Does upper mgmt feel we are morons/what is happening?

The answer to your question, by the way, is: No they do not --- at least not all of you.

Does the name McKinsey ring a bell?

Chances are that if not McKinsey, then some other management consultant has been engaged by your company.

What you are describing is a version of a fairly common consultant's exercise designed to involve employees in the very unpleasant process of downsizing.

I suppose some senior managers think that the process can result in the employees actually selecting the people to lay off, but I suspect that most simply want their employees to better understand the need for lay-offs so they do not come as a tremendous shock.

The answer to a question you did not ask is: Some of you are morons, or at least irrational.

You may think that these sort of efforts (or ploys if you like) are unnecessary because in rough economic times, employees are smart enough and adult enough to understand that lay-offs may be necessary and would prefer to just get on with it.

Unfortunately this is not uniformly the case. No matter how bleak the picture may be for the company and the larger economy, there are a great many employees who react with shock when layoffs are announced, and even more so when they are the ones being laid off.

I saw this approach used once and was dismayed to find that once the employees caught on that the exercise was intended to identify the people who needed to go, the response of far too many was to use it to identify people other than themselves. You can imagine how ugly it became.

Your view of these exercises depends in large measure in your trust in your senior management and your basic opinion of corporate management in general.

On the one hand, the exercises are use by calculating cowards to distance themselves from the stressful, if not painful, decisions around lay-offs and to attempt to have the herd cull itself.

On the other hand they are used by thoughtful and well intentioned people who want their employees to understand why such drastic measures are necessary.

Generally, management that suspends or reduces their own bonuses or cuts perks like corporate aircraft, before laying off employees fall into the latter category. Safe to say that the ones who find it necessary to lay off to preserve their own elite status quo fall into the former.

My experience tells me that only a very few senior managers actually believe that their employees are too stupid to see through their ploys. The sad fact is that many of them don't really care whether or not the employees do. If they are trying to pull the wool over anyone's eyes it is shareholders, board members, and in some cases industry press. Often they just want to have a smooth answer to give when someone, anyone, confronts them on the issue.

Again, it is a mistake to assume that all senior managers are venal and conniving. Many do care about their employees and struggle with tough decisions that impact their welfare. Like anything else, generalizing rarely paints an accurate picture.

Of course I could be wrong, but the signs, as you relate them, strongly suggest that lay-offs are in your future.

As a manager yourself, you will do your people no good at all by stirring up cynicism and resentment. You should only discuss with them what you know; not what you suspect or fear.

The primary reason companies employ severance packages at time of down-sizing is for the good of the people retained, rather than the people let go. Of course many senior managers care about the people being let go and want to be as generous as possible, but those people are, after all, being let go --- they have no direct impact on the ongoing fortunes of the company. On the other hand, the people retained most certainly do, and chances are they will be asked to work harder than before.

If you see your peers cast adrift on the ocean of unemployment your cynicism will rise, your productivity will fall, and if you have any brains, you will be looking for a new job. This is deadly for a company that intends to live on after layoffs. Presumably, if you are retained, you are someone they think they need, and it certainly isn't in their interest to destroy your value and potential by demoralizing you.

Of course there are plenty of senior managers who will do things that are against the interests of their company, providing they are in their own personal interests, but there are many who try to play it smart and straight.

While we're at it, let’s not romanticize the poor lowly worker. There are plenty of them who should have been fired long before they ever got laid off and if retained wouldn't be worth spit. The percentage of good vs. bad is probably pretty similar in terms of senior managers and general employees.

If and when lay-offs come, the best things you can do for your people are:

1) Keep them as informed as you can, but only with information of which you are sure.

2) Take whatever opportunity you have to influence the enriching of severance policy

3) Be able to clearly and convincingly argue why your true "keepers" should be retained and don't try and blow smoke up anyone's ass about the rest

4) Help those that get the pink slip by introducing them to whatever network of contacts you have

5) Keep the workplace atmosphere as upbeat as possible. The depth of a person's funk once laid off has a direct relationship to their chances for finding new employment

Of course you may actually only be concerned with your personal situation which is fair enough, but not really any different than the senior managers.

I'll add my .02c worth of advise. Whatever you do, don't quit. If you quit, you do not qualify for unemployment insurance - that you have paid into during all your working years.

If you find a good job, by all means quit.

A good new job is a hell of a lot better than unemployment insurance.

You don't pay into unemployment insurance. It's wholly paid for by the company on behalf of the employees.

It's paid on your behalf like most payroll taxes.

Finn, That goes without saying, except for people like you. Trying to find a "better" job in this market is close to nil.

I'm sorry you're going through this, Linkat. Sounds a very worrying time for so many in your company. Guessing about what's really going on doesn't help "productivity" much, obviously. Things must be very tense, for so many.

Best of luck to you.

Well, I was going to let it lie, but you had to push it.

Your advice is a perfect example of the Liberal mindset: "Whatever you do, don't default on your ability to "get what is yours" from The Government, or, more accurately, your fellow taxpayers.

And: "It's impossible to improve your condition, so don't bother trying. After all, you’re the victim; and you’re entitled!"

BTW - Unemployment Insurance is not like Social Security. It is funded by the employers, not employees. When you draw from Unemployment you are not getting back money you put in.

I suppose you can argue that if the employer wasn't paying this tax they could pay you more and therefore you are funding unemployment.

Please, please do.

No, that's not the point at all; it's not easy to find another job now, and most people have expenses to pay. It would be foolish to quit a job not knowing where your next paycheck is coming from.

The employer paid into a fund to cover unemployment and workers comp. They were paid to protect the employee in the event of a layoff or injury. It would be very foolish not to take advantage of it. Nothing to do with liberal or conservative.

I'm sure all conservatives never take advantage of those two insurance, because that's only the liberal way. What an idiot.

CI, he just said that if she found another job, she should quit the one she has, not that she should just quit and assume somehow she's going to find work.

Really, this is about Linkat's situation and not about conservative versus liberal etc. etc. yadda yadda yadda.

Sometimes the topic is just about the topic. It's not necessarily about a million other feuds and arguments and itchy twitchy rubbing the wrong way that people are experiencing elsewhere on A2K.

I am not picking on you personally but I really think Linkat needs our help and our listening, not yet another discourse on how one side is the side of the angels and the other is taking us all to hell in a handbasket. You're right, everyone's right, all God's chillen are right, now can we please get back to helping our friend or at least letting her vent in some peace?

PS I hate losing my cool on this or anything else, and I really hate showing it. But I am very, very tired of the spilt over bickering in unrelated topics.

Thank you for listening.

Nice post, Finn.

jespah, Sorry but I miss your point; "if" she found another job is the 64 thousand dollar question. And another job doesn't guarantee longevity. I stand by my suggestions. I have worked in management positions for most of my 30 years of my career, and tried to offer good advise. If you don't like it, that's your problem.

when i was still in the workforce (life insurance) , the new president decided we needed some new ideas .
he hired the services of our university business faculty to "bring us up to speed" .
four professors soon showed up - workshops were set up - training weekends organized ... after a few drinks at the conclusion of the training weekend the prof's told us how grateful they were for the extra money coming in , but couldn't quite see what they had ben able able to contribute .
their judgement : "we sure were able to learn a lot from you that we can utilize in our coursework - hope you enjoyed the get-togethers too . " .

shortly thereafter a "consulting" group was hired (friends of the prez - went together to university) .
they scurried off to meet with the president to find out "what he wanted" - not what needed to be done to improve productivity etc .
when their "consulting" was done we all got together over drinks - without the president .
the principal told us that "consulting" was the "second oldest profession" in the world - but that with the "oldest profession" you'd know in advance what you were going to get !

all in all , i enjoyed my work very much - even though sometimes things went screwy !
hbg

ps. another "consultant's " joke :
what happens when you ask a consultant what time it is ?
a) he borrows a watch - preferably yours ,
b) he tells you what time it is ,
c) he walks off with the watch .

Funny that you say that - kicky and I once worked for the same company (at different locations) - we both work else where now.

The thing is most of realize that there is a problem with the economy and know that tough decisions need to made to keep the business from failing. I just wish that management would give us more credit and instead of the fluff be more upfront.

Not necessarily - I went through a change management course before, but in this situation, we were changing our jobs and taking in additional responsibilities. I did believe that they are changing our job functions a bit - many other groups have already gone through it - ours is next.

There is also possibly for our department to be outsourced - there is always that possibility.

Finn - yes some of us are morons and I've definately seen the irrational ones - as often I have pointed out that you should shut up and do your work/not complain that you have too much to do as you still have a job. - In a bit nicer words of course.

I couldn't quit - my kids need health insurance and only a fool would in this economy. I am more whining and venting than anything else. I agree with alot Finn has said. And I don't whine and complain to my reports. In my most recent review, I am actually complemented on my positive and professional attitude. This being a safe place allows me to vent so I can be professional at work.

"Help those that get the pink slip by introducing them to whatever network of contacts you have"
I have already done this for one person that was laid off - and it resulted in a job somewhere I worked previously. The fun thing was he didn't know it (at least at first) - I got a call from some one I worked with previously asking if I knew so and so - well yes I do he works for me now, but is being laid off (this was already announced so that is why this person was job searching) - off the record what do you think of him. Now I could of been really mean as this person wasn't doing the job expected of him (which I can understand seeing was be letting go soon, but it was making my current life miserable) - I did recommend him, but I was honest on his downsides too. He was hired as a result.

In today's economy, just about every company in every sector is looking for ways to reduce cost and, in addition, to thin out employment enough to avoid worse shocks in the down cycle ahead. This inevitably involves laying off some employees. The alternative is to put the whole company at risk - in that case everyone loses; employees, stockholders, lenders, and suppliers. If the lifeboat sinks, everyone gets wet.

In my experience the best way to approach the problem is to first do the layoffs and then engage the remaining supervisors in the process of improving efficiency to meet real needs with the already reduced employment levels. There's a moral issue here and Linkat has illustrated it well in her posts. Senior management is responsible to make and act on these tough choices - delegating them to a larger and less accountable group has far more bad side effects than benefits.

Linkat, That's what I understood from your first post, that you were not planning to quit your job. Most of my comments were offered in good faith; to protect yourself in the event changes were made at your company.

Many bosses have difficulty firing people who they supervise; that's a lesson I learned working in management, but it's up to them to balance that with the future health of the company - as georgeob said.

Even good, productive, people get fired, because some bosses fail to understand what personnel management is all about.

I believe in looking out for your own interests no matter how comfortable one might feel in their present jobs.

BTW, I've personally used that phrase often, "off the record" to get info from previous employers.