Work Sucked Today - and will continue to for awhile

[ChaseMcD]

Sorry, about to post a rant and this is the best forum I could think of.

I work for a major pet retail chain and yesterday I had to tell a couple of my department managers that due to restructuring, that they will be losing their full time jobs by the middle of August. This had nothing to do with their performance or tenure or anything. It was just a matter of being in the positions they are in, in my particular volume of store. I had no choice at all in who got screwed.

They are angry understandably. And many of the associates are angry. At the company, at me, and the other department managers that were not affected. I can't blame them for being angry but right now the whole place just feels like a hostile work environment. I really can't conceive why someone thought it was a good idea to tell people they were losing their jobs and then keep them around for another month like a cancer in the store.

Sorry. Just really been having a tough couple days at work. I've been trying to leave this company for awhile now because in the last couple years it has definitely taken a turn for the worse (and I just want out of retail in general).

[Rezdent]

This sounds like a tough spot to be.
I think the first few days are going to be the worst.  They understandably feel like they've been rejected.  Try to help them see that the company is doing them a good thing by giving advance notice, perhaps offer suggestions on possible job leads, and listen to them.  Even with all your efforts there's a flood chance they will feel like you personally jilted them, and that's just hard.

[Zamboni]

Wow, that's a drag. You have my sympathy.

Good luck with your own job search!

[G-dog]

Can you offer them letters of recommendation? Is the company going to offer them any severance and/or job placement services? Basically, what can you do to buffer the blow and what are you willing to do?
When you find another job, would you hire either of these folks? If 'yes' I would tell them that (with the appropriate disclaimers).
In your own job search have you seen jobs that would be a good fit for either of them? If so you could let them know about those options.

Good luck!

[ChaseMcD]

Thanks for the replies.

To answer some of the questions:

 - Yes the company is offering a small severance.
 - No I would not hire either of them to work for me again. - The one was there before me and is just not that good at her job and the other is a hard worker but a liar. Even though I would not personally hire them again, that doesn't mean I don't care about them. The one person will likely lose her house if she doesn't find something soon. The other one has two kids to support.
- As for finding other job options, my fruitless job search for me personally has been far south of where this store is located just because of where I live so no I probably couldn't offer them much help in that area.
- As for softening the blow, the one thing I am doing for the one person is allowing her to take some sick days here and there over the next month because she has almost 2 weeks worth of saved up sick time that she won't get compensated for otherwise.

[G-dog]

Thanks for the replies.

To answer some of the questions:

 - Yes the company is offering a small severance.
 - No I would not hire either of them to work for me again. - The one was there before me and is just not that good at her job and the other is a hard worker but a liar. Even though I would not personally hire them again, that doesn't mean I don't care about them. The one person will likely lose her house if she doesn't find something soon. The other one has two kids to support.
- As for finding other job options, my fruitless job search for me personally has been far south of where this store is located just because of where I live so no I probably couldn't offer them much help in that area.
- As for softening the blow, the one thing I am doing for the one person is allowing her to take some sick days here and there over the next month because she has almost 2 weeks worth of saved up sick time that she won't get compensated for otherwise.

Ah well, sometimes life isn't fair - but that is not your fault. You are kind enough to care about these folks as people, not just another cog in the machine. That compassion will come through, and they will remember that. They are shell-shocked right now and blaming the messenger. They will go through the stages of grief fop or losing their jobs, you may be able to help them directly or indirectly. If your company has an EAP, I would point them to that resource. All you can do is to keep helping them deal with items in your control, like the sick leave, etc.  at my former employer, part of the severance was keeping people on the books past their last day, not sure if that is true in this case as well. Anything you can do to help them understand what they are getting (and not getting) will help them understand their situation, and plan as best they can.

Good luck on your own job search also.

[Bob W]

You did the right thing by notifying them ahead of time.    When you are messing with people's lives as much advance notice as possible is admirable.   A severance of 2 months would be nice as well but I doubt you company thinks that way.    Treating people like shit and then expecting them to treat customers great is not a good long term strategy. 

Hang in there my friend.

[ChaseMcD]

Thanks for the thoughts guys.

Things have improved a bit in the past week or so. One of the managers chose to stay on part time and has been working hard. The other chose to leave and as I stated earlier I'm letting her use some sick time and she has been doing most of her job as well.

I'm already feeling the push of more things to do and less people to do it but overall things haven't been too bad.