So, 2 people got fired at my work today

[Mekado]

I was wondering what people thinks about firing people in December ? I work at a tech firm approximately 50 employees large (including sales) and 2 of the tech guys got their pink slip this morning. There was a bit of unease at the office as many people were muttering that the boss could have kept paying them 3 more weeks NOT to do this 2 weeks before christmas. One of them got fired because he was lazy, unmotivated and had no intention to improve, to be honest i have little pity for him as i believe you reap what you sow. The second one though was a hard worker and fun to be around. He also happened to be the youngest team member in the dept that made the least money in the company (they make negative money, we keep them afloat...) and would have warranted a 3 weeks extension imo...

Anyways, thoughts about firing people close to xmas ? should it be purely business always or is there still some place for empathy in the workspace ?

Capcha: do you shop at canadian tire?

funnily enough capcha, yes i do

 

[krazykidd]

It's unfortunate for guy number 2 . But business is business . It sucks for him but you can't really expect charity at the workplace. I assume he didn't for the luls so it likely had to be done . Anyways that's my two cents . The first guy deserved it though if he was as you say.

 

[Nerexor]

I once worked as a temp worker at a factory job where they had us work like crazy right up until the week before Christmas. Then they thanked us for all our hard work by saying "Good job finishing up our major contract, we no longer need you temp workers, here is the door." People were seriously pissed off, it was considered such a dick move that it even made the local news. The only reason I wasn't among them was because I was only working to save up for my next term, and had already put in my notice, so I got off lucky.

The kicker here is that this was actually company policy. On our particular shift, there were only about 5 actual employees of the company[footnote]and they were the ones who did the least work and were assholes to everyone else[/footnote] while the rest of the 60 or so staff members were temps. They would do this every year, work the temps like dogs and then ditch them whenever the contract ran out. They could easily at least have given us something as a holiday bonus or a "sorry we're douchebags who just fired you" compensation, but yeah... At the end of the day you can't require companies to not be dicks, but they should know that it isn't good PR to fire people right at the holidays to save a few bucks to throw on top of their ten thousand dollar bonus they award themselves.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

Oh the joys of working in a capitalist society... This is why unions have to exist, unfortunately.

It was a dick move. Your employer is either an asshole or too damn spineless to stand up to his superiors.

 

[Mekado]

Oh the joys of working in a capitalist society... This is why unions have to exist, unfortunately.

It was a dick move. Your employer is either an asshole or too damn spineless to stand up to his superiors.

My boss is actually the owner of the company, he dosen't answer to anyone (well, inside the company anyways hehe)

 

[renegade7]

I know some people who have worked in management. It is not easy letting people go at all, especially at this time of year. It's not easy to just tell them they no longer have a job. The first guy clearly deserved it. The second guy didn't but if they can't afford to keep him then that's just how life is sometimes.

Just wanted to put my thoughts in.

 

[WoW Killer]

Then when your customers get similarly laid off from their own jobs, your company finds itself wondering why nobody is buying its products.

 

[Mekado]

I know some people who have worked in management. It is not easy letting people go at all, especially at this time of year. It's not easy to just tell them they no longer have a job. The first guy clearly deserved it. The second guy didn't but if they can't afford to keep him then that's just how life is sometimes.

Just wanted to put my thoughts in.

True enough, sometimes the "right" choice for the company isn't the "good guy" choice i suppose. At least he signed a letter of recommendation for the second guy...

We were growing 75-100% per year the last 6 years or so, this year though we've taken a bit of a beating on our main product and the other new products failed to meet even 50% of expectations. I suppose some kind of cutbacks were inevitable and since salaries are our biggest expense...

Didn't stop our boss from buying a brand spanking new SL Mercedes 2 months ago but he works harder than any of us so i guess it's a bit unfair to frown on him buying cool stuff...

 

[Fluffythepoo]

Ive never met a manager who took firing lightly and usually managers dont actually have a choice in the matter, especially when its a large company. But i wouldn't say hes a bad person for doing it. Though with only 50 people that probably would have needed the owner's approval.. the owner may very well be a bit of a dick.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

Oh the joys of working in a capitalist society... This is why unions have to exist, unfortunately.

It was a dick move. Your employer is either an asshole or too damn spineless to stand up to his superiors.

My boss is actually the owner of the company, he dosen't answer to anyone (well, inside the company anyways hehe)

So he's an asshole then.

 

[Vegosiux]

Then when your customers get similarly laid off from their own jobs, your company finds itself wondering why nobody is buying its products.

...and that's further than most people are capable of thinking, yes.

Also, getting fired is always meh, Christmas coming or not; I mean okay, for people who just refuse to pull their weight, they get what's coming to them, but letting off people who actually work hard might come to bite someone in the ass.

 

[Pink Gregory]

There's no room for compassion in business (not saying that that's the way it should be); I mean, just firing your employees at random for teh lulz isn't a risk that many employers can take. Admittedly there's quite an obvious reason as the OP tells it for employee 1, but as for employee 2, there most likely was a damn good reason for the boss doing it that you're not aware of.

Of course there is the typical issue of employers only wanting skilled employees and not wanting to stump up for training someone; but such is the monetary situation at the moment.

 

[Mekado]

There's no room for compassion in business (not saying that that's the way it should be); I mean, just firing your employees at random for teh lulz isn't a risk that many employers can take. Admittedly there's quite an obvious reason as the OP tells it for employee 1, but as for employee 2, there most likely was a damn good reason for the boss doing it that you're not aware of.

Of course there is the typical issue of employers only wanting skilled employees and not wanting to stump up for training someone; but such is the monetary situation at the moment.

The reason we got was "This dept is losing money, we need to cut the spending on it." And since the hardware and all is already bought and paid for, the only significant cut he could make was cutting salaries/employees. I'm fairly certain it had nothing to do with his competence or work ethics as he gave him a glowing letter of recommendation (which he did not do for employee #1) Also had nothing to do with training as this guy was with us for a little more than a year and a half now, he was the newest employee in that dept but he wasn't quite "new"

I personally would have fired the lazy one immediately but i would have kept the decent one until January, maybe it makes no sense but at least he wouldn't spend xmas season with "fu**, i have to get myself another job and fast"

 

[Drauger]

Well since he owns the company, yes he is an ass, I agree with your idea let the guy at least be happy on xmas but then again January it's a hard month too...... anyway the thing is, if the owner doesn't make the money he is expecting then well why should he sacrifice himself? would anyone?.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

Well since he owns the company, yes he is an ass, I agree with your idea let the guy at least be happy on xmas but then again January it's a hard month too...... anyway the thing is, if the owner doesn't make the money he is expecting then well why should he sacrifice himself? would anyone?.

Logically, it makes sense I won't argue against it. It's good business.

Ethically? He's still an ass. What would another 2-3 weeks pay really have cost him? I mean, come on, assuming the company is financially stable... This is the reason I don't believe in giving employers two weeks notice. Homeboy didn't give this fucker 2 weeks to find another job.

 

[Mekado]

Well since he owns the company, yes he is an ass, I agree with your idea let the guy at least be happy on xmas but then again January it's a hard month too...... anyway the thing is, if the owner doesn't make the money he is expecting then well why should he sacrifice himself? would anyone?.

Logically, it makes sense I won't argue against it. It's good business.

Ethically? He's still an ass. What would another 2-3 weeks pay really have cost him? I mean, come on, assuming the company is financially stable... This is the reason I don't believe in giving employers two weeks notice. Homeboy didn't give this fucker 2 weeks to find another job.

Yeah, the company as a whole is still making a comfortable amount of profits, the problem is that *all* our positive cashflow comes from 1 product (our flagship product) and we have 3 product lines right now, so we're floating the 2 other depts at the moment...


I wholeheartedly agree though, 3 weeks salary wouldn't have changed much on the overall balance, and the company (as a whole) could afford it without problems. I guess he was tired of floating 2 tech teams that couldn't even make enough money to pay their own salary...

 

[Strazdas]

december is not special in any way. if he was going to fire them he fired them, christmas has nothing to do with it.

 

[Mekado]

december is not special in any way. if he was going to fire them he fired them, christmas has nothing to do with it.

I suppose not, i just find that a little cold.

Guess it's a good thing i don't own a business hehe...