And so it goes ...

It was almost exactly four years ago that my company began to cut down on its workforce in mass. When I started here in early 2004 our payroll was well above 2000 nation wide with more in Canada and Taiwan. Today, after years of scaling back at the plant levels, sometimes laying off an entire shift at a time, and the initial 26 whose jobs were eliminated in February 2006 in this office alone, our ranks have shrunk almost in half. Another 6 jobs here at the corporate office have been eliminated as of 9 this morning; mine was thankfully not among them. This takes our total work force here in the US to just below 1100 people. There is your workforce reduction and proof of just how tight the business world has gotten these days.

The reasons behind the reduction in force are all about streamlining the business to keep us afloat during these hard times. A few of the people let go gave little to their departments and almost nothing to the company as a whole, but they were employed yesterday and now are filing for unemployment even as I write this. A few of those let go today I considered friends, and I will miss their smile around the office. A few of them were an annoyance and nothing more; sadly I have to admit I take a bit of joy in their leaving the company. This may be partly because I know I am one who will go down with the ship if I do not choose to jump first. My job is almost as secure as it can be, even in these uncertain times, and for the first time in my life I will be at the bottom of the cut list every time it is circulated.

I managed to make it clear to my boss, my co-workers, and those in management who make these hard decisions that I am not expendable. My skills are required for daily business functions and truth be told, if it came down to me or my co-worker who knows the most about all that I manage, it would not be me who is let go even though he has close to six years seniority over me. In more ways that I think he understands, he is my backup, and the backup for our boss. If push comes to shove and one of us must go, management knows that he must be first because some of what I do is mission critical and no one else is comfortable backing me up on those responsibilities. I also have a greater ability to multi task and actually accomplish things in my day rather than trying to take on more than one task and getting nothing done as a result.

Or economy has dictated a reduction in staff to save the business. Our parent company has dictated that we continue to make money to support those failing sectors of their business. And, as unfair as it seems, we here at BC once again reduce our staff, spread the responsibilities of our former co-workers to the already over burdened remaining staff, and are thankful that we still get to report to work tomorrow and collect a paycheck weekly.