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Old 07-17-2014, 09:44 PM
 
1,821 posts, read 7,717,198 times
Reputation: 1044

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I received advance notice that someone in my department will be fired tomorrow morning when she comes in. It's not entirely undeserved. She's a very nice lady, but she spends a ton of time on the internet. She has dropped the ball on a few items that have cost the company $$$. So tomorrow she's gone.

However, I've never worked in a place where there are so many firings. It's not uncommon at all to get a memo saying so and so is no longer with the company -- with no explanation given.

Fortunately, I'm on my way out. But other places I worked, it was pretty rare.
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Old 07-17-2014, 09:46 PM
 
Location: California
37,081 posts, read 42,050,241 times
Reputation: 34891
My employer had some layoffs a year ago due to budget cuts. Several departments were involved, it was just a numbers game and not a reflection on anyone.

When I worked back in the 80's it was a joke that nobody ever got fired, if they screwed up they just got promoted. I think it was only halfway a joke! We sure were bloated back in those days. Now we are too lean.
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Old 07-17-2014, 09:56 PM
 
1,463 posts, read 4,681,380 times
Reputation: 1030
Quote:
Originally Posted by coolcats View Post
I received advance notice that someone in my department will be fired tomorrow morning when she comes in. It's not entirely undeserved. She's a very nice lady, but she spends a ton of time on the internet. She has dropped the ball on a few items that have cost the company $$$. So tomorrow she's gone.

However, I've never worked in a place where there are so many firings. It's not uncommon at all to get a memo saying so and so is no longer with the company -- with no explanation given.

Fortunately, I'm on my way out. But other places I worked, it was pretty rare.
Explaining why someone has left the company I'm sure is in some violation of a privacy law, especially in a company wide email. It's done as a security issue, to basically say "if you see this person on the property, they shouldn't be here."

Those memos can be for both firing AND those who left on their own volition.

Some companies don't like to fire, rather, they would try to get you to quit. It's shady as hell but also understandable. I have posted before about how a past company tried to get me to quit; what they didn't know is that I am capable of trolling back equally as hard. We came to, what I like to call, a "mutual resolution".
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Old 07-17-2014, 10:19 PM
 
1,279 posts, read 1,826,764 times
Reputation: 1710
I would like to hear more about your trolling back equally as hard. Can you give specifics?
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Old 07-18-2014, 06:29 AM
 
11,642 posts, read 23,840,258 times
Reputation: 12273
Quote:
Originally Posted by coolcats View Post
I received advance notice that someone in my department will be fired tomorrow morning when she comes in. It's not entirely undeserved. She's a very nice lady, but she spends a ton of time on the internet. She has dropped the ball on a few items that have cost the company $$$. So tomorrow she's gone.

However, I've never worked in a place where there are so many firings. It's not uncommon at all to get a memo saying so and so is no longer with the company -- with no explanation given.

Fortunately, I'm on my way out. But other places I worked, it was pretty rare.
Where I work three people have been fired in the past year. There are around 25 employees. The firm has been growing lately so overall we have added people over the year. Most of the turnover has come from newly hired people who realized that they were not a good fit for a small firm. In a small firm a weak link is immediately obvious. If you can't do your job everyone else is affected. Some people cannot work in an environment like that. However, most of those people leave voluntarily.

Of the three people who were fired one was disrespectful to the partners and picked fights with the other staff. One simply could not do the job. The last was an attorney who was erratic. The firm never told anyone why they were let go but we knew. In a small firm everyone knows everything.
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Old 07-18-2014, 07:48 AM
 
182 posts, read 475,501 times
Reputation: 200
I've seen quite a few people fired in my career:

My job as a government contractor is where I saw the vast majority of people fired. I'm not talking about people being laid off because of budget cuts, but people actually being terminated and escorted out of the building. It happened for a variety of reasons. Some contractors didn't make it through the clearance process (usually due to financial issues), others couldn't handle the workload and some people were fired because they upset the government client in some way.

I also saw a number of people fired at an asset management company that I worked for. One person was let go/asked to resign because he irritated a very important company client, another was let go because she was a no call/no show in her FIRST week of work. Another lady was fired because she was written up for poor time and attendance and she ripped up the paper work and threw it back in the manager's face. Another lady was let go because she wasn't productive on the job and made too many mistakes in the work she did do.

At my current job it is pretty rare for someone to get fired. There is high employee turnover, but most of it's due to people quitting for better/higher paying jobs.
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Old 07-18-2014, 07:52 AM
 
552 posts, read 832,690 times
Reputation: 1066
It's pretty common. I think nowadays companies feel they have the power since they outsource so much. This is the main reason why people aren't generally loyal to companies anymore.

Something I've always said, you are loyal to other people, not companies.

I also know that it's a scare tactic since other people see it and fear for their jobs.
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Old 07-18-2014, 08:09 AM
 
1,480 posts, read 2,789,100 times
Reputation: 1611
I have been fired a number of times. They never used a formal system of progressive discipline (oral warning, written warning, performance improvement plan, developing performance standards) but instead I was always told "it is not a good fit" and was completely shocked and was given no warning at all. I suspect that most people who are fired don't fit and are good workers but have a personality mismatch.
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Old 07-18-2014, 08:12 AM
 
Location: Denver
898 posts, read 935,566 times
Reputation: 865
At my last job, they cleaned house every six months or so. February/March were the most stressful months to work for that company, because that was when they started restocking for the upcoming fiscal year. The company was run like a professional NFL team. Any drop in productivity and you were on the chopping block. That's sales for you.
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Old 07-18-2014, 08:24 AM
 
Location: Charlotte, NC
49 posts, read 66,099 times
Reputation: 58
Having been in the auto industry in the past, I saw my fair share of "big, bad, tough guy" GM's just fire guys for the hell of it, mostly sales people who weren't producing. I never quite understood that mentality, as the sales guys are on a 100% pay by commission so if they aren't selling it isn't costing you money...but usually it was the GM didn't have the answer for a dip in sales or production, so he'd fire someone, typically a newer, younger sales person to "wake everyone up" and it was a miserable place to work
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