Trouble in The Office

General Assembly at 1PM

You’ve got mail. A very short email from HR to All Users popped in your inbox first thing that morning:


Off the usual, there was no agenda after it; neither warning nor gauge whether the update was to be missed or be excited for. Off the usual again, the 11th floor was filled with employees come one o’clock that afternoon. Typically, General Assemblies (GAs) slid down a full ten minutes because the GM had to wait for the rest of The Office humanity to lumber in and occupy the empty seats. Now she’s rather amused, thinking the short email worked, and says they should always do it that way in the future – quick and clueless. Being mysterious had dug into everyone’s penchant for a good scoop. However, she hastily explains that the assembly had to be today, and no other time, because the CEO based in the US had just announced to the shareholders statements of utmost importance. They were the Quarter 4 strategies to counteract the dismal global financial performance of the company.

Tactfully she segues into other topics like good news (bonus was coming in on the 26th) and somewhat bad news (Sales Leadership Program having a boycott), before going in to the really bad news – global downsizing.

You’ve seen it in many case studies in your MBA. Slumps in performance lead top managers to “rationalize” aspects of the business that were not helping cash flow or the company’s EPS (earnings per share). When it’s written in a textbook or a business journal, it’s logical why chief executives had decided to sell parts of its company to other entities or cut off thousands of rank and file workers. Now it’s different. When you hear it said in your own turf, being a successful case study is the remotest thing on your mind. You feel every inch a family man, a working student, a single parent-to-be, a breadwinner. Will you still keep your job after this GA? Can you find another job if ever you’re tagged “redundant”? Will other companies accept you despite your advanced age or unheard-of specialization?

There were other strats mentioned which weren’t entirely new. But they didn’t matter. They weren’t important. You’re trying to give yourself a quick yearend assessment, just in case you have to fight for your name to remain in the book of the employed.

The GA ends an hour later when the last question in the Q & A was finished off by the GM (“No, the news is still fresh so we haven’t got a timeline on what actual steps will be taken.”). You’re back in your workstation and your computer and your unorganized files. And then you wonder, “Am I going to be lucky?”

posted by Elyss @ 4:20 PM