The agency lost HUGE clients and how do they handle it? By laying off of all their lowest paid, hard working young people. They laid off all 3 junior creatives (I was one of them), junior designers, people making 30 grand and under, and mid-level positions and not the dinosaurs who don’t understand simple things like the significance of the web and can’t win a new business pitch to save their lives (well our lives) and bring in quarter mils each. And it’s not just because I’m personally affected that I’m upset, but it’s advertising common sense that when an agency goes stale, it needs a talent transfusion of new, young blood. This was an opportunity to trim the fat from the agency and what they did was trim the raw, lean muscle. Who are the hack GCDs going to steal ideas from and take credit for now?? And how are they going to lay out my retail newspaper ads without a rudimentary knowledge of such advanced programs as InDesign CS3?

There are still some good people there and I wish them no ill will, but it’s hard not to think that the agency will be in rough shape now and even kind of hard to not want it to go down. It’s truly the bed they are making for themselves and what they deserve.

Finally, don’t pity those who were laid off. Time will prove that we were the lucky ones for getting to the life rafts first while the rest are overworked (at a company that has lost so much respect and credibility) and left waiting for the iceberg to hit.

And don’t act like it’s a big deal that you’re offering to help us find new jobs via resume help or career counseling because it’s easy to offer services that you know no one will take you up on after you have already bred dischord in them and alienated from the company. I’ll get my next job on my own and work ten times harder just out of spite!

I sound so bitter, but I really loved the company when I started there and just got put through the ringer during my only 1.25 years of service. Most of my time there was miserable and people who were supposed to mentor and help me grow knew it and knew there were ways to help me out and instead just let me rot. Big shout out to Marianne Malina on that one. So I’m happy that I got away from it one way or another. I compare it to finally getting away from an abusive boyfriend who makes you feel like shit and you know you don’t deserve, but you’re too afraid to leave because you don’t think you’ll find anything else. But we will. We’re all way better off.

-Lori

It HASN’T been that way at all. At least not yet. “Unappreciated” is exactly right. We’ve known layoffs might be coming for some time. We knew for certain once we lost AT&T media. On the day we lost the business, we were told “there won’t be enough work for everyone”. Speaking of which…now of all times…don’t we deserve to have it told straight? Not fuzzied up and friendly?

That was FOUR WEEKS AGO. Four weeks of knowing layoffs would be coming, but not knowing how many, or who, or when. Were you safe? Are you safe? You can imagine what that kind of Sword of Damocles will do to a workforce.

Then, Tuesday, after all that time of hearing nothing, we finally got a staff meeting and a date. The layoffs would begin Wednesday (or rather, they’d start “talking to people”).

But we still don’t know, even now, even after management’s claims of being “open and transparent”, how many people are being cut, how soon, if everything will happen all at once or over a period of weeks.

I – and I think a lot of others at the agency, probably the same ones who think the change to GSD&M’s Idea City was poorly thought out, esp. w/ regards to timing – would rather have it told straight. I’d rather have it dealt with directly, and just move on, whichever direction that may be.

unappreciated youth (isn’t all youth that? jk..great name): I didn’t say this had in fact happened this way. you missed that crucial IF – thus I’ll gladly capitalize it here for you.

nice is to tell people up front they’re gone, let them stay for eight or ten weeks so they can sort their shit out and let them take off as much time as they need to do interviews.

It is nice that they are going to help those laid off get new jobs, but I wouldn’t exactly describe the way that they’ve been handling this situation as “responsible.” It was announced 3 weeks ago that there would be layoffs and they’ve just been letting their people suffer and worry since then. And the holidays are only getting closer and closer. Then it was announced again that layoffs would begin today, but as of 3pm, still not a peep. And 2.5 months of severance isn’t that generous, compared to other companies. Plus, this will be a really rough time of year to find a job.

Maybe they shouldn’t have spent money on new metal letters for their building…