Voluntary Layoffs: Should I Stay Or Should I Go Now?

Rusty Rueff — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:34:42 +0000

AOL’s recent announcement about their voluntary separation packages brings back the question of whether or not the acceptance of a voluntary package is a good thing or not in this economy? First of all, let’s be real about why companies offer voluntary packages. The reason is to soften the blow of what is coming and to go ahead and flush out those who have already been looking for a job, have a job in hand, or just don’t want to be there. This way there isn’t the keeping of someone who already has a job in hand and removing someone who wants to be a part of the company. There are many pros and cons to this approach and I have been a part of creating and administering these programs successfully. Where they fall down is when the offer is not accepted by enough people and the alternative is that there is still a forced reduction that comes after the voluntary period has passed. That in turn leaves those who didn’t accept the package, who get laid off later, with a smaller package, upset and not being long-term goodwill ambassadors of the company. In this economy, I would be leery of a voluntary program receiving enough acceptances to make a voluntary program successful.

AOL Company Rating: 2.9 (Neutral); CEO Rating: 64% Approval (as of 11.20.09)

Now comes the questions of whether or not one should take a voluntary package or not, and what message does that send to the hiring market if you do take the money and run?

Well, that all depends on how taking the package fits in your overall plan and your career story. Certainly if you have something else lined up, have a plan in place for change and you are just in waiting mode, then taking the package and moving on is fine. That fits in any career story. However, if you are just thinking “this place sucks” or “I gotta get out of here before the ship sinks” or “I just have to take care of me”, then you might want to think twice about how that fits into a positive career story. There was a time when that was fine, like in1999 during the dot com bust. We all had to talk to the candidates who took their voluntary packages or their severances and sailed around the world. It was in vogue, you know. You could get away with a “me” attitude and while the other side of the table may have questioned your loyalty, self-interests, etc. the hiring market was such that this became a nuance that was overlooked. But in today’s market where a hiring manager wears the weight of having already put people on the street and doing all they can to keep people employed, when she/he sees someone who thinks cavalierly or doesn’t value the fact that they had a good job, it can leave a sour taste in their mouth. What hiring managers and recruiters want to see are people who love their work, value and appreciate their jobs, care for their companies and who better and grow themselves in their performance and careers.

So, it might make all the sense to take a voluntary package without having another job, if there is a good reason that you can honestly portray and that others will understand and empathize with. But, if you have any doubts on how you might feel about your reasoning, as if it is was presented to you by a candidate, then you might want to take a real hard look at yourself before you make the voluntary jump.

Voluntary Layoffs: Should I Stay Or Should I Go Now? is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

AOL Changes Guard: Employee Insights to new CEO Tim Armstrong

Glassdoor Team — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 20:54:29 +0000

AOL’s CEO Randy Falco has left the building and it will be interesting to watch how the new CEO Tim Armstrong, a former Google advertising sales executive, will be received by employees. For the past several months, Falco has been on our CEO Watch List as one of the lowest rated CEOs on Glassdoor.com (w/ at least 25 or more reviews). At the time of the announcement, Falco had a 13% approval rating and 64% disapproval rating. One has to ask if the writing was on the wall for Falco when we observe that his approval rating continued to sink.

Here is a snapshot look at Falco’s over the past several months based on Glassdoor’s CEO Watch List…

So what can Tim Armstrong learn from Falco’s experience at the top of AOL? He should ask AOL employees. Below are just a handful of suggestions AOL employees have for senior management — feedback on what is working well and things Tim Armstrong may want to address quickly.

One should be easy enough based on Tim’s experience at Google: “Get the ad business on track and kick the sales force in the butt. Hard.” – Software Engineer (Lancaster, PA)

Employees’ advice to senior management:

“Do something. The content strategy remains questionable, even if the eyeballs are relatively cheap due to low labor costs (bloggers). Going to continue to need local developers to work on product — India is mostly not cutting it.” – Senior Programming Manager (Dulles, VA)

“Take any offer you can get for the company…” Vice President (Dulles, VA)

The benefits of working for AOL:

“It still has a huge number of talented people and itz a flexible work place. Casual dress code, support for open source technologies, competitive salaries all make it still a good place to work.” – Senior Systems Administrator

“If you have a family, AOL is a really nice place to work since they support great work/life flexibility. We recently had our vacation time increased.” – Systems Architect (Dulles, VA)

And lastly, here are the downsides employees note about AOL:

“Never have I worked at such a negative place. Upper management heavy. No positive reinforcement. Constant layoffs. Constant new policies. Constant frustration. if you do go to work there don’t be surprised if you’re laid off within a year. don’t worry, their packages are fair. for the record i have not been laid off. Yet” – Account Director (Albany, NY)

“Career advancement is limited while company future is bleak.” – Senior Technical Project Manager (Dulles, VA)

We wish Tim Armstrong the best of luck as he prepares to jump into AOL. As he said Thursday, he will be working toward “the right structure and future for AOL.” Check back as we track what AOL employees think.

AOL employees keep us posted. What do you think about the change in leadership?

AOL Changes Guard: Employee Insights to new CEO Tim Armstrong is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

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Voluntary Layoffs: Should I Stay Or Should I Go Now?

AOL Changes Guard: Employee Insights to new CEO Tim Armstrong