The Economy: A Personal Story

I have a friend that I have known for about six and a half years who just lost her job. While in this economy that is unfortunately not news it is nonetheless a very tragic situation. It is a story of hard work, rejection and a good person falling between the cracks of corporate bureaucracy. It’s a story of dedication rewarded with emptiness and the failure of a wealthy corporation to look after those who have contributed to its success. I won't use her name because she is a very private person so I will just refer to her as my friend.

My friend and I started working together as temporary employees for one of the nation’s largest insurance companies in the summer of 2002. By the fall of that year my temporary employment had been converted to permanent. At the end of that year I was able to get married and begin a new life with a stable company and hope for a good future. My friend also attended my wedding and looked forward with a similar sense of optimism for her future with the company.

By 2004 I was working in another office but still with the same company. I was in my second position with the company having advanced to a role with greater responsibility and a larger salary. Meanwhile my friend was still working as a temporary employee. She had been moved to a different project with greater responsibilities having shown herself to be a valuable team member. Despite her responsibilities being expanded, she was passed over for a permanent position in favor of someone else. Her supervisor at the time told her that there would be other opportunities and to hang in there for the next one.

After a few years in the field I returned to the main office due to another promotion and began to work closely with my friend again. Another permanent position opened up and I helped my friend update her resume so she could apply for the job. We made sure to highlight all of the work she had done for the company over now about five years illustrating how qualified she was for the job. Despite the work to highlight her skills and show how she was extremely qualified for the job, she was passed over again and told to hang in there for the next opening.

Fast forward to this year and the company is laying off workers to cut costs. For permanent employees, there have been Involuntary Severance Packages (ISP’s) being issued to give them a bit of money to help them make it through the time needed to find another job. For temporary employees there is no severance being offered regardless of their time with the company. After over six years this woman who had in many cases been responsible for more vital and sensitive tasks for the company than the permanent employees around her received nothing from the company while permanent employees got thousands of dollars worth of severance compensation. Even passing the hat among her friends we were able to raise less than one thousand dollars for her.

While this all has been happening her mother who lives with her has been diagnosed with kidney disease and will require multiple trips each week for dialysis. The health insurance her family has will not cover the treatments and therefore they will need to apply for state medical services. Her husband is working two jobs at an average of sixteen hours per day. They have two children under five. Their home is now worth less than they paid for it. Prior to her being laid off, they were struggling to make ends meet. Now they have to try to make it with her income basically cut in half on unemployment.

This is yet another example of corporate America failing to treat its workers equitably. This situation illustrates why legislation is needed to force companies to limit the amount of time they can be allowed to have temporary employees without hiring them on as permanent staff. If an employee is working for a company for more than one year they should no longer be considered temporary. If companies want to keep using temporary employees for the long term they should bear the brunt of the cost of repeatedly retraining new employees or hire the people they have used for over a year and give them the benefits commensurate with being a permanent employee. Misusing employees for profit is not good business. It’s an inhumane way of treating people and should not be tolerated.

Corporate responsibility will not come from the goodness of the hearts of CEOs. We need to urge Congress to pass legislation protecting workers from the cold unfeeling policies of corporations that put profits ahead of decency. Decency needs to make a comeback in America. We have lost much of our national tradition of caring and community and need to find our way back to what made our land so sought after by those looking for a better life. We can have profits and decency. Some may not get as rich but all will be better off.