Layoffs At E*Trade

Hey, so supposedly the economy's all better- companies are hiring and there's no more layoffs! Oh, except for at E*Trade. Two weeks ago, they laid-off the entire QA department, about forty people. Strike that, they weren't laid off. Instead, a meeting was called and it was announced just like that that the entire QA department will longer be employed with E*Trade but will be outsourced to another company, Cognizant. And not full-time either, but on a temporary basis, for four to six weeks. Then, once that four to six weeks is over, they will either be asked back for a significantly reduced wage or buh-bye. If let go, they would get a severance, but to get it, they would have to do their job and meet Cognizant's standards. Not to mention train somebody in Bangalore to do their job.

Naturally, this didn't go over that well with everyone as they began to wonder what the chances of keeping their job are when they've just trained Sanjay and Apu to do it. Or when the company that now employs them, Cognizant, bills itself as "pioneering 4th Generation Offshore Outsourcing."

Best part? Well, except for the getting laid off bit, E*Trade spun it so that people weren't getting laid off. In fact, E*Trade told them they were in fact, doing them a favor in keeping them on. They could have just laid everyone off, but instead, they will keep them on for a couple more months. The fact that during those months the people there will merely be training their replacements had nothing to do with their kind decision. And all the rest of the people who work there, the one's who didn't get laid off and got all re-orged around, most of them are sure that slowly, very slowly, they are all going to be outsourced too.

Meet the new, new economy, same as the old economy.