RadioShack Lays Off Employees Via E-Mail [WITH POLL]

Amused

Elite Member
Apr 14, 2001
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RadioShack Lays Off Employees Via E-Mail

AP
FORT WORTH, Texas (Aug. 31) - RadioShack Corp. notified about 400 workers by e-mail that they were being dismissed immediately as part of planned job cuts.

Employees at the Fort Worth headquarters got messages Tuesday morning saying: "The work force reduction notification is currently in progress. Unfortunately your position is one that has been eliminated."

Company officials had told employees in a series of meetings that layoff notices would be delivered electronically, spokeswoman Kay Jackson said. She said employees were invited to ask questions before Tuesday's notification on a company intranet site.

Derrick D'Souza, a management professor at the University of North Texas, said he had never heard of such a large number of terminated employees being notified electronically. He said it could be seen as dehumanizing to employees.

"If I put myself in their shoes, I'd say, 'Didn't they have a few minutes to tell me?'" D'Souza said.

Laid-off workers got one to three weeks pay for each year of service, up to 16 weeks for hourly employees and 36 weeks for those with base bay of at least $90,000, the company said.

The company announced Aug. 10 that it would cut 400 to 450 jobs, mostly at headquarters, to cut expenses and "improve its long-term competitive position in the marketplace." RadioShack has closed nearly 500 stores, consolidated distribution centers and liquidated slow-moving merchandise in an effort to shake out of a sales slump.

Shares of RadioShack rose 29 cents, or 1.6 percent, to close at $18.21 Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.


 

Aimster

Lifer
Jan 5, 2003
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Radio Shack?

Doesn't Circuity City/Best Buy have everything they have plus thousands more?
 

mugs

Lifer
Apr 29, 2003
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Originally posted by: Aimster
Radio Shack?

Doesn't Circuity City/Best Buy have everything they have plus thousands more?

No, Radio Shack has electronics components like resistors, switches, capacitors and what have you. They're pretty much the only national chain to carry that stuff. But with the Internet... their prices on that stuff suck anyway, so they're only useful if you're in a hurry.
 

mugs

Lifer
Apr 29, 2003
48,924
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Originally posted by: Amused
Originally posted by: mugs
From yesterday's thread:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=38&threadid=1920046

Originally posted by: mugs
Eh... I don't really care. Getting fired sucks no matter how it's done. If the employees wanted to "express their concerns" I'm sure they could have requested a meeting.

Ya know, I searched for RadioShack and found squat.

Yeah the search sucks, and that thread didn't take off anyway. FWIW, I've found that the search box at the top of the Off Topic window works better than the Advanced Search screen.
 

Amused

Elite Member
Apr 14, 2001
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Originally posted by: mugs

Yeah the search sucks, and that thread didn't take off anyway. FWIW, I've found that the search box at the top of the Off Topic window works better than the Advanced Search screen.

The funny thing? I used both the simple and advanced search.
 

olds

Elite Member
Mar 3, 2000
50,047
706
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Originally posted by: Amused
Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
Search for Radio

RadioShack is one word. It never occurred to me to separate the words.
Well, you have to keep in mind where you are and the intelligence of the posters.....

 

olds

Elite Member
Mar 3, 2000
50,047
706
126
Originally posted by: Amused
Originally posted by: mugs

Yeah the search sucks, and that thread didn't take off anyway. FWIW, I've found that the search box at the top of the Off Topic window works better than the Advanced Search screen.

The funny thing? I used both the simple and advanced search.

Never use advanced search, eExcept for archived threads. The forums aren't index so it's worthless.
 

Amused

Elite Member
Apr 14, 2001
55,825
13,865
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Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
Originally posted by: Amused
Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
Search for Radio

RadioShack is one word. It never occurred to me to separate the words.
Well, you have to keep in mind where you are and the intelligence of the posters.....

In fbrdphreak's defense, the article he posted separated the words.
 

olds

Elite Member
Mar 3, 2000
50,047
706
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Originally posted by: Amused
Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
Originally posted by: Amused
Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
Search for Radio

RadioShack is one word. It never occurred to me to separate the words.
Well, you have to keep in mind where you are and the intelligence of the posters.....

In fbrdphreak's defense, the article he posted separated the words.
I meant in general. I wasn't singling out fbrdphreak.

 

Oscar1613

Golden Member
Jan 31, 2001
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Originally posted by: mugs
Originally posted by: Aimster
Radio Shack?

Doesn't Circuity City/Best Buy have everything they have plus thousands more?

No, Radio Shack has electronics components like resistors, switches, capacitors and what have you. They're pretty much the only national chain to carry that stuff. But with the Internet... their prices on that stuff suck anyway, so they're only useful if you're in a hurry.

but their selection is about half a step above worthless anyway
 

mugs

Lifer
Apr 29, 2003
48,924
45
91
So back to the article... Because of the way you worded your poll, I voted no - not good business. When there's a lot of people leaving, morale is low, and they remaining employees will use this as another reason to whine about their employer.

But from my perspective it's no big deal. As I said, getting fired sucks no matter how they do it. I've never been fired, but when the company I used to work for was going out of business the owner basically cut my pay in half and made me hourly instead of salary (there wasn't enough work to fill 40 hours a week). I think I would have rather had him just e-mail me instead of having to look at his face while he tried to lie and say I wasn't really getting a paycut, he was just restructuring my pay, and really I could end up making more, yatta yatta yatta. I guess my point is, there are worse things an employer can do when they fire you than do it via e-mail. They're getting a severance package at least.
 

mugs

Lifer
Apr 29, 2003
48,924
45
91
Originally posted by: Oscar1613
Originally posted by: mugs
Originally posted by: Aimster
Radio Shack?

Doesn't Circuity City/Best Buy have everything they have plus thousands more?

No, Radio Shack has electronics components like resistors, switches, capacitors and what have you. They're pretty much the only national chain to carry that stuff. But with the Internet... their prices on that stuff suck anyway, so they're only useful if you're in a hurry.

but their selection is about half a step above worthless anyway

It's better than nothing. ;) Although I think I heard a while back that they were phasing that stuff out anyway. If RadioShack is still around when I have kids, they'll probably think it's just another cell phone store.