So between this round of layoffs and others the company plans to reduce expenses by $80 million. Well the company was in the red by $128 million last year. Someone should ask Hanson where he plans to get the other $48 million from, and whether any of it will come from his $1.9 million salary.
By the way, does anyone have any idea what Chris Usher actually does? and why he made $820,000 last year.
Yes Teri Wall is a piece of work. Uncaring, insensitive and blames everyone else for her mistakes. Whenever she gets fired or laid off from a company, she will go to a next company and hire all her friends/buddies for her HR department. That way if they also fire her, she will get her friends (that she hired) to move to the next company with her. Sort of HR business blackmail to keep from getting fired again.
Those fired in December are not better off as many of them have still not found jobs and the market only gets worse. Even worse was that we worked all year for the promised end of year bonus and then were fired 2 weeks before we would have got it. There was no bonus in with the severance package (will was pitiful). Getting laid off is never a good thing, but in the current environment there are very few worthwhile jobs out there, especially in specialized fields. Good luck to those that were laid off last week, and to those that were not - start looking anyway as it is a long and arduous process to get any kind of response these days.
Bonuses were paid to all employees not layed off during the Christmas 2014 RIF. The bonuses were not just contractual obligations. Would be nice to have a contract that said, even if company you are in charge of loses its ass, you still get a big bonus. Maybe the bonus was for laying off so many employees ten days before Christmas. According to HTFU, that wasn't something they wanted to do.
Those let go by ION in the earlier rounds should feel lucky. if being let go now, be prepared to be out of oil&gas industry for at least a year. Things are becoming uglier, oil companies are planning more staff reduction. Good luck to all!
Hi HTFU-as someone who worked in the Denver ION office, I can tell you that Chris Usher did appear to enjoy giving people the ax. I was there for each layoff in the Denver office, and he couldn't wipe the smile off his face any of those days. He was even smiling when he gave us the speech about how they were going to close our office if they couldn't sell us by the end of Q2 2015. The entire office believed he was a narcissist due to his actions and speeches to us. We were a profitable unit, but so much money needed to go to the upper echelons in Houston that we were considered unprofitable. Since they put no funding into research or anything else, we struggled to keep up with our competitors technologically. Still, we had repeat clients that loved our work and dedication. The execs at ION are trying to take as much money for themselves and their friends in high positions before ION goes bankrupt due to their incompetence.
The company was in the red last year. Check out the published financials on marketwatch: http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/io/financials - under "net income". Negative $128 million.
Bonuses were paid to executives because their bonuses are not tied to the profitability of the company. I doubt Chris Usher was involved in layoffs, as that would involve him actually doing some work. Teri Wall is actually a decent person but with a tough job. She was not the one that made the decisions.
Speaking of executive vacations, Hanson took a company paid week in Cabo to avoid the layoffs in December. That isn't rumor, its a fact.
If the company was in the red last year, why did they pay out such large bonuses? Hey guy from competitor, until you have been worked to death and lied to about your future with the company e.g. "your job is safe" have sympathy. These are fresh wounds for some of the people on this site. They have seen executives take long vacations, get huge bonuses and then fire them as a reward for their hard work and sacrifice. This company was run into the ground by upper management and it was the worker bees who have suffered. The only ones still there are the ones in "favor" with the executives and their lackeys.
Welcome to corporate life. Like they tell the rookies in professional sports, "Don't take it personally. It's just a business." So HTFU, willya? Quit posting insensitive and high spurious comments ("rumor was abound"). NOBODY like to severe people from their livelihood. Get into action and do something about it!
For the record, I work for a competitor to ION and saw several pals get the ax.
Yes-Chris Usher is in charge of hiring his old friends to high level management positions so that he can spend his time rearranging organizational charts on a weekly basis. He used to help fire people during the layoffs, but rumor was abound that he was highly insensitive and could be seen laughing and joking around in the hallways between people he was firing. Now they have Teri Wall do the layoffs, since she simply comes off as an automaton with no emotion whatsoever.