I’ve spent a good share of my last two and half days meeting with individual employees and small groups of employees talking about the City’s recent employment action where we eliminated a number of full time jobs, including six full time workers. It was a sad day for all involved.
I’ve been telling employees how decisions were made; how decisions were communicated; and how the decisions will impact the City’s budget stability. I’ve been telling them about the City’s severance package and giving them advice on how they can respond to questions. The mood is still a little somber around here, but I do get the feeling that people are listening to what I have to say.
Eliminating jobs for some employers is no big deal. But it is a big deal for our organization. We don’t have a history of economic lay offs. This is new. So for many that still work here, they wonder if this is the start of a trend or if they’ll be next. Part of what I’ve been telling employees these past days is that I do not believe involuntary position reductions are going to be part of an ongoing trend here and that we’re going to take great care to make sure of that while we start the 2010-2011 budget process.
Nonetheless, people are worried. I hope it’ll dissipate, but that’ll take some time.
