Eeeeek - Several people in my department just got axed

DatabaseHead

Ugh.....

The mood is depressing, everyone is quiet like someone died. Didn't get much info, but there will be no back fills for their positions.

Our Co. lost some revenues in 2016 and I think this might be the reason for this.

Have you gone through this, what were you thoughts? The moral is really low, at least that's how it "feels".

NavyMooseCCNA

I had it happen in early 2002 when half our staff was cut. Dust off your resume and expect your workload to increase.

mbarrett

Look at it this way, you are more secure in your role than you were before. The reward for work is more work

iBrokeIT

Such is life in the Corporate world.... sadly. You should definitely take it as a strong reminder that your company doesn't feel any loyalty towards its employees and that sentiment should go both ways.

Yes, like others have mentioned, now is a good time to update your resume and LinkedIn just in case it is you next quarter.

cyberguypr

My previous company did 3 rounds of layoffs in 1 year. This could be only the beginning. As said above, be ready to move any day. Better safe than sorry.

DatabaseHead

Just had the talk from the bosses boss.

Couple of bullets from the take away

Going to have to step up
More work but we feel you have the bandwidth
Stick around good things are going to happen to you in 2 - 3 years
Document all the projects and send them to me

That was about it.

I was assured this is normal right sizing for the company

alias454

How many managers got let go?

DatabaseHead

Alias 2 of them

TacoRocket

While I would usually agree think of the bullet points like this:

We let 5 people go. You have to step up to do their work. The company saves OpEx of over 100k to have you do it. At no increase.
We admit its more work. However we arent going to tell you its going to suck. We feel you can do it. You might just be tired after.
We dont know what the next 2-3 year holds. If you like uncertainty the hold on!
Document all project. This is pretty forward.

"Right sizing" is still saving money by letting people go.

I would get ready for moves. Because this doesn't look exactly bright from our perspective.

DatabaseHead wrote: »

Just had the talk from the bosses boss.

Couple of bullets from the take away

Going to have to step up
More work but we feel you have the bandwidth
Stick around good things are going to happen to you in 2 - 3 years
Document all the projects and send them to me

That was about it.

I was assured this is normal right sizing for the company

TacoRocket

While I know what you're hinting at, you're failing to mention that they look better when the department operates with the same output with 1/5 the cost! Ill take my management bonus now thank you.

alias454 wrote: »

How many managers got let go?

DatabaseHead

Not sure I follow in regards to the manager questions. ?

shodown

I like how they threw in there the document everything that you do cause the last people that got let go, got let go without warning. Now they are asking to ensure documentation.

1. This could be really needed as work loads will increase and you need to be ready to take on others task and good documentation is key.

2. The next round could be soon, and if they have to outsource, at least they will have the docs to keep business running.

DatabaseHead

shodown - they were very adamant about documenting core business functions, including ETL architecture and batch jobs I have created to flush out our reporting etc...

I don't want to make a mole hill into a mountain, but you folks are really good at synthsizing this situations with relatively light information.

Thanks

tedjames

Be prepared to (possibly) apply and interview for your current job. I've seen it happen before.

DatabaseHead

@ Ted the thought of that made me cringe.

Side note a few of the junior guys are totally panicking they can't even do their job. I am trying to hold it together while I help them hold it together.

Management has gone dark, all close doors at the moment. When you pass by one they have the look that their favorite dog just died. It's rough man.

Got snapped at when asked who I was reporting too. "We need solutions at this point not questions". It wasn't menacing but it had a snarky undertone.

paul78

@DatabaseHead - is this the first rif you have experienced? Sounds like it will be depressing and tough week. And I'm sure even tougher for those that were rif-ed. Did your management hint if this was the only round? If you work at a large company, the bullets that you mentioned are the usual platitudes which I have to confess are usually meaningless. I've given a few of them in the past and usually it's an attempt to contain the rumour mill.

Any RIF is no fun for anyone involved and least of all for anyone that is impacted. I hope that your management at least had appropriate empathy.

The comment about asking for project information is a bit odd.

TacoRocket

So please tell me you're looking elsewhere. While pay is great for a job I'm a firm believer in the environment of the workplace and home/work balance.

DatabaseHead wrote: »

@ Ted the thought of that made me cringe.

Side note a few of the junior guys are totally panicking they can't even do their job. I am trying to hold it together while I help them hold it together.

Management has gone dark, all close doors at the moment. When you pass by one they have the look that their favorite dog just died. It's rough man.

Got snapped at when asked who I was reporting too. "We need solutions at this point not questions". It wasn't menacing but it had a snarky undertone.

DatabaseHead

@Paul - I have experienced two indirectly let me explain

While working at a start up, before thing went south and the previous company I landed this job, so while the precursors were there (close doors, termed projects) never had to deal with the human resource side of this like I am now.

Another time I was working help desk and again before people started to get rift from our department I had joined another company so once again I didn't have to experience the after math of loss. The help desk job had rumors etc so that dark feeling was present so it was sort of like this. It really hasn't set it, everything is moving so quickly. Hell look at me I am the one that usually provides answers on here, I don;t have any at the moment. Paul I am under the impression this was going to be it for this year.

Taco - I guess tonight I'll talk to my wife and come up with a plan.

Hammer80

DatabaseHead wrote: »

Just had the talk from the bosses boss.

Couple of bullets from the take away

Going to have to step up
More work but we feel you have the bandwidth
Stick around good things are going to happen to you in 2 - 3 years
Document all the projects and send them to me

That was about it.

I was assured this is normal right sizing for the company

Translation:
1. Going to have to step up = This is usually followed up by "We believe that you can do it we have faith in you"
2. More work but we feel you have the bandwidth = We don't care that you're now doing the job of 2 people even if it kills you
3. Stick around good things are going to happen to you in 2-3 years = Who are you again? Followed up by we never made any promises or we never said that
4. Document all the project and send them to me = this is code for we want all the info necessary to outsource your job

Run! start lookin for another job, that is your job now!

paul78

DatabaseHead wrote: »

I am under the impression this was going to be it for this year.

If your management have been forthright - my personal advice is "don't panic".

In any RIF - the way that management decides on who is on the list is based usually on employee performance, redundancy, and compensation relative to role. Different sized companies may have different criteria. A line-of-business at a S&P 500 company for example may simply look at headcount and discount cost if the business was already profitable. A RIF in January may be tied to expected sales forecast for the upcoming fiscal year and intended to maintain a net operating profit margin. So this RIF could truly be a right-sizing exercise (I hate that term). Ultimately, the more productive and skilled employees survive RIFs so you could at least count yourself as doing work that is considered valuable to the firm.

However, if you are at a private company where the revenue and profit margins are not shared with employees - then it may be tougher to gauge what will happen in the next year.

DatabaseHead

Fortune 500 here Paul

Thanks for the write up makes a lot of sense. Deep breath

All is well.

Mike-Mike

paul78 wrote: »

The comment about asking for project information is a bit odd.

to me this is the real red flag. dont get me wrong, I'm a big proponent of documentation, i think every role should have great documentation that anyone can follow, I always figure the cream will rise to the top one way or another.

but yeah, asking you to document stuff after firing people makes it sound like they want to have an insurance plan if you bail or they get rid of you

jamesleecoleman

Shoot, not to hijack the thread but in OCT2016 the company let the whole call center go. HR, IT (me), CSRs, Janitor and the Account Manager. It sucked and people were actually crying when the HR from the other side of the state was telling us. They left all of the networking equipment and computers set up there.

I'm glad that my partner and I were able to get a job quickly before they actually closed the doors. I was told that some companies actually don't tell employee's and let them find out the hard way.

Second time in my life where I got laid off but the partner and I go better paying jobs as well so its a win win.

bigdogz

At the previous company I was at we had cuts every quarter. If the sales team did not make the number people got the ax. It gets to a point where you are used to it. Be prepared in the case you are placed into a bad situation.
Most people are likely to hire people that are working than those who are laid off.
Look at the pros and cons of your environment and weigh them against a new position.

Good Luck !!!

kiki162

Monday and Tuesday is always the worst day when it comes to hearing about layoffs. My advice, prepare yourself to look elsewhere in case the workload or additional duties start to get too much. Just search for layoffs under Google News, and you'll see a bunch of companies starting that process.

Also feel free to keep some of us on here in your back pocket in case you do start looking.

Mooseboost

I have never had to experience this personally in a department I worked in but I did work for a company who laid off some field techs then outsourced to a third party contractor. It was awkward talking to some of the guys who used to be company techs but ended up getting picked up by the contract company.

I have always been afraid of being laid off. Its is probably one of the biggest factors for pushing me to go the extra whenever I can, though I know sometimes that isn't the determining factor in staying vs going.

ratbuddy

DatabaseHead wrote: »

Stick around good things are going to happen to you in 2 - 3 years

Don't even think about believing this - it's 100% bull and simply designed to get you to stay while they shop around for cheaper alternatives.

DatabaseHead

@ Kiki you mentioned something that I am extremely concerned about. Additional work load, in fact to much work load. This has got me freaked out a bit...

PJ_Sneakers

DatabaseHead wrote: »

Going to have to step up
More work but we feel you have the bandwidth
Stick around good things are going to happen to you in 2 - 3 years
Document all the projects and send them to me

Well, at least two of those are true.

Definitely update your resume and start planning your plan B.

jeremywatts2005

DatabaseHead wrote: »

Just had the talk from the bosses boss.

Couple of bullets from the take away

Going to have to step up
More work but we feel you have the bandwidth
Stick around good things are going to happen to you in 2 - 3 years
Document all the projects and send them to me

That was about it.

I was assured this is normal right sizing for the company

If your bossess boss is saying to document all projects and send it to him then your boss is likely toast. Also the bossess boss is wondering what the hell the team your boss has been doing all this time. He wants to see what your productivity is and what is going on. This is why when I was a lead we document everything and I mean everything that goes on. Even as a manager you should have project codes and your team should bill time against them regularly to show work and effort are going on. It doesn't hurt either for the boss to give a presentation to the C's about how great the team is and the value they are providing the company and the services you bring. Part of being a manager is selling your team and what it does. Doesn't sound like you manager was doing that at all. Especially since his boss wants to see work.

PCTechLinc

Really don't want to hijack your thread either, and I definitely don't want to freak you out... but I have pretty much 0 trust in companies anymore. I've had two SysAdmin jobs that I absolutely LOVED and saw myself with those companies to retirement. Both instances I was laid off around the 2 year mark. First was due to "not enough work for two admins," so my coworker got to stay. He had 4 years with the company prior to me, so he had seniority. They realized 9 months after I was gone that there was "too much work for one person," so they hired someone else (who is still there with him). Second job, pretty much all IT was outsourced to two companies based in India. My advice to you is to start looking right now. You NEVER know when the other shoe is going to drop.

I really hope it all works out for you buddy. Let us know how things go!