Borders Layoffs

I used to work at the Borders (the bookstore) corporate office in Ann Arbor, MI. Those of you who live in the area, work at Borders still, or used to work at Borders are well aware of the fact that about 90 people were laid off there this week. The article about the layoffs in the Detroit News was quite short, so I’ll just post it here:

Borders Group to lay off 90 staffers, mostly at Ann Arbor headquarters
Santiago Esparza / The Detroit News

Borders Group Inc. today announced the layoff of 90 workers, most from the bookstore company's headquarters in Ann Arbor. The layoffs represent about 6 percent of the workforce there, said spokeswoman Anne Roman.

The staffers can receive counseling and severance pay of 30 days of pay plus one week's pay for every year of service. Borders also will provide opportunity for these employees to meet with a professional recruitment firm.

"We have a responsibility to our employees, customers and shareholders to maintain an appropriate balance of costs relative to current and projected sales and income opportunities," Roman said. "Looking at our current trends and five-year plan, it is clear that corporate costs require adjustment at this time."

Roman said the layoffs are not related to the company announcement today it has corrected its first- quarter financial statements, posting a 31-cent loss, two cents more than announced on May 23. The error occurred in fiscal year 2005, company officials said.

There will be no layoffs at the chain's Borders and Waldenbooks stores, Roman said.

The day after it happened, I talked to one of my friends who was laid off and I got the names of other people in the company who were also laid off. Many of them were some of the best people I know and certainly people who had worked hard to make the company as good as it could be, sometimes by asking the unpopular questions or by stepping out of the “yes man” box to bring issues to the forefront. After I heard the list of the employees who got cut, it felt a little bit to me like the company was getting rid of some of its thinkers and questioners to allow itself to move forward on its current path without harassment. I also wondered who would do all the work with these people gone.

The whole situation made me really sad. The economy in all of Southeast Michigan is pretty challenged (part of the reason why we moved out of Michigan), so I know it will be difficult for my friends to find jobs if they want to continue to stay in the Ann Arbor area. Also, letting go of some of its most Borders-esque people (long time employees who really care about the employees in the stores and are trying to make the company great, rather than just profitable) seemed to signify a cultural shift for me -– out with the old and in with the new. I feel that, not only did my friends lose their jobs, but Borders as a company also lost a little bit more of what made me love it in the first place.

Obviously, business is business and publicly-traded companies need to do what they need to do to make the company profitable (something that Borders has been struggling with for quite some time). I get that. But I’m just enough of an idealist to believe that you can hire passionate people who work hard and are innovative and are thinkers and this can lead you to be successful as a company. I don’t believe that the lack of vision at Borders sits in the lower ranks of the company (where most of the cuts occurred). Instead, the upper management is desperately reacting, instead of deliberately acting.