His entire team was let go and he is baffled amongst other things, who is going to do their job and if what they were doing was not meaningful. No advance notice, completely blind-sided, half-hearted messaging and poor execution. Only positive, a decent severance package.
His big question was, does this exercise and those impacted really solve the fundamental issue the company is struggling with. His team was doing really well and growing and a small part of the business that was actually doing well. The problem, they were a very small part of the business.
The company public communication again like many others we have seen recently was poor.
I guess his views on matters like employee engagement, loyalty to company, going the extra mile have been re-set for life. To me that’s a great thing. He unfortunately has had to experienced this at a young age but hopefully what the means is that he understands better how corporate life works and what he needs to learn from this experience. I told them what I tell others.
Work for the job, not the company
Be committed to your jobs, teams you work with, the purpose and how you can add value to your customers and business. That’s about it.
I have seen far too many times, amazing people and talent being let go after they have poured their hearts and souls into their jobs and for their company. To what end?
As I think about the countless discussions I have had with my friends over the years on their jobs, leadership, culture, bosses, its amazing to see that a significant of them are just sticking it out. The % of people who are truly happy with their jobs for an extended period of time are not many.
On the other hand, we continue to get smashed with terms like employee engagement, being a great leader, motivation. Clearly those responsible for it and those at the receiving end are on different levels altogether.
As I said in one of my earlier posts, there is a dignified and respectful way to do this and again another company has failed in doing this the right way.
From my experience, those impacted get a reset and they get to go and do better & bigger things in life.
