At the recent meeting of the EBS they told us because they were concerned about us no one would be laid off until after the holidays. Do they really want us to think they are benevolent or have they just not gotten it together in India yet and want to look good. Nothing like keeping everyone under stress as a result of their "transparancy".
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This is a technique used by ConAgra since the late 90's - threaten a big, vague layoff and then do nothing for several months. When I worked at ConAgra there were layoffs every 3-4 months. First there was the unofficial announcement by management, followed by no action and a lot of rumors (which caused many good people to look elsewhere leave) and then 3-4 months later the axe fell on a small group of people - usually those whom their bosses wanted to fire anyway. The layoffs were always abrupt and dramatic and were meant to scare and intimidate remaining employees. It was done this way because it worked. It motivated employees to put in extra hours at work or get the heck out of the company. Plus it eliminated the need for managers to actually fire anyone...they just waited until the next round of layoffs. I believe the technique is called "Churn" by HR departments and is used by many large companies to intimidate employees and avoid unlawful termination lawsuits.
They are not loosing anything by keeping employees under stress. Eventually they will not have to give any severance package if employees leave. Even if this game make 10% employees leave before their announcement, how much would they save out of severance package? Do the math. I think this stress creation is part of game plan and they are doing well by doing all this announcements.
I don't believe "the number" includes the jobs being outsourced to India. They are very scripted and consistent with message. And we're all stupid.......