Two-man staff cut to one, thoughts

[sshap36]

I'm the sports editor of a daily in Texas, today the publisher let my sports writer go due to budget cuts.

For now, this shouldn't be too much of an issue during the slower summer months. But, the school season (football in particularly) is going to be difficult to manage.

Any thoughts, advice or insight on the best way to manage this? I cover seven high schools and a Division III college in town.

Thanks.

 

[Tom Petty]

honestly ... i'd look for work elsewhere.

 

[skm007]

Find yourself some good stringers.

 

[2underpar]

do you have layout responsibilities?

 

[LongTimeListener]

That isn't a staff. That's a guy.

 

[sshap36]

honestly ... i'd look for work elsewhere.

While looking for another job is an option, I'm trying to figure out how to deal my with my current job first.

do you have layout responsibilities?

Yes, I do have layout responsibilities. But that may change with the changes on staff.

 

[sprtswrtr10]

A long time ago, I was a one man staff.
I got help, though, and it wasn't too bad.
The ME was a former sports guy. We made it work.

Then I was part of a two-man staff at a mid-size daily, and even with two stringers that worked a lot, we were paid for 45 hours and worked 60 to 70. I was young, didn't know the shortcuts I know now, but far more than that, the culture was crushing. We thought the world would end if we didn't get a baseball game between two area teams covered, or if we failed to rewrite a prep tennis tournament that there would be hell to pay.

We killed ourselves.
It made my marriage toxic
(even though my divorce was the best thing that ever happened to me)
I was an idiot.

So, my advice is to develop some shortcuts.
(present a situation and people on this board will help; they've been there)
See what you can fake; what you can rewrite; how you can do not as much less with less.

But, and this is my big advice, figure out what you can do and what you can't do and do what you can and not what you can't. You've been placed in this position. Make the best of it, but don't do the impossible. Your older self will hate you for it.

All this from a CNHIer who doesn't take his recession days, but still gets docked for them.
That's a problem when you're salaried.
I think I'm more productive than anybody at my paper and I will never be accused of not working hard.
But I've learned supreme efficiency over time.
I do not kill myself like I used to.
You should never do it.

Good luck

 

[Tom Petty]

honestly ... i'd look for work elsewhere.

While looking for another job is an option, I'm trying to figure out how to deal my with my current job first.



dude, in all honesty, they just stuck it up your ass. don't give them the pleasure of watching you run around like a chicken with your head cut off. take your notebook and your respect to the curb and move on.

 

[apeman33]

First thing tomorrow morning, ask them how much of their coverage area they're planning to drop so you can cut the number of high schools you cover. Because I'm assuming they laid off other staff and there's no way the news side is going to be able to continue to cover as much.

Do NOT attempt to continue to do the same workload by yourself. You'll be burned out before the end of the year.

 

[dirtybird]

Sounds like some Bull****, and when you don't work so much it violates every labor law in the book, someone will accuse you of laziness. [/Crossthread]

 

[Gomer]

Your older self will hate you for it.

This.

Been there, two years ago my three-man staff was cut to two. No stringers, no budget for columns, now we even shoot some photos and video along with our layout.

Best thing you can do is explain the situation to every source you deal with and hope they respect the fact that your own sanity has to come first. Do the best you can but count your hours at first and make sure you're not overextending yourself. It'll take time to find out how to do this new job, but you can get there.

And make no mistake, it is a different job. Don't compare anything to what you did before.

 

[Beef03]

sshap36 You have my sympathies. I went from a three-man department at my last paper to a one-man department at my current daily of similar size -- I was talking to a former photographer last week and not too long ago it was a three man department with two part timers. I accepted on the basis that it was a step up in title, I would be writing more and I was promised help. The first two have certainly been true. Help has been extremely minimal. I have no budget to work with and currently no stringers. At the same time I am in the position of having to rebuild the section as they went without a sports department for almost two full years after the last SE died on the job. They tried to justify not having to hire a new one to replace him by doing some study on readership, in the process they pissed off the entire sports community. So turning down things to cover is not something I can do a whole lot of.

This is what a recommend.

Get used to the idea that coverage is not going to be what it used to be. It sounds simple, but this is something I struggle with. I have too much pride in my work and section to settle for something less than what I think the section should be. It sucks. It is soul sucking. But it is reality.

Rely heavily on those sources you have developed good relationships with over the last however many years you've been there. Make sure they know the situation. This means cutting back on game coverage, relying far more on briefs and call-ins.

Move to more feature based coverage if you haven't already -- one feature a day and whatever breaks or short game coverage after that. Pace yourself though. If you have a one-man section, it will take you longer to work through the teams in the area for features than when there were two of you.

Also keep an eye on your news hole. Mine is all over the place. There is no consistent size. This becomes problematic for me because I tend to work my ass off only to find I don't have space to fit everything in, it's an on going battle because four or five days a week I rely on a slop page from classifieds for what becomes my second or third page of copy (did I mention they went two years without a sports department? ongoing battle to rebuild it not just in the community, but its respect among non-sports people in the paper as well). Sometimes I have a full page of slop, sometimes I have nothing and then am dealing with an add(s) on my section front. I normally do not find out until about 6 p.m. what I have. It sucks horribly. So frustrating. Sounds elementary but it sneaks up on you. It can also save you a lot of frustration and energy if this is organized properly. Nothing at my paper is.

The key is to keep your expectations and that of your readership realistic. Prioritize like hell. If you have stringers, use and abuse them. When you have days off, take them. Do not come back in for anything short of an emergency or biggest story of the year scenario. If that means missing a game, tough ****.

Fight for every little thing you can from your paper in terms of resources. If you can off load layout, do it, fight hard for it. If you can bring in a stringer or J-school student to take calls on Friday nights during football season, do it. Write him a glowing letter of recommendation or throw him a couple bucks if you can/need to. Sell it as good work experience.

Get your clippings together. Refresh the resume. Don't quit until you have something lined up, but don't let the job kill you. The grass IS greener, even if it is a sideways move to a similar size paper, as long as you're not going solo.

Good luck is all I can say.

 

[mediaguy]

Don't cut your coverage area, just cut your coverage. Raise the bar for what is worth your time. These guys are completely right: recognize the limits of what you can do with a (relatively) reasonable workload. You feel like you have to do what two people used to do, but don't make that your expectation. Doing less well is better than doing the same rushed.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Don't work off the clock anymore. This is a business. Treat it as such.

When people complain, explain the situation and offer to transfer them to the publisher.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Don't work off the clock anymore. This is a business. Treat it as such.

When people complain, explain the situation and offer to transfer them to the publisher.

This. Work 40 hours a week unless you're on salary or being paid for overtime.

Don't kill yourself for a paper that doesn't give a **** about you.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Don't work off the clock anymore. This is a business. Treat it as such.

When people complain, explain the situation and offer to transfer them to the publisher.

This. Work 40 hours a week unless you're on salary or being paid for overtime.

Don't kill yourself for a paper that doesn't give a **** about you.

Even if you're on salary, work the 40. You're getting paid the same either way, so you might as well work just 40.

 

[ColdCat]

I did the one-man dept. for about eight months.
At first I was told I had an unlimited stringer budget and that helped a lot. I never had a game unstaffed on Friday and used stringers a lot during the week as well. We ended up cutting down on our D-III college coverage, virtually ignoring non-revenue sports until the postseason. Those coaches didn't like it but the SID understood the situation.
I tried to get to one high school event a day and write a gamer and a feature off one trip. I also did a lot of stories strictly by phone.
I drove myself crazy over time working long hours and going without time off, but it still wasn't enough for the publisher or a lot of readers who could never understand why a staff of one couldn't be everywhere at once.

 

[Mark2010]

I echo what the others have said. They get what they pay for. Decide what YOU consider important and let the rest fall by the wayside. If/when people complain, refer them to the publisher. Even publishers understand wage and hour laws, that one competent person can't do as much as two competent people.

Like others have said, don't feel it is your sacred duty to make up the slack for their incompetence.

 

[bigpern23]

I can't stress enough what others have said about working your 40 hours. Do not work for free.

If you absolutely must work over 40 hours one week keep track and take a comp day at the nearest opportunity.

If the publisher is only willing to pay for one sports staffer, don't give him a second one for free. You'll only be justifying his/her decision. "See? You didn't really need two people!"

 

[TheHacker]

I've worked in a two-man department with stringers, never a one-man department, but I imagine I'd feel overwhelmed in your position. We all would.

As others have said, expectations have to be managed here. If you have not done so already, you need to have a serious conversation with your management about what they do and don't expect you to cover. Find out if they can give you a freelance budget. DO NOT go into the meeting angry and put them on the defensive. Even though you ARE angry and WANT to put them on the defensive. If they are reasonable and are willing to plot out some specifics that will make things easier for you to manage, then the situation maybe isn't dire. You will still have pissed off readers, but at least management will have your back.

The problem is, management usually isn't very reasonable in these situations -- at least not in my experience. You may have trouble nailing them down on what they're willing to let go of. They won't literally say the line from The Wire ("We'll just have to do more with less.") but if you don't get firm positions from them about what's OK for you to let slide, then that's pretty much what they're telling you. And it's not worth it to stay there in a one-man shop working for people whose expectations are not realistic. Because it's never going to get any better if that's their attitude. It isn't. Believe it.

And don't be afraid to tell readers that the sports department lost one of its two people to layoffs. They will still be unhappy that something didn't get covered, but most of them will understand that it's not your fault the number of people available to do the work got cut in half.

Good luck. And get that resume ready to go. You don't owe these people anything, especially if they place unrealistic expectations on you.