<p>My poor husband has to go to work today and lay off 10% of his department (55 people). Their jobs will be outsourced to India for $10/hour. </p>
<p>I swear this job is going to kill him. Life sucks sometimes.</p>
<p>:(</p>
<p>Oh weenie, how terrible for your H. My H works in a high stress job and I wonder if the job sucks the life out of him. But he never had to lay off people whose job was being outsourced. That is awful.</p>
<p>Awwwwwwwwww, weenie, I’m <em>sorry</em> that your husband is facing such an uncomfortable and depressing situation. The company that my dh worked for sold the whole place out from under its employees about 15 months ago <em>sigh</em>. It’s all about the bottom line… Anyway, my thoughts are with him as he faces this difficult and painful day. ~berurah</p>
<p>When my husband was faced with laying off 25% of his employees back in 1991, he negotiated his own layoff first, then told his employees what was happening to all of them. And my husband then took the severance and started a company–along with some of his employees.</p>
<p>There are other choices.</p>
<p>dmd: I know he wishes he’d done that 10 years ago…but, boy, this just feels like an impossible time to be taking financial risks. (Although staying where he is no doubt a risk too - I can just see it, they’ll eliminate his department and then eliminate him!) Anyway, it is time to launch a national job search I think. <em>sigh</em></p>
<p>Weenie, I feel for your husband, and am sorry he has to do this today, but, the reality is, there simply is no “right” time to take financial risks, not as long as there are children, mortgages, cars, health insurance, etc. </p>
<p>Long ago, someone told me that the time to begin a job search is my very first day of work at my new job. In other words, always be searching aggressively for the next opportunity, and know what it is, at all times. I have followed this strategy very seriously for the past ten years and ever since have never been in a position where I could not afford to walk away at a moment’s notice, or feared a layoff, business downturn, financial surprise, etc. </p>
<p>Your husband may want to consider some form of entrepreneurship while he begins a search for “traditional” employment. Several of my friends and I have done this during the past decade, and never have we been happier, or felt more secure. The first few years were a bit scary, but no where near as scary as working for someone else, someone else making the decisions, etc.</p>
<p>I’m sorry to hear about your husbands situation. These days, it seems like we are either overwhelmed with work or not working at all!
Our kids are not the only ones stressed out these days.</p>
<p>its not about the bottom line, its about people…too bad American companies are so worried about its share holders and not about other Americans…</p>
<p>When we get a sales call, we ask if its from India, yes we do…then we tell them we don’t like outsourcing…and we call the company</p>
<p>it is not much, but I like my fellow citizens and think them having jobs is more important than a few more cents to a share holder</p>
<p>a person being able to buy things HERE helps more than some company saving a bit, but maybe that is just me</p>
<p>LTS - we have our own business and I am hesitant to recommend it to anyone.</p>
<p>True, we can’t be laid off. However, we feel responsible for all our employees. Instead of one boss, we have many mouths to feed.</p>
<p>My husband hopes at least one of the kids will take over but I’d be just as happy if they did something else!</p>
<p>
Those American companies are owned by those share holders.</p>
<p>I’m sorry to hear about what your husband has to do. About 15 years ago my dads company moved from here to NC and he had to make the decision to stay here as opposed to moving there and then 5 years ago my moms company moved to Mexico to utilize the low costs of labor. A month after they moved there they had a fire and the place burnt down and they had to build it again. I guess it wasn’t cheaper afterall.</p>
<p>Weenie:</p>
<p>I feel badly for your H. I see the issue from several angles as my H was laid off several times (though not directly on acount of outsourcing. But $10 an hour is riches in many countries, and well above the minimum wage even in the US. </p>
<p>I read an article that tutoring in math and sciences is now being outsourced to India as well.</p>
<p>Weenie,</p>
<p>Condolences onthe rough day. </p>
<p>H owns a business, and lay offs are tough. Fortunately, the ethics of outsourcing hasn’t been an issue, but tough economic times are no fun either. I am so grateful that we weren’t trying to finance college in 2001-2002.</p>
<p>A good backrub is probably in order tonight.</p>
<p>My husband has also been laid off twice, complete with the “pack your stuff and we’ll walk you to the car”…(lest you be stealing the company secrets?)…which makes a person feel like a common criminal. It’s awful for employees who have given their heart and soul to a job, sometimes for many years.</p>
<p>Owning your own business is no picnic either though. I am self employed and I prefer only one of us in the family…it’s plenty stressful enough, and I like one steady paycheck, even with the knowledge that tomorrow could be the end of that full-time job too.</p>
<p>I feel for your husband though, Weenie. It’s awful to be the giver of bad news too, particularly for nice guys.</p>
<p>So sorry to hear this, weenie. Having been through this several times at my own company, I know how wrenching it can be. (I especially remember the day about 15 years ago when both a husband and wife working in the company in separate departments were laid off on the same day 
). I wish your husband strength; it’s one of the hardest things asked of a manager.</p>
<p>Allmusic: "complete with the “pack your stuff and we’ll walk you to the car”…'</p>
<p>That’s how this will go too – which stinks so bad – some of these people have worked there loyally 15 and more years!</p>
<p>My husband had a frightening lay-off a few years ago, so he knows how bad it can be. He commuted to a job 330 miles away for a year and a half. That was a bad time. So I told him this morning, “You’ve been through it too and we managed. Hopefully they all will too.”</p>
<p>owned by people whose friends are getting laid off…sorry, but sometimes loyalty to country should rise above a few cents profit, because it is good business to have customers who are working who can buy the product…but if you have more unemployed with no income, they will not spend $$ at your company, so you make less money</p>
<p>gosh, what a concept…have people working in America so they can spend money…guess the people that get the outsourcing jobs will all by American, invest here, pay taxes here-property, income, social security, and support our economy, so that it is strong</p>
<p>no wait, they won’t do that…</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>First, weenie, it sucks for your husband to have to do that. Its no fun.</p>
<p>Second, not all shareholders are the super rich. My parents are retired and count on dividends from investments in companies to get by. They saved and invested in companies and they expect companies to look out for them as well as the workers. With good companies, its a balancing act and they look out for all parties equally.</p>
<p>hey my D is making $10 in Portland- bet it goes farther in New Delhi ;)</p>
<p>I don’t mean to belittle the stress involved in laying off people weenie</p>
<p>H has gotten layoff notices several times- because of his union position- it is entirely based on seniority- although dept heads can shuffle some people around to other positions- to try and keep good workers.
What is also is happening in his company- is when work is sent abroad- often to India- workers are having to train those folks who will then do * their* jobs
But while it may be tough to tell someone they are going to be laid off, but first they have to train their replacement- it must be even harder to be the in the positon of knowing that the better you are at training them, the quicker they will take your job</p>