Like many others I was laid off yesterday. Later in the day I heard the song “Sail Away” which was a fitting tribute to the end of a 20+ year career here. Yes it was just a job but it was my life 5 days a week every week for every year. I put my heart and soul into my job and it was ended heartlessly by an HR automaton in 8 minutes. Never give your life to any company folks. Only your friends and family care about you. It’s sad what this company has become over the past few years. I can remember the days of annual holiday parties and all the good friendships made over the years and the happier days here. Only time will tell what becomes of this company but no company in the history of the world has downsized and offshored themselves to greater success.
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It seems this last round may have been the one to push everything over the edge. Engineers are just quitting now not waiting for their turn
From everything that happened last week and is happening next week, it seems Nielsen has surely violated the WARN act at least in California which has a lower threshold.
Your post really hits home. I've been gone now a few years myself from the company but prior to that put in 15+ loyal, hard working years and took a lot...and I MEAN A LOT...of bullets for Nielsen over the years. I was around during the first wave of layoffs back in 2007/8 under Habib and Calhoun, so when my day finally came many years after I actually felt ok about it. I had "survived," if you will. But it was an early lesson to me in those early days as a younger person watching long time Nielsen loyalists with insurmountable years of knowledge about the company and the biz...get kicked to the curb just like that by some no nothing corporate raiders. That's when I realized "yea, this is a business and not a family or anything of the sort." Which was sad because for many years at Nielsen it did indeed feel like family. A place where others cared about you professionally and personally. I attending colleague's weddings, homes for xmas parties, childrens bday parties. That was the type of place Nielsen was. So while here I an now in the latter stage of my working career, I do consider myself lucky to have caught the tail end of days when companies did actually care about their folks. My message to anyone under 40...make as much as you can with as little effort put forth as possible. No company in 2024 sees you as anything other than a number on a piece of paper.
I was also laid off after 13 years of living to work for them, blood, sweat and tears.
They made my train 80 new associates in Pune and dumped me and my WHOLE TEAM.
Im devastaded.
Nielsen+Gracenote have such potential. But imho we're heading the wrong direction in terms of making real bank. Am unsure why the owners don't see this. Many problems in media right now need to be straightened out and there's a lot of profit to be made in the US as a result.
This company doesn't just have potential. It has _real_ potential.
So y'know, the waste involved w the last few years really bothers me.
Other than sheer loyalty I'm not sure why I've stuck around.
Well, the company doesn't belong to me so yeah- maybe I should just move on and not fight it. Perhaps they know what they're doing and I can't see it.
So many good people put to the street. Hope your health holds up.
I had 20+ years at Gracenote and also got notified this week. Company is going down fast. Whoever they hired is not prepared to take over.
Still at Nielsen for now, but the song that keeps running through my head is "I shall be released" (Dylan & The Band).
"Sail Away"? I surprised it wasn't "Nearer, My God, to Thee."
That's the last song played as the Titanic sank.
after going through several layoffs in tech, i stupidly thought that maybe i’d finally get a chance at longevity with Nielsen.
i saw so many folks with a decade, fifteen years, twenty and thought i could finally relax a bit. NOPE WRONG. I got just over five years.
It’s no longer a Great American company. The golden years of Nielsen have long passed.
I had almost 20 years in, too. Arthur Nielsen is rolling in his grave, this used to be such a nice place to work. A shame.