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#JobMarket : Recent Large Layoffs Shatter The ‘We Are A Family’ Myth. Where Do You Think the Team or Family Concept is Today?

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The belief that a company is a family has irrevocably been busted. When times were good, tech companies offered top talent substantial pay packages, perks and amenities. Now that the economy has shifted, around 119,155 people have been laid off from startups and tech companies just this year, with more losses projected.

Families Don’t Fire Their Kids

When things go wrong, a family does not fire its kids. However, this is what is happening now. CEOs offer yoga and meditation studios and free laundry services and meals, blurring the lines between work and home life.

Once leaders like Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and self-appointed chief twit Elon Musk made business decisions harming the financial standings of their respective organizations, large layoffs were ordered.

Zuckerberg announced that 11,000 workers would lose their jobs. Meta has had to contend with its disastrous foray into the metaverse, privacy issues and the ascendancy of TikTok stealing its thunder and market share.

As things turned terrible, instead of cutting his own compensation, Zuckerberg’s knee-jerk reaction was to downsize hardworking employees and contractors. He’s one of the wealthiest people in the world. If the company was truly a family, the patriarch would have accepted blame and taken other cost measures instead of letting so many people go.

Musk went from being heralded as one of the best entrepreneurs of his generation to creating a dysfunctional family at Twitter. There was no love when, upon his arrival, he ousted top executives “for cause” to allegedly avoid paying their multimillion-dollar severance packages.

Musk’s predecessor, Jack Dorsey, promised at the beginning of the pandemic that his tweeps could work remotely forever. That promise was dashed as Musk called for everyone to return to the office. There was little to no consideration that workers moved outside of their San Francisco headquarters and were unable to commute or changed their lifestyle based upon Dorsey’s message. His management style seems familiar to some family members who are stuck in one-sided toxic relationships. A steady stream of management and workers are divorcing themselves from the chaotic so-called family.

Sam Bankman-Fried, the CEO of the FTX crypto exchange, was believed to be a boy genius. He was thought to be worth more than $16 billion. He had naming rights at a stadium, Tom Brady and other stars shilling for him and was the second largest donor to President Joe Biden.

Within 48 hours, Bankman-Fried’s empire and reputation crashed. There are allegations that he ran his Bermuda-based digital-assets platform as an alleged Ponzi-type scheme. He was accused of using customers’ assets to fuel high-risk trading and other questionable activities.

FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Friday and Bankman-Fried, in a statement, announced that he will be stepping down as CEO of the company.

Although the trading was conducted by a bunch of “kids” in a penthouse apartment shared with Bankman-Fried, the head of the family wouldn’t place his workers and customers in such a precarious position. Investors may end up losing all their money. Not only will workers lose their jobs, they’ll be investigated by several regulatory organizations and likely sued by innocent investors to get their money back from the alleged fraud that was perpetrated.

 

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We here at FSC want to thank each of our corporate partners for the opportunity in serving & moving each of their transitioning employee(s) rapidly toward employment!

Article continued …

It’s Not A Family; It’s Just Business

For decades, corporations have branded themselves as a big, happy family. It’s not just a job you’re accepting, it’s entree to a new family. Self-serving makes it feel as if the employee is valued and will be taken care of and appreciated.

The reality is completely different. It’s transactional. You’re hired for a specific role and offered pay for your time and services. If you exceed expectations and are highly productive, you’ll be rewarded with more money, bonuses and promotion.

If you don’t meet expectations, you’ll be placed on a performance improvement plan and scrutinized by human resources, your immediate boss and senior-level executives. If you don’t improve, according to the company’s assessment, you’ll be shown the door. This is not what being part of a family is all about. In a family, you love and support everyone unconditionally.

The family mantra is insidious. It makes you feel that you need to work hard and put in long hours and weekends to please your bosses, as you want mommy and daddy’s approval. If you don’t work hard enough, there is the pressure that you’re letting down your brothers and sisters.

To be generous, perhaps some C-suite executives do feel that the workers are part of a big, happy family. That mindset was a vestige to the 1950s when a person didn’t have to go into debt with college loans, would take a job with a local company and stay there for most, if not the entire duration, of their career. It was a more paternalistic period. This is not the case anymore.

Your Company Is More Like A Sports Team

The workplace is more like a sports team. The franchise owner seeks out the best players and offers them huge compensation packages. The big payouts are designed to motivate the players to win. Winning games brings in attendance at the stadium, lucrative television and online contracts, selling more merchandising and other revenue flows.

The owner and managers love their star athletes. However, once their talents start fading, the owner will trade a beloved player to another team for a better, younger rising star. It’s the same at companies. If you do well, you’ll be rewarded. When you don’t produce, you’re gone.

Forbes.com | November 11, 2022 | Jack Kelly 

#YourCareer : Is Your Company Preparing For Layoffs? Here Are 4 Subtle Warning Signs. Here are Four that Are Easy to Spot (Once you Know What to Look for).

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With the recent spate of company layoffs, job cuts loom large in employees’ consciousness these days. There’s even been talk that the quiet quitting phenomenon has abated as employees fear for their jobs.

How can you tell if your organization is prepping for layoffs? There are obvious signs, like a memo from the CEO announcing a push for efficiency. Or the hiring of a consulting firm known to specialize in process improvement, efficiency, or cost savings. Or the departure of some of the firm’s top-level executives.

There are also more subtle signs that a company is readying itself for layoffs. Here are four that are easy to spot (once you know what to look for).

#1: Hints In Earnings Reports And Other Communications

Companies are notoriously bad at communicating openly with employees, especially about the challenges the company is facing. In Leadership IQ’s study, The Risks Of Ignoring Employee Feedback, we discovered that only 15% of employees believe that their organization always openly shares the challenges facing it. Ironically, if an employee believes that their company always openly shares its challenges, they’re about ten times more likely to recommend the company as a great employer.

The point is that there’s a very good chance that you won’t receive a clear message from the executive team about financial struggles, let alone impending layoffs. However, there are other ways to find clues. For example, if your company’s CEO speaks at industry events or investor conferences, you can often find their presentation slides. And there can be a wealth of insight hidden in those decks.

If your company is publicly traded, you’ve got quarterly earnings reports and other financial disclosures to peruse. You won’t always find the word “layoffs” in those reports, but you might find references to “cost savings,” or “efficiencies,” or other euphemisms.

 

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What Skill Sets Do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

Did you know?  First Sun Consulting, Llc (FSC) is celebrating over 30 years in the delivery of corporate & individual outplacement services & programs to over 1200 of our corporate clients in the U.S., Canada, the UK, & Mexico!  

We here at FSC want to thank each of our corporate partners for the opportunity in serving & moving each of their transitioning employee(s) rapidly toward employment!

 

Article continued …

#2: Changes In Your Manager’s Behavior

From the more than one million leaders who’ve taken the test “What’s Your Leadership Style?,” we know that over half of managers employ a Diplomat leadership style. The Diplomat prizes interpersonal harmony, and they’re the social glue and affiliative force that keeps groups together. They’re social, giving and typically build deep personal bonds with their employees. And Diplomats work to avoid having people feel uncomfortable or anxious.

If your boss has historically operated like a Diplomat leader, but recently they’ve appeared less gregarious, more reserved, less cheerful, and more cautious in their conversations, something is going on. There’s no guarantee that the change is the result of impending layoffs, but it could be.

Think about how a manager who cares deeply for their employees while sworn to secrecy about impending layoffs might react. Their discomfort could cause the exact type of behavioral changes noted above.

#3: Changes In How Your Manager Spends Their Time

The study “Optimal Hours with the Boss” discovered that the median time people spend interacting with their boss is three hours per week. (That’s not enough time, of course, as the study found that the optimal amount of time to spend interacting with one’s leader is six hours).

The key here, though, isn’t whether your leader spends too little (or too much) time with you; it’s whether that time has changed recently. If your leader used to spend six hours per week conversing and meeting with you, and now that number is one or two hours, something is going on. Similarly, if your boss used to rarely talk to you, and now they’re meeting with you every day, that’s also a sign.

#4: A Recent Low-Performance Review

Sometimes a performance review is just a performance review. But if you’ve had a history of fairly bland, or even glowing, performance reviews and now you’re getting a negative review, that might be a sign that something is afoot.

In Leadership IQ’s study on performance appraisals, we discovered that only 17% of people think their performance appraisals are always open, honest, and meaningful, and only 22% of people always think that their leader actually distinguishes between high and low performers. If you’re suddenly receiving lots of specific and negative feedback, perhaps it’s the company laying the groundwork for laying-off people they deem as less essential.

None of these signs are guaranteed precursors of layoffs. But they are signs that something is happening, and when it’s your career on the line, they’re signs worth attending to.

 

Forbes.com | October 31, 2022 | Mark Murphy

#YourCareer : In A Sign Of The Times, Cold Zoom-Call Firings Are Now Common. Great REAd!

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Tough times bring out the best and worst in people and companies. Since the Covid-19 pandemic started, we’ve seen a noticeable increase in bad behavior. There’s been riots, cities set ablaze, looting of stores, killings and acts of police brutality.

The manner in which employees have been downsized tells a lot about the company and our overall current culture.

On a lesser level, but still disconcerting, social media—as well as the mass media—has become a volatile cocktail of toxicity and hate. It’s not surprising that this lack of empathy and coldness has crept into the corporate world. The manner in which employees have been downsized tells a lot about the company and our overall current culture.

Last week, 24 Hour Fitness, a privately held national chain of about 430 gyms with 22,000 workers, fired employees via a phone call. According to The Wall Street Journal, the gym’s Chief human resources officer, Tami Majer, sent an email to workers asking them to participate in a phone call to discuss “important company updates,” indicating that they’ll be paid for their time. On the call, the employees were told that they’ve been let go. There wasn’t any in-depth discussion around severance packages, benefits or any other color provided as to what’s going on.

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What Skill Sets Do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

Article continued …

It’s understandable that 24 Hour Fitness had financial problems. Like thousands of other companies deemed non-essential, the gym chain was forced to close down its facilities. While many people say that gyms are indeed essential, as they’re important to our physical, mental and emotional health, it was viewed by medical professionals as a breeding ground for catching and spreading Covid-19 and couldn’t remain open.

For about four months, the company still had to pay rent, insurance and other expenses, while not receiving any revenue. Under these circumstances, it’s hard to sustain an enterprise composed of hundreds of locations with expensive equipment. One of its competitors, Gold’s Gym, with 700 locations worldwide and self-described as “the world’s trusted fitness authority for more than 50 years,” recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

24 Hour Fitness did send an email to the people impacted by the layoff explaining the rationale and reasons behind the layoffs, along with important information surrounding the terms of their dismissal. CEO Tony Ueber said, “These are painful decisions, and we do not make them lightly.”

This isn’t a one-time thing. There have been an alarming number of companies that have laid off people in the same cold, impersonal way.

Ridesharing company Uber previously announced a layoff of 3,500 employees, representing 14% of its workforce. In a sign of the times, with employees working from home, Uber informed the job-loss casualties via an online Zoom call. The head of Uber’s customer service office, Ruffin Chaveleau, told workers that today was their last day at the company.

Chevaleau soberly shared that Uber’s business was hit hard. The company’s business dropped by over 50%. She said, “With trip volume down, the difficult and unfortunate reality is there is not enough work for many front-line customer support employees.” Chaveleau added, “As a result, we are eliminating 3,500 front-line customer support roles. Your role is impacted and today will be your last working day with Uber.” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said of the downsizing, “We’re focused on navigating through this crisis that absolutely leaves us in a position, a stronger position, as the world starts to recover.” Khosrowshahi announced that he will be forsaking his base salary.

Bird, the scooter-rental startup, fired 406 employees in a harsh “Black Mirror” style. The unsuspecting workers were asked to log into a one-way Zoom call, after being informed that all other appointments were cancelled. A disembodied voice read a script informing the person that they’ve been laid off. Their Slack and other accounts were shut off and given end dates.

The airline industry has been one of the hardest-hit sectors by the pandemic. The federal government called for the cessation of nonessential travel. Even with essential travel, potential passengers have steered clear. In response to the dramatic decline in flights and acknowledging that the fortunes of airlines won’t turn around anytime soon, they’ve enacted massive layoffs.

The airlines received billions of dollars from the government to bail them out. The federal bailout for the airline industry barred layoffs, involuntary furloughs or pay cuts for employees. The airline executives, including United Airlines, were cold and harsh. United didn’t even try to hide the fact that job cuts are coming as soon as the required period to retain employees ends. Once the prohibition is lifted, as early as Oct. 1, the workers will receive their pink slips. To add insult to injury, workers were told to take unpaid or lower-paid leaves in the interim.

Wonderschool, ZipRecruiter, WeWork and the Wing have all used Zoom to inform employees that they’ve been terminated.

Airbnb took a different, more enlightened approach. The company announced that it was downsizing 25% of its workforce. Roughly 1,900 people out of the company’s 7,500 total workforce will lose their jobs. What’s different about Airbnb is the manner in which the company informed employees of its plans.

In a message to staff, Airbnb cofounder and CEO Brian Chesky said, “Some very sad news. Today, I must confirm that we are reducing the size of the Airbnb workforce.” Chesky then advised his employees that he will be transparent and offer details, so that everyone is fully aware of what’s happening. He was forthright and didn’t try to spin the narrative, as he stated, “We are collectively living through the most harrowing crisis of our lifetime, and as it began to unfold, global travel came to a standstill. Airbnb’s business has been hit hard, with revenue this year forecasted to be less than half of what we earned in 2019.”

With all of the stress and anxiety we’re all going through, it’s almost understandable how corporate executives can lose sight of the feelings of the people who’ve been selected for downsizing. It’s important for them to remember that they are human beings. Getting fired is an unpleasant and—at times—life-altering experience. In light of the current job market, in which over 40 million Americans have filed for unemployment since mid-March, it’s one of the worst times to be let go.

Due to Covid-19, it’s hard to conduct face-to-face meetings, but maybe this should happen anyway—with the appropriate precautions, of course. At the very least, instead of mass firings, companies could allocate the time to fully express courtesy and respect to their people by speaking with everyone individually.

The people involved with downsizing have to be transparent, empathetic and share the reasons why their employees are being asked to leave. A sufficient amount of time must be set aside to discuss and answer any and all questions related to the layoffs. The human resources professionals or managers should provide all of the necessary facts and relevant information regarding severance packages, whether or not job search assistance is offered, if there’s a chance to be rehired and other important matters.

David Ulevitch, a general partner at the preeminent venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz, offered advice on how to compassionately conduct layoffs while employees are working remotely, “The layoff may cause serious financial and psychological distress. It will also force them into a wrenching emotional disconnect from their friends and colleagues.” He advised managers, “Your duty as a leader is to do everything in your power to give them as many resources as you can and offer them the most dignified exit possible. This will take careful thought and planning.”

Just because we’re living in volatile and chaotic times, it doesn’t mean that corporations can abrogate their responsibilities to their employees when they need hand-holding, reassurance and guidance the most.

 

Forbes.com | June 15, 2020 | Jack Kelley