Will you go Back to WORK?

[dusty88]

My daughter and a niece of mine are both layed off in this lock-down. They work in two totally different businesses, restaurant and dental.

Both were asked to go through a new hiring process and or hiring agency to resubmit a new application for reemployment.

Anyone know the particulars of this new procedure and the reasoning behind it?

I have speculations, but would like to get some input. Better yet, the legal or liability reason why this is being done.

Uncertainty on the part of the employer about new structuring? Is the dentist office corporate owned or privately owned?

I own a small veterinary clinic. I've kept everyone employed. My projection was that I could break even if I did not pay myself, and I cut their hours somewhat so that's how I started.

Because we've split into 2 work groups (for reduced chance of disease transmission) we are sometimes working quite hard (less total business but 50% staff at any given time) and it's really separating the men from the mice. The great employees stand out; the poor employees stand out in their own way as well.

I never considered firing everyone. I debated whether to lay someone off then decided to tell them I would give them whatever hours we could fulfill, but that they should apply for unemployment to fill in any gaps.

 

[churchmouse]

Yep, guys like us will always make lemonade out of the lemons they offer, the general population, not so much. I feel bad our society has let so many down that they struggle to discern the difference between the employers and the government, it is all just "they" owe me.

Guys like us never think that way, and we are always thinking, and not about what the Kardashians are doing...

In what BW's people are going through I have seen a lot of that.
When you are in the HVAC trades you get around and meet sooooooo many people. That I have changed companys a lot I got around a lot more than many and met Sooooooo many more people. Lots of really good folks with a smattering of ding-a-lings and asshats sprinkled in that mix. I have watched companys shrink towards being sold off and shedding good people along the way. Many of them were in a daze as to what will they do. They stayed in the same job doing near the same work for many years. Outside that they were lost. Some call it a comfort zone. It was sad to watch. Some of these folks were in the mid 50's range and not a lot of companys looking for that. Even some of the younger ones were a bit lost.

So I am jaded. Never went long with out some revenue streams and Usually multiples.
My heart does go out to these folks.

 

[dusty88]

It worked well the few days we were doing this. They call when they arrive and we call when ready for them. Straight to the treatment room so no interaction with other patients.

We're all "curbside" at my vet clinic. A lot of vets are joking about how we finally get to practice like we always wanted: all animals and no people

Seriously, I'm going to have to retrain myself to stop swearing in the building when we someday let clients in again.

We cancelled some elective procedures We weren't required to, but I donated some of my PPE to the hospital so we definitely had to conserve anyway.

I'm being extra-cautious with protocols. Pets can't spread the SARSCov2 virus, but potentially could act as a fomite. So we wear (reusable) PPE. We change gowns or smocks for each patient so that I feel confident we aren't transferring any virus from one pet to the next.

 

[nakinate]

My family is fortunate. I’m still working and my wife is essential and can work from home. Her working from home he made it easier to deal with the kids being homeschooled now. Even though we’re okay I am ready for this BS to be done so others can get back to work.

 

[Ingomike]

In what BW's people are going through I have seen a lot of that.
When you are in the HVAC trades you get around and meet sooooooo many people. That I have changed companys a lot I got around a lot more than many and met Sooooooo many more people. Lots of really good folks with a smattering of ding-a-lings and asshats sprinkled in that mix. I have watched companys shrink towards being sold off and shedding good people along the way. Many of them were in a daze as to what will they do. They stayed in the same job doing near the same work for many years. Outside that they were lost. Some call it a comfort zone. It was sad to watch. Some of these folks were in the mid 50's range and not a lot of companys looking for that. Even some of the younger ones were a bit lost.

So I am jaded. Never went long with out some revenue streams and Usually multiples.
My heart does go out to these folks.

My heart as well! That is why I believe we as a society have let them down. Easy for employers to string them along for profits and drop them like a hot rock when they don't need them. So happy to be where I control what I do. Look forward to a cheeseburger to discuss in detail someday...

 

[bwframe]

In what BW's people are going through I have seen a lot of that.
When you are in the HVAC trades you get around and meet sooooooo many people. That I have changed companys a lot I got around a lot more than many and met Sooooooo many more people. Lots of really good folks with a smattering of ding-a-lings and asshats sprinkled in that mix. I have watched companys shrink towards being sold off and shedding good people along the way. Many of them were in a daze as to what will they do. They stayed in the same job doing near the same work for many years. Outside that they were lost. Some call it a comfort zone. It was sad to watch. Some of these folks were in the mid 50's range and not a lot of companys looking for that. Even some of the younger ones were a bit lost.

So I am jaded. Never went long with out some revenue streams and Usually multiples.
My heart does go out to these folks.

I guess I should have been a little clearer. My daughter, while thinking she should have been treated better, is doing better than fine. She is making bank on the unemployment and free fed money.

I'm just attempting to best council her on how to ride that all the way through without glitch, from what will likely be a closed business before this is over.

For me and my family, I'm just trying to figure if this "you're fired, please reapply," is a modern day common practice in businesses that aren't traditional seasonal operations? I wouldn't have thought anything about it, if I hadn't heard of the similar situation with the nieces employer also.

 

[Twangbanger]

I guess I should have been a little clearer. My daughter, while thinking she should have been treated better, is doing better than fine. She is making bank on the unemployment and free fed money.

I'm just attempting to best council her on how to ride that all the way through without glitch, from what will likely be a closed business before this is over.

For me and my family, I'm just trying to figure if this "you're fired, please reapply," is a modern day common practice in businesses that aren't traditional seasonal operations? I wouldn't have thought anything about it, if I hadn't heard of the similar situation with the nieces employer also.

In at-will states, employment lawyers have become very smash-mouth about what they advise clients to do. Hopefully businesses see their employees as resources, but lawyers are trained to view them as potential adversaries. They work for the client, and get paid to advise the client business how to limit their exposure at _all_ times and in all ways, within the law.

My employer is not currently doing this, but it's because we're scared to death of not getting enough people back when production resumes and we have schedules to fill. We've gone to the greatest extent possible to keep people on the hook, so they will come back.

It's also entirely possible your niece and daughters' employers had some "bad apples" they want to weed out, and rather than appear discriminatory, they just let everybody go. With intentions to bring back the good ones.

I didn't sleep in a holiday inn, but am sorry to hear of this.

 

[gregkl]

My manager called me last night and asked if I wanted to start back up today. I will continue to work from home for this week, but if things go well in the world, I will return to the office May 4th.

I'm glad that I am reducing the unemployment ranks by 1! I wonder how many more millions are being recalled this week and then into next week.

I can understand though why some folks would rather stay out. The current UI benefits are better than a lot of them make in their regular jobs. I imagine that many will lay out the next few months and then look for work in earnest.

Myself, I'd rather be working. I'm ready to get moving again.

 

[eldirector]

Personally, I must be rather jaded as well. I fully expect my employer to let me go as soon as I no longer provide more value than I cost. Could be because *I* no longer provide value, the business has changed and they no longer need my skills, or the economy has changed and they simply can't afford me. That's just how it works. Just because I've been bringing in more than I cost for 10+ years doesn't mean it'll be that way tomorrow. This isn't a non-profit, and it isn't a charity. I don't expect them to pay me because I am a good person.

Seasonal aside: I have seen our business and countless others cut workforce when profits are slim, and hire back the exact same people when profits are up. Thankfully, we have built a pretty decent CULTURE where folks actually like to work here. It is not unusual for a POSITION to be eliminated, only for that PERSON to show back up in another position a few weeks later. Kind of an inside joke around here.

I do feel for folks who have invested heavily in an employer, business, or industry, only to find out just how tenuous that investment really is. I always encourage people to invest in THEMSELVES, and be in control of their own fate. Be the best {insert role or job function} that has ever existed, make sure EVERYBODY knows (your boss, your coworkers, your clients, and your competitors), and keep your skills current and relevant. Be open to change, and risks.

So... considering all this... I gotta get back to work.

 

[ghuns]

Never stopped.

The only way you'd know anything different was happening around here is that the fingerprint reading time clock has been taken out of service.

 

[jamil]

My daughter was notified that she was fired, along with the rest of her coworkers. She was quite put off by this after working for the company for 12 years, essentially all of her working career.

I think this is a new coming trend. I know a guy who just finished his MBA, and he was talking about it. I think it was discussed in some of his classes. He explained that the idea is, rather than bringing everyone back when things are better, make them all re-apply, and then the company can pick the best from all the former employees, plus new applicants. The "dead wood" are kinda SOL.

 

[Jones1776]

I never stopped working but my wife "hair stylist" was forced not to work. She is ready to get back to work!

 

[Lex Concord]

^^^This.^^^ We were in the process of moving into our newly remodeled area when all this happened. Smaller cubes, closer together, with almost non-existant walls. Oh, and desk sharing. I'm going to try and keep working from home as long as they'll let me.

I haven't had even a cube for years. 6-foot wide desks. 2 foot tall "privacy shields". Back in the day, I used to have an office... with a DOOR

 

[jamil]

I haven't had even a cube for years. 6-foot wide desks. 2 foot tall "privacy shields". Back in the day, I used to have an office... with a DOOR

I remember offices with doors. The good ole days. So yeah. Let's throw away all those studies which showed that once people are in the zone, interrupting the zone requires at least 20 minutes of lost time getting back into it after an interruption. So offices with doors. Apparently subsequent studies have suggested that collaboration and productivity is way better in open offices with clustered workstations for each work group. So now companies are remodeling to make things more open, collaborative. That's fine if your work is mainly collaborative. But if your work is 80% heads down, and at most 20% collaborative, isolation is a better way of organizing workspace.

I find that at home I tend to have larger periods of in the zone. Less interruptions. I can isolate. In the office I am constantly interrupted and taken out of the zone.

Hypothesis: Office furniture associations fund those studies.

When we remodeled it was after consultants suggested that we adopt the open concept. Who were the consultants? An office furniture company who stood to make much $$ for equipping the newly remodeled space with lots of workstations and stuff.

 

[johntheplinker]

No option for never stopped. Not that I wouldn't have minded a few weeks off.

 

[churchmouse]

Leaving out after I type this.
Things to do. Revenue streams to service. People in need.
Mayor stinky shoes can kiss my butt.

 

[gregkl]

I remember offices with doors. The good ole days. So yeah. Let's throw away all those studies which showed that once people are in the zone, interrupting the zone requires at least 20 minutes of lost time getting back into it after an interruption. So offices with doors. Apparently subsequent studies have suggested that collaboration and productivity is way better in open offices with clustered workstations for each work group. So now companies are remodeling to make things more open, collaborative. That's fine if your work is mainly collaborative. But if your work is 80% heads down, and at most 20% collaborative, isolation is a better way of organizing workspace.

I find that at home I tend to have larger periods of in the zone. Less interruptions. I can isolate. In the office I am constantly interrupted and taken out of the zone.

Hypothesis: Office furniture associations fund those studies.

When we remodeled it was after consultants suggested that we adopt the open concept. Who were the consultants? An office furniture company who stood to make much $$ for equipping the newly remodeled space with lots of workstations and stuff.

The latest studies are starting to show that open concept work environments reduce productivity. And like you said, unless the work is mainly collaborative, like for instance a group of designers working on the same project, it isn't working.

I am in sales and it's a pain in the ass to hold conversations with customers in a cube environment, let alone open concept. I usually walk outside or to a quiet place in the building.

Until my last job, I always worked from home (road warrior). Last job, I had an office but our culture was to keep the doors open. We would close them for conference calls and when we didn't want to be bothered. It worked well.

Current job is cubes and with some of the loud people we have in the office, it's not always easy to remain focused. Our CEO was going to build a new corporate HQ and she was going to go to open concept. She cancelled the plans last year to build. I sighed a breath of relief.

I hope I can make it to retirement without having to work in an open concept office. I'd love to get back out on the road though.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

At our plant, we’ve always operated with hand-me-down furniture. Oh occasionally, they buy a few office chairs when the failure rate would hit critical mass but that would be about it. A few years ago, when the “open concept” really got going, our production manager cleaned the entire office area out. He got rid of the few “walls” there were, nearly all of the filing cabinets, etc. He thought it looked great because he thought it showed how lean his organization now was. (It looked like hell but i just worked there). Interestingly, walnut grove, where all the managers holed-up stayed perfectly intact.

A few years later, a new manager thought we should have cubes. Not new cubes but hand me downs from up north. They weren’t too bad but some of them had been used pretty roughly. After that, operating under the old “if I can’t watch them, how do I know they’re doing what they’re supposed to be doing” paradigm, a new manager decided we needed new cubes with lower walls and closer to the “open concept”. Again, they weren’t new but they were new to us.

We’ve had those for 4-5 years now. It will be interesting with the social distancing paradigm, how these more open cubes are altered to conform to the guidelines.

 

[gregkl]

managers holed-up

All of our directors, engineers, HR and accounting personnel have offices. They can't understand what's wrong with living in a cube farm or possibly open concept.

 

[terrehautian]

My daughter was notified that she was fired, along with the rest of her coworkers. She was quite put off by this after working for the company for 12 years, essentially all of her working career.

In 2018 my job was eliminated after 17.5 years. Two others got it as well (40 plus years for one, one year for the other). I was extremely put off by it, but I still would go back with conditions as the only other place that does what I do is 15 miles away versus five.

I never quit going to my job, but I wonder how conversations will go after this is over with employers saying you need to come back to the office after working from home. They already proved you don’t need to be there to work. One guy at my job did quit over corona. Had a health issue their didn’t feel comfortable working full time, instead of taking fmla or something short term, quit. Now their job was posted and I get a chance to get a Monday through Friday shift again. Not the way I wanted it but that is life I guess. Hope they don’t reward the lazy worker with it, otherwise they might be hiring and spending months training someone else to do the job.