My adult work life began at a major insurance company in January 1980. I was hired, after passing an aptitude test, to go through the computer programming training class. Like many corporations in the insurance/financial sector this company was expanding the number of programmers so that they could increasingly automate their operations. These companies were drowning in row after row of cabinets with paper forms.
It was a Presidential election year, but that was still almost a year away. We were still living in a country recognizable to anyone who had grown up post-World War II. A country where there was work if you wanted it, work that would pay the bills, and where if the company did well everyone shared in the good fortune. To bumper sticker it, we were still living in Franklin Roosevelt's America.
This was especially evident at this particular company. On my first or second day of employment I sat through the orientation film. The film of course related the history of this company. One point that was emphasized with pride was how nobody lost their job at this company during the Great Depression. There were no layoffs.
Now there were furloughs, and some people had to share jobs and/or be reduced to part-time work. The point was made though that everyone working for this company retained a position and at least a portion of their income at a time when so many people had nothing. It certainly made you feel good about the company you were working for and gave a certain sense of security.
I completed the training in computer programming and began working in one of the IT departments. Our training class had taken to meeting after work on Friday evenings at one of the local bars. I can still remember sitting there about that time, either as our class was nearing "graduation", or shortly thereafter as we had been dispersed throughout the company. One of our instructors had joined us. He was basically telling us young adults (mostly, there were some career changers in the mid-to-late 30's among us, but most of us were on our first job out of college) that we had it made if we wanted to make a life-long career of this.
"Just think of it", he said, "you're computer programmers, in an industry desperate to increase automation, at a company that didn't lay anyone off during the Great Depression!" Not an exact quote but pretty darned close.
So this is late winter or early spring 1980 when I'm sitting in the bar listening to this. I'm 23 years old and being told by an older established adult that if I do my job, and if I want to do this as a career, I am basically set for life.
By the mid to late 1980's all that had changed. I had moved to another insurance company still working as a computer programmer. Many people I knew though still worked at my former company. Then one day came the startling development. Layoffs. Massive layoffs. At the company that had not laid off anyone during the Great Depression.
Now it was different. There was increased competition we were told. Profits were being squeezed. There had to be streamlining and belt tightening. So hundreds of people were let go. You could see the shock on their faces as they were interviewed by local reporters on their way off the grounds. For those that car pooled or took the bus to work a fleet of taxi cabs was lined up outside the building to take them home. Courtesy of the company of course, princes that they were.
The company that found a way to avoid laying off anyone during the Great Depression now had to lay off hundreds when it was allegedly "morning again" in America. To say the least people's entire world view was turned upside down.
It was unsettling for everyone in the area not just at that company. I can remember they called our entire application support team together a few months after these shocking layoffs. We were to have a special meeting in a conference room/auditorium on the top floor of the building. Luckily we had some inkling of what the meeting was about - an announcement that they were beginning analysis of what would be the next platform to replace the ancient application we were supporting. Still as one co-worker told us as we started to head up to the floor, "all I know is if I look out the window and see a line of taxis I'm not going up, I'll just leave the building."
The times they had changed. There was no context to it all yet, just that inner sense that things were different. Context would come later with age and more experience.
It was a Presidential election year, but that was still almost a year away. We were still living in a country recognizable to anyone who had grown up post-World War II. A country where there was work if you wanted it, work that would pay the bills, and where if the company did well everyone shared in the good fortune. To bumper sticker it, we were still living in Franklin Roosevelt's America.
This was especially evident at this particular company. On my first or second day of employment I sat through the orientation film. The film of course related the history of this company. One point that was emphasized with pride was how nobody lost their job at this company during the Great Depression. There were no layoffs.
Now there were furloughs, and some people had to share jobs and/or be reduced to part-time work. The point was made though that everyone working for this company retained a position and at least a portion of their income at a time when so many people had nothing. It certainly made you feel good about the company you were working for and gave a certain sense of security.
I completed the training in computer programming and began working in one of the IT departments. Our training class had taken to meeting after work on Friday evenings at one of the local bars. I can still remember sitting there about that time, either as our class was nearing "graduation", or shortly thereafter as we had been dispersed throughout the company. One of our instructors had joined us. He was basically telling us young adults (mostly, there were some career changers in the mid-to-late 30's among us, but most of us were on our first job out of college) that we had it made if we wanted to make a life-long career of this.
"Just think of it", he said, "you're computer programmers, in an industry desperate to increase automation, at a company that didn't lay anyone off during the Great Depression!" Not an exact quote but pretty darned close.
So this is late winter or early spring 1980 when I'm sitting in the bar listening to this. I'm 23 years old and being told by an older established adult that if I do my job, and if I want to do this as a career, I am basically set for life.
By the mid to late 1980's all that had changed. I had moved to another insurance company still working as a computer programmer. Many people I knew though still worked at my former company. Then one day came the startling development. Layoffs. Massive layoffs. At the company that had not laid off anyone during the Great Depression.
Now it was different. There was increased competition we were told. Profits were being squeezed. There had to be streamlining and belt tightening. So hundreds of people were let go. You could see the shock on their faces as they were interviewed by local reporters on their way off the grounds. For those that car pooled or took the bus to work a fleet of taxi cabs was lined up outside the building to take them home. Courtesy of the company of course, princes that they were.
The company that found a way to avoid laying off anyone during the Great Depression now had to lay off hundreds when it was allegedly "morning again" in America. To say the least people's entire world view was turned upside down.
It was unsettling for everyone in the area not just at that company. I can remember they called our entire application support team together a few months after these shocking layoffs. We were to have a special meeting in a conference room/auditorium on the top floor of the building. Luckily we had some inkling of what the meeting was about - an announcement that they were beginning analysis of what would be the next platform to replace the ancient application we were supporting. Still as one co-worker told us as we started to head up to the floor, "all I know is if I look out the window and see a line of taxis I'm not going up, I'll just leave the building."
The times they had changed. There was no context to it all yet, just that inner sense that things were different. Context would come later with age and more experience.