Right-sizing has been so Wrong for the U.S. economy
Idiotic managers, CEOs and others have ruined their own businesses, and service to customers
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JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
Time for an article that will likely appear as if it's coming from my more liberal side, on a topic that has bothered me for a while, and with the return of JoeUser is just in time for my first 'return' article.
My comments today are about what some might call the fleecing of the American (U.S.A.) workers.... the grand and failed experiment that was called right-sizing. Remember, like a lot of other things in our current society, those that wanted to accomplish their goals had to go and invent new jargon and lexicons for their evil schemes. Instead of layoffs or firings, we had to be told -- both employees and stockholders -- that companies were 'right-sizing.' Losing dead weight, and extra employees that were not needed, too highly compensated, and too costly to keep around.
I've been victimized by so-called right-sizing in the past. A former employer, for a job that I really enjoyed, found me too highly compensated, and cruising along towards ever higher salaries through yearly wage increases that were never more than the cost of living, but unfortunately kept pushing my salary higher. As long as I could bring in wheelbarrow loads of cash from customers that were handing out money like water during the go-go 90's, especially in the Y2K roll-up, I was a valued employee. As we got into post Y2K time though, the customers stopped spending so much money as Alan Greenspan pricked the internet bubble and let all of the air and steam out of the economy in is own self-created recession. He had erred on the side of (over) caution and was so worried about inflation that he caused the recession that came in just as Bush was rolling into office.
Thankfully Bush's tax-cuts helped soften that recession... And I got lucky and landed a new job quickly after being cast aside by my past employer. While they were right-sizing, someone else had lost a valued employee and brought me in to do the work that used to be done by someone else.
Here's where things get worse though, as you see, I'm an idiot. I do 2 or 3 peoples worth of work for my employers, never much complain about being over-worked and under-paid, and wind up costing my employer other potential 'slots' for employees. That has continued for a while now, and I'm getting more tired and cranky in my middle-age. I'm tired of being over-worked, and am slowing down. And yet as I slow down, and as work piles up around me, my manager doesn't see the need to bring in new help. We are already right-sized (at least in the minds of the employer and manager), as are many other businesses that I visit as a customer.
Here's the problem, there's a stagnancy in the air. We, the customers of the various businesses out there, are going to these businesses and getting crappy service. Not just crappy, but down right stinky, pooey, brown and nasty service. Even where the employees of these businesses don't abuse us for their unhappiness over being underpaid and over-worked, we still don't get top of the line service. We see articles about it again and again. Not just here at JU, but throughout the net, through various forums, blogs, editorials, op-ed pieces, phone calls, conversations with co-workers, etc.
It's an obvious problem, but it's not getting fixed. Businesses don't want to hire new employees. They fear the next recession. They fear the next law-suit from employees and customers alike. They worry over the bottom line, perhaps too damned much (likely because there are people like a stockholder in my former employer that was constantly worried about the here and now and his own damned opportunity to make money from the stock rather than what might happen to the real people that were being cast off as employees, that also happened to be customers of the employer's customers, helping to put a big kink into the great circle of life in the economy).
People that short stocks just to make money, or are complicit in letting CEOs get away with virtual murder of their own employees all in the name of right-sizing.
Is it not readily apparent when you go to a movies and wait for long periods of time in the lines just to buy over-priced tickets and then buy over-priced food at the concession stands that the theatre staff is far from right-sized?
Is it not obvious that the local hardware stores (Lowes, Home Depot, etc.) are not right-sized when you go in to find something and can't and also can't find the employees that actually know where anything is or are willing to help find things for you?
Is it not apparent that grocery stores are not employing enough people to run the cash registers, stock the shelves, and keep us all moving in and out of the stores in an efficient manner?
These are just a few examples of businesses that aren't right-sized at all. They're just cheap, and aren't paying to bring in labor to help customers that might add to the bottom line profits of these companies. Why not bring in more people? Because it would cut profit margins and piss off people like the idiot short-sighted and short-selling stockholders like the one I mentioned above. The CEOs see the potential loss of profits and panic over the potential reaction of the stockholders. What they don't recognize is that they are already costing themselves profits as fed-up customers take the business elsewhere -- to the Amazon's, NewEggs, and other .com stores.
History does repeat itself. I'm reminded in many ways of the 80s, at the start of the boom years. We seem to be at that precipice of what could be another great boom, if, and it's a big IF, businesses wake up and see their lost opportunities in the forms of missing employees and jobs that they haven't filled. And once those jobs start getting filled, even more money will flow into the economy from the wages and salaries that are turned into spending by those employees.
Are companies and businesses in the U.S.A. smart enough to figure this out? I don't know. Despite the great example that Draginol/Frogboy/Brad sets for us in the form of Stardock, I believe many CEOs are successful despite their own efforts. Many seem to be great examples of the Peters principle(s).
That's my $0.02. Feel free to offer your own thoughts below.
My comments today are about what some might call the fleecing of the American (U.S.A.) workers.... the grand and failed experiment that was called right-sizing. Remember, like a lot of other things in our current society, those that wanted to accomplish their goals had to go and invent new jargon and lexicons for their evil schemes. Instead of layoffs or firings, we had to be told -- both employees and stockholders -- that companies were 'right-sizing.' Losing dead weight, and extra employees that were not needed, too highly compensated, and too costly to keep around.
I've been victimized by so-called right-sizing in the past. A former employer, for a job that I really enjoyed, found me too highly compensated, and cruising along towards ever higher salaries through yearly wage increases that were never more than the cost of living, but unfortunately kept pushing my salary higher. As long as I could bring in wheelbarrow loads of cash from customers that were handing out money like water during the go-go 90's, especially in the Y2K roll-up, I was a valued employee. As we got into post Y2K time though, the customers stopped spending so much money as Alan Greenspan pricked the internet bubble and let all of the air and steam out of the economy in is own self-created recession. He had erred on the side of (over) caution and was so worried about inflation that he caused the recession that came in just as Bush was rolling into office.
Thankfully Bush's tax-cuts helped soften that recession... And I got lucky and landed a new job quickly after being cast aside by my past employer. While they were right-sizing, someone else had lost a valued employee and brought me in to do the work that used to be done by someone else.
Here's where things get worse though, as you see, I'm an idiot. I do 2 or 3 peoples worth of work for my employers, never much complain about being over-worked and under-paid, and wind up costing my employer other potential 'slots' for employees. That has continued for a while now, and I'm getting more tired and cranky in my middle-age. I'm tired of being over-worked, and am slowing down. And yet as I slow down, and as work piles up around me, my manager doesn't see the need to bring in new help. We are already right-sized (at least in the minds of the employer and manager), as are many other businesses that I visit as a customer.
Here's the problem, there's a stagnancy in the air. We, the customers of the various businesses out there, are going to these businesses and getting crappy service. Not just crappy, but down right stinky, pooey, brown and nasty service. Even where the employees of these businesses don't abuse us for their unhappiness over being underpaid and over-worked, we still don't get top of the line service. We see articles about it again and again. Not just here at JU, but throughout the net, through various forums, blogs, editorials, op-ed pieces, phone calls, conversations with co-workers, etc.
It's an obvious problem, but it's not getting fixed. Businesses don't want to hire new employees. They fear the next recession. They fear the next law-suit from employees and customers alike. They worry over the bottom line, perhaps too damned much (likely because there are people like a stockholder in my former employer that was constantly worried about the here and now and his own damned opportunity to make money from the stock rather than what might happen to the real people that were being cast off as employees, that also happened to be customers of the employer's customers, helping to put a big kink into the great circle of life in the economy).
People that short stocks just to make money, or are complicit in letting CEOs get away with virtual murder of their own employees all in the name of right-sizing.
Is it not readily apparent when you go to a movies and wait for long periods of time in the lines just to buy over-priced tickets and then buy over-priced food at the concession stands that the theatre staff is far from right-sized?
Is it not obvious that the local hardware stores (Lowes, Home Depot, etc.) are not right-sized when you go in to find something and can't and also can't find the employees that actually know where anything is or are willing to help find things for you?
Is it not apparent that grocery stores are not employing enough people to run the cash registers, stock the shelves, and keep us all moving in and out of the stores in an efficient manner?
These are just a few examples of businesses that aren't right-sized at all. They're just cheap, and aren't paying to bring in labor to help customers that might add to the bottom line profits of these companies. Why not bring in more people? Because it would cut profit margins and piss off people like the idiot short-sighted and short-selling stockholders like the one I mentioned above. The CEOs see the potential loss of profits and panic over the potential reaction of the stockholders. What they don't recognize is that they are already costing themselves profits as fed-up customers take the business elsewhere -- to the Amazon's, NewEggs, and other .com stores.
History does repeat itself. I'm reminded in many ways of the 80s, at the start of the boom years. We seem to be at that precipice of what could be another great boom, if, and it's a big IF, businesses wake up and see their lost opportunities in the forms of missing employees and jobs that they haven't filled. And once those jobs start getting filled, even more money will flow into the economy from the wages and salaries that are turned into spending by those employees.
Are companies and businesses in the U.S.A. smart enough to figure this out? I don't know. Despite the great example that Draginol/Frogboy/Brad sets for us in the form of Stardock, I believe many CEOs are successful despite their own efforts. Many seem to be great examples of the Peters principle(s).
That's my $0.02. Feel free to offer your own thoughts below.
