Affected by the Recession ...

I could tell that something was wrong with our office director, Dave, (who doubles as the VP of Operations) yesterday afternoon. He had a look on his face that I hadn't seen before. I could tell that there was something on his mind that was bothering him. I found out what it was this morning.

A couple of weeks ago, Dave informed the office that the company was going to have a 10% RIF, but that we were not going to be affected. Good for us ... not so good for the 10% who were being let go. When the economy is suffering, It's not a good time to be in the construction industry. Money gets tight, loans fall through, and projects go on hold. It's hard to pay the bills (and the employees) when projects come off the table.

Back to this morning ...

My boss called me into his office at about 8:45 AM. He asked me to shut the door on the way in. I could tell from his body language that whatever he had to say wasn't good news. My intial thought was, "Well ... I guess this is what it feels like right before you get laid off."

We sat down and he said that he had some bad news. Anxiety level rising. He informed me that Dave was about to call a meeting to notify us that everyone in the company was getting a reduction in pay effective immediately. Before I could ask any questions, we were called into the meeting.

Dave broke the news. I thought he handled it well. He got straight to the point while projecting genuine concerned about how the news would be received. I've only worked with him for 6 months, but I have a lot respect for how he operates.

The office handled it well. It was pretty quiet in the room until one of the electrical engineers spoke up to ask, "So Dave ... so what you are telling me is that I can't get that new Mercedes for Christmas!?" We all appreciated the tension breaker and had a golf laugh.

Truthfully, I think that everyone was thankful that we still had jobs. I'm thankful that I still have a job and that I can provide for my family. There are people out there that are much worse off than you or me.

Dave mentioned to me that there were about 4 homeless people per block when he was walking though downtown Chicago last week. It was 10 degrees and those people were spending the night outside. Think about them when you are deciding how to use your money this Christmas.