Posted on 09/07/2006 7:26:59 AM PDT by Hydroshock
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- You probably have never done a perp walk, been suspected of stealing or been treated as if you were a toxic agent.
Yet you may feel like you have if you ever are laid off by a company that practices some of the moves ripped straight from The Corporate Guide to Crazy.
Quiz Take the quiz
How safe is your job? Take this quiz to size up your chances of being fired. Good luck.
1. Have you ratcheted up your career skills? Have you learned something new in the past 90 days (mastery of a piece of software, an accounting formula, a foreign language, etc.)? Yes No
Your turn
Ever been given the boot in a way you'd characterize as unusually heartless? (Tell us about it.)
The list of dehumanized moves is long and not likely to get shorter in an age where speed, telecommuting, cost cutting, efficiency and assets rather than human capital are king.
"The things that get done in the name of expediency are quite shocking," said Dale Klamfoth, senior vice president at WJM Associates, an executive and organizational development firm.
Just last week we were treated to news of 400 employees at Radio Shack who were laid off by e-mail.
Before that we heard of money-saving tips offered to newly laid-off employees at Northwest. The list includes helpful advice like "Don't be shy about pulling something you like out of the trash" and that ever-useful tip when you lose a job: "Bicycle to work."
Based on conversations with several human resource experts, here are some examples of companies that followed the advice in the Corporate Guide chapter "Layoffs: Six Easy Strategies
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
#1. From a cannon
"Sure thing - what position am I interviewing him for?"
"Your job."
Happiness is watching it happen to the boss that wanted to get rid of you...
A friend of mine quit, but reconsidered when they counter offered. One of his points was he was over worked and they needed help. He the following week interviewed a few people anch choose who they hired. He trained him for 2 weeks and then was laid off on a Friday. He new job and old job were gone. He hired and trained his replacement.
A place where I was, they brought in someone known to be a hatchet man. He identified and laid off some 25% of the people, then created a new org chart, his own name somewhere in the upper echelon. The next week, when he attempted to come into the office, his card-key had been disabled, and when he buzzed security, they showed up with his stuff boxed up and a court order to stay away from the business.
LOL!! Now why didn't I think of that example?
One of the big tax preparation companies (I believe it is Jackson Hewitt) is running an ad on TV where the boss is telling a worker about the tax company's available training for tax preparation specialists. The worker asks why he is being told this, and the boss says, "Because you're fired" and then proceeds to do the same to another employee.
Oh, my. Funny. And sad. One would need to rent 'Office Space' after that.
That is cold!
Now that's just wrong.
I worked with a guy who was worthless. We had a 90 day probation period. On the Sunday before his 90 says was up, I saw his job in the paper. So did he. He came in on Monday and asked our boss about the ad. Our boss replied "Come into my office".
That was rude.
He thought so as well. I myself was asked to train the Koreans who were taking my job through outsourcing. I was offered a new position halfway during the training and quit.
I wonce was told of a lay off by my key card not working.
This is why you NEVER take counter offers. Mgmt will do this almost every time.
He should have sued them for that. There are plenty of working folks out there who would award him good coin for a company's actions like that.
The very first time I saw it, it looked like a perp walk, but there was no shame in it since it happened to everyone.
Eventually you didn't even notice the security.
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