Sunday, August 04, 2013

July 29-Aug. 4 | Your News & Comments: Part 7

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33 comments:

  1. For those who always wanted one, now is you chance! for sale cheap, one of those stick it up yours corporate "president's ring". being kicked out after over 35 years (11 with gannett ownership). i too was screwed over in the end !
    a perfect gift for gannett lovers! i think its real gold, but i haven't checked for sure ! perhaps i should sent it back to corporate so they can melt it down and put the proceeds into one of the executives pockets.

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    1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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    2. 7:15 That was a very interesting post, but it sounds like your accusing a senior executive of misusing her corporate credit card, so I'm reposting only part of your comment.

      Now, if you have documentation of her credit card misuse, I'd welcome it via jimhopkins@gmail.com. And as always, I'll keep you anonymous.

      Your edited comment:

      I wish you good luck but like the rest of us wonder how many jobs could have been saved by cutting her lavish spending and stopping the sucking of dollars. Now I spend another mindless Sunday picking up stacks of USA Today returns and documenting more wasted dollars to reimburse the non-sales and returns.

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    3. This is juicy. Who is misusing her corp charge card? Let me guess. Details, Jim, details.

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    4. Gannett president rings, security badges and business cards should be hung on the memorial wall. I knew there would eventually be a real purpose for the purpose wall. Good luck everyone.

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  2. It is really very simple. You need sales and marketing revenue to stay in business, no matter how good the products you sell. If the revenue dries up, you eliminate poor management and lackluster leadership who cannot perform and replace with managers who have the experience and track record of success.

    Except at Gannett.

    You cut and slice the true workers and let the poor management and lacluster leadership continue to coast along.

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  3. Since hundreds are getting axed and assuredly hundreds more to follow shouldnt there also be substantial eliminations in HR rank and file.

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    1. My site has never laid off an HR person. I'm almost positive our HR dept has the same number of managers and rank-and-file that it had twenty years ago. I'm definitely sure it has the same number as ten years ago, and we've taken worse RIFs than most sites.

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    2. HR across the entire company has been cut by over 50% since 2006. There were 304 people in HR that year and there are under 150 now. Those numbers include the HR staff in McLean too.

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    3. Many sites do not have HR "business partners."

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    4. 10:13 you w Ben gone for awhile. There are 72 HR reps throughout Gannett. Don't know where you got 159

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    5. And they can give you an 800 to call with any questions LOL.... what exactly do they do???

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    6. They deal with I grateful, unproductive, whinners line you day in a d day out.

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    7. 5:08 - I've been gone 8 months. My numbers included all HR employees, not what you called "reps." The total number is probably between 130-140 now, which is under 150 as I said in my post.

      If you want to bitch about departments not getting cut, look at Finance. There are still over 1,000 employees in that function. And their counting a lot less money than they used to count.

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  4. For those being laid off and needing health insurance, you likely will be eligible for your state's health insurance marketplace. Enrollment begins Oct. 1; coverage starts Jan. 1. To learn more, go to healthcare.gov

    You probably didn't or won't get this information from HR. Even if Gannett doesn't care, we do.

    Signed,
    Former (and Happier) Employees of Gannett

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    1. Under federal law, laid-off employees will get COBRA coverage for 18 months, although under certain circumstances it could last 36 months. There's more in this U.S. Labor Department fact sheet.

      COBRA can be expensive. I was paying $150 a month for single coverage when I left Gannett in 2008. Under COBRA, it rose to more than $400 monthly during those 18 months. (And now, post-COBRA, I'm paying $900 a month, still just for single coverage.)

      But as 1:44 says, buying insurance through one of the state exchanges could be a better deal because some families will qualify for government subsidies.

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  5. Headline on The Clarion-Ledger's web site: "Beemon Drugs has prescription for successfor success"

    How is cutting more jobs out of the newsroom working out for you?

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  6. Heard there was 1 layoff in Alexandria, La., who was it?

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  7. A nice tribute to laid-off Green Bay Press-Gazette editorial cartoonist Joe Heller:

    http://jimromenesko.com/2013/08/03/a-young-journalists-tribute-to-former-green-bay-press-gazette-editorial-cartoonist-joe-heller/

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    1. What a nice tribute. Thanks for providing the link. I still can't believe that Gannett cut the people it did at Green Bay, Appleton and Oshkosh.

      Here's a reader comment from the story Fox 11 did on Heller getting the axe. Very telling in what people think about Green Bay's paper and web site.

      I agree the layoffs are sad. However I think it's more Gannett's fault than anyone else. The Internet has been booming for some time now and shows no sign of slowing down. However Gannett obviously doesn't have the right team to adapt to the modern world. In this day and age most people don't want someone begging them to subscribe when they are at the grocery store, Wal-Mart and whatever. There are many ways for a newspaper to survive the Digital Age, but Gannett doesn't have a clue. Gannett is a large company and has been digging their own grave for years. I hope this is a wake-up call for them. It's time to make changes so more people in our local communities don't lose their jobs. It's 2013 and not 1984. The Green Bay Press-Gazette website looks like something a teenager made in 1990. The Android App on the Google Play websites has 2 stars. Wake up guys! Yes the economy is tough but the media companies that have stayed with the times are doing just fine. I hope a Wisconsin based company can buy GB Press-Gazette and Appleton Post Crescent and show Gannett how to do things right! I wish the best to those that have lost their jobs!

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  8. A 17 year old girl has been missing since early Saturday morning. It has been on the news, Facebook, competing Weekly newspapers are announcing it every hour...except our Gannett newspaper. Nowhere can you find any news about this missing girl. Apparently Gannett is leaving it to the tv stations, radio stations and other media to get the word out, while Gannett talks about what happened last week

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    1. 8 hours after all the other media reported news about the missing girl, The Clarion-Ledger finally reported what the public already knew.

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  10. Any columnists at the APP get pink slipped? Der Bingle perhaps?

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  11. Gannett is trimming back its staff in Northeast Wisconsin. And the Press-Gazette building in downtown Green Bay is on the market.

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  12. Six layoffs in westchester Sunday night - all newsroom, oops, information center. more to come Monday.

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    1. TJN hasn't been actually using the term "information center."

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  13. 12:15 initials, please?

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  14. 6 layoffs last night in the Westchester newsroom? Not saying 12:15's wrong because I wasn't there. But the Journal News doesn't even have six people working in the news room on a Sunday night.

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  15. 6 were let go Sunday night at TJN, about half the night staffing on a Sunday. People were called in to get the papers out.

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    1. The total number for The Journal News is 27. I was one of them let go this morning, after 23 years.

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  16. As an insider, I have to disagree with some of what was said in the water cooler comments. No one said let's layoff 300 people but they did say we want the entire newspaper division to make x% expense adjustment. What they should do is hold publishers accountable month to month and quarter to quarter to make incremental course correction to maintain a margin rather than across the board cuts that may be modulated, but are poorly timed. Each local property should have control over timing that these orchestrated moments cause more damage.

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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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