Put Your Parachutes on NOW!
As I sit here on Friday morning watching the market prepare to crash a few suggestions come to mind.
I fully expect Kimley to be only 1/2 of its size by the end of next year. Since we have been told they are still going to pay bonuses this year (in spite of the lack of incoming cash) they will have even less cash to cover staffing costs.
I have always been a believer in "those that can do; those that can't ...teach " and I would like to add " if you cant teach...there is always the government". However in these very trying economic times it may be time to re-examine the positives of government employment. These are usually SAFE jobs....once you are in...you are in for life.
It is predicted that the government is going to start a massive infrastructure building plan to try to jump-start the economy. (How many of you remember hearing from your parents about these types of projects during The Great Depression?) At the same time tax revenues will be down so that agencies will be more likely to do more of the planning on these infrastructure projects in-house.
If you are currently employed... start talking to your friends at state/local/federal agencies. Salaries are awful but much much better than nothing. Any pension is better than none...just take a look at the balance on your 401k. Finally, when the economy does start to turn around....having had the inside experience and made the contacts within the multitude of public sector agecies, you will be poised to open your own firm or be employed as a 'fixer' by a large development company.
Posted at 08:53AM Oct 24, 2008 by mis'tree in General | Comments[4]
COVER YOUR ASS.....an editorial about current reports from KHA
First, when we googled "Kimley Layoffs" today we came up as number 3 on the list.....somebody must be linking to us!! THANK YOU!
We started this blog first and foremost to help other ex-KHA Employees in their transition since the KHA provided assistance was a joke. We also hoped that it would embarrass Kimley into becoming a responsible employer. Little did we realize what a sh*t storm it would produce. We have learned that Kimley is very very vindictive. KHA likes to brag about being among the best places to work......obviously the people responsible for these polls never talked to an ex-KHA'er.
As these layoffs continue, I thought it would be a good time to do a little editorializing about practices that are reported as
being common at KHA.
It seems clear that your chance of being laid off is highest if you are a P-4 or P-5 and over 45 years old. Other strong factors
apprear to be sex and whether or not you are an engineer.
Please remember that first and foremost Kimley is an engineering company. I am of an age and sex that corresponds to senior managemnt (Male, 45+) and well remember my first day of basic engineering mechanics class(1968). FUlly 1/2 of our first class period was devoted to the fact that if you were going to be an engineer you should dress and act like one. "Oh and by the way if you are female you have no place in this field and we will gladly sign your class drop slip." Times have changed, but when you have been brought up with this indoctrination, it does have an effect on your thinking.
(P.S. Kimley monitors...this should wreck some of your pre-conceived notions of who is responsible for the management of this site....)
We are hearing more and more about "banned" practices being forced upon employees. We have all been told by supervisory personnel to bill time to General Office because the budget is blown....in many cases because the PM did a poor job of estimating. We are not ignoring the fact ( especially now with all the new hires) that some of blown jobs are due to lack of experience or a failure in supervision.
Since this directly affects your UT% we have heard of instances of this being used as a factor of justifying termination. This appears to put the employee into an untenable position. If you refuse to bill to G/O you will be thought of as being uncooperative. If you go along you are slitting your own throat by driving your UT down..
The best suggestion I have is to document it. Write yourself a memo and copy it to your home email address each time you are asked to do this. Add another memo to yourself detailing the amount of time you ended up having to charge to G/O. It is also a very good idea to keep copies of all your time sheets off site as well as any requests from a supervisor to change your time sheet. You can always charge it to the job and then let the manager change it....then you will have proof.....you can always tell the PM it was an accident....There have also been some reports that hint that KHA is threatening to fight unemployment claims. You will need this documentation to fight for your rights. (Whether you know it or not...it is a way of KHA saving money to successfully fight your unemployment claim...to claim you were fired for cause).
More scary are the stories we are hearing about employees being told to bill time on one job to another or even worse....to another customer. This is illegal. If Kimley gets caught doing this....you could be guilty as well. If the amount is such that it is a felony...think of what this could do to your professional license and ask yourself if it is worth it. Kimley really needs to have a anonymous contact system within the company to report this behaviour. If they dont catch it and correct it there is the very real possibility that it could be the end of the company. As a last resort....maybe report it to the customer being charged anonymously. Be very careful that you have it documented....if you do and your allegations are true there are laws to protect you as a whistleblower. Bear in mind though that these types of action are very messy and can take years to resolve.
I apologize about the need to couch a lot of these accusations in such weak terms (we have heard...it is said...). We do have people reporting all kinds of information to us...much of which we are afraid to use because it could be too directly attributable to a specific person. I have personally seen how vindictive KHA can be and do not wish to subject anyone to this. We do not use items unless they have been heard from more than one person or are from Kimley documents that have been shown to us.
One last item....we were forwarded an announcement that claimed that
there would be no more layoffs thru the end of January 2009. Also it
was noted that the year end bonuses were going to be substantially
smaller this year. Those of you that have been there a year or
more....you have heard the "no more layoffs contemplated" last year...
Posted at 09:27PM Oct 20, 2008 by mis'tree in General | Comments[2]
Recently Seen in the Florida Region
Posted at 11:22AM Oct 13, 2008 by mis'tree in General | Comments[4]
I HAD to Laugh
Remember the 'Survivor' tee-shirts that the Florida region of KHA gave out at one of it's annual kick-off meetings a couple of years ago? Well, I happened to be down south the other day and I saw one of those shirts on a homeless guy who was panhandling in front of a Starbucks. I lost it. I was laughing so hard I had to lean up against the light pole just to catch my breath. Can you say irony????
Posted at 11:16AM Oct 08, 2008 by mis'tree in General | Comments[1]
Kimley and their Joke memo on Best Places to Work
We just got copied on Kimley's memo explaining that they aren't in the CE News "Best Places to Work" list because of their false modesty.
Message to believers: WE HAVE A BRIDGE IN NYC WE WOULD LIKE TO TURN INTO CONDOS.....BRING THIS SITE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT INTO YOUR OFFICE!!!!!!!!! CONTACT US BEFORE WE TALK TO PBS&J!!!!!!!!
Although traffic is building as word gets around about this site...we don't claim that our post on how to contact the people involved in these (best places) selection committees had anything to do with it.....However if you haven't made your voice heard....add to the clamor!
Posted at 08:26AM Oct 03, 2008 by mis'tree in General | Comments[1]