Wednesday, January 24, 2007

I have no idea...

what to post... but I feel I should update.

The job - I started in November, I think, as a part-time, on-call employee, working for a lockbox unit of a local bank. We receive payments for doctors offices and such, and make the deposits to their bank accounts, and then send them a copy of the check and the remittance from the patient or insurance company.

There were 4 employees there, in addition to the manager, whom I have known for years thru church. This department reports up thru Treasury Management, and I was asked to do some Part time work for them as well, instead of them getting a Temp. Well, a few weeks ago, it was announced that Lockbox would be phasing out, and converting to an imaging process. Imaging is being outsourced to a company in Tempe. So, all of 5 of them are losing their jobs. Deanne, the Mgr, had told me before it was announced, so I wasn't surprised when HR showed up. They'll get severance, standard 4 weeks plus 2 weeks per year of employment, I think.

It doesn't really affect me, because Treasury Management has asked me to do some work for them as well- so going forward, I can still have 10-12 or so hours per week. It will get me a little extra cash, but still allow me to stay home.

When the announcement was made, Deanne was cautioned to watch out for G- he blurted out that she had Lied - when she did know the department was closing, but didn't have details so didn't say anything earlier. Well, he is the first to go, his last day is Feb 9th. He is slower than slow, so she is not minding. They are doing LIFO - Last in, first out. So seniority goes last.

When Wells Fargo took over First Interstate Bank, I got a severance package of 4 weeks, plus 4 weeks for each year of employment! That was great! We moved back to AZ, where I got a job immediately, so it was nice getting paid double for awhile.

Have you ever gone thru a merger or something where you got a severance package?
How'd it go?

4 comments:

Paul said...

I will get a small severance for being let go.

And a good rule of thumb I've learned in workplaces, as well as with car sales and the like: If It Isn't In Writing, They Never Said It.

kim (weltek) said...

Glad you are coming out of the deal ok.

I've never been through downsizing on a large scale (happens in state gov't on smaller scales usually) or a buyout/merger. Guess that's one good thing about the government. Unless maybe Wisconsin and Minnesota decide to merge.

Puffy said...

Wow! What a great severance package!

Once, I was RIF'd, reduction in force. But I didn't get anything.

Seana said...

My first real job out of university was at a place that was eventually closed down. I actually forget what the package was. We got a big fat raise if we agreed to stay on and train the people who would be doing our jobs. That was pretty tough. We kept saying amongst ourselves that we wished we had less integrity so we could screw up the management. The worst we did was swipe some steno chairs.

They were good chairs.