CEO lays off 900 via video call

A CEO laid off 900 people via video call.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dFpD_ryzNo]

I do not see the problem. I have been laid off many times and you just have to deal with it. Most times I saw it coming, I would say "lucky enough" but you would have had to be an idiot not to see it in most of the cases. Seen people crying when it happened.

One can say he was not very eloquent but I would rather just get the news same as if I was in the mafia I would rather just get the two in the back of the head. A person blathering about how they did not want to do it yadda yadda yadda yu can keep.

Anyone here been laid off in a group like this? What are your thoughts.

Quote: AZDuffman

Anyone here been laid off in a group like this? What are your thoughts.

When my entire team were told that the work was moving to another office, but that I was welcome to move to the new team (same distance commute, different direction), I was delighted. It was a rare opportunity to take a decent severance package after 35 years at the same company.

Quote: OnceDear

When my entire team were told that the work was moving to another office, but that I was welcome to move to the new team (same distance commute, different direction), I was delighted. It was a rare opportunity to take a decent severance package after 35 years at the same company.

Wow, 35 years at the same company. I assumed you were a younger guy.

They knew a big culling was coming. Why sugar coat it, just get it over with. Most of them probably knew they would be gone.

I was notified in a group phone call of the relocation of our group to another location---Arlington, VA to Dublin, OH. The group was staffed at less than 33% of those who worked in it when I started in 2000; most were gone during the telecom bust. Those were much harder than the layoff I faced--everyone knew they were happening and also knew who likely had knowledge of who was going away.

One lady never noticed that all of her work was transferred away from her the day before the first layoff. She was not a good employee and was always behind in her work.

Another asked, during a later set of layoffs throughout the company, if she should turn on her computer. The answer was "no" but luckily they were swift and I did not have to say anything. She was a "B" level employee who worked hard. Some were better, but she was good.

The axe fell on us because the main part of the group we worked under at the next level up worked in Dublin already. The VA presence was going away around us. We kept losing more and more space in the building. It was fairy obvious things were changing. I was working in Houston (at a local sales office) as things were happening. When they scheduled a call to all of us, it was either find a new position locally, move to Dublin, or take a package.

I took the package.

Like many, it worked out well for us. I had made 50% over my salary that year due to a ton of OT from a system conversion, so that and the package got us through the time needed to find a job.

Quote: DRich

Wow, 35 years at the same company. I assumed you were a younger guy.

Not young now. I started 5 days before my 16th birthday as an apprentice technician. Many different roles over the years, with some periods 'on the bench' as a redeployee.
I was ready to leave. It's rather funny that of the entire team, I was the only one expected to just transfer to the new team, because of my home location. Also rather funny that the new team were rubbish and the roles were eliminated 6 months later.

The company did not have compulsory redundancy over that time, but occasionally offered 'voluntary release' with pay-offs between 6 month's salary and 3 years salary, with or without pension enhancement.

I wonder what sort of severance packages were offered to those 900.
I suspect that US severance packages are not generally generous?

Quote: AZDuffman

A CEO laid off 900 people via video call.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dFpD_ryzNo]

I do not see the problem. I have been laid off many times and you just have to deal with it. Most times I saw it coming, I would say "lucky enough" but you would have had to be an idiot not to see it in most of the cases. Seen people crying when it happened.

One can say he was not very eloquent but I would rather just get the news same as if I was in the mafia I would rather just get the two in the back of the head. A person blathering about how they did not want to do it yadda yadda yadda yu can keep.

Anyone here been laid off in a group like this? What are your thoughts.

Job security in my line of work was when the boss said, " see you in the morning". Our union contract said they had to tell you by noon if they were laying you off that day. The most severance pay I ever got was being paid through the end of the day. Sometimes I'd get a small bonus in the mail. But in construction nothing I said here is shocking. Most of the workers just signed the out of work roster at the hiring hall.

That is something I have considered several times since retiring several years back. I was always so glad to have that confidence that comes from, losing and then re getting over a hundred jobs gives a person in their head. I always knew that the world wasn't over. Most of the travelers when snow started to hit the tops of the mountain would call it "termination dust". That certainly is not to imply that there were not lean times. Very lean.

YIKES.

I refinanced my mortgage earlier this year with Better.com (the company in question that fired the 900 employees).

I had a great experience with them.

I feel like this could have been handled better. And to do it over a Zoom call - you should KNOW the video would get out there and make you look bad.

Quote: ams288

YIKES.

I refinanced my mortgage earlier this year with Better.com (the company in question that fired the 900 employees).

I had a great experience with them.

I feel like this could have been handled better. And to do it over a Zoom call - you should KNOW the video would get out there and make you look bad.

what is the big deal about firing people over zoom when most of the employees were work at home employees.

i tried to use Better.com on my last mortgage but at the end they threw me a curveball and it fell through. i think it was just incompetence and not a corporate policy.

What was he supposed to do? I say the best way to deliver bad news is to just deliver it and let the chips fall where they may.