Who has lost their jobs recently??Follow

We are hearing about lay-offs all over the place. For the time being, we seem to be secure, but Mr. Tare's company is revisiting the idea of centralizing operations in CT. We are still in the midst of Green Card hell so any company changes would really suck for us.

Ugh.

Trim the fat too, so to speak. Live lean and that will help down the road.

Good luck!

The engineering consulting business has hit a brick wall, a few weeks before Christmas about a dozen got the boot from where I work and other companies, including the Bechtel office nearby, are cutting back even more.
Every proposed mining or industrial plant project has been cancelled and at least 2 of our clients have asked us to stop work on feasibility studies.
I haven't seen such a drop in business since '82-'83 which was a really bad time.
Just last night I met a friend on the subway who got canned and he's in the same business as me.

I'm ok for a while though, just finished taking some mapping software courses and for some reason Mauritania still has money to spend on mineral exploration and there's a few months work available, hopefully things improve before that dries up.
Glad to still be employed.

We've lost maybe 30-40% of the office staff. My department is probably safe since we lost the one 'spare' guy and now there's only two of us left and way too much work for one. Since we're trying to get in as much work as possible, eliminating the guys who estimate the work and process the proposals would be counter-productive (not that that's stopped a business before). And, despite my post count, I actually do get a lot of shit done here The good news, company wide, is that we already had about 80% of our 2009 goal pre-sold in 2008 before things went completely sour.

If one of us lost our job, we have about six months worth of mortgage payments in savings while the other person makes cash for food 'n utilities. So, short of total catastrophe, we have at least a little breathing space.



Edited, Jan 8th 2009 8:30am by Jophiel

Well, my business is tied directly to the construction industry which is tied directly to the financial industry and the ability of the large general contractors to secure money.

So a few sad news stories about people buying less toys this Christmas season isn't what's hurting us.

Edited, Jan 8th 2009 8:46am by Jophiel

I got a raise yesterday! We also had our best Q4 ever last year, so it doesn't sound like any layoffs are on the horizon (except our finance team, but they've known about it for 9 months since we were bought out last spring by our new Canadian overlords).

Unlike 2001, this doesn't seem like a bad time to be in the software/telecom industry.

Our client is in danger of going under, or so we've heard. They're one tiny team in a mega corporation, but they're suffering and they're the weakest of the corporate herd.

However, they've vowed to keep us as their marketing arm until they breathe their last breath; they've laid off two of the sales guys rather than lose the marketing department, since we're the originator of over 70% of their sales.

If our client goes, my office will likely keep me around for another client, but I don't think I'd want to stay. I like my client.

Office-wide, we've dropped about 50-60 of our temp staff since September, leaving us with roughly 100 people in the cubicle farm. There have been no layoffs of full time staff, but they're cracking down and using any excuse to get people in trouble so they can trim the fat later on if they need to. Ugh.

Edited, Jan 8th 2009 12:45pm by catwho

I can't be lay off since I'm getting an SSI check each month and it went up due to C-O-L. It's not enough to help with the rise in food prices, but increase in food stamps may pass in congress still.

Jonwin been up and down on if layoff will hit his job over the last month. He's one of the best historical interrupters they have, but since he was allow back to work last year, he's had a few problems with getting hours he needs to keep his health insurance active each month.

My Son-in-Law was lay off for a month, when the start up he was working for lost all their contracts in October. They actually had one firm rethink on needing their services and S-i-L ended up having to debug software for them. Still one company isn't enough to keep the business afloat, so he use all his spare time to look for another job.

He's now doing web programing for a government contractor and had to go through process of getting a security clearance. With a security clearance and BRAC, job market is good for software engineers in the D.C / Baltimore area. My nephew would had offered him a job back in November for a major government contractor, if he already had a security clearance.

Daughter still would like to find a job but then they would need to find childcare for 3 year old on top of getting her to her speech therapy class, 2 times a week.

2nd daughter been sick with bad cold between jobs, that they can get contracts for. Her boyfriend has more work then he can handle doing remodeling for rental properties. Daughter does the painting and any lead abatement work needed.

Other daughter lives in SC town too small for her to find work without a driving license, so has been major caregiver for boyfriends 2 kids. For being my problem child, she been showing signs of being a very strict further step mom, to the girls. Sadly their mom is going flaky on them and lets them get away with murder at home. She is a good example of why no one should be allow to have children without a license.

Our company, while large, has always been frugal with it's hirings and spending, so we were only asked to make 10% cuts to the budgets in every area. Shouldn't be too hard to do without cutting staff, and I just got promoted with a raise earlier this year so I think I'm pretty safe for now.

Unless I step on my richard-- entirely a possibility given that many of the rules are unwritten --my position here in Angola is secure. Moreover my work pace is, shall we say, not an issue, so production, efficiency, and timeliness aren't even in the top ten list on a list of priorities. Apparently, anything we as Westerners do is so much more productive/effiecient/timely than the natives that such occidental concerns are non-existent.

Like I said, a contractor like myself is emminently expendable, so I just have to watch my P's & Q's around the *real* employees. Otherwise, being a helicopter pilot is the good life, livin' the dream, especially at what they are paying me.

I'm even thinking of moonlighting down in the Netherland Antilles on a B206 on my off time. It doesn't pay, but the guy will put me and Mrs. Totem up in a hotel, give us a car, and pay for our food if I'll come down and work on his bird. I'd do a 1 day on/3 days off schedule and I just have to pay airfare. I'm giving it serious consideration for funsies. Apparently the owner will take care of licensing and medical transferance. Not a bad gig if you can get it!

Totem