Fewer Employees + Same Work = Higher Productivity

LiamRandall writes "Time magazine has an article discussing the effects that recent layoffs in corporate America has had on remaining workers. While I'm glad that I haven't been laid off (like 1/2 my group) I'm overloaded with all of my new responsibilities. On one hand I feel very fortunate to still have a job- I feel some what guilty complaining given that the computer industry is second in layoffs. While some former coworkers of mine got the axe because upper management didn't understand what their contributions to the company were, others were dead wood anyway. The Chinese symbol for crisis is danger + opportunity; in these turbulent times do you find yourself rising to the challenge or being overloaded with responsibility? Is your to-do list growing exponentially? What new work are you faced with and how are you dealing with it?"

Comments

Related news: AMD cutting 2,000 jobs worldwide

[mao che minh]

The #2 in CPU's is slashing 2,000 jobs worldwide, from the Americas to Asia, in all roles and levels. The article is here at News Factor.

Re:Same Chinese symbol for crisis + opportunity

[91degrees]

Worst Comment Ever!

Re:Same Chinese symbol for crisis + opportunity

[JabberWokky]

I dunno - I wonder about that. Did you know that English uses the same word for lead and lead? Thus a poetic metaphor that those who are lead around are heavy and stationary as lead weights.

Hardly.

The Danger + Opportunity thing is likewise very dubious. Evey chinese speaker I've spoken to has never seen the connection - and I bring it up since I heard a professor of Chinese literature bring it up as a stupid myth that Americans believe. I believe even Cecil (of Ask Cecil) has slammed this phrase. It *is* a combination, just the same as "Assume" is a combination of "Ass, U and Me". That doesn't mean that any great poetic meaning should be attributed to it.

In an interesting sidenote, there is a city called Boca Raton in Florida. Wealthy and kinda pretentious (as opposed to it's nothern neighbor Palm Beach, which is wealthier and much less pretentious). People like to refer to it as Mouth of the Rat, and out of towners often pronounce it in the spanish "boh-Ka ra-Tahn", but it's actually pronounced "Book-a Rah-tone" and it doesn't mean mouth of the rat (other than literally), but rather a sailor term for a type of coastline. Kinda like how salmon skies is a sailor term for a type of high cirrus cloud pattern, but doesn't literally mean that there are fish in the atmosphere.

--
Evan