How is your work place coping?

Hi i'm just curious how businesses around the world are coping in this recession and thought this would be a good place to ask.

I work at a small company that employs about 30/40 people, we are an engineering firm in England. At present all the direct manufacturing staff have been taken off shifts and put on a 3.5 day week. We work longer hours for a lot less pay (about £100 a week in my case).
Some indirect staff (office) are still on their normal working hours, while some indirect staff (packers/goods in etc) are taken off a 5 day week and put on a 4 day week so they lose 20% of there wages.

It doesn't seem like there is a lot of work coming into the company either, so we cant predict how long this will last.

Iv had a pay cut since around christmas time, but gradually the cut is getting bigger and bigger.

Everybody I know who lives around me has similar problems with there work place.

How is your work place coping?

I'm currently off work due to an automobile accident, but the lack of relpies is a great example of how many people simply don't have their jobs ant longer. I think close to 40% of the people I am close with are currently recently out of work or working for less or in great fear of losing their work soon. This spans to so many differnt industries it's crazy out there in the workplace these days.

Im in a small hospitality firm. Last month we layed off nine folks. This week we signed a big deal and can rehire everyone plus we'll need more next week.

We decided not to participate in this recession after all...and the future looks bright.

In a word - Shortages.

Shortages of everything but mainly the basics.

It is really hard to do a job and especially a good job when you are missing the basic supplies.

It will get worse.

Hold on to your seats.

reply to post by TreadUpon


Something similar nearly happened to us, we layed 2 people off then got loads of extra work from a firm that had gone bust.

Our normal customers wherent ordering anything but the new customer was ordering loads. Plus being new jobs we had to make new tooling and program every job from scratch so the work lasted longer. Our MD said we will have so much work in 2 month that we will all be moaning that we dont want to keep doing overtime lol

But that was about at the beginning of April and the new customer has got there order and the old ones still aint picked up yet.

My mate is a paint sprayer and applied for a job, it was poor money and he wouldn't have applied except for the fact that there isn't a lot out there.
When he arrived he got talking to the receptionist and she said 700 people applied for that job!!! That just shows how bad it is, bad money but people will take it because its a job at the end of the day.

I hope your place stays busy for you.

I've been in banking for several years in a middle management role, and most of the banks in my area have had severe reductions in staff - as much as 30-50% of staff has been cut. Finding a job - any job within the banking sector - is near impossible.

I've been pounding the payment for months now, and it's brutal out there. Most firms have hiring freezes, so it doesn't matter who you are or what your background is. Firms outside of the banking industry are just as bad.

I even solicited a number of businesses that I thought were recession proof - wholesale foods, for example - and even they had hiring freezes. Employers are just not hiring right now, unless you are in the healthcare field, but even that industry is starting to tighten its belt.

I am hesitant to start my own business because I don't want to drain the cash I have saved over the years to weather through this storm. It's pretty abysmal out there.

Related industries - construction, real estate, mortgages, etc. - have all been pretty hard hit where I live in the U.S. Unemployment in my state is at or near 10% and growing. We have a lot of people out of work, and this in one of the best states in the country for job growth in normal economic conditions.

I don't know how much worse it is going to get, but it is definitely unlike anything I have ever seen in my lifetime.

I am in sales now with a Co. that packages Oil and Gas investments. While it is getting harder to find investors I guess the stock market being so volatile people are looking for new investment ideas so we still do quite well. At the end of 2008 I was working as an assistant to my best friend who was a stock broker. We were going broke & were ready to find paramedic jobs again until he got hired by this new company and they hired me with him with a nice salary and commisions. I just moved into 3700 square ft. home on 50 acres & he just bought a 2009 Z06 Corvette. While other salesmen that work with us for only commissions will get close to a million in income this year. I am very thankful for the situation I am in now. I guess it goes to show that some good can come out of letting your best friend stay with you for 6 years rent free. He owed me....not anymore.

Our other bandmate & best friend owns an insurance branch office and he on the other hand is not doing so well. Other of my friends in real estate construction and sales are also struggling to stay afloat.

Never thought I'd say it but Thank You America for your dependance on Oil & Gas....Why not fuel up you vehicle & take a long drive then come home & change your oil & while your at it go ahead & crank up that hot water heater a few degrees, you know you love a HOT shower.

I hope the best for everyone who hasn't been so lucky to have something like this drop in your lap. I hope that we all find a way to overcome.

We have been laying staff off steadily since last fall. 1st round was about 10% of staff. Second round was the same. Third round was a handful. We just let 2 more ppl go today. All staff has been on 10% pay cut since last November and our executives are on 20% cut.

Our office in the southwest was faring well until about a month ago, now they are down about 20% of their staff. We had 2 instances where people were re-hired because of particular contracts they had expertise with that got revived, but as a whole things are bleak.

We are an AEC firm in the northeast. Our competitors are doing just as poorly but a friend of mine in the heartland said they have decent work coming in.

I'm a tattoo artist on the west side of Chicago. Business here has been gradually dropping off over the last three years. Much more noticeable this year. June is the beginning of the busy part of the year for us, and this week I've done ONE tattoo. Shops in all part of the country are reporting the same. We are hit first, as ours is a non essential business. Nobody has to have a tattoo, they get them when times are good and they have extra money.

I've been through this before. on 9/11 consumer confidence dropped after the towers came down and it took nearly five years for the tattoo industry to return to here it was before the bombings. weird I know, but true.

I work in the offshore oil field. I am offshore surveyor. I basically create as-builts of all pipelines and platforms being built in the gulf of mexico. I also provide navigation services to get our clients to certain locations and assist in placing their anchors so none are dropped on pipelines. I worked my butt off last year and spent about 274 days on the water away from the family. I only had about 3 months off last year but this year doesn't look good. I had over 3.5 months with no work at the beginning of the year and will have to work over 3.5 months with no time off to recuperate. I know the gig unlike all the young bucks I work with whom have only been around since Katrina & Rita. These people don't realize its feast or famine in this industry meaning when there is work You forget about Your cock and suck it up and keep working. A lot of people at my company are starving right now with no work but don't expect me to give up my work. I will be staying out here till another survey company gets on here for a month then I will come back out till the client sends me in. I have no guarantee of work so You better believe every day that I can work I will be working. So nothing has changed for me because I have been living with this spectre for a long time now and know how to outlast all my competitors.

I also heard the other day that another company called tetra is cutting everyones pay like 4 dollars an hour because the work is slow. It amazes me how some people haven't figured it out yet. I seen a guy the other day walk off the job because He is still in the old paradyn. We lost a cook the other day also because he failed his piss test. I can't understand these people because they don't see the writing on the wall but what else can you expect from a sheeple.

My husband and I are cooks, and throughout the economic decline, we basically haven't experienced loss of hours, with the exception of the past 3 weeks. Overall, our business has been fairly steady. We've had slow-downs, but they didn't last long, but I'm concerned about the slow-down we're currently experiencing.

The past three weeks have been really bad though. Business is WAY down, and while we're in our "slow season" I've never seen it anywhere near this slow. We're losing hours as a result. We're being scheduled to come in later every day, and instead of scheduling me on Saturday lunch, a manager who gets paid salary is now taking my hours. Besides that, slow business means that clean-up starts much earlier now and we're not working as late in the evening as we used to.

I just hope that business will pick up soon because I looked at my and my husband's schedules for next week and our hours have been cut even more. *sigh*

Servers are being scheduled less hours as well, and much of the time they're here, they're not making money because we don't have enough customers. Then the tips they are making seem to much less than what they were. Many servers tell me where they used to get 15% to 20% tips, they're now more frequently getting 10% and less.

I wonder if our slow down in business which happened about 3 weeks ago is a direct result of the rising cost of gasoline? I think it's certainly a big part of it.

Edited for clarity

[edit on 29-5-2009 by cornblossom]

reply to post by jkm1864


I am old school also. I know about saving for a rainy day and socking away a little something for the deluge.

I am well pass the point of playing king of the hill and I have no interest in the pi$$ing contest.

So I go work, do my job and try to keep a low profile but I do have limits. I show respect to everyone I work with and I expect the same. I expect to be paid for my services and if I "choose" to throw in some extra time. Consider it a gift not a requirement.

I value my job but only as long as the job values me.

My workplace has had a couple rounds of layoffs. Bummer for the folks that get laid off.

Now the powers that be are talking about unpaid days off and/or salary cuts.

Time to tighter the old belt.

reply to post by wastedown


Its good that some people are still doing well. There will always be winners and losers in a recession, but it seem that only a few are winning.

One or two of my mates are still raking the cash in too, one just spent £18,500 on a new car! He is 21 years old haha I thought he was mad when he told me.

Another mate of mine worked for a large car garage, the garage made them all redundant and took there stuff from the unit they worked from.

Instead of going home my mate and a work mate of his rang the landlord abd got a lease on the building, so hes now running his own garage. He is making a fortune at the minute and is over run with work so much that he has hired 2 more of the lads who lost there jobs.

Its always good to hear that people when manipulate a bad situation and make it into a positive one.

reply to post by wastedown


Is your company also referred to as a map?

If so, I do business with you lol

Hi, Luckily for me I work in the waste and Recycling industry so things not TOO bad. However we were looking at making 1 person redundant but instead we have just opened 2 new depots - 1 collection of recycled product and the other one which opens Mon is a fuller site offering tipping facilities as well as collection. So we are actually increasing the workforce.

The thing i've noticed is the lack of building work starting - we are basically getting almost no 'muckaway' jobs and therefore are struggling to fulfill soil out orders. There are loads of massive jobs waiting to happen but due to current economic conditions none of the big boys are opening up new sites.

Quite a number of our customers have folded though - mainly the groundworkers and companies dealing with starting up sites.

Hampshire/Dorset - South Coast England for those not in UK.

I am now semi retired from two careers. the first obviously being the US Marine Corps the second the Oil Fields... while the the business of war is booming the Oil fields are in collapse...

I worked for Baker tools there part of Baker Hughes the very same company good old Howard made all his money in... they make things like the drill bits used on Oil Drilling platforms, (Rigs) I still drop in the shop from time to time and things look bad... lots and lots of layoff's...Lots of hiring freezes... Rig being stacked... their even shutting in some not so productive wells...
why, low prices and big drops in demand mostly... they also foresee a new push in emerging tech that will make Oil less of a necessity... lot of big oil companies are jumping on that band waggon BTW....

Its not the first time we've seen the patch go belly up that too runs in cycles... what it does mean is a big hit for states and their budgets they get a lot of money from Oil production and when that dries up we see cut backs in school programs infrastructure projects even little things like helping disadvantaged pay the winter heating bills...

no this is shaping up to be a very bad year... even if we saw a huge run in in oil prices no one is going to rush out and fire up the pumps again, we simply have to much inventory to burn through...remember the cut in demand isn't from people driving less as much as it is companies that use petroleum as a raw product in their manufacturing has slowed or shuttered production. doesnt look good short term folks.. not for the patch anyway

[edit on 30-5-2009 by DaddyBare]

I live in the Northwest USA Seattle region and I work in the construction supply warehouse business. Ever since the end of 2008 the construction material business has been nill. And it gets worse by the month. Everyone seems to be buying up the foreclosed homes before anyone will start building again. Their are a lot of foreclosed homes so it will be a while before my job picks up again. Every month our 50 employee business lays off 3 or 4 workers. Contractors and builders are going out of business and are being bought for pennies on the dollar by construction companies who saved for a rainy day.

My job is very secure because I kiss ass.
If you do not kiss ass to your manager , you are on the top of the list to be laid off. When lay-off time comes around managers will 'clean house' and get rid of undesirables that do not 'kiss ass'.

I kiss plenty of ass and always make the manager feel like a King, Therefore I still have a job without a pay cut.

In these dire economic times, learn to play your cards right and you can get through it.

reply to post by DaddyBare


Actually, I believe oil inventories keep on dropping, which correlates with the higher prices 64.00 a barrel or so I cant remember what we are at right now

reply to post by wiredamerican


Haha well I supppose that is one way to get through it, but I wont be kissing ass.
No matter what our situations are there is always someone who has it worse, so il just keep on going.

I cant wait until the economy picks up again though, to think of all the money I wasted on rubbish. Sure I saved but I had just got my own place and passed my driving test when all this started.

Iv spent nearly £4000 out of my savings in the last 3 months, because Iv had to buy furniture and now food too with them. Not much left now.

But the sun keeps shining, which always makes life that little bit better!