Loyalty

My Boss came into my office at 12:45 to tell me to meet him in his office at 1. When I asked him what it was about, his response was a mumbled "nothing you need to prepare for." The next 15 minutes were useless as my mind swam with the horrible possibilities.

When I trudged into his office 15 minutes later, another of the engineers was already there. As I sat down, more people came in, but small talk quickly fell dead. There was an obvious pall in the room. Once everyone had arrived, my boss asked someone to shut the door, then began, "I wanted you to hear this from me first..."

That's how the announcement from my last boss started when he quit with 24 hours notice. Unfortunately this one ended with the elimination of 40% of my department. The people being laid off each had more than 3o years with the company. They were loyal to the company, then eliminated not based on performance, but for headcount reduction. The room was silent and awkward.

Somehow I made it back to my office and sat staring at the wall for several minutes. I had already offered to leave the plant when they did the first round of layoffs in June, but I'm not part of headcount. Today's announcement has made me question the company and where it's going. It's eliminating perfectly good workers. Other good workers are leaving because they don't think it will be around in 10 years. They cut the pension plan and outsource more and more manufacturing on a daily basis. Things don't look good and I can't wait to leave.