C'mon People, we can do much better than this

read the full post at RochesterTurning.com: turning the tide upstate:

. . . my entire team was laid off, not for performance reasons, but as a short term way to satisfy Wall Street so the stock price would maybe bump up half a tick next quarter. My wife: “That company’s like a dinosaur that will only last until it finishes eating all its internal organs.”

I’m a highly educated, highly skilled person. Since the layoff, I’ve applied to many positions. One had 22 finalists, and 6 interviewees. The hiring manager said so many high-quality people applied, it was like choosing between a Ferrari and a Lamborgini. I was the guy they picked.

Then the company had a hiring freeze, and the position closed, before they could get my hiring paperwork from HR."

Given the possibilities inherent in tele- communting, this is the kind of talent that most printers in the country would kill for. Keep them off the books and help them become the entrepreneurs that everyone is talking about.

Teach them how to run blogs for every Xerox customer. Use the analytics and business intelligence for corporate to make smarter, faster decisions.

Or get them to do the business intelligence on the local level. Let them monitor the web. Or answer web inquiries with intelligence. Or support them to mentor the kids in high school who are in desperate need of successful adults who will take them seriously.

But whatever. This is throwing away a huge investment in social capital that makes absolutely no sense. It makes a joke of blablabla about reinvesting in our country.

It's not a matter of money. It's just a matter of focus. It's not hard. It's not expensive. But someone, someplace in our organization or the other folks who visit this site, should step up to the plate and fix this. In real time. Not corporate time.

Here's an offer.

I will volunteer. No charge. My offer is to manage an online conversation to get this done in a way that is win-win for everyone. If it works you don't need me to scale it. The folks who have been excessed will be available for you to hire them.

You have my word that all communication will be secure and private. No problem with signing an NDA. Anything discussed will not appear in any of my blogs or public commenting on the web. It could be Kodak, Xerox, Oce, Ricoh, HP or any other of our viewers. But it has to be focused on the folks in Rochester, Monroe County, New York State.

To get in touch, click on the "about" button at Print in the Communication Eocology. My info and email address are there.