Corporate Layoff Procedure
So, a potentially painful question:
Who out there has been laid off from a low-level corporate job - secretary, data entry, clerk, help desk, etc. - during a faceless mass-firing? I mean one of those ones where a third or more of the office staff walks in and gets the no-warning heave, with no severance except security guards waiting to escort folks from the premises effective immediately.
If you've been "downsized" in one of these acts of corporate cruelty, how was it handled? Email? Notes? Shame-faced lower managers dealing out the dirty work? How did the security guards behave? How would/ did they act if/ when someone begged, blew up, or broke down crying? Where were the managers and high bosses? How did they behave? And what were the excuses offered for the mass termination?
I'm open to folks who've survived this sort of event as well, but I'd really like to know how the company handled the people most effected.
In the story I'm writing, the main character is "downsized" in one of those "Oh, gee - sorry about your rent, but the stockholders want results" events. I'd like, when presenting this crisis to be as accurate and effective as possible, as the layoff sparks the rest of the tale.
Sorry about dredging up old memories... or worse, not-so-old ones.
Thanks in advance, and may these bastards burn in whatever passes for Corporate America Hell!
