by Corona Man » Wed Apr 08, 2020 2:21 pm
Well this thing is no doubt affecting all of us in different ways. I mean that in an economic sense as much as a mental and physical sense. Talking to one customer earlier today he mentioned in his belief the economic damage will take 4/5 years to recover from, and I tend to agree.
On a personal note I am now feeling the impact in my work. I work for a USA (equity group) company, the owners of which are reportedly the 5th richest family in the USA (no, not the Kardashians) this family made their wealth in oil & mining, and have invested recently into manufacturing. They bought the company I work for and another manufacturing company who make similar, but different products about 18 months ago. Multi.....Multi Million dollar purchases both of them, and out of loose change in the console of the Ferrari's from what I understand!
Earlier this year, the owners decided to merge these 2 companies - standard operating procedure for equity groups - combine & slash the job duplications. Well the merger is looking more like a take-over right now. The power struggles in the boardrooms in both Chicago & St. Louis would have made for interesting viewing. Unfortunately for me, the company I work for, are loosing the arm wrestle for control. On Monday, our GM of 7 years got his marching orders...... although the guy has been my boss for the past 3 years, he is also a friend. I really feel for him. I do know he had his ducks in a row for quite some time..... they are off to court over his pay out.
The Coronavirus has impacted the decision to cut off the GM's head..... it sped up the process!
Now they have hit all global salaried employees with a 20% pay cut (I think this is illegal in Australia) for the month of April....... I am in that boat.
I spent a good deal of yesterday with the APAC GM of both companies, and it appears he has no real grasp of our customers and what's important to them......
I've spent much of today dealing with key account customers conveying the news of the managerial changes..... fair to say a few of them are far from happy. This is going to be a real challenge now.
Good thing I am working from home during this..... a beer at the desk is in order soon.
The idea of staring at 4 walls over Easter is not that appealing either, rather be playing golf, going to the pub, anything just not thinking about work for a while.....That said its way to irresponsible to head out. Do some grocery shopping, grab some beer at Dans and sit it out.
1961, 1971, 1976, 1978, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 2008, 2013, 2014, 2015.... And don't you forget it!