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adrian_turtleI work for a young company, though no longer a startup. (We're a big preschool company now!) Hardly anybody plays with the foosball table in the lunchroom anymore. There are more than 100 of us. We've had the grand tidiness protocol for months, so we can impress investors and major customers who come to visit. People who aren't in sales are starting to wear clicky shoes and make a certain effort to look respectable.
And they've been firing people. It's awful. (Copyeditors? Is that we/they shift as inevitable as it seems?) Firing an accountant who was trying to embezzle, or an engineer who was always skipping work to go fishing, is about the scale of their previous firings...easy decisions. There were even some situations where summer interns and temp workers who very much wanted to be hired full time were dismissed at the end of the term and someone else was hired instead. But that's different. Now it looks like they're firing competent people who just aren't quite good enough. Or people who are very good, but might have been working on the wrong projects. Even under ideal circumstances, I tend to be insecure. This is not good for me.
News is spreading in nerve-wracking ways. One person was in the middle of a project, distributed a preliminary report last Monday, and people with questions about her ongoing project Tuesday morning were just informed she was no longer working for the company. This caused some distress through the department. I don't have anyone reporting to me directly, so it's not my decision (thank goodness.) I'm just second-guessing my boss and the managers of other departments. Thinking from the perspective of the person being fired, I can understand wanting to have it over with and keep it quiet. Though someone who was not depressive and easily intimidated might prefer more publicity or space for grievances. From the perspective of colleagues still here, it really sucks not to know what's going on.
And they've been firing people. It's awful. (Copyeditors? Is that we/they shift as inevitable as it seems?) Firing an accountant who was trying to embezzle, or an engineer who was always skipping work to go fishing, is about the scale of their previous firings...easy decisions. There were even some situations where summer interns and temp workers who very much wanted to be hired full time were dismissed at the end of the term and someone else was hired instead. But that's different. Now it looks like they're firing competent people who just aren't quite good enough. Or people who are very good, but might have been working on the wrong projects. Even under ideal circumstances, I tend to be insecure. This is not good for me.
News is spreading in nerve-wracking ways. One person was in the middle of a project, distributed a preliminary report last Monday, and people with questions about her ongoing project Tuesday morning were just informed she was no longer working for the company. This caused some distress through the department. I don't have anyone reporting to me directly, so it's not my decision (thank goodness.) I'm just second-guessing my boss and the managers of other departments. Thinking from the perspective of the person being fired, I can understand wanting to have it over with and keep it quiet. Though someone who was not depressive and easily intimidated might prefer more publicity or space for grievances. From the perspective of colleagues still here, it really sucks not to know what's going on.
