Human Resources: 2 Things To Count On At Christmas
December 16, 2005 | By Jack Yoest
No, not parties with anticipated harassment and potential litigation.
No, December could always be counted on to be a quiet month for the head-counters. Two reasons.
1) No employee quits at Christmas -- all wait to collect the quarterly and year-end bonuses, then fly in January. And,
2) No employer fires at Christmas -- no heartless boss, no corporate Scrooge would put even the deadwood window managers out in the snow.
Until now.
Your Business Blogger, who has been accused of being a Window Manager, is learning that the Holiday Season has not been a reason for corporate courtesy.
Excellent people are getting canned at Christmas.
It was with great sadness that we learned that Mike Wallster's company was sold. The head-count became a body-count. At Christmas.
Mike writes at Penguin Poletariate and Ipso Facto.
These un-seasonal terminations keep the anti-capitalists in business. A Christmas Season's severing gives corporations and managers a bad name. Bad.
So let's attempt some holiday cheer, if possible. Visit Ipso Facto and leave Mike a comment of encouragement. And any job lead you might have. Or contract work.
Merry Christmas. Please.
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Thank you (foot)notes:
If you are on the job market, see my (free!) advice for finding your next assignment.
Thank you to the Coyote Blog for hosting The Carnival of the Capitalists.
Comments
Thanks very much Jack, I will be at your house tomorrow morning at 8:00 to rake the leaves and wash the car as agreed.
TypePad is doing some sort of maintainence today, so no comic. If you go to Ipso you'll see the first post I made there, using a Pearl Before Swine comic as a placeholder.
Thanks again, I'm stunned by your kindness.
Posted by: Mike | December 16, 2005 12:24 PM
Since TypePad is down, I'll leave my encouragement here...Mike, with all due respect to your wife, we luv ya baby! :-) Your comic brightens my day. God Bless.
Posted by: Becky | December 16, 2005 7:48 PM
Sixty veteran clerical employees of the NYSE were laid off yesterday in the traditional way; With no warning, their badges were confiscated and they were marched out of the building under escort.
How is it done on your planet?
Posted by: Fred | December 16, 2005 9:59 PM
No layoffs at Christmas - are you serious? Are you living in some Hallmark universe where everything looks like a Norman Rockwell painting?
I mean if you are going to have a bad 4th quarter, might as well take a right-off for the "down-sizing" as way to "explain" both why the quarter was so bad, and what you are doing about it.
I've worked on several layoffs at the holidays. Is it better to be let go in Nov - before the credit cards are bulging - or in January, when you're in debt up to your eye balls?
I even had one manager assure me that I was not going to be part of the lay-off before the holiday, and then lay me off after the holiday. Happy New year!
Posted by: Zendo Deb | December 21, 2005 8:26 PM
Well that stinks. Eggnog all around while we curse. I dont mean to be trite, but it might work out as a good thing in the long run. Ok no thats stupid. More eggnog. Ok how about the holiday season is about hope and faith and brotherhood. So we're with ya Mike.
Posted by: jane | December 21, 2005 9:50 PM
Jane, Thank you for your kind words for Mike during his bleak time at the joyous season.
Mike's got good-guys like you in his corner.
Thanks,
Jack
Posted by: Jack Yoest | December 21, 2005 10:52 PM
Zendo Deb, Goodness, you right: there is never a good time to get fired. But December might be the worst month, if one has to pick.
Most managers test out as sociopaths. It sounds like you worked for one.
Best,
Jack
(former manager, current sociopath)
Posted by: Jack Yoest | December 21, 2005 11:03 PM
I have a different take on not firing people at Christmas.
I had a friend who was the Executive Director of the [withheld]in Hawaii.
Christmas rolled around and so did a marriage.
The [withheld]'s newly elected Chairman was going to make a change but couldn't bring himself to doing it before Christmas.
When [the executive director] returned from his Honeymoon with big bucks spent - no trifling on expenses - and his Christmas bills coming in, then he got fired at the first of the New Year.
I think the hard but right thing to do is fire people when the decision is made and manage the fallout or timing with the rest of the staff. And certainly fire people before they spend a lot of money at a time like Christmas.
Posted by: Louis B | January 18, 2006 8:53 AM