Monday, March 3, 2008
Narrow escape, part 2
I know that I work in an industry that everyone loves to hate, but the simple truth is that the financial sector is a tough place to be these days.
Between mortgage crises, credit crunches, margins strangled by sinking interest rates, and a lack of consumer confidence, things are getting ugly fast.
Profits are evaporating, investors are screaming, and ratings are plummeting. So what do large companies do to save cash, and fast?
They reduce the workforce.
Today, in our case, it was 10% of all employees nationwide.
I've spent the last eight years dodging bullets in times like these. Today, I somehow survived once again. My small group wasn't hit - only because my friend Greg quit last week. If he hadn't left, one of us would have been escorted from the building today with all of our things in a bankers' box.
I'd like to think it wouldn't have been me, but egocentrism of that sort can get a person into trouble pretty quickly.
I'll count myself lucky tonight, and spend some time catching up on e-mails from when I was out last week. I have a feeling it's going to be important to stay on top of things for a while.
Between mortgage crises, credit crunches, margins strangled by sinking interest rates, and a lack of consumer confidence, things are getting ugly fast.
Profits are evaporating, investors are screaming, and ratings are plummeting. So what do large companies do to save cash, and fast?
They reduce the workforce.
Today, in our case, it was 10% of all employees nationwide.
I've spent the last eight years dodging bullets in times like these. Today, I somehow survived once again. My small group wasn't hit - only because my friend Greg quit last week. If he hadn't left, one of us would have been escorted from the building today with all of our things in a bankers' box.
I'd like to think it wouldn't have been me, but egocentrism of that sort can get a person into trouble pretty quickly.
I'll count myself lucky tonight, and spend some time catching up on e-mails from when I was out last week. I have a feeling it's going to be important to stay on top of things for a while.
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