Losing Your Job-Was it the Economy or Bad Management?

When you go to work for an employer, you expect that they know what they are doing. But do they? My husband recently lost his job working in a manufacturing company. He was actually fired for poor job performance. When he came home the day he lost his job and showed me the paperwork they gave him, I almost choked on my coffee.

They had several lines of reasons why they fired him. They said it was poor job performance, along with extra duties that don't even come close to the job description. They charged him with not doing his job well, in a situation where he wasn't involved until after all decisions on specs and requirements were made, by someone else. He was blamed for crashes and other things that he had made numerous, unanswered requests for prints on.

What was the real reason behind the firing? Was it really his job performance? Or was it yet another example of irresponsibility on the part of the owners? If they had spent more time being involved in their still new business or caring about the details, would they have still been pushed in a corner to get rid of people? Of course Colorado is a "Right To Work" State, which means you can get canned for looking the wrong way and just be screwed.

The pattern of THEIR job performance, over the course of his employment, shows that they are responsible for the need to eliminate employees. Extravagant lifestyles, an obvious interjection of alcohol related behavior, decision making that at best was intermittent, running in the socialite world and extreme lack of knowledge in the field they were attempting, all a recipe for disaster.

The entire time he worked for them, whatever new trend came their way, they jumped aboard. No solid decision making whatsoever. Allowing old timers that were not doing their jobs, to run major parts of the business. Relying on the people who had kissed up, to be in charge. They fired 3 people the day my husband lost his job. All in his dept., all for poor job performance.

None of these guys would just go along to get along. The people left, have done that consistently. They choose to kiss butt to keep a job, but always are walking on eggshells.

The people fired were threatened to lose their jobs on a regular basis and intimidated into doing non work activities, such as going along with the owner after he had been drinking in an automobile, he insisted on driving. Is that responsible, business ownership?

This wasn't the first time. The last year has seen many firings. Some justified, most not.

If you have lost your job recently, whether laid off or fired, do you know the truth behind the dismissal?

In this economy, businesses across the country are struggling to keep their heads above water. Many are legitimately struggling. Others are struggling because of poor management and unwise use of their money.

Should businesses be held responsible when they blatantly misuse and abuse their powers and their authority? How hard should someone push to make them responsible? We have seen company after company, either laying off workers or closing their doors. They are filing bankruptcy, begging for bailout money and grasping for any help out there.

Should there be a standard of operation in owning your business that ensures employees are not the ones that lose, when you don't do YOUR job to operate your business in the most profitable manner?

Should business owners, in their quest to buy a business, be required in the loan process, to qualify in the operation of that business? If they lose, because of lack of knowledge or bad management practices, then have to file bankruptcy or close a business, who else is in line to lose? Everyone.....

You can't operate a manufacturing company like a Chicago, big business office. If you don't have the experience and knowledge, no matter the piece of paper on the wall, how do you run it correctly? Blue Collar is not White Collar. The people are different. They work hard and they expect their Supervision to know what they are doing. They rely on that.

When that doesn't happen, good, honest people are affected. When they see you taking expensive, Argentinean vacations, but the bonus was cut, it isn't kosher. When there is extreme waste and abuse in the work place that goes unchecked or ignored, then affects their paycheck, they get upset.

The Blue Collar Worker has been a trusting breed for years. They get up every morning, earlier than the rest of the world and do the labor intensive and dirty jobs of this country.

Yet, everyday the greedy business owners are trying to cut the throat of the Blue Collar Workers. The manufacturing has gone out the door in America, for the sake of somebody trying to get rich.They want to pay workers in America crappy wages, but they want to take home a wheelbarrow full of gold.

Yea, the owners are living it up. But, poor quality products are coming to America. Defective materials, dangerous materials and oh sure a cheap price, but at what price? Is the damage worth the supposedly, cheap cost? In businesses in this country, whose owners are not participating or who cut costs in the extreme, poor quality is happening as well.

Now, millions of Americans are out of work. How many are Blue Collar? How many lost their jobs for the same reasons the company my husband worked for has fired people? Lack of responsibility?

Should businesses be held more responsible in this era of failings across the country? Should failing businesses that have acted irresponsibly, have to show and tell before getting more money to run their business badly again? Should they have to show how they manage people and treat their employees?

If we don't change how we do business in this country, individually and as a whole, and consider more than making a dollar, America will cease to be a GREAT Country and will shrink to the status of SAD. People should feel confident in the Employers they work for, not scared each day they go in the door in an effort to take care of their lives and their families.