It's Almost the Season for WOTC layoff!

[avin]

Judging by the diminished DDI articles and delays on CB and MB if they lay off heavily this year they better refund all subscriptions...

 

[Dausuul]

Yeah a perfect world would have no need for annual layoffs but again it is a practice that happens.
I can't begrudge them that and expect them to stay in business.
Because you want to know the alternative.
Not hire the person in the first place.

The alternative is "Plan ahead and only hire people on a long-term basis when you really think you need someone long-term." If you don't think you'll need somebody a year from now, hire that person as a temp or on a freelance basis.

Layoffs* are a very destructive thing to do to a business. They disrupt day-to-day operations, severely damage employee morale, and result in loss of institutional knowledge.

Does that mean no company should ever lay anyone off? No... but it means that layoffs should be undertaken only as an emergency measure, in dire fiscal straits. If a company is facing dire fiscal straits year after year, then either the industry is dying around it or something is badly broken at the executive level. And if the industry is dying, there shouldn't be any new hires to replace the laid-off people.

[size=-2]*As opposed to firing, which is a quite different thing. Layoffs are when you take people who are doing their jobs well and send them packing to improve the company's short-term bottom line. Firing is when you get rid of people who suck.[/size]

 

[billd91]

IMO, it's a despicable business practice that has annual layoffs as part of the business plan.

I'd make one caveat for seasonal-type of work. But then, the initial expectation is that the work is, in fact, seasonal. If WotC changed practices to specifically hire for projects and project support with the expectation that they'd be trimming once the project was winding down, I'd respect them a lot more. But since various blog posts and messages from former WotC employees makes it clear that's not the case and that the times approaching layoffs were very stressful, I feel my low opinion of WotC's practices in this regard are justified.

 

[TheYeti1775]

Reducio ad adsurdum only works if the two extremes you outline are the only options, and suggests that there is no middle ground wherein a less extreme bottomline includes the retention of employees. When layoffs are built into a business plan, it is no longer a matter of risk but rather as an inevitability. I reject your premise, conclusions, and sentiments as highly begrudgable.

Your right there is a few other options.
Contractors. Simple contract, 9 months. No layoff needed. Contactor only works for 9 months. As it's a contact position, no need to have unemployment/health benefits, etc. Heck if it's a complete 1099, the company just has it as an expense no payroll taxes to process either. That is all left on the individual.
At least in the case of present business policy the employee would be eligible for benefits, where as on the contract side of the house they wouldn't. Trust me on that one, been there done that.

You also have the option of pay cuts. Are you willing to take a pay cut to keep Bob the Game Designer employed? Yeah didn't think so. I'd have you working for pennies on the dollar in a few years if that became the practice.

Lets see other options:
Raise the prices of the products.
Tom, Dick, & Harry won't mind us raising DDI to by $2/month to keep Bob the Game Designer employed.
Jane, Mary, & Sally won't mind the book price going up 10% to keep Bob the Game Designer employed either.

It's a business policy just the same as a Game Store offering floor space to paying gamers to play their games.

Your running CMG, if you had to choose Bob the Game Designer's job or raising your prices what would you do? What if Bob's salary is what stands between you being in the Red and being in the Black?
Sorry business isn't a place for personal feelings. As much as you would hate to admit it yourself, you would be starting a conversation much like this "Sorry to have to do this Bob".

Gone are the days when someone would literally work for the same place for 30 plus years and the gold watch retirement.
In a 100+ employee company, I'm 5th in seniority outside the CEO and VP side, and I've only been here 4 years. That's the way companies work nowadays.
I've been on both sides of the desk that "Bob" would be at during this time.
Neither is a comfortable spot for either party.
But tough decisions have to be made, and if the company wants to stay in business they have to make sound ones even if they aren't popular.
The business model of regular layoff's sounds like an evil thing. But you have to remember this is/has been a regular thing at WotC, even at TSR prior to them.

Example:
The decision is no worse than me hiring a caretakeer 9 months out of the year to watch a cabin I use 3 months of the year. I don't need him those three months, should I pay him for work he isn't doing? What if in that three months I find someone better and hire them instead and this caretakeer is a master carpenter as well. In that next 9 months he adds me on a beautiful deck. I don't need him that 3 months, I look around again. This time a caretakeer and a plumber. He installs the hottub on the awesome deck caretakeer number two made for me.

Now change Caretakeer to Game Designer; change cabin to DnD; change porch to 4E; change hottub to Darksun. See where I'm going with this.
The policy works in this industry at WotC's level. Smaller companies no it doesn't work, because honestly WotC is the epitome of our industry. That's why we refer to them as the 800lbs gorilla.

 

[Henry]

You also have the option of pay cuts. Are you willing to take a pay cut to keep Bob the Game Designer employed? Yeah didn't think so. I'd have you working for pennies on the dollar in a few years if that became the practice.

Seen it, and would do it if I were offered, especially if I had a number of friends at the place where I worked. Who wants to be the bastard who says, "Sorry, Joe, you can feed your kids elsewhere this year just before Christmastime, me, I'm not taking a cut." You wouldn't get to "pennies on the dollar," though -- that's a bit hyperbolic. It's a situation that will correct itself, when you get to the point where the majority of workers will say, "I can't go through a pay cut two/three/four times in a row. Usually, one year without a raise + a cut is enough for most people, and I've known some people to leave voluntarily to "lower the odds" of people being forced into the choice.

 

[Dausuul]

Your right there is a few other options.
Contractors. Simple contract, 9 months. No layoff needed. Contactor only works for 9 months. As it's a contact position, no need to have unemployment/health benefits, etc. Heck if it's a complete 1099, the company just has it as an expense no payroll taxes to process either. That is all left on the individual.

Are we supposed to take it that annual layoffs are preferable to this?

There's nothing wrong with contract and freelance work. RPG companies, including Wizards, hire freelancers all the time. It's the logical solution when you have a short-term project requiring extra hands, and WotC is in an excellent position for it.

If you hire someone as a full-time employee, you should do so with the expectation of keeping that person around for a while. That isn't sentimentality, it's good business. Firing and hiring is expensive, both directly (severance pay, the application and interview process, associated paperwork) and indirectly (loss of institutional knowledge, disruption of work schedules, hit to employee morale). It's idiotic to incur those expenses if you could avoid them by planning ahead a bit.

The only good reasons to engage in layoffs are if a) you're in a desperate fiscal position and literally cannot meet your short-term expenses any other way, or b) you have no realistic prospects for growth and need to reduce headcount permanently. The first case might happen once in a blue moon due to circumstances outside your control, but it's not a situation that any competently run company should find itself in on a yearly basis. The second case implies that you aren't going to be hiring anyone new, which is clearly not the case for WotC.

 

[TheYeti1775]

Seen it, and would do it if I were offered, especially if I had a number of friends at the place where I worked. Who wants to be the bastard who says, "Sorry, Joe, you can feed your kids elsewhere this year just before Christmastime, me, I'm not taking a cut." You wouldn't get to "pennies on the dollar," though -- that's a bit hyperbolic. It's a situation that will correct itself, when you get to the point where the majority of workers will say, "I can't go through a pay cut two/three/four times in a row. Usually, one year without a raise + a cut is enough for most people, and I've known some people to leave voluntarily to "lower the odds" of people being forced into the choice.

Yeah it's bit hyperbolic, but you get where I'm going with it.

Are we supposed to take it that annual layoffs are preferable to this?

Actually on a Employee side, yes. It's more beneficial benefit's wise.
Company side it's a maybe situation.
There are some projects that would be longer or much shorter than a normal contract length. Also with contracts you don't have the flexiblity in assigning new things to the individual. My job for example as a contractor, I'm tasked per the contract to Project A. Guess what if you want me on Project B, its redo the contract time or there is a clause about $$ for additional work.

There's nothing wrong with contract and freelance work. RPG companies, including Wizards, hire freelancers all the time. It's the logical solution when you have a short-term project requiring extra hands, and WotC is in an enviable position for it--because of the very nature of RPGs, the fanbase is loaded with smart, creative people who would jump at the chance to work for WotC in any capacity.

Yup definitely puts them in the catbird's seat.
That is why they also get away with the annual layoff. Again, the advantage of being the 800lbs gorilla.

If you hire someone as a full-time employee, you should do so with the expectation of keeping that person around for a while. That isn't sentimentality, it's good business. Firing and hiring is expensive, both directly (severance pay, the application and interview process, associated paperwork) and indirectly (loss of institutional knowledge, disruption of work schedules, hit to employee morale). It's idiotic to incur those expenses if you could avoid them by planning ahead a bit.

Actually you neglect the tax incentives for 'creating work'. Many of the tax benefits at a local level as well dictate hiring 'full-time employees'.

The only good reasons to engage in layoffs are if a) you're in a desperate fiscal position and literally cannot meet your short-term expenses any other way, or b) you have no realistic prospects for growth and need to reduce headcount permanently. The first case is not a situation that any competently run company should find itself in on a yearly basis. The second case implies that you aren't going to be hiring anyone new, which is clearly not the case for WotC.

Would have to beg to differ for being the only good reasons.
Case in point, the big three auto manufactures used to use layoffs in the event of factory retoolings and what not.
By using the layoff, and the fact the retooling was taking 6+ weeks it made their 'former employees' eligibile for all their unemployment benefits. Had they simply said a work furlough, the employees wouldn't have been eligible for any benefits. As long as it took more than 6 weeks than the employees remained eligible and could be 'rehired' back to the line again. Though this has been changing in the last 20 years.

We as customers don't know everything that happens at WotC.
So we can only speculate why they do it.
Than shake our fingers at them and ask why knowing they won't answer when they do it again.

 

[Herschel]

Call me when WotC moves their HQ to the Caymans.

 

[dmccoy1693]

I had an aunt that worked for a department store for several years. Every year they did layoffs of their highest paid people. SHe said everyone knew it was coming and you just dealt with that reality. When those that were hired a year before you were, you polished your resume and left when you found any other job, even if it paid less. You knew it wasn't a reflection of your job performance or your worth as a person, it was just the reality of working for that crummy company.

With as heavily ingrained as yearly layoffs are at WotC, I'm willing to bet the employees there have a similar attitude towards the whole situation.

 

[ggroy]

Call me when WotC moves their HQ to the Caymans.

Nah.

They'll move the WotC HQ to the moon.