This morning’s item on the mass layoffs from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt prompted an employee in Orlando who survived the cuts to share another perspective, interpreting the events of the last few days as a needed wake up call: “We’ve lived a life of excess, squandering budgets, contracting friends, and pursuing the [1950s] sitcom lifestyle,” this person, who claims more than two decades’ experience in the publishing world, argues.
“But over the past decade, the world has changed. The way we do business has changed. The need for lean, mean, printing machines is vital… We need the honesty that the new leadership at HMH is bringing us. We continually asked for the truth and now are having a hard time dealing with it. We had these great quarterly meetings here at Harcourt with the President. Lots of fanfare, a half day off, ice cream and lunch. It was great… but would have been better if what we were told was the truth and save the ice cream.”
Not so fast: “It’s been a real disappointment over the past year or so to hear about how things will change positively, but only see… a scrambling and more mismanagement,” a former HMH employee writes. “Four-five lay-offs in the one year is horrendous, even with the current economic situation… Getting rid of talented, experienced, devoted employees who actually do the work to bring a book to press is not a good choice in the long-term from my perspective.” (On that note, it has been suggested to us, though unconfirmed, that the entire production department at HMH’s Lewisville offices was let go.)
Meanwhile, at HMH’s Austin outpost, another survivor emails us a grim tale…
“I can tell you first hand that the layoffs at HMH in Austin, TX were pretty bloody yesterday. The higher-ups were letting people go via phone and email. The poor on-site HR person was left with the task of running up stairs to pass out exit paperwork at people’s desk after each call. It was a tremendously sad day. The cuts look like they were going deep into all departments on all floors. (Though we here in Austin/Harcourt are curious how the Houghton Mifflin folks were affected…
“The management has been vague and ambiguous about the layoffs both internally and with the press. Speaking as someone in the trenches, I have no clue where this company is going. I would also really like to know how many people were really affected by the layoffs at HMH because I don’t think that they are being forthright. An interesting sidenote, during one of the post-layoff-department conference calls, it was extremely off-putting that the management on the other end of the phone would not discuss who was still on staff at their location. Contrast this with the people in Austin having to go around the room and state their name. (No real information was passed out during the meeting. I guess it was a signifier that the layoffs had ceased for that department. Though they were told that what they are doing now job-wise might not be what they will be doing next week.)”