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> “It was so humiliating to train somebody else to take over your job. I still can’t grasp it.” Indeed, that sounds terrible. I haven't been in that (exception
by bglazer 11y ago
> “It was so humiliating to train somebody else to take over your job. I still can’t grasp it.”
Indeed, that sounds terrible. I haven't been in that (exceptionally difficult) situation, but I wonder why the laid off employees consented to this? I wouldn't be in any rush to help the company lay me off and transition to a cheaper replacement. Was their severance package dependent on this?
- toomuchtodo 11y ago> Was their severance package dependent on this? Yes. Its financial extortion.
- jfuhrman 11y agoOr they're paying a 10% bonus of yearly salary as payment if they're willing to train their replacement. If someone offered me $10K extra on top of my salary to take the trash out and clean the company kitchen for 2 weeks, I would gladly do it without blinking, even if it's a little humbling. I don't know about you. Calling it extortion is a bit much.
- toomuchtodo 11y ago> If someone offered me $10K to take the trash out and clean the company kitchen for 2 weeks, I would gladly do it without blinking, even if it's a little humbling. I don't know about you. You mean 90 days, because that's the requirement in their agreement. And its not "taking out the trash", its directly training your lower-wage foreign replacement.
- airza 11y agoMaybe you might feel differently if you were being fired at the end of those two weeks?
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- czinck 11y ago10% is around a months wages. I'd tell them to get lost if that's all they offered to train my replacement (plus regular salary), I could find a new job in less than a month. I'd need a few months severance to go through that level of embarrassment, and not contingent on me finding a new job.
- jfuhrman 11y agoI believe they have been given notices longer than a month. Anyway, it's a financial transaction for knowledge and labor like any other, if you think you're getting a raw deal, you should not accept the deal. Not sure how it is financial extortion though.
- s73v3r 11y agoBecause you've taken people who are at a very vulnerable spot in their lives, and who are probably going through a lot of self doubt as to whether they'll be able to find another job in that time.
- davesque 11y agoVery easy to say from a distance. Imagine actually doing what they were coerced into doing.
- Spooky23 11y agoIt's more than that with big employers like Disney in towns with limited options. You end up getting blackballed from future employment with contract providers if you say or do anything perceived negative.
- s73v3r 11y agoThat's a completely different situation and you know it.
- oh_sigh 11y agoNot really. they were still entitled to severance, but their severance would be 10% higher if they trained their replacement. Also, they would have a job for 3 months while looking for another job.
- savanaly 11y ago>Extortion: the practice of obtaining something, especially money, through force or threats. I guess I can see how threatening to not give them something is a threat, but if that is how expansive our definition is, how is regular employment not extortion?
- toomuchtodo 11y ago"This is how much we're willing to give you for your dignity. Do you accept?"
- gnoway 11y agoWell it's more about preying on vulnerable people in general. Not playing along may make you lose your severance, and may also ruin your rep with that company for the purposes of re-hire. Obviously you shouldn't work for the Disneys of the world if you can work somewhere else. If you're really confident that you can find good work wherever and whenever you want it then you can afford to tell a bad employer like Disney to fuck off. For various reasons, a lot of people can't do that.
- junkscience27 11y agosorry, you mean to cut company spending?
- geebee 11y agoYeah, if you read the letter informing workers of the layoff, it's clear that their severance depends on continued good performance until a separation date. Good performance includes training the replacement.
- astrodust 11y agoIsn't this where people live up to the letter of the agreement but flagrantly ignore the spirit of it?
- MattyRad 11y agoGood point. What is the bare minimum to qualify for "good performance?" What training information is classified as critical and necessary? Some specifics could be easily omitted, I expect. There could be a tinge of satisfaction in crippling your replacement.
- slayed0 11y agoI feel like in such a highly technical field it would be fairly easy to deliberately omit plenty of critical details without anyone noticing. It seems it would also be possible to make small additions to the system such that you would be the only person who really knows how things work. As long as you answer all of their questions you would certainly be meeting the good performance stipulation. There would be no way for them to know whether you are providing the whole story. Why offer up information that is not specifically requested? After all, the hardest part of engineering is knowing which questions to ask in the first place.
- WalterSear 11y agoI don't think I would find myself ignoring it as much as finding ways to violate it catastrophically.
- wyldfire 11y agoWhen I first read your comment I thought you were referring to the employer with respect to the H1-B visa requirements. :(
- noneTheHacker 11y agoThis image from the article explains it. http://static01.nyt.com/images/2015/06/01/us/visa-letter-alt-image-2/visa-letter-alt-image-2-articleLarge.jpg http://static01.nyt.com/images/2015/06/01/us/visa-letter-alt...
- danvoell 11y agoSeverance packages can be equally about financial extortion, liability mitigation and goodwill. You need to sign something to get the severance package and it probably says that you aren't going to the press to complain about being fired. You aren't going to a competitor. You aren't going to sue because you were wrongly fired (disability, protected class)...
- rhino369 11y agoNot extortion but a trade. You aren't owed severance.
- schmichael 11y ago> Was their severance package dependent on this? Yes, that's covered in the article: > To receive his severance bonus, he said, “I had to make sure they were doing my job correctly.”
- mooreds 11y agoSeverance of 10% of base salary, plus another 90 days of work.
- Too 11y agoUsing the previous employer as reference when searching for future jobs could become difficult if you play asshole during the transitioning period. Although in this case i think most future employers would be understanding of the situation. But even so, during an interview you only have that much time to show a good image of yourself, there's not always time to explain everything and any minor hickup, suspicion or oddity could cost you the job, you don't want to leave the interviewer only remembering lots of "but" and "except that time".
- bsg75 11y agoReferences are rarely if ever used anymore - fear of lawsuits if a glowing review from past employer is not provided. And don't be an ass. Search, find, depart immediately and politely.
- josh_fyi 11y agoWhen you are currently employed, it is understood that you cannot ask your current boss for a recommendation. So long as the new employer does not know that you are under the ax, you will not have to give this reference. In jobs after that, you may or may not have the option of using the Disney boss as reference, but that's a long way off and uncertain ...
- ryanisnan 11y agoI really can't imagine why anybody would have stayed through this?