Last week was a crummy week to be in London media. Downsizing hit our city’s arm of the company and many people were shown the door. There’s no whoosh of relief that it’s not you. Even if you’re not the target, you’re still negatively affected by it and you feel for that person. There’s no joy in being one of the “survivors”.Â
My industry isn’t alone. Maple Leaf Foods announced 400 job cuts a day later. These companies are all profitable, extremely so in some cases, and yet they’re tossing people out by the hundreds.
So what do people do about it? In our case, they pledge to never listen to our radio station again. Decisions that were made two hours east on the 401, by people looking at a spreadsheet, got me yelled at on the phone more than a dozen times. I suppose I shouldn’t be shocked, but so few people bother to find out where their anger deserves to be channeled. I didn’t fire anyone. Neither did my boss or his boss. But we will all be vilified for a while.
I’ve even been called a hypocrite for complaining about TD getting rid of people despite wild profits, but continuing to work for Bell Media. If I want to stay in my chosen industry, I don’t have a lot of choice. Canadian media companies are owned by corporations now. At least I took my business from TD instead of yelling at a teller.
It’s a crummy state of affairs. But by blaming the people on the front lines, people are ensuring that nothing will get done about it. It’s the people who make the decisions who need to hear about how they affect peoples’ lives. Not some poor sod on the front line trying to make a living in what seems like an ever-shrinking marketplace.