And Away We Go...

Looks like our new ePrize CEO Matt Wise proved his namesake when he finally lowered the boom on ePrize EVP of Delivery, Jordan Broad, yesterday. This was one of a few firings and a couple of demotions yesterday -- all of them at the top of the house from where most of the company's problems stem.

I don't know what ePrize will do without Jordan. His input and work has been an invaluable part of the last decade at the company with all of the things he did such as... well... um... scoping out pictures of his female coworkers on FaceBook? And, um.... looking important in his office? And then there was this one time when... wait... what the hell did Jordan do for the last ten years at ePrize other than collect a fairly fat paycheck?

Keep up the good work, Matt. That was probably the best first step you could have taken.

What Color Is Your Parachute?

The rumors have been confirmed, long time leader of ePrize, Josh Linkner, has been asked to step aside by the company's board of directors.

There has already been one offer made to a potential CEO (who subsequently turned down the position -- perhaps after scrutinizing just how poorly the company has been run in the last few years) and another set of negotiations ongoing with a new suitor.

With any luck, Josh will stick around until March 1, 2010 to see the eleventh anniversary of the company he founded before strapping on his golden parachute and taking a giant leap out of ePrize.

In related news, Ivan Frank recently turned in his resignation. This has been a long time coming. It was always a puzzler how Frank got into his position and maintained it for so long.

This only leaves Jordan Broad as the Questionable Employee of the Decade. Working with Broad never fails to leave people flailing to figure out just what he does at ePrize other than take up space.

More news to come.

Fuzzy Math

Maybe I'm missing something. I've misplaced my abacus and just can't seem to get these figures to add up:

Back in July, 2008, the Oakland Business Review reported: "The company has 350 employees, 275 of which are in Michigan."

Meanwhile, Crain's Detroit on July 13, 2009 reports: "The company has trimmed about 50 staffers since last summer" and "The company now has 275 employees."

The math there between the two reports just doesn't add up to me. Meanwhile, I've read of a total of 55 firings. I'm not sure about the churn rate of the company (which used to be incredibly low). I guess that the error can come from the loose phrase "last summer."

Mar 6, 2009

Jul 20, 2009

22 More Go

Off they go, 22 more souls leaving ePrize today. And it sounds like the message that they need to remember is to stay away from PrizeLogic. Good luck folks. With Chrysler and GM coming out of bankruptcy, there should be some positions opening up at agencies that deal with them. Otherwise, there's still a list of job posting places on the blog.

More Job Cuts

Just got this message:

FYI: Round 3 of cuts just hit on Friday (2/6/09). Another 13 people let go. All free pop gone and lunchbox subsidy is canceled. They will of course still have lunchbox to keep the sheep at their desks but now everyone has to pay full price.

I can't wait to find a new job and jump from this sinking ship. What a mistake it was to ever come here.

No word yet if these were more "underperformers" or if Linkner will ever be able to live down his comments about the July firings (20). He managed to keep his foot out of his mouth with the December round (13).

Back in July, 2008, the Oakland Business Review reported:

The company has 350 employees, 275 of which are in Michigan, and the layoffs amount to less than 5 percent of the workforce. Those laid off received severance packages, and there are no plans for more layoffs, Linkner said.

Laid off? Does that mean they'll be called back any time now? There's an interesting discussion of that topic here.

Does this mean that ePrize is down to 324 employees or 304... or have others quit without the press? I doubt (m)any were hired. And, what's the deal with the two sets of firings of thirteen people? It's enough to give someone triskaidekaphobia.

And the idea of severance at ePrize isn't much to sneeze at. Typically it's two weeks pay (at their low rate) and your signature on a document that dispenses of all your rights. I still regret signing mine and encourage anyone who is presented with this document to get it reviewed and amended by a lawyer.

The Unemployment Mambo

It's no big news these days that a Detroit-based company is cutting its workforce. It is surprising when it's a company that claims to be doing as well as ePrize. Despite cuts made in July, they've undergone another round of pruning this week.

The real surprise comes when, out of the settling dust, comes the name of some of those folks summarily dismissed. Amongst the score of people let go are at least three people that have been there three or more years, including one employee who helped extensively retool and build upon the infrastructure created by the last guy who did the same thing (before he was fired). Also amongst the bodies was an employee who came in with huge ideas that were warmly embraced by the company, displacing rogue elements... like me. Between him and another useless ass-kissing joker, this was almost a karmic sacking.

That these guys were longer-term employees may lead some to posit that this was more of a cost-saving measure to dismiss those who have higher salaries in favor of keeping lower priced hires. Yet another sign, too, of the lack of loyalty from the top all the way down the line. It seems that even if you're part of the family or a long-term hire, you can't count on ePrize sticking with you.

To all the folks fired - You may be devastated by the disloyalty and disservice from ePrize but, believe me, this is the best thing that could ever happen to you.

Today is Your Lucky Day! Massive Layoffs!

Time for the ePrize bus to let off a few more passengers. How humiliating for the people fired to be described publicly as "underperformers." But, then again, tact was never an ePrize strong suit.

Is it a bad sign that a good number of cuts came from the business development sector? And howasbout losing the COO? In all, over thirty people have been terminated in the last month, one of the biggest purges in a while, though I'm not sure how that compares with the attrition rate. The churn rate used to be something that ePrize could boast about in their sales deck but now I doubt it gets mentioned.

PS... Looks like it's time to update the website.