Again, circadian all messed up.
Either I can't sleep at night and sleep until the early afternoon, or I can't sleep at night and am up at the crack of dawn and then all day.
I can't win.
Did a resume online, checked with some folks about references, thank you, guys!!! Almost everyone said yes and the ones that didn't say yes, haven't answered me.
Dropped off some paperwork at work former workplace, took Bub to the deli, stopped someplace, ok day.
NOW
About my ex-work:
What a restructuring nightmare.
Since December 2013 until now, AT LEAST 34 people have left/were fired/let go from GOC from all programs and Divisions. ETES and Human Services hit the most with 16 (and still counting...I bet...)
The corporate atmosphere is so thick with fear and paranoia that it's like the exhaust of a Hog* that has a blown gasket and you're riding behind it.
This atmosphere, this corporate culture change is unprecedented in the history of GOC. Come to think of it, what IS the corporate culture now at the 'new, improved!' Goodwill?
Is anyone going to do a 'culture transformation', or has anyone figured it out yet?
The 'transparency' that was touted last year and the year before, isn't.
5 year Strategic plan? Who dat? What, is it strategic to change the 5 year strategic plan every year?
The more I talk to my coworkers and hear about how they're trying to at least exist in their positions at Goodwill, I have come to the self-assured and self-confident yet sad conclusion that I am glad I was basically the first in my department to be let go. I would be a nervous wreck, me there at the office when others were shown the door. At least I quietly went to say goodbye to a few people on the 2nd floor, before the camera Police saw me walking the halls as an official 'visitor'.
People are apprehensive and fearful when they're confronted with unknowns. People in the trenches at Goodwill are confronted with unknowns so often now, and when there's no official word coming down from ANYONE regarding why so and so left, people freak and will go anywhere for information, correct or not. Managers aren't saying squat for fear that THEY'LL get in trouble for letting any sort of information out except the worn platitude of, "Oh, their position was eliminated". THAT'S not information, that's CorporateSpeak for "We needed to get rid of them, but gently darling, gently". Everyone knows this. But how do THOSE words equate to any sort of definition for 'information'? How does that make anyone sanguine about their work, when any sort of information given, ISN'T? It's informational cotton candy. It feels like something's in your mouth, you're satisfied for a few seconds to have something in your mouth, but it disappears really quickly. Couple that with a fear of being seen talking to one another and moving to another room where they won't be seen on camera, and you have some serious anxiety.
Fear of talking, fear of it being KNOWN that others talk to them, & just fear of the unknown, fear of all of a sudden someone will tap them on the shoulder in the morning when they come in, before they even log onto their computer (because they CAN'T), and be told that their position is eliminated, RIF, etc. It's not apprehension anymore, it's not paranoia, it's FEAR.
I talked to a couple of people in the past few days and they're just keeping their head down really low and hoping to not be noticed or piss someone off. I'm getting the feeling that everyone feels like bears at a shooting gallery and the rifles are ready to fire!
When there are so MANY employees within a 5-month period disappearing without any notice and it seems like they've magically disappeared and dropped into a black hole, others turn around and say, "Hey, where'd so-and-so go?", no one knows or is talkin', & that can make those who are left feel pretty doggone mistrustful & suspicious, or I'm Schmucky the Clown.
It can make one wonder if one will be the next victim of the Hatchet Police (in the initial guise of one's manager. At that particular nanosecond, their body has been taken over by corporate evil spirits) before one even gets to log into their computer.
It's just not GOODWILL anymore, it's something else. I dunno, maybe it's turned into some sort of corporate 'Axis of Evil' complete with with flying monkeys, and not only has the Wicked Witch of the West come back from being the main attraction in a puddle, but her sister has come back from being flattened like a pancake, and they've EACH gotten a sex-change.
The extension list is changing so rapidly, and people are being deleted off of it so quickly and without notice, it's like a corporate/dart/dartboard evil version of Russian Roulette. Without, of course, the actual blood.
I wonder if there IS some sort of methodology involved for this restructuring bullshit, perhaps involving a dart, a dartboard, and the extension list taped on the dartboard.
Maybe there's an out of work toastmaster who throws the dart, notes the name, points to employee and says, "NEXT".
At the HR bldg, the automatic doors should be replaced with revolving doors. Correction: that's the way it's ALWAYS been.
OR, could this whole thing be (say is softly) political in nature? Like the Fed DOL 14(c) Special Minimum Wage permits, due to the media coverage of all the disabled people making less than minimum wage?
I will say that it'll be a wage expense increase to those depts who have clients as of July 1st when the new CA minimum wage goes into effect, and time studies will have to be redone and clients paid more, even thought the DOR and RCOC funding stays the same.
I am glad I was the first in my department to be let go. It wouldn't be good, with me there in the office when others were shown the door. At least was able to quietly say goodbye to a few people on the 2nd floor, before Asset Protection and the camera Police saw me walking the halls as an official 'visitor'. They called HR to tell them I wasn't actively packing stuff, I was saying goodbye to some people. (HR called my boss and asked him how much longer it'd take me to get packed up.) Sad that you can't even say goodbye to a few people to at least let them know you'll no longer be there.
Some numbers:
Since December 2013 until now, I count 33-34 employees leaving due to quitting/being fired/let go/laid off/position eliminated/RIF etc.
16 people gone from Human Services alone.
Data Processing/ETES 7 (that was MY dept)
E-Works N & S 4
Volunteer To Work 1
Veteran's Services/Project Independence 4
5 from Marketing/Communications
3 from HR
3 from Asset Protection (but one was a temp)
3 from Finance
2 from Transportation
Nothing can poison employees' morale faster than watching their former colleagues be shown the door abruptly and disrespectfully.
Keep in mind that terminated workers are recent employees, not second-class citizens.
I STILL have the Mission and GOC in my heart, but it's the old GOC, not the new GOC.
More to come...
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