Trimming the Fat...

Yesterday was a a busy day. Month End closing is always a busy hustle and bustle. Sometime after lunch, my co-worker disappears for an impromptu meeting. I think nothing of it. As the time floats away and I am rushing to accomplish my tasks I can hear my co-worker moving papers around and sniffling. I thought about her sinus issues that she has been having and kept moving forward. After 10 minutes, I get up to send a fax and as I walk by her desk and see the box being filled just outside her office.
At this moment all the times seeing her talking instead of working, and coming in late, leaving early, and knowing that half the time she felt she didn't have enough work to sustain her hours there. I also had thoughts of all the opportunities she had to make something of her job, she had everything that most people want these days, the time to make her job her own, to help others, and a company that would have supported her in that.
Now I knew that this wasn't the job for her and that she will find something to better serve her and her family. This made me sad, but I did feel that the company would have suffered in the end. And the bottom line is that affects just more than me, it affects over 300 people.
So just after noticing that she was cleaning her desk for the last time I hear another co-worker telling our expense reports accountant that he was laid off. Then at that moment I realized that this affected more than just our department. Then we see more people cleaning out desks frantically. OMG, how many are affected?
As the dust settled we were called into a conference room (immediate team) and we dicuseed the magnitude and our fears. 35 people, hitting departments across the board. Some departments more than others due to larger volume. All contractors were to be phased out in the next 2-4 weeks as well. It was decided against what they wanted to set the business up for better profitability in 2009. Now I would have hated to be HR yesterday. Between telling 35 people, offering them a package, telling them they have 1 hour to remove their stuff, and police waiting outside should anyone react negatively. I was really glad it wasn't me :)
After our smaller team meeting, we were told that at 4 (one hour after everyone left) that we would have a company meeting. At the meeting the CEO told the perspective for the decision, which is not what people want to hear, and in reality, stock decisions are hard for some finance people, let alone engineers, marketing, and tech support people in the midst of all this trauma. So when the table was opened for discussion questions came from all angles, asking some of the following...

1. We lost alot of knowledge, was it really necessary to let them go so quickly?
2. Why was the stock price such a decision maker in all of this? I would have been okay with my stock price being lower to keep team members on.
3. What are we supposed to do with all the extra work when we are already feeling streched to meet certain deadlines?

All I heard was how people were griping that extra work would be so horrible for them. The whole time I am thinking, you are not one of the 35, what are you complaining about? You have more work, big deal, at least you have work. So as question after question came through and the bitching just kept going I was really feeling my blood boil. I could feel myself shaking. After all, I had the person I work with daily and two other people I work with very closely let go. If I was trying to remember that being thankful for a job was a good thing, why couldn't they?
So I have learned, getting mad gets you no where, because when expressing that than I am no better than they are, right? Well I think in my head that I need to say something, but also have a question (after all, that is why they 'open' it for questions, LOL) and then it comes to me. I wait until no one wants to ask questions anymore because I know that mine needs to be the last.

"Today was a sad day, we all lost friends, and even though we are sad, I guess I look at this a little differently. We all have been given an opportunity to become more efficient and more resourceful to replace the knowledge lost and become better individuals, teams, a better company, and be happy that we aren't the 35 that left today. What is Vital going to do to help us realize those opportunities and capitalize on them for personal growth?"

By the look on the CEO and executive team's face I knew that I had helped to turn the perspective of this difficult event around. The answer???

"Excellent point! We need to regroup, refocus our attention, learn all we can, and pull together to move forward. It's our responsibility to our shareholders to make this company stronger and more profitable, and we need to do that together. We should see more communication from your managers to help you and if you don't see that, then ask, demand, push for it."

I was impressed, an answer we could all relate to in this time of difficulty. It was a good way to close the meeting. All I wanted was to help others realize they weren't on the short end of the stick and they have the abiltity to learn new things and grow that may help them later for promotions, or god forbid, interviews should the company decide to lay off more people. Either way, they had time on their side :)

So as today went on, talking to co-workers I found that most people felt the cuts that were made business wise were smart, but some actually mentioned that we might be able to cut others if we needed to going forward. It seems like we are going the right way and opening up the table to making it a company wide effort to succeed. I am actually feeling pretty good about how I can help the company to move forward and I am confident this will help me become a better employee overall.

So trimming the fat didn't include me, and I hope it doesn't should the decision need to be made again :)