Slashdot Mirror
Massive Layoffs At AOL
JLavezzo writes "Several news sites are reporting that the United States' largest ISP has laid off 750 employees. My sources at AOL put the actual number at approximately 950 regular employees and 300 contractors from various departments including new technology and marketing. The contractors aren't mentioned by the news outlets. Severance packages are known to include up to four months pay and keeping laid off employees on the AOL payroll through February (to retain health insurance). With most of the layoffs coming from the Northern Virginia offices, what are their hopes for finding new jobs?"
Bah, you kids. Back in my day (2000), we didn't feel right about going to lunch unless we'd shitcanned at least 1000 people by then. And two months on the payroll plus four months of severence? Bah! Back in my day you were lucky if you didn't have any personal possessions in the building when it was locked and the contents auctioned off on behalf of angry creditors.
We *knew* how to make employees feel worthless. Layoffs via SMS! Contracted goons standing in the office in case they went postal! Taking away their razor scooters!
Now get off my lawn, you damn kids.
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
"You've Got Severance!"
if they'd only spent less on all those darn cds...
http://comments.fuckedcompany.com/phpcomments/inde x.php?newsid=109601&sid=1&page=1&parentid=0&crapfi lter=1
"Those who cast the votes decide nothing; those who count the votes decide everything." - Josef Stalin
You got ... DOLE!
Jonathanjk.com
What a lovely gift. No?
Even though AOL is heading downhill and many people are happy to see them head that direction; it's never good news to hear that many people getting let go. I always hoped AOL would evolve and not sink.
...Slashdot Headlines Consistently Sensationalize Everything!!!
I think even McDonalds would think twice about hiring them:
Manager: "So do you have any customer service experience?"
AOL Scab: "Well, I worked tech support at AOL for 2 years."
Manager: "We only hire people who will fuck up small stuff. We can't handle AOL sized crap here"
...The severance package was particularly generous, as it include two AOL trial CDs, with a combined total of 2048 free hours.
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
See, that's why I've been honing my aggresive driving, sword-fighting and other misc. pizza-delivery skills: Jobs that can be done overseas will be done overseas.
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
With most of the layoffs coming from the Northern Virginia offices, what are their hopes for finding new jobs?
What's the point? 950 regular employees were just laid off for ABSOLUTELY NO REASON WHATSOEVER. What's going to stop the next employer from doing the same thing? What is the point of trying to build a career that can be stolen arbitrarily?
The economy is doing VERY well. AOL is not about to go out of business. They still have millions of subscribers and they are probably earning about $40M a month in subscriber revenue. If the company were about to go out of business, that would be one thing. This is just arbitrary.
It is standard corporate thinking. Just pick 1200 people and fire them. Who the fuck cares if they have mortgages? That's their problem. Short-term money grab thinking.
Disney did the same thing earlier this year. In fact, they fired an ENTIRE STUDIO that was directly responsible for NINE FIGURES in top-line revenue. Why? Because they felt like it.
This is no different. W-4 employment is a sham. No business would ever depend on a similar agreement for anything, especially anything upon which revenue depends. W-4 employment is unfair and obsolete, and layoffs like these are cruel, groundless and destructive.
Business isn't willing to pay for products, innovation and careers, so we get brands, mortgage commercials and layoffs.
In related news, the USPS today announced 1,250 redundancies after a recent analysis suggested a 90% reduction in 2005 postal volume from the Northern Virginia area.
As someone who has one of those juicy government contracting jobs, I can tell you that they're a hell of a lot easier to get once you have one of those juicy government security clearances.
I guess that I got lucky. My current employer was willing to hire me for a position that required a DoD clearance even though I didn't have one yet. I was young and willing to work for less money than I was worth because of the missing clearance. It took about 7 months for me to get my clearance, and in the past two years my salary has caught up to what I feel I'm worth to the company.
Intriguing.
Yep. . .the article said mostly "new technology" and "marketing". . . my buds at AOL said it's MOSTLY marketeers, they're just also shutting down some of the R&D shops. . .
What is with all the posts blaming this a sour economy?
It is NOT an economic failing when an antiquated dealer of yesterdays technology downsizes...And then eventually goes away.
Think about it. A majority of people are hooking up with local broadband dealers (cable, dsl, wireless), I would not be surprised to see AOL go the way of the Cart and Buggy dealers of old....And it will not be the economy that does them in, it will be the fact that their main product is obsolete.
(+1 Funny) only if I laugh out loud.
Look, I worked at AOL tech support for a year. In some towns, you can't throw a rock without hitting someone who hasn't (Ogden, Tucson, Reston, Jacksonville, etc).
This is how it goes: normally, it's your first "real" tech job. Before this, you were the guy your friends and relatives called for help. In my case, it was my first job, ever. No McDonalds, no BK or Gap, or Orange Julius in the mall. Straight to the tech world. Your parents will be so proud.
Then you actually start working there. The hell that is (nearly) 24/7 tech support with some of the dumbest people, both coworkers and customers, is nearly endless. You realise how large and illiterate most of America (nay, the world) really is. Not computer illiterate, the plain' old fashion kind.
You enjoy the banana splits every time the stock splits, but you're a part time employee 'cause you're workin' your way though school. So you don't get any stock. Your fellow coworkers try to plan a coup and go on strike, form a union or something (which is strictly forbidden in the contract agreement). But it falls flat and you watch some good men and women go down. You get a small promotion.
Then you get sucked into the workload, dumping your calls at 7 minutes, 'cause hey, you have an average call time to maintain. Fuck being helpfull, if granny's PC is taking too long to boot or you thought you'd try to blindly import her mail from Eudora or Caldera on an OS7 Mac, tough shit. She gets the dreaded call transfer.
By trying out some of our special offers, she can get a month of free service. No really, it is a good deal. The trust that we've maintained over the last 6 minutes is a great thing to shatter with that "please hold." Hopefully she'll hang on the line just long enough that she'll be the 10th tel-save today, lest your boss compare your marketing transfer scores to the woman with the honey-sweet voice a few cubes down.
Screw women, this is where you become a man. A hardened, overtly-bitter and disgruntled man. You also hone your skills in down pat. Everything can be done with your eyes closed "sleeping" at your desk, or shooting nerf balls at the hottie down the row. Don't worry, she'll never know it was you. The security guy at the front desk might, though.
It only takes a few months to hate all people and computers. But at 17-24 years of age it will look damn fine on your resume. Future employers will go "wow, AOL, huh?! How'd you like that?"
And like Michael Bolton, you'll tell them it was great. And you can't really pick out your favorite moment.
As for people over the age of 30 wearing birkenstocks or tie-dyed shirts, please don't. It's just sad. We know you like your Mac. It says so right on your shirt. And no, you're not really "the" mac daddy. But nice try.
Anyways, you needed a goot boot in the pants to get you into a "real" tech job. Because by now, you realise that AOL isn't. So mourn for a few days, then get your ass in gear. You've got Interviews.
Most folk'll never lose a toe, and then again some folk'll...
Having been through a "massive layoff" in the bubble-burst days, one nice thing was that there exists the WARN act which dictates that if a company of at least certain size (which I'm sure Time Warner is) is laying off more than 50 people in one metropolitan area, they are obligated to give 2 months notice. For us this turned out to be two additional months to the severance, since the management doesn't really want you to show up at the office once you've been given your notice.
Overall this is bad news, since this area (VA/DC/MD) has now pretty much two kinds of techies - those who have clearance, and those who are unemployed, and the AOL layoffs sure do not help.
You are likely joking, but really a lot of people live very close to thier means, or even past it.
The minute they start making any significant amount over what thier used to after graduation they go out and run up credit card bills, buy toys, a nice car a nicer house, and so on.
If they were to keep thier standards of living simular to what they had in college till all thier student loans were paid off and just save any extra and keep thier outgo (especially long term outgo such as house payments) down below what others at the same income level are doing they would find themselves much better off. Keep a credit card if you must, but never put on it more than you can pay off when the bill comes in.
You'd be suprised how much you can save.
I saved about $3k in 8 months on a 24k a year job by simply not replacing my pos car right when I could, never using a credit card, not buying every toy I saw, not having cable tv, no longer trying to have a bleeding edge PC (I've given in a little there since then). I didn't really short myself much (not having cable tv GAVE me time as well as freed up $$) I still ate out some, hung out with my friends, saw a few movies, bought a few games and read several good books.
Of course if you have kids soon out of college the picture changes more than a little bit.
Mycroft
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