Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
A few months ago I was fired from my job (Although my Boss didn't have enough to get rid of me so they eliminated my position). This was the first time I was ever fired from a job. I just found out that the woman that was the "Right-Hand Man" to the company's President was fired yesterday. While I worked at the company I knew several other people that were fired. I can only remember a few people getting fired from other companys that I worked for.
After about a month of working at the company I remember thinking to myself "Wow they are way too strict at this place. I really think I should start looking for a new job before I get fired." I ended up lasting 3.5 years because first I wanted to stay a year so it didn't look like I was job hopping, then the recession hit, then I had a very bad personal tragedy in my life, then I made a very close friend that needed me in the Area so I stayed.
I thought at least a few times a week that I was going to get fired at that company and I never thought that I would ever get fired from any of the other company that I worked for. Usually you have to do something really bad to get fired because when you fire an employee you don't have anyone doing there job (Or others have to cover their job) for several months until a replacement is found; It usually takes several months or years for the new employee to learn the fired employees job and then you have to hope that the new employee works out. There it was like they almost looked for things you did wrong and they jumped straight to firing when there was a problem.
Has anyone else ever worked at a company that fired really quickly? How common is this? I am self-confident in myself to know it was them and not me but a lot of my coworkers that have been fired from there were psychologically devasted by the experiance. Why do you think a company would be like this. It was a small manufacturing company of about 300 people (Family Owned).
Eliminating a position usually means downsizing or being laid off.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ddmhughes
I just found out that the woman that was the "Right-Hand Man" to the company's President was fired yesterday. While I worked at the company I knew several other people that were fired.
It must be advantageous for this company to fire so often, but I can't imagine why. I bet their unemployment tax goes up because of all the work the company creates over there at the unemployment office!
Quote:
Originally Posted by ddmhughes
There it was like they almost looked for things you did wrong and they jumped straight to firing when there was a problem.
One guess is that the company was looking for a certain employee type, which they could only find out by having you work there for awhile. Or maybe it all came down to what the employer had to pay out of pocket in salary after all the benefit choices were made (when the employer was hoping the employee would make different benefit choices).
I have noticed that many firms in the financial services field tend to be very "personality driven" by upper level management. It is probably a function of how much personal ego is feed by the nearly instant feedback of success or failure in picking financial winners and losers based on the research they do and often this tends to spill over into hiring choices -- just as skilled financial managers cannot get emotional about dumping a stock /position as it moves opposite to the prediction so to do the tend to tell employees to "pack up and get out" on very short notice.
In financial services this does tend to inflate salaries, as that "revolving door" means smart job seekers will build-in a sort of "anticipated separation bonus" and as firms start to spiral down there is a "sinking ship" effect as the most talented employees leave early on unless they get BIG retention bonuses and some say in "turning things around".
In other industries where higher salaries are less common the firms with high turn over tend to simply under perform their peers that do a better job encouraging people to work together. In most every firm there is a balance between "learning from your mistakes" and working to NOT repeat mistakes. Good managers understand where that tipping point is and intervene at the right time to help the employee do a better job. Poor managers miss out on those "teachable moments" and eventually things come to an ugly end...
I have to say I have worked at the reverse where it seems like it takes an act of God to fire someone-- this scenario in my opinion is just as miserable as the scenario you were experiencing.
It is beyond frustrating to see barely making it employees somehow linger year after year with never getting let go and meanwhile everyone else has to basically pitch in and help do their job since they are so beyond horrible. Just not horrible enough to easily fire them.
A few months ago I was fired from my job (Although my Boss didn't have enough to get rid of me so they eliminated my position). This was the first time I was ever fired from a job. I just found out that the woman that was the "Right-Hand Man" to the company's President was fired yesterday. While I worked at the company I knew several other people that were fired. I can only remember a few people getting fired from other companys that I worked for.
After about a month of working at the company I remember thinking to myself "Wow they are way too strict at this place. I really think I should start looking for a new job before I get fired." I ended up lasting 3.5 years because first I wanted to stay a year so it didn't look like I was job hopping, then the recession hit, then I had a very bad personal tragedy in my life, then I made a very close friend that needed me in the Area so I stayed.
I thought at least a few times a week that I was going to get fired at that company and I never thought that I would ever get fired from any of the other company that I worked for. Usually you have to do something really bad to get fired because when you fire an employee you don't have anyone doing there job (Or others have to cover their job) for several months until a replacement is found; It usually takes several months or years for the new employee to learn the fired employees job and then you have to hope that the new employee works out. There it was like they almost looked for things you did wrong and they jumped straight to firing when there was a problem.
Has anyone else ever worked at a company that fired really quickly? How common is this? I am self-confident in myself to know it was them and not me but a lot of my coworkers that have been fired from there were psychologically devasted by the experiance. Why do you think a company would be like this. It was a small manufacturing company of about 300 people (Family Owned).
The company I work for are quick to fire people based on whether they like you and not performance based. I have been there for 6 weeks and have seen 9 people fired. This place uses cameras and audio to spy on every employee, so if you make a comment that they don't like you will be fired. There are so many things wrong with the way the owners run the business, they change office policy at will and forget to share the changes, but if you question them you get fired. Just last week a girl was fired for just that. Before the Christmas holiday the owners decided they would close the office 2 hours early on the 24th and would close the entire day on the 25th with no pay, however they didn't mention the no pay part. Our employee handbook says that the only unpaid holiday is Yom Kipper so when we got our paychecks we only got paid for 70 hours. All of us asked about it and were told that the policy had changed and showed us the new handbook, it was not right but all of us just dropped it except the one girl who was fired. I am looking for another job currently and I hope I find one before they decide to fire me. The worst part is I left a good job to work at this place for the opportunity and now I see the only opportunity is to be treated badly and fired without cause.
Each company's work culture varies as you see and your most recent work culture sounds dysfunctional by allowing high turnover very quickly if someone did not seem like a good "fit" in their management's opinion. I have worked in a lot of environments and firing on a whim did happen at some places.
To answer the OP's question, the people at the top set the tone for the company work culture. If the upper management believes in firing rank and file as a way to fix problems, then there is plenty more wrong "underneath the hood." Sadly, I suspect a lot of companies have the mentality that all its employees are replacable and mass firings are quite common as employees are mostly expendable. There are other factors, but that is what I personally think.
When looking for target companies for your next job, do more due diligence to see what current employees think. If the potential company to work for is a decent size, you should find reviews on Glassdoor or some such similar websites.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Employers who fire based on their emotions
