When a large business plans to make major shifts, its public relations team has to break the news in ways that won’t panic its workforce. It’s careful about what words it uses in press releases, two of which are: “Downsize” and “Consolidate.”
Lumen Technologies used one of those red flag words last week in a newsletter to its employees, announcing that it was relocating its in-person employees into one campus of its massive headquarters on Highway 165.
To the average person, “Downsizing” and “Consolidating” translates into “Layoffs” or “firing.” Those words sound better than “We are losing money, and we’re getting ready to eliminate some positions (downsizing). We will provide the same service by “Consolidating” your duties in with those of other employees.
The local community was on high alert last week after the Ouachita-Citizen used one of those buzzwords “Downsize” in its headline describing Lumen’s plans to shift what little of its 1000 workers who work in person in less space.
In the minds of the average person, that is “downsizing.” However, Lumen says it’s not downsizing; it’s just reducing its “physical footprint.”
Translated, that means “We have a complex made to handle 3,000 employees. At our highest point, we hired 1,700. We’re down to between 800-1000 employees now, and most of them don’t work in the office anymore but work remotely instead.”
The workforce at Lumen now is so small that if all 800 to 1000 of its employees were to report to work in-person, it would only take up 25% of that monster of a headquarters facility.
Lumen officials say the news reports are in error, the company is not downsizing, but it is consolidating its offices. They didn’t deny that there are less than 1000 employees left.
In the public mind, “consolidating” means the company is not expecting to grow to fill up its empty spaces, parking lots, and offices.
In the public mind, “consolidating” also means workers should not make any long-term plans.
Lumen says “consolidating” means it has no plans to reduce its workforce, but in reality, it’s been reducing its workforce gradually for years. It’s down to 1,000 now and quietly getting smaller. It’s the national headquarters, but the President of the company and other high officials won’t move to Monroe. Perhaps they know something we don’t know
Locally folks get nervous whenever large companies use one of the corporate buzzwords.
We heard “Downsizing” and “Consolidation” just before the GM plant closed.
We heard those terms just before State Farm eventually closed.
Folks in Bastrop heard those terms just before their factory closed.
Experience has shown that when companies scale down their physical footprint, downsize or consolidate, it’s not because they are making money, but because they are losing money and up the road, may have to reduce their workforce.
Experience has shown that when we hear a company using any one of the red flag words, the possibility of layoffs, furloughs, and other forms of job loss is real.
Mayor Oliver Ellis says the empty buildings may be a blessing for the community because they can be marketed to other companies who need 40,000 square feet of space.
Yeah, right!