Northwest Not Respecting Former Workers

Northwest advised workers to see treasure in trash | Reuters.com

Here is an incredibly sad example of a company (or someone in the company) not having “respect for employees.”

Northwest sent a “So You’ve Been Laid Off” guidebook with “helpful” cost saving tips:

The four-page booklet, “Preparing for a Financial Setback” contained suggestions such as shopping in thrift stores, taking “a date for a walk along the beach or in the woods” and not being “shy about pulling something you like out of the trash.”

I know that some airlines (maybe Northwest included) are working on lean initiatives. I wonder how much they are still relying on traditional layoff cost-cutting instead of eliminating waste and allowing them to keep employees there for productive uses? Planes are full, so I’m guessing they are going the layoff route.

Update: Actual documents on The Smoking Gun website (some corporate firewalls might block this, although it generally should be considered safe for work)

About LeanBlog.org: Mark Graban is a consultant, author, and speaker in the “lean healthcare” methodology, focused on improving quality and patient safety, improving access, reducing costs, and fully engaging healthcare professionals. He is also the Chief Improvement Officer for KaiNexus.