My company lost a big contract a couple of months ago because one site on one study got sloppy. That sponsor panicked and cancelled the entire contract with about 15 sites, 14 of which were doing a good job (no, I was not involved with the sloppy site). Big chunk of the company revenue disappeared in one day.
Based on that, we all wondered if layoffs were coming. Today, they did. The CEO got us all on a Zoom meeting at noon and said half the staff would be gone by the end of the day, and that there would be smaller meetings to give everyone their fate. The first two smaller Zooms were at 1 and 1:15 and everyone who was in those was sacked. Including my boss. I wasn’t in one of those but I was not especially reassured, especially since I then got an invitation to a meeting at 3.
Fortunately, the meeting at 3 was for the survivors in my department. Which was cut from 30+ people to 10. I’m safe, but the stress level is still at DEFCON 2.
The two girls I trained here in NC are both being let go, but they have a 30-day transition period, so they’re not out the door immediately. My guess is I’m going to pick up their roles again, which I had before they were hired.
In my department, the common thread for the people who were kept seems to be the people who had a lot of state licenses, to give the company maximum flexibility. I have 20 licenses. One of the other survivors has 25. The guy who trained me three years ago is gone, but he only has five licenses.
I’m safe for now, and my remaining boss said there are no plans for further layoffs. For now. We have other studies in the pipeline but they’re like six months down the road. In the meantime, the nine of us remaining will cover everything else.
Yeah but I can imagine you’ve got one eye looking ahead at other potential jobs just in case they pull this crap again… that’s never a fun position to be in… But if you have 20 licenses that should equip you to get a job pretty quickly somewhere else but I have never been one that liked to move.
Me either. I’m moving in June anyway; just signed a lease on a bigger place for my girlfriend and I. But that’s just a mile away, not packing up and moving to another state. For that three hours until the 3:00 meeting I was trying to decide what to do. I worked for a temporary medical agency for two years that sent me all over the place; I guess the next step would have been to call them. But they only pay you when you’re actually working, with no benefits.
Hang tough Jeff. Prior to my long time LD gig I was laid off by the railroad, Weingartens and was about to be laid off by Food City just prior to taking the LD plunge. It stinks. So glad you survived. Praying it sticks.
Thanks Fred. I’m even licensed in Alabama. Will I ever be sent there? No idea, but I have it. You can look me up at the Alabama medical board site. If you check my last name, you’ll also find my nephew, who is a radiologist in Dothan.
They made that kind of a condition of employment, but I was more successful at getting them than most of my colleagues, and that seems to have saved my bacon for now. One girl who they kept had 8 licenses.
I rarely post but really enjoy your input on this site (even the ones I might not completely agree with). Sorry to hear about your challenging day. Corporate restructuring, regardless of fault or circumstances, is always difficult. Neither survivors or casualties come out unaffected. Glad to hear you were retained and I am sorry for your colleagues that were less fortunate. Best wishes moving forward.
Yeah local moves are much easier than getting everything to another state.so I can relate to what you’re about to do…
Yeah my eyes and ears would be open now all the time if I were you. The good thing for you is you’ve had employment with the other people before so they already know you…
Thanks, Danny. I’ve been RIF’d (short for Reduction in Force) three times, including the closure of the Gazette in October 1991. I was not anxious to make it four.
My best RIF story: I was notified shortly before Christmas 1987, when I was working for UPI, that my job would be eliminated before New Year’s. The only reason I was notified that early is that the regional manager in Dallas called the office looking for my boss, who was on vacation for the holidays, and had the decency to tell me why he was calling. Which made for a very un-merry Christmas. Returned to work after Christmas and heard that some bad stuff was going on in Russellville. Put out a story. A couple of hours later I heard a rumor that the bad stuff in Russellville was only beginning. Called the Pope County Sheriff’s Office which confirmed the rumor. So I called my boss at home, got in the car and headed for Russellville. Google “Ronald Gene Simmons” to see what I found there. Stayed up there for three days, covered the story, with bylines from Detroit to the UK, then came home and cleaned out my desk. My employment was over.
Honestly, they always are. I’ve continued to get contacts from agencies looking to fill openings, and I’ve just deleted them as they showed up instead of taking my name off their lists for the past year. That will continue, but the pipeline remains open if I do need something fast, and all these licenses gives me a lot of flexibility. The good news is that the current employers do still have some active contracts which the 10 of us will have to cover, so we should be busy.
Don’t have to google that name. I’ll never forget his name or face. He worked in a store we sold Little Debbies to prior to his rampage. When I saw his picture in the newspaper I was shocked beyond words. Evil personified.
Agreed. I took my then-wife, who also had a UA journalism degree, with me to give me two more eyes on the story. She covered his arraignment downtown on the second day, while I was out at his place outside Dover watching them carry out body bags, and looking through the window at the blood-streaked walls inside the house. Because of that, I never actually saw him face to face. I’m not generally in favor of capital punishment, but I could have cheerfully given him the lethal injection myself.