Category: Historical

Layoff Watch Day 2
The cynical jokes continued apace as everyone waits in anticipation of whether they’ll still have a job come the end of November. These ranged from misinterpretations of “If I see you next week…” to others darker in nature. Truthfully the whole experience is something akin to a Survivor episode, except upper management is the one to vote you out. It’s precisely that unknown quality that makes this so difficult. While I would like to believe I have nothing to worry about, but like the New York lotto, “Hey, you ever know.”

I had an opportunity to talk to my manager for the first time since the announcement Wednesday, and though he had little to add, it was reassuring. While he has no idea what’s going on, he’s taking a more optimistic stance on the outcome of the layoffs. Hopefully he’ll be proven right.

The most interesting rumor of the day was that the IS organization is attempting to perform all their separations in one batch, rather than dragging out the process and the uncertainity longer than necessary. While I will commend them for this, at least, the potentially three week time lag has slowed any work to a crawl. Next week is, according to some timelines I have heard, the major decision week where most of the specifics will be determined, so the rumor mill should be spinning in overtime. Certainly, I hope so, as it provides a distraction from the actual work we’re supposed to be doing.

Today I thought I would innaugurate the Layoff Watch, as a space where I can chronicle the rumors, the facts, the morale and the odd ways people react to the uncertainity surrounding the question “Will my access card and network login still work tomorrow morning?”

Today brought official word that the IS organization would be cutting approximately 150 positions, as was known yesterday, out of approximately 2500 worldwide. The odds were basically right around what was expected. It also brought official word that some middle management, not unexpectedly, might be on the chopping block as well, and also demonstrated that my immediate management team is now looking a bit on the haggard side. My director, usually someone very much on top of the goings-on, had to silently repeat a few questions to himself at our staff meeting this morning, when he’s usually quite on the ball. Not the most positive sign, and in fact, everyone I talked to in the meeting felt less confident after it was over.

Among the many items stated at many of these meetings is that the precise numbers and people targeted for “elimination” is not really known and will be determined over the next two weeks. Granted, everyone seems to insist that such a list is already in existence, and that they’re certainly on it. If this is true, I really do have nothing to worry about, as that would easily take care of the 150 people being targeted worldwide. I wouldn’t want to have to pick up the slack alone, though.

Morale is low, but sarcasm is high. Sometimes during the day the office has taken on a kind of “Survivor”-esque theme, with everyone whispering who they hope management votes off the premises in their place.

Oh, and of course, almost nothing productive happened. As if that’s a surprise.

Today was not a good day to be a Merck employee. The company announced less than expected earnings for the most recent quarter and layoffs of 4,400 positions worldwide, including 1200 temporary and 3200 permanent. This is a company that prefers not to take these kinds of measures, so it is disappointing to see them reach such a situation. Morale, to be honest, was extremely low today as more people spent their day trying to come up with some likelihood of being in one of those 4,400 positions. The one positive I’ve noticed is that management has indicated this means positions, of which some are vacant as employees have moved on but the position has remained available. This actually reduces the number of people being removed, such as in one organization, where about 25% of the positions were actually vacant. The IS organization itself is budgeted for around 150 positions, which appears to be in line with many of the other organizations.

Coincidentally, tonight as also the night of an RAA dorm storm, where alumni return to speak to students in their residence halls about life after Rutgers, careers, and any other topics students express a curiosity about. So as I wonder about my own immediate future, I also had the pleasure of discussing the future with current Rutgers students. All in all, it was a successful program and while the students were more shy than in the other dorm storm I’ve attended, we were relatively pleased.

Yesterday was hectic, with work, followed by a really dynamic RAA Memership Growth committee meeting and, as always, Monday Night Drinking. MND was a good time, where I had the opportunity to suck at darts and then redeem myself on the pool table. The bar was a busy, smallish place filled with smoke and, as the minutes reflect, had bars on the window. The nicest aspect was that people were still coming and going as late as midnight when we left.

Today at work paranoia over layoffs reached new heights, with more than one person expressing the opinion that there would be an announcement tomorrow morning during the earnings conference call. All I can say is we shall see what we see tomorrow. Given the choice, I’d rather still be employed, but how much control do I have anyway?

Saturday was homecoming at Rutgers, so I watched Rutgers lose badly to Pittsburgh in the first half, followed by a respectable recovery in the second half of the game to only lose by a little. This was followed by dinner with Austin and Mark in New Brunswick and preceded by wandering amongst the tailgaters meeting with a few friends.

Some progress was made on the site redesign this weekend, as I actually put together an interface that I liked and look forward to using. I was too busy reading a book I really wanted to finish before the onslaught of new magazines arrived (FOUR in the past three days!) to do much more than that, and this week with RAA events and potentially a quick FOP Java project to throw together for a few hundred bucks, I’ll likely not have much time to work on it.

Remember these? I was talking to my friend Jenn tonight online and we were trying to remember the name of Shirt Tales. So many “classic” cartoons are listed on this page.

Just down the street…

Her name was Jackie, 23, who lived in Manville for 17 years. My deepest sympathies to her family and friends.

A memorial appeared earlier this week on the bridge over the railroad tracks that connects my neighborhood and parts beyond. Each day I’ve watched it grow in size, without any awareness of who it celebrates or what circumstances caused it to appear. On my walk tonight, I saw several teenagers arrive and walk up there, no doubt to view what has occurred and leave their own marks behind.

This past weekend, a second student this semester jumped from a balacony at a library in NYU. In summarizing the student reactions, I couldn’t help but think that while there may be a reaction there now, in time, that reaction will fade. Eventually, for those that come after, the memories will be gone, something rumored about but generally forgotten.

I always remember this time of year, though. It always touches me a certain way. The grieving process is one of the most difficult parts of life, both for those grieving, and for those who care about the griever. It is a process that can be at once private and public, shared and yet borne in solitude. And those who offer comfort so often find themselves torn, looking for the right words and unable to find them. My only words are cold comfort, that part of loving is letting go, and part of living is losing, and there is no avoiding it. Celebrate what times you had, remember them, cherish them, and live your life to the fullest.

I’m starting to get excited about doing a complete revamping of my website. There are a number of parts that I don’t update often, if at all. And I would like to better manage the way I handle linking, potentially by including links as an addendum to each entry. I would also like to de-emphasize certain sections, maybe remove others, and simplify the navigation. I may also implement the site with stylesheets and Struts, making the whole contraption easier to maintain. Since I’m my migrating to my new jCentric server anyway, now feels like a good time to spend a few days rewriting the site.