Working with a regional design center

My boss (who has been involved in laying people off) is a good guy, and I like and respect him for doing the best he can under difficult circumstances. But in recent one-on-one conversations with me, he has made some candid, chilling comments. One was, "I can't really blame anyone here for looking for another job." First time in all my years of having bosses that I've heard that from a supervisor, and his implication was, "I wouldn't blame YOU for looking for another job." The other -- even more shocking and chilling -- was, "Hypothetically, what would it take to get you to consider agreeing to a buyout?" I asked if anything was imminent and he said no, he was just interested in responses from me and a few others. So I gave him some conditions the company is certain never to meet. My educated guess is that he or the company, or both, are pondering possible downsizing exit strategies.

So since then, I've been applying whenever there's a job listing I'm marginally qualified for. Don't feel like retiring for at least a few more years, and it's debatable whether I can afford to right now anyway. Considering my age, the aforementioned lack of experience and employers' narrow focus on applicants' qualifications, another job is a long shot. And based on the anecdotal evidence, most of these jobs would mean a 25 percent pay cut or so. But it's like hockey -- if you don't shoot, you won't score.

 

You would be surprised how well journalistic credentials transfer over to the non-journalistic world.

 

I have no doubt they do. But it takes a hiring manager to know that. And when you're likely competing against people who actually HAVE the desired experience . . .

 

My copy desk/design job was assimilated into one of three company-wide "hubs" at the beginning of the year. The first couple of months were challenging, mostly because they kind of threw us into the deep end from the technological and organizational standpoint. (They literally showed us the system the day we launched and not before.) One of the older designers had to quit a month in, as she couldn't keep up with the page demands without some severe carpal tunnel issues that the managers refused to accomodate.

We're one of three flagships in the company, and the one in HQ basically made all the decisions, including a master font set I absolutely loathe (good luck writing a one-column headline). Four months in, the head honcho for the hub showed up in town this week (to smooth the transition of the obit system into the collective). The way I describe it is that, when we're fully staffed and things are operating normally, the hub works fine. When something's off, the bad days are dramatically worse, because you're dealing with workflow crisis management crossed with "Telephone." A couple of weeks ago, two pages from a paper (300 miles away) that I was working on got lost in the shuffle of this system. Meanwhile, the manager on duty is 250 miles away in another direction as we're trying to get this squared away and sent to the press, 300 miles away. I have no idea whose pages (thus, what their deadline is) or how many I will be doing until I come in on a particular day.

That said, it didn't take long for me to grasp the system, and I was happy for that, because once you know how, then you know how to bend the rules and exploit the system. Some of my weeknights had been almost embarrassingly slow pre-hub, and a recent page cut necessitated by a poor first quarter would have made that even worse, so now my workload T-Th varies from light to moderate (don't worry, Friday and Saturday nights keep me honest ... and probably single, but that's for another thread). We're all still Guild members (in my city, at least -- all the ones at other sites aren't) and the contract was renewed for another two years at the same terms about a month ago (and since I'm not at the top step, I'll still get another raise in August, God willing), which includes that they can't target us for layoffs by department.

I described it a couple months ago as "workably bad." I'd probably maintain that description.

 

Great post Benny. I appreciate your candor and excellence.

 

Excellent, I ain't.... other than a pretty good radar for people in important positions who couldn't tell the (real) truth if that had to...because that would take time and fresh air might choke them (as in they aren't very used to having their heads, ears, lips exposed to the air) if anyone a notch above them on the pay scale is within 100 miles of them (HUA disease, I think they call it).

Candor...candid. I can be... though my mommy raised me to NOT say anything about anyone if it couldn't be nice.

Hmmm... I'm thus a damn silent lamb, a knot on a log with feet under the desk, eye on the screen, hammering away at typing/deadline and wondering what I might be in my next life. Lord willing, I'll be a famous muchkin or play Arena League Football on the NewspaperBoysFromHell, a team that will start out with 11 players on the field but after layouts and buyouts have a QB, a WR and a kicker and still be expected to average 79 points per game.

Salary? They'll probably expect us to pay them to let us play.....

Carry on.

 

Absolutely true. But (and we've had this discussion on these boards before) it's more difficult if you're a copy editor who hasn't made a name for himself outside the office. A reporter who has made contacts on the job is much more apt to step right into a job in PR, advertising, marketing or technical writing. For instance, the guy who covered the gambling industry for the local paper here and left in a recent downsizing now is doing PR for one of the casinos (working less and making about the same money).

If you're a copy editor and can't find that rare hiring manager who'll take a chance, you're almost forced to "reinvent" yourself (hate using that buzzword) and go into teaching, real estate, insurance, etc. But you need a financial buffer -- it takes time to get a teaching certificate, for example. If you try selling real estate or insurance, you're probably not going to have big clientele overnight. It's a problem if you're worried about making the next mortgage payment.

 

I wish there was a way to know how the average income/benefits compere among those who involuntarily left the business vs. what they were making while still in the business.

The success stories no doubt are numerous, but then, that's what we see. People are happy to say, "Life since I left is wonderful!" Not too many people are going to volunteer the information that "Yeah, my life is pretty much ruined. Savings are down to nothing. Can't find a meaningful job anywhere."

A few months after one of our South Florida layoffs, I got a call from one of the laid-off people trying to sell me some homeowners' insurance. That was 8 years ago. I wonder how he's doing now.

 

I think the most money being made is by short people who are now doubling as munchkins in remakes of films or approaching stardom as midget wrestlers. I've heard folks with sliding ethics -- tall or short -- make some good bucks and that weasels and scumbags who are willing to stand on street corners and yell "I used to write good headlines" are making a killing with men who have really bad hearing.... and I've heard that pretend soccer coaches who lie to their team and tell them they are so good because of their coach, are now up to $2.25 an hour. The rest of us are getting no health insurance, a tiny bit of unemployment and no longer have to deal with HR morons... so how could life get any better?

 

I am just going to be interested in seeing the BS follow-up emails "we are invested in the future and excited about the future" etc. when papers are online only and people big wigs are getting laid off more often than reporters.

As for the design center it's a bit of a crapshoot. One day things go swimmingly with a very in-tune designer. The next, it's a very green designer that has no idea about sports. Now that deadlines have changed it's a bit different for us. But when we had normal deadlines and four papers to crank out it made a huge difference who the designer was. "Hey, four weeks in a row that everything has gone great!, OK time to change designers." xxxxx started last week but they should be fine...*Deadline blown by 30 minutes* There are no doubt good designers and hard-working individuals. but in my experience if you get a new designer that is unfamiliar with your pages it takes a bit of time for them to get used to things....but the higher-ups have no patience for missing deadlines and don't understand.

 

Our move to a Central Hub has gone well, but there has been good stability and the head of our hub is a former and respected Sports Editor, so even better
I put out four editions over the course of the week and one designer is typically assigned to the same edition, so communication is smooth and hiccups get worked out quickly. It's a good ebb-and-flow, and it's unchained me from my desk to get out to see more events and write more features. All good in my experience.

 

What are these HUGE unnecessary HR departments for if they can't help an injured worker out? What a joke.