Profits before people is the capitalist’s mantra. My Father and Uncles had one job for their entire working careers beginning in the fifties. Company pride and loyalty. That all ended in the eighties with Sunbeam’s Al “chainsaw Dunlap and the beginning of mass layoffs to appease Wall Street. No wonder Millennials and Gen Z folks started quiet quitting and ghosting. Thanks for sharing your RIF(reduction in force) story. I’m a 3 time survivor
Well, yes, that’s how *American* capitalism works. It’s not how it works in capitalist countries where unions are still strong. And I totally agree about Millennials and Gen Z
Sad to say but when bottom line profit mentality is the highest priority, people are expendable. Take a look at the corporations with the highest profits in the billions and see what their priorities are regarding how they treat employees.
I had to layoff one person one time. There was no way around it but I felt just horrible. Fortunately, I was able to help him get a better job at a much higher salary, but that's not, of course, how it usually works out. Pain and unhappiness are just baked into our system and far too many people are fine with that,
Do you remember that scene in the Godfather Part Two when young Vito Corleone (Robert De Niro) was working in a little grocery store in Little Italy and the local don made the owner take on his nephew? The heartbroken grocer tells Vito that he has no choice but to let him go and he tries to give him a box of groceries to take home. Vito tells him "You've been like a father to me and I will not forget that." He refuses the box except for one apple. He brings the apple back to his roasting hot walk up apartment where his wife is fixing dinner. She asks him how his day was. "Fine" he says. He puts the apple on her plate and then picks up his infant son who is crying. When she sees the apple she says "Oh what a pretty apple!" To me, that has always been a scene that in a small way encompassed both the beauty and cruelty of the world.
Kirsten, I know that you will not be surprised to read this but…. I have a few stories for you as to how the Catholic Church handles layoffs. Trust me, more times than not, it is heartbreaking.
I actually *am* surprised to hear that. Though I guess the Catholic Church in the US is in the thrall of capitalism even if the official teaching is quite critical of this kind of economic system.
It's very sad when this happens. GE was falling from grace as Jack retired too. I've seen executives put their companies through this process all while being ignorant of the fact that it was the executives themselves, and their lack of vision, that caused the companies to fail. Thousands of people have their lives upended because one person, making millions, doesn't know how to do their job. However, they do know how to con their way to be CEO. It's hard to believe, but it happens.
Oh, my God. It's just awful, Kirsten. This, of all the things, is the thing I despise the most about corporate culture.
My husband was bought over from the states to Europe to run the German division of Staples - that's how we ended up in Europe. Staples had bought a German office supply company, and Michael had to first integrate this company into the Staples system. Staples was a good employer and Michael really liked working for them. But, of course, they tried to implement things in Europe that were illegal. Like opening Sundays and evenings. And Michael had to be the bearer of bad news (and you know how it works in the states, there was always that slight feeling that Michael was somehow responsible that all stores are closed on Sundays or that all stores at that time closed at 6 pm).
Trying to get the Germans to understand why quarterly earnings mattered at all was such a hard core task. They couldn't grasp the short term nature of Nasdaq. They didn't really care, because it didn't make sense to them. The guys in Boston at corporate would tear their hair out, and the Germans would shrug their shoulders.
Oh, and OMG when the union came in because of the "hire fire American mentality of the company. " LOL
Years later, Staples moved international corporate from Hamburg to Belgium and Michael was offered a position back in the states as consolation prize. Not laid off but yeah, laid off. We cashed in whatever stock options he had (and left a lot on the table) and bought a pile of rocks in Italy where we opened a B&B.
I remember in the 80's so many of us realizing we had just made a sharp turn toward economic inequity and ignoring a truism, that the more we share the prosperity, the more who benefit, the longer the prosperity will last. It was painful to watch as the folks on the receiving end of the windfall celebrated their success at the expense of so many who were the actual engine of the prosperity.
When I was head of a publishing company during the recession of 2008, after pursuing all other means, we needed to cut personnel costs but we didn’t want to let anyone go. So we agreed as a company for all of us to take some reductions in salary on a sliding scale from 1% for our lowest paid people to 10% for me as the highest paid person. This was an affirming time for us as a company in sharing the financial pain together.
Profits before people is the capitalist’s mantra. My Father and Uncles had one job for their entire working careers beginning in the fifties. Company pride and loyalty. That all ended in the eighties with Sunbeam’s Al “chainsaw Dunlap and the beginning of mass layoffs to appease Wall Street. No wonder Millennials and Gen Z folks started quiet quitting and ghosting. Thanks for sharing your RIF(reduction in force) story. I’m a 3 time survivor
Well, yes, that’s how *American* capitalism works. It’s not how it works in capitalist countries where unions are still strong. And I totally agree about Millennials and Gen Z
Sad to say but when bottom line profit mentality is the highest priority, people are expendable. Take a look at the corporations with the highest profits in the billions and see what their priorities are regarding how they treat employees.
So true Gary.
I had to layoff one person one time. There was no way around it but I felt just horrible. Fortunately, I was able to help him get a better job at a much higher salary, but that's not, of course, how it usually works out. Pain and unhappiness are just baked into our system and far too many people are fine with that,
I agree -- i think it's also a problem that employees are expected to "give 110%" in a very one-way relationship
Do you remember that scene in the Godfather Part Two when young Vito Corleone (Robert De Niro) was working in a little grocery store in Little Italy and the local don made the owner take on his nephew? The heartbroken grocer tells Vito that he has no choice but to let him go and he tries to give him a box of groceries to take home. Vito tells him "You've been like a father to me and I will not forget that." He refuses the box except for one apple. He brings the apple back to his roasting hot walk up apartment where his wife is fixing dinner. She asks him how his day was. "Fine" he says. He puts the apple on her plate and then picks up his infant son who is crying. When she sees the apple she says "Oh what a pretty apple!" To me, that has always been a scene that in a small way encompassed both the beauty and cruelty of the world.
Am important essay Kirsten. Thanks. I will be sharing it too.
Thank you Linda 💜
When I worked in Milwaukee the word was Archbishop Dolan was trying to raise $100 million to get his red hat. Guess what? :)
Kirsten, I know that you will not be surprised to read this but…. I have a few stories for you as to how the Catholic Church handles layoffs. Trust me, more times than not, it is heartbreaking.
I actually *am* surprised to hear that. Though I guess the Catholic Church in the US is in the thrall of capitalism even if the official teaching is quite critical of this kind of economic system.
It's very sad when this happens. GE was falling from grace as Jack retired too. I've seen executives put their companies through this process all while being ignorant of the fact that it was the executives themselves, and their lack of vision, that caused the companies to fail. Thousands of people have their lives upended because one person, making millions, doesn't know how to do their job. However, they do know how to con their way to be CEO. It's hard to believe, but it happens.
Oh, my God. It's just awful, Kirsten. This, of all the things, is the thing I despise the most about corporate culture.
My husband was bought over from the states to Europe to run the German division of Staples - that's how we ended up in Europe. Staples had bought a German office supply company, and Michael had to first integrate this company into the Staples system. Staples was a good employer and Michael really liked working for them. But, of course, they tried to implement things in Europe that were illegal. Like opening Sundays and evenings. And Michael had to be the bearer of bad news (and you know how it works in the states, there was always that slight feeling that Michael was somehow responsible that all stores are closed on Sundays or that all stores at that time closed at 6 pm).
Trying to get the Germans to understand why quarterly earnings mattered at all was such a hard core task. They couldn't grasp the short term nature of Nasdaq. They didn't really care, because it didn't make sense to them. The guys in Boston at corporate would tear their hair out, and the Germans would shrug their shoulders.
Oh, and OMG when the union came in because of the "hire fire American mentality of the company. " LOL
Years later, Staples moved international corporate from Hamburg to Belgium and Michael was offered a position back in the states as consolation prize. Not laid off but yeah, laid off. We cashed in whatever stock options he had (and left a lot on the table) and bought a pile of rocks in Italy where we opened a B&B.
And we never, ever looked back.
I remember in the 80's so many of us realizing we had just made a sharp turn toward economic inequity and ignoring a truism, that the more we share the prosperity, the more who benefit, the longer the prosperity will last. It was painful to watch as the folks on the receiving end of the windfall celebrated their success at the expense of so many who were the actual engine of the prosperity.
When I was head of a publishing company during the recession of 2008, after pursuing all other means, we needed to cut personnel costs but we didn’t want to let anyone go. So we agreed as a company for all of us to take some reductions in salary on a sliding scale from 1% for our lowest paid people to 10% for me as the highest paid person. This was an affirming time for us as a company in sharing the financial pain together.