ESPN announced that it was cutting people from their posts as on-air personalities. A bunch of them went on their social media pages to express gratitude and memories with a lot of class. Few solicited for jobs. But what struck me was...the YEARS people had spent at ESPN. Some over 20 years, only to not just be let go, but nationally announced it was happening. It is humiliating and heartbreaking.
Now, I don't have cable, but I never understood on-air personalities. Seems podcast is where you can REALLY have a personality. ESPN is ABC which is Disney. So, it's hard to really express anything. The other thing I realized was...something that a manager friend once told me...
...when you do layoffs this globally...it's not just experience, years, and all that. It's something stranger...they have to lay off equal amounts of men and women. So that they don't get sued.
Apparently this has happened in the past, where...someone must've been upset because they felt targeted. I get that feeling. I've been fired before and it went to every excuse I could muster besides that they hated my guts. THIS is different in that some people are blindsided. And aren't really given a real explanation because how are you going to explain to someone who uprooted their family and spent over a decade in your company that it was all about numbers? It wouldn't satisfy me. Nor would it really compute that it was by dumb luck. Not performance. Not (ironically) personality clashes.
I bet corporate runs a lot like this, in whatever field. Except most people most likely won't send a Tweet about it.
Incidentally, I was shocked how many Americans turned on these people who've just lost a job. They felt they were super-entitled and good riddance. I feel that corporations do have to wrangle their employees to not express their true opinions. According to some, ESPN turned into a liberal leaning propaganda pit. Which, again, I wouldn't know. But sports tends to attract a demographic in many fields (though I don't consider NASCAR or golf a sport, fuck you if you do). So, the even-ing of the playing field does have a socialist mindset unless you play in individual sports. I think what they were complaining about was the stories of social injustices. To me, that is why people have tuned in. To get angry or to agree. I'm not sure any of this changes the people who have opinion pieces. We are all trying to build our audiences.
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