Euphemisms for layoffs are among the most creative in the corporate-speak vocabulary, and Xerox has once again proven its leadership in the field. On Jan. 3 the company announced a “Reinvention,” which involved firing an estimated 3,450 people, among other organizational changes.
It brought back memories of the first Xerox layoff I encountered when I was working there in 1993, and the company announced that 10,000 employees would be fired in what it described as a “productivity initiative.” I suppose management believed that you don’t need to make an acquisition to claim firing people with redundant jobs improved efficiency. Moreover, Xerox was profitable at the time—it didn’t need to fire anyone—but intensifying global competition required transforming into “a lean and flexible organization…to compete effectively,” in the words of then Xerox CEO Paul Allaire as reported by The New York Times. Investors applauded, and the stock went up, affirmation that this was the right move.
The lexicological lesson here is that the term for the action should reflect not on the sad plight of the fired employees, but on the anticipated boost the burgeoning, bloodless corporation will deliver to… the shareholders, I suppose. Maybe some customers? Not so much to the community where the laid off employees live.
The Latest Round of Layoffs
So I couldn’t help but pour over this latest announcement that Xerox is laying off 15 percent of its workforce. I am awed by the current management team’s absolute commitment to burying the lead. The layoffs are first mentioned in the 10th paragraphs of the 10-paragraph news release. It can’t get any lower than that!
The mention is that low because management believes the priority news is the announcement of “a new operating model and organizational structure to further the company’s Reinvention.” OMG! You had me at “new operating model!”
It’s no surprise really that scores of reporters waded through the release’s entire 10 paragraphs of institutional this-and-that and recognized that the actual news worthy of passing on to their audience is what appears in the last paragraph. Nearly every link that comes up in a Google search carries a headline something like what ran on page 1 of the Rochester, N.Y. Democrat & Chronicle: “Xerox to cut 15% of workforce….”
And What of the Reinvention?
Still, Xerox’s use of the term “Reinvention” (their capitalization) intrigues me. For one, Xerox needs a new direction now that activist investor Carl Icahn no longer influences management’s plans with what appeared to be bad, even harmful-to-the-corporation advice. Is that what they are communicating? It’s not clear. The “Reinvention” described in the press release, to focus on the core business while making it run more productively and finding new ways to make money, sounds more like a refinement, a refocus, perhaps a repeat of past reorganizations.
That noted, reinventions will occur out of necessity in the professional lives of many of the 3,000-plus who’ll be fired. From this perspective, the word choice, “reinvention,” may be a master stroke, simultaneously addressing both the challenging plight of the fired employees and the ambition of the bloodless corporation.
But layoffs really aren’t about word choices. When in 1993 I was faced with pending layoffs that left my position vulnerable, I left the company before I could get fired, eventually leading me to reinvent myself professionally as a freelancer. It was kind of a leap for me at the time, but my wife supported the move, and it all worked out, in both the long and short runs.
I hope the 3,000-plus who’ll soon be re-entering the job market will have similar strong support and good luck.
Photo at the top of the page: Xerox Square was built in 1967 as the Rochester, N.Y. headquarters of Xerox Corporation, and included an outdoor skating rink modeled after Rockefeller Center. Two years later, the company moved its headquarters to Connecticut, and in 2018, the company abandoned the square, where the former headquarters building now reportedly houses commercial and residential spaces. Xerox had 97,500 employees when the 1993 layoff was announced, 140,000 in 2016 when the company split in two to create Conduent, and 23,000 currently, a figure that will dip below 20,000 when the anticipated 2024 layoffs are completed. (Photo by By DanielPenfield – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10633799)
And Now a Word From Kerry 