The Ghosts of Christmas Past
It’s a ghost town here at work this week.
Example? I sent out my usual weekly reports to the 15 people on the mailing list yesterday, and I got 14 out of office messages. The only person whom I didn’t receive an auto-reply from was also out of the office; she just forgot to set hers before the holiday.
The bad part is that with everyone gone, not much work is getting done. The nice part is that I’m finding some really good parking spaces this week. Score!
This is actually the first week in the last 5 years that we’ve been open during the week between Christmas and New Years. Between 2002 and 2005 we all received an invitation to take “a week of mandatory unpaid leave” for these 5 days. Gee, thanks.
I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s timely and a good example of the highs and lows of a company's fortunes. In 1998, my first year here, our company’s Christmas party welcomed 18,000 people. 1970’s rock group “War” was the featured band. There were also comedians, pop bands, country bands, a karaoke room, tons of food, and booze a-flowing. In 1999 it was the same story, only with “Big Head Todd and the Monsters” as the headliners.
In late 2000 the company announced that oops – we weren’t nearly as profitable as they thought they’d be. The stock sank $40 a share almost overnight. The mondo huge Christmas party was still held, but only because it had been pre-paid. “REO Speedwagon” was the headliner. It was a fun night, but there was a nasty shadow over it; two days beforehand they announced that they’d soon lay off 12% of the staff in an attempt to “rightsize” the company.
By Christmas 2001, thousands of people had been laid off in multiple rounds of job cuts. We’d gone from 38,000 workers worldwide to about 20,000. Our Christmas party was a potluck. You were welcome to eat all of the food you brought yourself.
Christmas 2002, we were down from 20,000 employees to about 9,000. Most of my co-workers had received the dreaded tap on the shoulder from HR. They didn’t even mention Christmas that year, other than to tell all of us remaining employees that to save money in the 4th quarter we’d all have to take a week of unpaid leave for the holidays. Ho, ho, ho.
Fast forward to Christmas 2006. We’re currently at about 1,700 employees worldwide – a whopping 92% of my co-workers have been laid off in the past 5 years. My location, which used to be home to 10,000 workers, now houses just under 1,000. There will be no Christmas party again this year, but at least there wasn’t an unpaid Christmas shutdown instead.
The holidays will probably never be the same around here again. They’re barely mentioned anymore, and once they’re over, they’re over. I came in yesterday morning at about 7:30, and as I walked past the executive offices I noticed that the facilities department was already taking down the plastic Christmas tree in the lobby. Yep, the holidays are officially over - back on your heads!
I kind of miss the days of Christmas parties and having a little holiday spirit in the corporate air. Even though we’re all driven and dedicated and focused on profit, profit, profit 11 months a year, it was always nice to be able to relax a touch and celebrate your accomplishments of the previous year with your co-workers.
These days, people tell me about going to their company’s Christmas party or receiving a holiday bonus, and I smile – partly out of jealousy and partly out of a wish to go back to those easier, happier times.
But with any luck, by next Christmas I’ll be part of a new company, one that believes in sharing a little bit of that holiday spirit with their employees. And if not, then I’ll try to spread a little cheer on my own.
Provided that anyone is at work that day to enjoy it, that is...
Example? I sent out my usual weekly reports to the 15 people on the mailing list yesterday, and I got 14 out of office messages. The only person whom I didn’t receive an auto-reply from was also out of the office; she just forgot to set hers before the holiday.
The bad part is that with everyone gone, not much work is getting done. The nice part is that I’m finding some really good parking spaces this week. Score!
This is actually the first week in the last 5 years that we’ve been open during the week between Christmas and New Years. Between 2002 and 2005 we all received an invitation to take “a week of mandatory unpaid leave” for these 5 days. Gee, thanks.
I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s timely and a good example of the highs and lows of a company's fortunes. In 1998, my first year here, our company’s Christmas party welcomed 18,000 people. 1970’s rock group “War” was the featured band. There were also comedians, pop bands, country bands, a karaoke room, tons of food, and booze a-flowing. In 1999 it was the same story, only with “Big Head Todd and the Monsters” as the headliners.
In late 2000 the company announced that oops – we weren’t nearly as profitable as they thought they’d be. The stock sank $40 a share almost overnight. The mondo huge Christmas party was still held, but only because it had been pre-paid. “REO Speedwagon” was the headliner. It was a fun night, but there was a nasty shadow over it; two days beforehand they announced that they’d soon lay off 12% of the staff in an attempt to “rightsize” the company.
By Christmas 2001, thousands of people had been laid off in multiple rounds of job cuts. We’d gone from 38,000 workers worldwide to about 20,000. Our Christmas party was a potluck. You were welcome to eat all of the food you brought yourself.
Christmas 2002, we were down from 20,000 employees to about 9,000. Most of my co-workers had received the dreaded tap on the shoulder from HR. They didn’t even mention Christmas that year, other than to tell all of us remaining employees that to save money in the 4th quarter we’d all have to take a week of unpaid leave for the holidays. Ho, ho, ho.
Fast forward to Christmas 2006. We’re currently at about 1,700 employees worldwide – a whopping 92% of my co-workers have been laid off in the past 5 years. My location, which used to be home to 10,000 workers, now houses just under 1,000. There will be no Christmas party again this year, but at least there wasn’t an unpaid Christmas shutdown instead.
The holidays will probably never be the same around here again. They’re barely mentioned anymore, and once they’re over, they’re over. I came in yesterday morning at about 7:30, and as I walked past the executive offices I noticed that the facilities department was already taking down the plastic Christmas tree in the lobby. Yep, the holidays are officially over - back on your heads!
I kind of miss the days of Christmas parties and having a little holiday spirit in the corporate air. Even though we’re all driven and dedicated and focused on profit, profit, profit 11 months a year, it was always nice to be able to relax a touch and celebrate your accomplishments of the previous year with your co-workers.
These days, people tell me about going to their company’s Christmas party or receiving a holiday bonus, and I smile – partly out of jealousy and partly out of a wish to go back to those easier, happier times.
But with any luck, by next Christmas I’ll be part of a new company, one that believes in sharing a little bit of that holiday spirit with their employees. And if not, then I’ll try to spread a little cheer on my own.
Provided that anyone is at work that day to enjoy it, that is...
posted by Tommy G at
10:20 AM
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