The thing that's interesting about being a 'contractor', is that you get to watch the corporate dynamic from the inside without really being sucked into it. Theoretically.

I have worked for big companies, but usually in a smaller office or branch, so working at 'Corporate' is a new experience for me, especially in the HR department. You get to watch the people come and go in a variety of ways, but these days, they're generally going.

A huge group of people retired at the end of last year, many unwillingly, due to a risk of losing their pension. Recently, there was a reduction of force, where departments were ripped apart and pieced back together, while many people were left out in the cold because of 'redundant positions'.

The company talks about growth and keeping the customer happy, but since I have been here, I have seen little sign of the company wanting to keep their employees happy. I guess, with the global economy being what it is, workers are a dime a dozen. There have been food drives, and clothing drives and only a couple of months ago, the president called a meeting to ask employees to give generously to the United Way because we should give up our little luxuries to help out the less fortunate.

I agree with the sentiment, but I doubt most of the people in the assembly were aware that even as the CEO was asking for their money and getting them pumped up to 'give from the heart', that the company was already planning on cutting many of their jobs.

I have first hand experience with this; companies do not decide these things overnight. There are legal considerations and huge hoops to jump through to avoid problems down the road. They don't just wake up and have a meeting and decide that they're going to cut a few hundred jobs only a couple of weeks after Christmas.

I've spent the last few weeks, since the job cut dust has settled, analyzing the data from a company-wide survey that was conducted by HR in November. Employees were asked if they were satisfied with everything from the direction the company was taking to communication and leadership. I wonder what the numbers would reflect if the survey was done today. And I wonder if the execs even look at these things or care what their employees think.

They're more than happy to let contractors do the dirty work. They can pay us less and not have to worry about benefits, with the added bonus that they don't have to justify letting us go. They don't even have to pretend to care.

I suppose there is a bright side to not being an employee; but as a temp, my trips to the psychiatrist won't be covered by BlueCross BlueShield when this place drives me insane.

I really hope that this place is as exciting as I've hyped it up to be in my head.

You signed up on October 20, 2007
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*paces*

I hope you all had a great one, and got lots of candees.