Reduction in Force

As many of you know, if you have been following the news, the Trump Administration along with Elon Musk and his “DOGE” Department, have been creating havoc in Federal Agencies. Their program includes saving money by reducing the work force. This is being done arbitrarily and without a plan as to how these agencies can be made more efficient. Their future operations are in question. What impact will it eventually have on us, and our government?

I am sure that there are savings to be derived in all organizations, but this is not the way to go about it. You have to feel some sense of empathy for those on the receiving end of this endeavor.

I was reminded of a situation, in the 1960’s, when major corporations were trying to find ways to be more efficient and more prosperous. I was with The Aircraft Division of Fairchild-Hiller, a medium size aerospace corporation. We had approximately 4,500 employees and were going through a re-organization due to a reduction in a number of government programs.

A management consulting firm, Alexander Proudfoot, had developed an approach for reducing the workforce of organizations, and was very successful in obtaining many U.S. Corporations as clients.

Fairchild was one of them. Proudfoot was hired and their compensation was based upon the savings that they would achieve. Those savings were to be obtained by reducing our work force. As a result, we were to become more efficient.

After working with them for a few weeks, it was obvious that there was no strategy for the workforce reductions that they proposed, and no consideration for the impact on the organization of their proposals. Management quickly decided that this was a mistake, and we parted ways with their organization and approach.

They didn’t fully understand our company or our mission, and as a result, their recommendations would have completely handicapped our operation. They had decided that they were going to achieve a certain amount of savings through a workforce reduction, regardless of the impact on the organization.

We created an internal committee of senior individuals, from all areas of the company, and did our own review of all of our operations, and came up with a plan that allowed us to become more efficient without all of the chaos.

Management of many other organizations, that had retained Proudfoot, did not have the courage to look inward and make the tough decisions, based upon a thorough and thoughtful analysis of their operations. Shame on them!

The situation then doesn’t appear to be very different than what is occurring in the Federal Government today, through “DOGE.” A group of “youngsters,” reported to be 19 to 25 years of age, are making the decisions on who is to be fired, and the number, without any consideration for what is to come.

Shame on those in Congress, for abdicating their responsibilities, and allowing this to continue! Shame on us, for electing them!

Jess Sweely

Madison, VA.