Making the Best of a Bad Situation

2098 Words5 Pages

Introduction

On February 6, 2009 it was announced that our facility would be closing on December 31, 2009. Production would no longer continue past this given date and plans were announced to decrease headcount to less than half of the current number the facility employed. No one in the meeting that morning could have ever imagined the proceedings to occurred in the manner they did, as they started for work on that day. The event, which occurred that morning, created the biggest conflict and negotiation opportunities I would ever encounter. Ethically this situation seemed very unethical to me and decisions had to be made that would impact me as an employee and my role as a single Father, but this was a business decision and clearly this business decision was about the bottom line.

Aftermath

The meeting ended with several representatives from the corporate Human Resources entering the training room and announcing the reduction in headcount would begin today. The process was cold, but effective in doing exactly what had to be done and by mid-day 37 people had lost their jobs. These people were escorted from the building promptly. The employees as being escorted out were given follow-up appointments slips to discuss their options regarding unemployment benefits, severance pay, job assistance programs, and exit interviews. The facility was an emotional time bomb waiting to implode and for the employees left we learned our fate included a total shift overhaul, which only added more powder to the keg.

As supervisors we were assigned different personnel to our shift and informed that we were going to be working different shift hours. What had been a 24/7 operation, was now going to be a 24/5 operation. I was infor...

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...onths of 2009. Finally, I did received my retention, not the whole 30,000 dollars, but 5,000 less, which was paid in two installments in January of this year and I was offered a position at a sister company, which allowed me to keep my current status.

References

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Spangler, B. (June, 2003), http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/batna, Best

Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement (BATNA), Retrieved from the World Wide

Web on June 26, 2010

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