Workers asked to train foreign replacements

[NeoConsSuck]

http://www.usatoday.com/money/workplace/2004-04-06-replace_x.htm

When computer programmer Stephen Gentry learned last year that Boeing was laying him off and shipping his job overseas, he wasn't too surprised. Many of his friends had suffered the same experience.

What really stunned him was his last assignment: Managers had him train the worker from India who'd be taking his job.

"It was very callous," says Gentry, 51, of Auburn, Wash., a father of three who is still unemployed. "They asked us to make them feel at home while we trained them to take our jobs."

[ixion]

1. that's sort of akin to someone making you dig your own grave

before they execute you, isn't it? :-(

[DarkPhenyx]

2. I'd'v told them...

..."to kiss my ass". You are already firing me. What more can you do to me?

[notadmblnd]

4. withhold severence

Thats how they do it. They tell you if you dont train your replacement, you will not receive your severence pay. The company I work for pays 20 weeks when they let you go.

[DarkPhenyx]

7. Sometimes integrity and pride are painful.

I would have still told them off.

[Warpy]

3. Big woop

Most women over the age of 45 have had the experience of training the male who would then be her superior at work, while she was denied advancement only because she was a woman, not because she couldn't do the job (obviously!). That the man in question is training his replacement, not his boss, is a little less undignified than what we went through.

Yes, it stinks, and it's short sighted and anti-American, and ultimately stupid as they choke off what is left of their main consumer market in the US.

The only advantage to the guy in the above story is the opportunity for monkeywrenching, something unavailable to a woman who needed to keep even a bad, humiliating job.

[Triana]

12. only women over 45?

I've had to train many, many a male replacement and I'm not 45 yet! I wish like hell some of the smug males I know had nearly as many doors to opportunity slammed in their faces based on their sex. Some of these guys won't even *speak* to me. Others speak but are condescending and/or take credit for my work or ideas (or are given the credit for them by male bosses).

It's callous, nasty, and wrong no matter who they do it to - women, this guy - anyone. In a bad job market, it's even worse for women.

They're the first given the boot, the last hired back when markets pick up (if ever), and have a worse time getting any work (even crappy work) meanwhile - especially in certain fields like technology.

Corprats suck and are callous, money-grubbing bastards who expect employees to kiss their a** while they screw them.

Some corps are OK but those are the minority.

I hate to see *anyone* treated like this - male or female, though I do wish some of those guys I know with the smug little attitudes could experience it for a while...it would certainly be a wake-up call for them.

[pfitz59]

5. Another Boeing trick......

Offer a worker a lower-paying job in lieu of severence, then shit-can them just after the lower-wage unemployment tier kicks in (pegged to new, lower wage)! Maangement scum!

[sadiesworld]

10. That IS appalling.

Fuck em. :grr:

[JeebusH]

6. Workers asked to train foreign replacements ... and vote for Bush ....

[dawn]

8. It does suck..

but I've always had to train my replacements. Granted, when I was laid off my job was moved to Arizona, not India. I could have applied for my job again and moved to Scottsdale. No thanks.

But yeah, we all had to train them or we would not get our severance packages.

Some of the developers had to train people from India, because their jobs were truly offshored. That was really hard for them. Neither of them are working in IT at the moment.

[NMDemDist2]

9. this is a story i've been hearing for a year, my hubby had to do the same

[progressivebydesign]

11. Will Bush have to train his replacement?

Well.. just fuck these corporate whore bastards!!!!!!!! THIS is the hot-button issue in this election. Regardless of it's true priority amongst wars, etc.. It IS THE story now. Kerry needs to hammer this, and hammer it hard. It's the one weakness that is really clear.. The stories are true, but they are reaching an urban legend status, in their power to influence people's thinking. We need to really capitalize on this issue.

[TroglodyteScholar]

13. In that situation...

I'd be glad to train my replacement, but I'd train them to do everything completely wrong.

[underpants]

14. Five Signs That Your Job May Be Outsourced

Five Signs That Your Job May Be Outsourced
1.You're asked to describe your job in a way someone from Bangalore can understand.
2.You're asked how much you're making in rupees.
3.You're asked if you'd be willing to relocate to another city where shoes are optional.
4.Everything in your office has been marked with stick-on price tags.
5.Your supervisor is nominated for Cost-Cutter of the Month.

http://www.ironictimes.com/0186-p3.html

[Dogmudgeon]

15. My employer just plain lied to me

"Because of September Eleventh, we find it necessary to trim some of our costs. And we have to let you go. I'm sorry about it, I really am, but too many eagles are weeping."

Then the entire division was moved to India. One sick irony is that no fewer than five H1b workers from India lost their jobs to workers in India.

Their time will come. At the first sign of significant saber rattling between India and Pakistan -- a certainty with Team Bush playing Pervez Musharraf and company like the Keystone Kops -- close to 90% of the Indian workers will find themselves out of a job, and American outsourcers will have to rehire domestic technical help but fast.

And, wouldn't you know, my rates have tripled in the last two years due to improvements in my skill set.

--bkl

[jburton]

16. Some irony here

...I bet the guy in the story, since he worked for Boeing, voted for Bush* in 2000 thinking it would be good for his job.

[Jack The Tab]

17. I thought the same thing...

I am so sick of hearing Bush voters crying about the situation in this country.

[TXDemGal]

18. Note that the end of the USA Today article

mentions Kevin Flanagan, a Bank of America IT guy who in 2003 shot and killed himself in his employer's parking lot after being required to train his offshore replacement. B of A spokeswoman Mary Waller: "We were very saddened by the death of our associate. Our thoughts and prayers went out to the family and coworkers. . . . We determine the best way to transition processes so services are maintained."

By God, we must maintain those services. Workers are expendable.

[KC]

19. Unfortunately

this is happening all across America...training your replacements (from India or wherever)

What just floors me is that where I work, the employees are told
(and believe) their corportate bosses when they say, they aren't your replacements, we're just expanding, etc.
Of course, months later....they find out they don't have a job anymore.

KC

[fudge stripe cookays]

20. This will come home to roost one way or another

Who was the DUer who posted the link to the Homeland Security site last night?

Supposedly one of the main targets for the terrorists now is Boeing- destroying their business by attacking airlines flying their planes.

Perhaps that's why they're cost cutting right and left. Preparing for the worst, guys?