Corporate Downsizing
The rumors are flying at my company again. 10-15% of the workforce will be downsized. Now, I won't debate the logic behind this, because many people have discussed the validity of corporate downsizing. However, I do want to write about how this affects me.

First of all, I am going to assume the rumors are true. They always have been in the past. What effect does that have on me? Well, for one thing, I stop spending my discretionary income. That new digital camera I was thinking of buying — forget it! Eating out at restaurants? Not likely! A spending spree at Barnes and Noble? Yeah, right! And this effects all the merchants I might do business with; their sales will be lower, not just because of me but because of all of my co-workers are likely doing the same. So, then, their business suffers, and my company's business suffers. It's a vicious cycle.

Last Thanksgiving, when the previous round of downsizing happened, I kept my sanity by convincing myself that I could not possibly be in the bottom 15% of the workers. And it appears I was right that time, as I was the time before, and the time before that. But I can't really keep convincing myself of that ... because there are no poor workers left anymore. Everyone left is a solid performer. A friend of mine said she can't sleep because of these rumors, because she's convinced that she might be one of those to be downsized. Last time, she was downsized, but then called back when someone else unexpectedly took a different job. How's that for building worker satisfaction?

Morale always bottoms out when these things happen. Companies become less productive, and more mistakes happen, because the workers are understandably worried. Their minds are on how they can survive, not on doing their job. And even once the downsizing is over, quality goes all to hell because there are fewer workers to do the same amount of work, while management wonders why we can't seem to fix these nagging quality problems. What a way to make a living!