Company cutting back…

[GriffWoody]

Lost my gas card on company car last week.  For 7 years they’ve paid for business and personal miles.  I now have to pay out of pocket and get reimbursed for business miles only.  I continue to pay $200/mth for personal use of the car.  Was a nice little perk lost.  This after they stopped paying a stipend for home office use and cutting cell stipend by 50% a few years ago.  Slowly removing all financial incentives to work other than a paycheck.  

Talked to a buddy at a competitor and they stopped providing a car allowance - going to pay .67/biz mile only going forward.  Folks tightening their belts to satisfy the share holder.

[DawgNatty]

Yeah, this sounds very familiar. We’ve gone back to the days of losing money on business travel…not that you ever made money…you were just able to break even.

[Smokindawg]

I would not stand for it. Id quit

[GriffWoody]

Yeah, this sounds very familiar.    We’ve gone back to the days of losing money on business travel…not that you ever made money…you were just able to break even.

talk today on team call of them limiting travel later this year.  Was told to travel while I can b/c further cost cutting is coming and travel is an easy way to limit expense.  I’ve been expecting this since they limited our travel for covid reasons for 18 months.  I FULLY expect to be told I can only travel once a month in the future…not that it would be a terrible thing, mind you.

[JC-DAWG83]

What business are you in?

[RockmartDawg]

My employer has been on a wild cost-cutting extravagonzo for more than 10 years, and I have reached my limit. I won't elaborate, as it is truly getting bad... really bad. Imagine having flipped off the safety and the finger is on the trigger. I'm that close to telling them I'm done, and without any advance notice. Just going to be done one day and that'll be that.

I've been seeing all sorts of funny photos and stuff as of late. This one is definitely applicable.

[junkyarddawg]

I'm not worried about all that corporate / working stuff.

[RockmartDawg]

I'm not worried about all that corporate / working stuff.

I may be joining you... soon. 

[ugafan49]

sounds like they want you to quit.

[hitdawg]

turned in my retirement notice for many of the same reasons. Had a lot of health issues the last 10 months and figured it wasn't worth it anymaore. Pretty well situated for retirement. Don't need the stress anymore

[GriffWoody]

What business are you in?

Retirement plan recordkeeping

---

sounds like they want you to quit.

Nah, it isn’t that.  We have a new regime in place and they are trying to prove their worth.  It isn’t just me or my position, it is the whole company.  There are 6 on my team in the same spot, and the wider picture has the whole sales organization taking cuts…things like travel to the sales conference being paid for out of your budget for the year.  And those miles mentioned above, the cost for that is being taken out of budget as well.  Between expected mileage for the year, 25k’ish, and the cost of the conference, you have spent half your budget for the whole year before you get out of February.  We are in the business of travel and entertainment, and if you can’t do that, how do you do the job?

[Rogasingingdawg]

What business are you in?

Retirement plan recordkeeping

---

sounds like they want you to quit.

Nah, it isn’t that.  We have a new regime in place and they are trying to prove their worth.  It isn’t just me or my position, it is the whole company.  There are 6 on my team in the same spot, and the wider picture has the whole sales organization taking cuts…things like travel to the sales conference being paid for out of your budget for the year.  And those miles mentioned above, the cost for that is being taken out of budget as well.  Between expected mileage for the year, 25k’ish, and the cost of the conference, you have spent half your budget for the whole year before you get out of February.  We are in the business of travel and entertainment, and if you can’t do that, how do you do the job?

When the top salesmen leave for greener pastures, whether retirement or the competition, those execs making those cuts are gonna look pretty stupid.

[JC-DAWG83]

What business are you in?

Retirement plan recordkeeping

---

sounds like they want you to quit.

Nah, it isn’t that.  We have a new regime in place and they are trying to prove their worth.  It isn’t just me or my position, it is the whole company.  There are 6 on my team in the same spot, and the wider picture has the whole sales organization taking cuts…things like travel to the sales conference being paid for out of your budget for the year.  And those miles mentioned above, the cost for that is being taken out of budget as well.  Between expected mileage for the year, 25k’ish, and the cost of the conference, you have spent half your budget for the whole year before you get out of February.  We are in the business of travel and entertainment, and if you can’t do that, how do you do the job?

When the top salesmen leave for greener pastures, whether retirement or the competition, those execs making those cuts are gonna look pretty stupid.

I have seen it over and over again, new young manager/executives (the worst ones are the ones with MBAs) come in and immediately set to work cutting expenses, changing compensation models for salespeople, requiring more reports to track sales and expenses and generally doing all they can to justify their salary.  They never seem to realize the first employees to leave will be the best employees because they can get a job easier than any of the others.  The company is left with the employees who know they will have a hard time getting or keeping a new job.  A year or so down the road; sales are down, service is worse and employee morale is in the tank and the new executives are blaming everyone but themselves for the problems.

[RockmartDawg]

Corporate-level decisions are now being made by bean counters. Anything and everything are just numbers. No consideration, whatsoever, is being given to the individuals being represented by those numbers. We had an employee let go this past year who had well over 25 years with the company. They knew the ins and outs of systems, ways to get around to get things done (still within process), the answer to the multitude of questions that people come up with when trying to work with so many different processes and systems, never mind the technical knowledge of the products and services sold and maintained. They were one of those people who are of such value that they probably couldn't truly replace them with 5 or 10 people.

When they were given their notice there were managers from varying departments/organizations fighting to try to keep them. They were pooling resources to fund their position, trying to keep them with the company.

Nope.

They got let go, and now they're gone. Utterly stupid. No excuse for such stupidity.

But, hey, bean counter met some numbers. Mission accomplished. I'm sure they were financially rewarded for that.

Same/similar situation with our technical teams. We were decimated by layoffs 10 years ago, with jobs moved to India, China, eastern European countries, etc. Here we are, TEN YEARS LATER, and people are STILL coming to our shell of a team to try to get help, get things done, customer doesn't want BAU process because of the problems they keep encountering, blah blah blah. They want people to do all kinds of out-of-hours/weekend/late-at-night work but with no pay ("You're salaried"). 

Health insurance "benefits" have become more of an insult than a benefit. They're using "benefits" as a means of implementing pay cuts by lumping in humongous deductibles, huge increases in insurance premiums, and such as that.

But, oh, the CEO got a pay raise of more than 30%, and sat in front of the entire corporation (on video), saying it wasn't his decision to give the increase, AND that it was "in line with industry standards". He said he likes to answer the difficult questions.

Yeah, it's time to walk out one Friday and that be it.

[junkyarddawg]

I'm not worried about all that corporate / working stuff.

I may be joining you... soon. 

We are looking at getting a house in the mountains, so I might be back soon.

[GriffWoody]

What business are you in?

Retirement plan recordkeeping

---

sounds like they want you to quit.

Nah, it isn’t that.  We have a new regime in place and they are trying to prove their worth.  It isn’t just me or my position, it is the whole company.  There are 6 on my team in the same spot, and the wider picture has the whole sales organization taking cuts…things like travel to the sales conference being paid for out of your budget for the year.  And those miles mentioned above, the cost for that is being taken out of budget as well.  Between expected mileage for the year, 25k’ish, and the cost of the conference, you have spent half your budget for the whole year before you get out of February.  We are in the business of travel and entertainment, and if you can’t do that, how do you do the job?

When the top salesmen leave for greener pastures, whether retirement or the competition, those execs making those cuts are gonna look pretty stupid.

I have seen it over and over again, new young manager/executives (the worst ones are the ones with MBAs) come in and immediately set to work cutting expenses, changing compensation models for salespeople, requiring more reports to track sales and expenses and generally doing all they can to justify their salary.  They never seem to realize the first employees to leave will be the best employees because they can get a job easier than any of the others.  The company is left with the employees who know they will have a hard time getting or keeping a new job.  A year or so down the road; sales are down, service is worse and employee morale is in the tank and the new executives are blaming everyone but themselves for the problems.

JC, I’ll add one caveat to your MBA comment…”consultants” are the worst thing to ever happen to the business world.  Proverbial, know all the moves but couldn’t get laid in a whore house.  I think new management is listening to what they paid $1mm+ for McKinsey to tell them.

[Doc Hollidawg]

Did you look in the glove box and under the seats?

when

[Shadrach]

What business are you in?

Retirement plan recordkeeping

---

sounds like they want you to quit.

Nah, it isn’t that.  We have a new regime in place and they are trying to prove their worth.  It isn’t just me or my position, it is the whole company.  There are 6 on my team in the same spot, and the wider picture has the whole sales organization taking cuts…things like travel to the sales conference being paid for out of your budget for the year.  And those miles mentioned above, the cost for that is being taken out of budget as well.  Between expected mileage for the year, 25k’ish, and the cost of the conference, you have spent half your budget for the whole year before you get out of February.  We are in the business of travel and entertainment, and if you can’t do that, how do you do the job?

When the top salesmen leave for greener pastures, whether retirement or the competition, those execs making those cuts are gonna look pretty stupid.

I have seen it over and over again, new young manager/executives (the worst ones are the ones with MBAs) come in and immediately set to work cutting expenses, changing compensation models for salespeople, requiring more reports to track sales and expenses and generally doing all they can to justify their salary.  They never seem to realize the first employees to leave will be the best employees because they can get a job easier than any of the others.  The company is left with the employees who know they will have a hard time getting or keeping a new job.  A year or so down the road; sales are down, service is worse and employee morale is in the tank and the new executives are blaming everyone but themselves for the problems.

This x100.

---

What business are you in?

Retirement plan recordkeeping

---

sounds like they want you to quit.

Nah, it isn’t that.  We have a new regime in place and they are trying to prove their worth.  It isn’t just me or my position, it is the whole company.  There are 6 on my team in the same spot, and the wider picture has the whole sales organization taking cuts…things like travel to the sales conference being paid for out of your budget for the year.  And those miles mentioned above, the cost for that is being taken out of budget as well.  Between expected mileage for the year, 25k’ish, and the cost of the conference, you have spent half your budget for the whole year before you get out of February.  We are in the business of travel and entertainment, and if you can’t do that, how do you do the job?

When the top salesmen leave for greener pastures, whether retirement or the competition, those execs making those cuts are gonna look pretty stupid.

I have seen it over and over again, new young manager/executives (the worst ones are the ones with MBAs) come in and immediately set to work cutting expenses, changing compensation models for salespeople, requiring more reports to track sales and expenses and generally doing all they can to justify their salary.  They never seem to realize the first employees to leave will be the best employees because they can get a job easier than any of the others.  The company is left with the employees who know they will have a hard time getting or keeping a new job.  A year or so down the road; sales are down, service is worse and employee morale is in the tank and the new executives are blaming everyone but themselves for the problems.

JC, I’ll add one caveat to your MBA comment…”consultants” are the worst thing to ever happen to the business world.  Proverbial, know all the moves but couldn’t get laid in a whore house.  I think new management is listening to what they paid $1mm+ for McKinsey to tell them.

They know all the moves, carry none of the burden of implementing those moves and absolutely take none of the responsibility when these moves they know fail. Consulting in a nutshell.