Job Search: "The Company Men"...and Women

Boyfriend and I have a game we play when we watch movie trailers.  At the end of each trailer, we count to three and give it a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down.  If we agree--and most of the time we do, although he's a guy, so he favors the action films--then it goes on our "to see" list. It's fun--give it a try!

 Having already seen most of the Academy Award contenders, the weekend found us buying tickets for "The Company Men."  While it had looked interesting before my layoff--it scored a previous thumbs-up from both of us--it suddenly became timely. And riveting.

It's the story of what happens to people after being laid off.  Ben Affleck plays Bobby, a successful Regional Sales Manager who walks into a meeting one morning, only to find he's out of a job. Given a few months of severance pay and Outplacement assistance, he turns around and heads back home.  He is stunned, but confident that he'll snag a new gig in no time.  After all, he has a strong track record and great experience.  "Highly employable," declares his supportive wife.

Things come apart in bits.  At first, the family continues to live and spend as always.  Bobby goes to Outplacement with an amused attitude. Just a little setback, he assures everyone. Only gradually, as income stops and expenses continue, does the reality sink in.  His car is repossessed, his wife returns to work.  There are weeks spent at an Outplacement cubicle, just trying to get an interview.  When he does get the occasional one, no job offer happens. Always dead ends, with, or without, the much-touted networking.  They sell their home and move in with his parents.  He takes a construction job, working for his brother-in-law.

I tell you all this because the emotions and situations are real.  Hope is soon replaced by pain and panic. Bobby and his colleagues are smart, talented and motivated.  Well-connected, well-networked. But there is no work.  Not just at his former salary, but at any salary.  They lose everything.  One of his co-workers, a man of about 60 years, is told to alter his resume and dye his hair.  "It's going to be rough out there for you," is the frank observation of the career counselor.  In despair, after trying to compete with much younger candidates, he eventually completes suicide.

I found several things especially fascinating:
1.  The scenes involving discussions about which employees would be let go. As Human Resources and Managers review the lists, it goes something like this: "Her husband has a good job, so she'll be okay."  "Not him, he has a son in college."  "She can go--she could be home with her kids."  "Close enough to Social Security, should've planned better."  On and on.  There is one good-hearted executive (played by craggy Tommy Lee Jones) who objects to the subjective method, but doesn't really do anything.  Until he is handed his own pink slip.  But, I had to wonder if this is really how these decisions are made.  No rules?  No criteria?  Just people in a conference room, drinking bottled water, and casually destroying lives?
2.  When executives are sitting in a meeting about cost-cutting, the first budget cuts are staffers. No one at their own level. Not a big surprise, but you never hear any of them say, "Hey, we make plenty.  How about we save a few jobs by giving up our bonuses?" Or "Perhaps there are redundancies in the corner offices?"  Or "Hey, Pete--you're close to retirement.  More time with the grandkids.  How about now?"
3.  The Outplacement was uncanny in its accurate portrayal.  An initial orientation, complete with a pep talk about enthusiasm and attitude. "I will succeed!" chants the group, standing in a circle.  Then, it was off to the bull pen, to crank out resumes and applications, along with the others whose companies had eased any corporate guilt by providing a couple of months of career coaching. 

Finally, Bobby gets a job, at half his previous salary.  It's supposed to be an upbeat ending, because the kind-hearted executive cashes in his stock options to start his own company. Apparently it will be a company brimming with integrity and caring.  It was the only part of the film that didn't ring true.
 

Comments

[Ginna]

Suzie, you really get across how tough it is out there. Good luck!

[Joy]

I was going to scold you for not including a "Spoiler Alert," but for those of us who wait for movies to come to cable, meaning it will be a 6-12 month wait, I will most likely have forgotten by then anyway! More to your point, though, as a former HR person (middle mgmt, not an exec., where the thinking IS different), decisions re: layoffs as you described in the movie are highly illegal, and while I don't doubt that that is how they are handled all too frequently, it's not the way an ethical business would or should do it.

[Joy]

I should add as a P.S.----there still is the "employment-at-will" clause, which pretty much gives companies carte blanche to do whatever the hell they want re: employment issues.........