the company is being "restructured"

[Rine]

Which can never be good, you know. I heard this news the other day as a rumor and finally my sgm came out and said that the company is being restructured. My long time co-workers are all freaking out because the last restructure wasn't good for them at all. It just means cuts, cuts, cuts. Who is going to get the axe this time? That's the question everyone is asking.

It's funny because corporate was "working" so hard to being K-mart and Sears together as "one" because there is mistrust and general dislike between both sides and now we are being restructured and split up, again.

Ugh. I keep telling myself that this is only a temp. job, I'll be out as soon as I'm done with school (though I've been with Sears three plus years) but my co-workers...this is all they know. What's going to happen to them?

Everyone has been in a very dark mood and you can feel it in the store and some of the upper management are already talking about moving on to other things even though not much has been announced yet. It's just...no one has a good feeling about this at all.

Thanks for letting me get all that out even though it doesn't mean much to you guys but damn I've been in such a depressed mood since getting off of work today.

[Crazeyal]

Yeah.. My best friend's wife is out of a job because her company was absorbed. Funny thing is, none of the incoming staff have half a clue. The managers keep extending her contract week after week, because she has to hold their hands on every little thing.

DUH... HIRE HER.. (not gonna happen with her pay grade..)

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Sounds familiar . . . .

Of course what I went through back in 2004 was more of a "downsizing due to Bankruptcy Protection" type situation, I still found myself looking for another job.

WD found itself in a hell of a mess due to corporate mismanagement (gee, wonder if paying off one CEO roughly 7 million dollars to retire didn't give them a clue.)

I saw it coming first around 2002 when they shut down/sold stores out toward Oklahoma and Texas, which left roughly 2500 people out of work.

Then, in 2004 . . the bottom fell out. 3rd quarter report was so bad, 111 stores in Virginia went on the block, along with another 45 that were "underperforming or outdated" - including the store I worked at (added on at the 11th hour.)

Three DC's were also shut down by the end of June (Raleigh NC, Sarasota Fl and Lousiville KY) and manufacturing plants in GA and AL were also put up for sale (they had produced their private label items for years and have now subcontacted it out, meaning quality isn't as good as it used to be.)

Those who wished to stay could apply for a position with remaining stores in the area. Those who didn't received a severance package and the conditions of that were pretty strict - meaning if you applied for a position then didn't take it, you forfeited the severance package and left with nothing.

We only had 3 stores left in the area - closest one to me I had worked at previously and knew they had no positions for me. The other two were the same, and also there was talk then about the remaining stores being eventually shut down and WD would leave the area completely - so why bother?

I put applications in with 2 other chains and held my breath. Two days after I left the WD store at Lawndale for the last time (as they were boarding up the windows and changing locks on the doors) I got hired at the Kitty and been there since.

Good move too . . . in 2005, WD exited the states of NC and SC completely. Where did a bunch of my former co-workers end up? With either the Kitty or Bi-Lo. Then Bi-Lo became Southern Family Markets, which didn't last long and those employees ended up laid off by the end of 2006.

Those who went to Bi-Lo . . . part of them ended up at the Kitty anyways. Then the Kitty started placing those people, some of them ended up taking someone else's job (which is how I ended up transferred from the store I had been hired at and sent to the store I'm at now.)

But it worked out in the end. I have less stress . . .

[CorDarei]

my favorite layoff was in 2003. There was talk of downsizing of the Gateway stores in N. Texas, and we all heard rumors. So one week in march, i go on vacation and get a call from the CSR in the service center. As soon as i answer, he's laughing, saying well, looks like we need to look for a new job! So i asked how he knew....


Apparently the owners of the building who were leasing it to Gateway had some contract company come out to put up a "For Lease" sign w/o telling the managers of the store, so we haven't been officially told before we saw the sign. one of the managers was really pissed.

Another Gatway later, in 2004 (mebbe 2005) i was working in a different city, and we heard the rumors again... This was after the merger w/ emachines... a coworker went to a Office Depot that was near us for something and noticed one of the Gateway laptops for sale there.... cheaper than we were selling it. Then we stopped receiving stock to sell.... That's when we knew, but haven't been officially told yet. O well, i got some kick ass desks and shelving for dirt cheap out of it at least.... And the company that moved into the building after us should had fun pulling the make-shift razor blade shurikens out of the drywall 20 feet up.

[ShinyGreenApple]

The company is being "restructured"

This is the only advice I have for you:

Get away. Now.

[wagegoth]

We were told the firm was closing on Thursday afternoon. I was in the first group laid off on the following Tuesday. That was in February 2003. I just got the settlement papers for the firm bankruptcy (they were forced into bankruptcy by creditors). We did manage to get our 401(k) money about five months after the firm shut down. That's probably a record. I've heard of people still waiting several years for their 401(k) money to be released after their companies closed.

My advice, if you've got retirement money, roll it out now if you can, or you may never see it again.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

My advice, if you've got retirement money, roll it out now if you can, or you may never see it again.

I second that 100%. I moved mine out when I left WD and put it into an annuity fund rather than roll it over into my 401K with the Kitty.

Better safe than sorry.

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

Why do companies come up with such fancy words to explain they are letting people go?

Why not just say "Unfortunately due to business circumstances, some of you are being let go."

[Rine]

I'm not jumping ship yet, but believe me when I say that I'm trying. I've put in applications at loads of other places, had numerous interviews, but nothing has worked just yet. There are not very many good jobs around here right now.

Today at work it was rumor after rumor and hysterical old time salespeople worrying about their future. They were all there for the last restructure before the merger and they know what happened and the good people that we lost. I'm hoping things will cool off for a while until the facts are announced.

It just really, really sucks right now, big time.

[CancelMyService]

No matter what, the news won't be good. I used to work at Computer City, which was owned by Tandy (Radio Shack parent company). All was good until Tandy decided to concentrate on Radio Shack, and ended up selling the chain to CompUSA. The company went through the seven stages of denial while corporate told us the new owners weren't going to close the stores, we were just going to have a redesign, switching from banana yellow to a slightly less eye burning purple/blue uniform scheme. Of course since they now owned a competitor, they closed the stores down. I met a lot of fun people to work with now, and when my wife drags me to the shoe store that now occupies the same location, I swear I can see yellow shirted ghosts out of the corner of my eye.