Palm Beach Post

From the blog link above, this seems to play it both ways:

More than 300 Palm Beach Post employees have applied for buyouts and all have been accepted, according to an internal memo obtained by the Pulp.

Though the newspaper announced it would cut 300 jobs, there will be additional layoffs. According to the memo:

The number of applications was more than expected. However, we received too many in some areas and not enough in others, So we still expect to begin a small number of involuntary separations, or layoffs, the week of Aug. 18 in some departments as needed. Thanks to all who applied. You have greatly reduced the number of involuntary separations needed. Your contribution to PBNI over the years and your dedication and patience during these recent difficult times is greatly appreciated.

Deciphering that, it sounds like they got the 300 they wanted but now, because of an imbalance, they're going to shed more jobs on top of that.

 

Absolutely right, Joe, it's confusing. I think some of it still has to shake out a bit.

 

Is it too soon for an R.I.P. for the whole shebang there? Gonna feel like one's needed, anyway.

 

So much for that.

 

I am told that everyone has been accepted. BUT, everyone still has the option to back out by Aug. 11.

 

Would love to see everyone back out on Aug. 11, just to see management soil its drawers. I know, I know, management always wins in the end. But it would be a talker.

 

And what people would be talking about is how the Palm Beach 300 backed out of their buyout deals as a show of solidarity and got booted out on the street anyway with a much worse severance package.

 

Last I've heard is some departments are putting together lists of what jobs will need to be done (print and online) because of the people leaving through buyouts and layoffs.
If that's the way it's gonna work, that means with 40-45 percent of the newsroom gone, the people who stay are going to have about, what, 140 percent of their current workload?
Might not be too bad for the kinds of people who spend half their shift on the phone with friends or surfing the Web, but for the people who actually spend their workday busting it all day or night, how's that supposed to work? The company can't possibly want to pay more OT than is absolutely necessary and by state law, you can't arbitrarily put people on salary unless they supervise others.
Guess they better make decent money selling off the computer and office equipment that'll be unused after the layoffs.

 

They can lease out half the newsroom to some telemarketing firm and double up on the cubicles.

Let's remember, too, that those who stay behind often have their jobs not just increased but dramatically changed, unilaterally. That ambition you had to become an Olympics writer or a consumer reporter or an investigative journalist? Good luck when you're re-assigned to cover the Bugtussle city council meetings and write about Johnny From The Next County's Little League team.

 

That one line was the most significant -- and telling -- thing about that whole post, not to mention the state of the industry.

"The number of applications was more than expected."

When has that ever happened, particularly when the number of jobs desired to be lost is upwards of 300?

 

Telling. Chilling. And very practical, too: Do you want to walk out now with a check for X number of weeks or do you want to work X number of weeks, during or after which you might be out of work anyway (and therefore will have worked X works for free or nearly so)?

Leaving into this lousy job market feels to many like more certainty than staying in this even worse industry.

 

Craig Dolch is a hell of a writer. But the golf beat isn't a luxury that too many papers can have anymore.