Last Monday and Tuesday, an estimated forty to fifty DWA employees were called in for one-on-one meetings and informed their services would no longer be required. (The studio, according to the DreamWorks people we talked to, didn't have enough features that required staff building front-end production elements, so employees in departments that were overstaffed -- and who didn't have longer-term contracts or assignments -- were given their walking papers.)
Most, according to DreamWorkers who contacted us, were told to clear out their desks the day of their meetings.
"I get that the company needs to be cautious, but I talked to one employee who said she wasn't allowed back to her desk. She was kind of upset." ....
Another employee said:
"DreamWorks doesn't want somebody who's ticked off to go back and do something to their work or their computers. ..."
The company is working to align staff with the number of in-development/in-production features lined up on the tarmac. Separated employees who contacted us say their contracts are being paid out.
So it goes.
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"DreamWorks doesn't want somebody who's ticked off to go back and do something to their work or their computers. ..."
Then maybe the company shouldn't do stuff to get people "ticked off" ... like letting them go with no notice and not even allow them the dignity of a day to clean out their cubicles and say goodbye to co-workers. This sneaky weasel tactic of abruptly hauling someone in to HR to let them know "your services are no longer required" and then immediately having security march them out to the front gate is punitive , as if they did something wrong and are being fired , as opposed to "sorry we don't have anything else to put you on right now , so we need to let you go for a while , but thanks for all your hard work to get the last picture finished up on time and looking great" . It's a fundamental lack of respect and yes that would "tick off" most people.
It doesn't seem like they care too much about pulling talent back. 3-10 weeks to push new-hires through their training classes doesn't seem cost effective. You would think they would want to keep their talent base knowledgeable in proprietary techniques loyal, because someday they might want to grow a bit ; that is if they can get their story formula right someday...
that is if they can get their story formula right someday...
Maybe I'm still flying high from the wonderful HTTYD2, but what's wrong with the Dreamworks approach to story?
There is no "formula" for a good story well told. Just a lot of hard work.
Sorry to hear about the DW layoffs. The studio did, without a doubt, handle this badly. There are more rumored layoffs coming, although most likely in production and hr staff.
The formula is to make cartoons for kids. JK has been trying to make cartoons for both adults and kids for ages. If you just make a good cartoon for kids, the adults will go too. What it boils down to is that they just miss that magic...
From reports we've received, upper management was pretty brusque and businesslike about the dismissals, although people lower down in human resources were striving to be human about it.
We got visits from DWA folks who were pretty upset about the way the thing went down.
These days, it should be trivial for a system administrator to remove an employee's login and shut down their computer while they are in the office getting the bad news. That way, the employee should be free to return to his or her desk, take their personal belongings and say their goodbye.
The economics of this business are often hard, but there's no reason to treat people poorly, especially when the layoff is not their fault.
Isn't DreamWorks required, by law and by union contract, to give five days' notice before dismissing employees?
The contract stipulates that if longer term employees don't receive five days' notice prior to layoff, they must receive five days of pay.
To my knowledge, everybody got paid. But some weren't allowed to return to their desks.
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