarded per their worth in the market. That they represented the Very Best of Segment Leadership and were worthy of such compensation. That our stock price now topping $20 makes all of this worth it. They profited personally by sending local minions like me out to do their bidding. They didn't share in this burden. They didn't have to look people in the eyes, tell them they could no longer work at a place they had given their best years of their lives.
So, to the poster's original question: What do you do with this horrible knowledge? Like Leo in The Matrix, you've swallowed the red pill by becoming a local Gannett executive. And you can't un-know it. You carry this with you. Or you leave the company.
July 1/second-half year RIFs await many sites. Like the poster said, be ready at all times. If your number isn't called now, it will be soon.
"Enjoy each day of employment"
ReplyDeleteI truly do. Even the difficult days, I look forward to working with the people in my building, our sister papers, our customers and the community.
I'll be sad when my part of it goes away, but until then I like providing my neighbors and community with a product that really does try to improve their lives with editorial and advertising information.
"Enjoy each day of employment"
ReplyDeleteI really do. Each day I do my part to help deliver information and products that I know make a difference to the people in my community. Not because a shareholder or a corporate officer or Scarborough research said a demographic needed to be served, but because the people on Oak street were being ignored by their alderman.
I'll be sad when my part of the process isn't needed any more, but until then, I enjoy working with some great people doing some great things. That's why I won't leave until I have no other choice.
Good attitude. I was the same way until forced out. Now I feel bad for the people I helped that no longer have me to help them. I don't know if many of them even know I was forced out and that I didn't just leave to do something else. I of course would still be there if I could but GPS chose to take the company in a different less friendly direction. As far as the advance warnings I received two weeks notice. Not long although I wasn't shocked as I knew it could happen to anyone that worked for Gannett.
DeleteCollateral Damage: What happens when the thousands of ex-Gannett employees who are forced out stay in their communities? Do you think they have good things to say to their friends about how they were treated?
ReplyDeleteI wonder how much business Gannett has lost over the years due to its Profits Over People mentality? Both advertisers and subscribers, who decided against doing business with such an evil company.
The problem with Gannett is that it's governed by jr. High mentality managers. If you stray from the girls club mentslity, you are out. Question brilliant managers? You're out. This has nothing to do with productivity or ability.
ReplyDeleteAs opposed to the elementary school mentality here.
DeleteGannett newsrooms, renamed Information Centers, should be renamed again as The Exec. Editor's Sandbox.
DeleteThat's pretty insightful, 11:19. Did your deskmate give you that one, right before dunking someone's pigtails in the inkwell?
DeleteCorporate...why do you have someone throwing mud at any post that is negative to the company? Really. Why not focus your resources on turning the damn ship around.
DeleteUnemployment line ... why do you spend your time posting here? Why not focus your time and energies on finding on one of the few jobs you can do?
DeleteThey owe you nothing. Come to work, do your job and take your paycheck. What else do you want or expect? And when they're through with you, take your severance and move on. Very simple really.
ReplyDeleteGannett doesn't give severance anymore.
DeleteThat is true in the case of layoffs. In those cases, the company offers what's called Transitional Pay.
DeleteUnder TP, the employee collects unemployment benefits and Gannett makes up the difference between what the employee had been earning and what jobless benefits pay. For example, if you got paid $600 a week, and unemployment paid $400, GCI would throw in an additional $200.
Under buyouts, however, GCI pays traditional severance that doesn't require receiving unemployment benefits.
#gannettcares
ReplyDelete+1!
DeleteEveryone has known for at least five years now that layoffs are going to be a reality at Gannett / USA Today for the foreseeable future. So I agree that every employee of the company should a plan to survive and not think that getting canned couldn't happen to them. You are vulnerable just by working for an industry that is dying. You are even more vulnerable at Gannett because of the history of this company, which has never been fair, compassionate, supportive, etc. Even 30 years ago, Gannett ranked at the bottom of the list of best media companies to work for.
ReplyDeleteSo, unless you're months away from retiring, you better watch your expenses, build up savings, cut loose on some of those extravagant lifestyles, and being thinking a lot about what else you can do with the rest of your career. It's a tough way to approach each day, but if you don't prepare now, you could be in serious trouble down the road.
As a side note to younger employees of Gannett and USA Today... Don't get fooled into thinking your age or modest salary will shield you from being laid off. While Gannett does go after older employees more often than not, you are only the flavor of the day -- a temporary solution to fixing the bottom line. And, just in case this isn't obvious, you aren't getting any younger. The longer you stay at Gannett, the hard it will be to move on. We all get comfortable in certain places, even in our 20s and 30s. Don't get comfy for too long. It is not as easy changing course as you might think once you begin to approach 40.
USAT is Gannett. You guys still think you aren't. No need to say Gannett/USA TODAY
DeleteWe at USA TODAY have worked very hard to NOT EVER recognize that we are part of Gannett. We have accepted it as part of the package for working at USA TODAY. But no one has ever liked it. That's because Gannett, as a brand and as a company, brings nothing to the table. If anything, it only hurts us.
DeletePepper Potts, meet Pa Kettle. Our readership hates that they get USAT pages stuck inside 'their' newspaper.
DeleteIronic, since they're not produced at USA Today anymore. Our page is paginated in Des Moines nowadays.
Delete12:02pm - Very true. I will go one step further and recommend using any downtime you have right now to look for a new direction with your career (i.e., look for jobs). You can be eliminated at any moment and without notice. Let this blog be your notice! The media industry will grow thinner and leaner over the next five years. You really do not want to stay at Gannett. It's not worth it. You are not growing. No one cares about your growth. You will not be able to realize your amazing potential at Gannett. Find another company that's not a media company. Your skills are worth more there than they are with Gannett or any other company that relies on advertising or subscriptions to support its business.
ReplyDeleteJust watch your back if they find out you are looking to leave you may go to the top of the next layoff list. I also am tired of reading on here that if you work in the industry you should realize it is a dying industry. It may be dying but it is at least somewhat a from a self inflicted wound. I witnessed Gannett and other Newspaper companies push digital over print for years. I am not saying they shouldn't have gone to digital but why make everything you do in print available on the internet. i think Gannett should have a digital edition for online but keep some things exclusive to the print edition.
ReplyDelete"Exclusive in print!!!!" You have got to be kidding. Wake the F up!!!!!
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