My Turn - Achieving the American Dream

by Jonathan Williams

  Chapter 3

  “Layoffs and Promotion”

  Several months pass and Chris develops a crush on a girl named Debbie. By the number of hours that she puts in at the job, she’s no doubt a career woman. Debbie appears a little snobby at first but after speaking to her, she warms up. Over the first few months, he talks with her several times and senses that even if he shows he’s interested, it’s not going to go far as she is always cutting him off. Occasionally, he beats her to the punch and tosses in a comment like “Well I have to run,” even though there’s nothing scheduled on his calendar. It’s a fun game but easier if he just keeps his distance. He doesn’t have many projects with Debbie’s department, so their paths usually only cross in the hallways or kitchen.

  It’s a common theme in Chris’s life—a good-looking girl at the office and he can’t get to first base. He knows that he may not be the best-looking or the most desirable man at the company, but still feels he can hold his ground or at least in his younger days he could. He isn’t sure if anything is going to transpire at the work place, but it’s okay. Chris knows it’s best to avoid an office romance anyway because nothing good usually ever comes from it.

  Soon after, the company gets a round of bad news. The study they are conducting for one of the drugs that is in the first phase has to be stopped because of too many deaths. This is the nature of the business. All one can do is hope for the best, but it doesn’t always work out that way. A lot of drugs fail. However, this particular drug is making matters worse as the life expectancy of those inflicted with the disease is actually decreasing. As a publicly traded company, it’s important that upper management address the situation as soon as possible. There are several reasons for this but one is to assuage fears and hope that the market isn’t too harsh on the company.

  An All Hands meeting is called. The CEO lets them know that they’re not the only firm causing patients to die quicker. Another large well-established pharmaceutical is also contributing to deaths. It’s an odd spin, but if a large pharmaceutical can make a mistake like this, it shouldn’t be a surprise that a small company like Biokinz is capable of it as well. It’s not clear if this is proper justification or if this kind of statement is supposed to uplift them. Regardless, it’s the message that the CEO sends at the meeting.

  After the news, morale is low and people mope around the rest of the day. Some articles on the web don’t help much either. Regardless of how the company responds, according to the media, they can’t seem to get it right.

  The next day the stock plunges. Chris begins to wonder if people are more disappointed because of that or because patients are still suffering from the disease. Is the bottom line about the health of a stranger or a chunk of money that’s going to fill their pockets?

  Rumors start to surface about another round of layoffs. It’s the last thing Chris needs. He just left a stable company and now not even a year has passed, and he’s going to be out of a job—not good.

  After hearing the bad news about the stock, people on the IT Team start to gather in the Helpdesk office. They meet here because it has no windows and is secure. They not only want to discuss the plunge and other things going on in the office but also events that get their mind off work, like sports and politics.

  David, the manager of the Helpdesk crew says, “Well, hope your bags are packed.”

  “Geez, I haven’t had time to even unpack anything,” Chris replies.

  “Well this has happened before. We will get a list of people being axed and go through the drill.”

  Phillip, a Helpdesk technician, who reports to David says, “This sucks.”

  “Well, there are other jobs out there. Just need to start looking,” Chris says.

  “I already am,” the manager replies.

  “Your resume updated?” Chris asks Phillip.

  “No, I’ll work on it today,” Phillip responds.

  “If you need time to interview, let me know,” David says.

  Either way you look at it, it’s sad. The disease is still out there and people are going to lose their jobs. Regarding his job, Chris is not that concerned. He knows he can get another one quickly. Plus he has not taken time off in between so it could be an opportunity to take a trip. He’s heard, too, that the company will give employees a couple months severance.

  But Chris starts wondering again what it’s all about. Are people more concerned in keeping their jobs? Is it that employees need to have the stock triple so that others can retire? Is it really about a disease? Those inflicted could care less if people retired or not. They just want relief from their pain. For him, it brings back questions that revolve around politics. Are politicians in it for the service aspect, or is it more about power and money? Since he stopped voting, for Chris, it’s the latter. It may start off as service but once a person gets drawn in and exposed to the materialistic rewards: the trips, the power, and such, the intent shifts. It’s easy to forget about service and the initial reason for wanting a position in the public sector. The focus shifts to anything but that.

  Surprisingly, Chris is not on the lay-off list. But unfortunately, they lay off the Senior IT Director along with his manager, Suzanne. He doesn’t know the Director well but as for Suzanne, he feels bad. Looking back, she’s one of the main reasons he took the job in the first place. So it’s tough seeing her let go. She got things done and enjoyed what she did.

  Chris walks into her office as she’s packing.

  “Geez Suzanne, that sucks. Sorry to see you go,” he says.

  “It’s okay Chris. I’ll take some time off and then look for another position.”

  “I know, but one of the big reasons I came here was to work for you.”

  “I know. I am so sorry. But maybe we’ll work together again.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Everything will be okay. I still think the company can get approved for the other drug. It won’t take long for this study to complete.”

  “I know, I guess we’ll wait and see.”

  “You have my personal email so we can keep in touch.”

  “For sure. Good luck with everything and let me know if you need anything from me.”

  “Thanks Chris.”

  “Do you need help with anything?”

  “No, I don’t have much here. I heard I was going to be let go, so I brought most of my stuff home already.”

  “Okay, that’s good.”

  “Sure.” They shake hands and she forces a smile.

  About two weeks after she’s gone, Chris is promoted to her position. His title has been slightly changed but nonetheless, he’s now a manager. Along with the extra responsibility, he gets more stock and a small bump in salary. For him, it’s kind of odd taking over his previous manager’s position but he’s never heard of anyone turning down a promotion. He doesn’t feel good about it at first as he still keeps in touch with Suzanne.

  In his new position, he’s still able to do hands-on work but his main role now is to direct the Business Application Team in achieving their goals, which entails managing some database administrators and a developer. Chris continues to run some of the projects and is also involved more in meeting with department heads and working with upper management. But because of his background with databases, his priority is still corporate data. He needs to make sure that the data is always secure and its integrity intact.

  However, gradually this changes and as he moves into management, the hands-on work he was doing is now handled by people who report to him. He has weekly meetings with his database crew and always reminds them that they’re not here to look at data points, such as people’s salaries or employees’ web traffic but to administer databases. If they’re requested to troubleshoot reporting issues or calculations, they make due. The team is good about it.

  In IT, there are two managers left and an associate director. Chris is now one of them; the other manager is a network manager named Jimmy. David is promoted from Helpdesk Manager to Associate Director
. He is also slated for the Director’s position. In his new role, David also wears multiple hats and is still responsible for managing the Helpdesk.

  Jimmy and Chris meet with David once a week so that he’s aware of what they’re working on. The three of them also meet with the CFO on a semi-regular basis. Or sometimes David meets with the CFO by himself. So the channel to the top mainly goes through him.

  This reporting structure lasts about four weeks. Then David is suddenly let go. The company says that they need to trim costs. Chris also hears that there may be more layoffs in the next couple of weeks. It’s not until about a month after the first round of people being let go that they finally say that’s it for this round of layoffs. This is the way it works at Biokinz.

  Once again, a handful of IT employees gather in the Helpdesk office.

  “I don’t understand the whole David thing,” Chris says. “He was just promoted four weeks ago.”

  “I know. I don’t get it. The guy was good and honest,” says Tom, a highly ethical and religious man, who is also a dedicated worker in the Helpdesk and who reported to David.

  “Well, you need to play the game,” says Brian.

  “Yeah,” Chris replies.

  “What do you mean?” asks Tom.

  “Well, if you question upper management, regardless of right or wrong, they’re not going to like you. And you will be put on the list. Chris is on the list,” Brian says jokingly looking at Chris. Brian is a network engineer who reports to Jimmy. Out of everyone in IT, he has been at Biokinz the longest.

  “I’m probably on a lot of lists. I rock the boat too much.” Chris says jokingly.

  “Yeah, don’t rock the boat. That’s what David did,” Brian says pointing a finger at Chris.

  “Yeah, that sucks,” Tom says, knowing Brian and Chris are joking about the supposed list but if it is true, then he may be on it as well.

  “David was a good guy to work for. So you think there is a list?”

  “Probably,” Brian replies.

  The team jokes around that there may be a file that HR keeps containing a list of people who complain, but it’s assumed to be normal, probably for liability reasons. The team feels that if an individual complains about something that the company is doing unethically that the employee then makes the “list”. It’s just a rumor but there might be some truth to it.

  Later that same day, Chris walks over to Brian’s cube.

  “So you think there is one?”

  “Not a physical list, but if you rock the boat you’re not going to be around here long. They keep a mental list,” he says pointing to his head. “You know Suzanne was not liked much by upper management. I’m sure she was on it for quite some time.”

  “So what about David? Were you joking? Do you think he upset someone?”

  “Of course. Would you fire David?”

  “Well I haven’t been here that long. But he did seem like a nice guy and everyone really liked him, even outside our department.”

  “Right.”

  “Yeah. So maybe someone upstairs didn’t like him,” Chris replies.

  “Exactly. Listen, do you ever get those emails instructing all employees to not delete data?”

  “Yes, they come from HR. Why?”

  “Don’t say anything. Okay?”

  “Okay.” They are now whispering but that’s not good enough.

  “Meet me in our usual conference room,” he says.

  “Will do. Give me two minutes.” Chris heads to his office and pretends to read his email. Brian gets up and starts walking.

  Then he walks over and Brian gives him the scoop. Every so often they are instructed by HR to not delete any data. These instructions come in the form of an email. All employees receive the same one. They are told to not delete anything, this includes emails, word documents, Excel documents, etc. They are asked to preserve all of it. Brian indicates that it’s been ordered by the Department of Justice and is related to the ongoing investigation regarding upper management. He also mentions that some of the executives could end up doing significant jail time depending on the outcome. There’s already one company executive doing time.

  David who handled the corporate email server, Exchange, was asked to delete emails. Apparently the CFO came downstairs and instructed David, who was also the Associate Director at the time and the most senior in the IT Department, to delete emails related to the DOJ investigation. David was reluctant to do it and with good cause. However, in the end, contrary to what he believed was ethical; he deleted the ones that the CFO had requested.

  “He was on the list,” Brian says with a smile.

  “But he deleted the emails. So how could he have been on the list?”

  “He went to HR to discuss, prior to deleting. He didn’t want to delete them at first. Had he not complained and just done as he was instructed, he would still have a job here with a lot of stock.”

  “Geez, that sucks. I don’t think I would delete the emails.”

  “Yeah, but you never know. You refuse to hit that delete key, and you lose your job. Also remember that HR has to keep a list of employees who complain. So do you really think that HR logged David’s complaint that he was instructed by the CFO to delete data? The same data that HR instructed employees not to delete? None of that can be written anywhere. So it just makes everyone’s job in upper management that much harder if you do complain,” Brian says.

  “Yeah, I guess it all makes sense.”

  “If you have an issue here, you have to be careful in meeting with HR. All upper management executives are set to make millions. Some have already made millions. They are not going to risk some peon, like you, to screw it up for them.”

  “Yeah, I know. Delete the data or you are out. It’s like the right hand is sending out correspondence instructing employees not to delete data while the left hand is hitting the delete key. Let’s get out of here before anyone starts looking for us.”

  They both get up and leave the conference room.

  Chris has been in the industry for quite some time and has never been asked to delete data. He can’t imagine being asked that especially when people have been instructed through HR not to do it. He would like to think that he would not delete data. But everyone has breaking points. Not until a person finds themselves in the situation does one really know how they’ll respond.