'Nobody reapplied': New owners layoff all staff and force them to reapply for their jobs, no one does

A company's success is dependent on its workers, so you'd think it would be incredibly foolish for an employer to lay off every single member of their staff in some bizarre power play, expecting everyone to turn around and reapply for their roles, grateful for the chance to grovel and endure the unnecessary stress and emotional turmoil of having their livelihood threatened just so their employer could feel sufficiently powerful.

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  • Well, in order to consider this brazen move, you'd either have to be incredibly confident or incredibly stupid—maybe a mix of both. Whatever the underlying cause in this specific situation, when these new owners acquired a small manufacturing business, they saw fit to lay off each and every last member of their highly specialized staff. 

    The “average” employee working in the business had been there for 18 years and knew the ins and outs of the company's operations. The new owners had intended for all employees to reapply for their roles, ensuring that they retained only the best members of staff. But, now, with no employees reapplying, the company was forced to consider a complete shutdown of operations and a lack of continuity within their business.

    Bewilderingly, in an update on the aftermath shared by the original poster, The new owners were able to invoke a clause reversing the original sale based on the devaluation of the company caused by their own terrible decisions.

  • 01
    "We were all laid off and told we could re-apply for our jobs. Nobody [re]applied."
    via Craig Whitehead
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  • 02
    Posted by u/alldogzzarebeautiful My Employer Was Sold. We were all laid off and told we could re-apply for our jobs. Nobody Applied. I work for a small family owned manufacturing business that is very profitable. We were called into a meeting on Monday and told effective today we were all being laid off as our company was sold to a private equity fund. The owners apparently structured the sale as an "asset sale" so all the employees were considered a liability. We were invited to "re-apply" for
    via u/alldogzzarebeautiful
  • 03
    We were all shocked and did not see this coming at all but so far no one single person has re- applied for their old job. There is low unemployment in our area and plenty of jobs available. The new owners hired a manager who set up a table in our lobby to receive applications and stocked it with coffee and donuts which have sat untouched along with the application.
    via u/alldogzzarebeautiful
  • 04
    Our average employee has been here 18 years and many over 25 years so many are simply opting to retire. The challenge for the new owner is we make a niche product using machines that were built and maintained by our shop and that specialized knowledge just walked out the door. Moving the plant or outsourcing isn't really an option. Even our senior managers who ran sales and finance are leaving. I'm going to expand my side gig business which is taking off so I can spend more time with the family.
    via u/alldogzzarebeautiful
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  • 05

    The original poster shared this update regarding the aftermath of the decision... It looks like the new owners were able to use their own bad decisions to invoke a clause that reversed the sale.

    DZHMMM 2 points What was the aftermath? alldogzzarebeautiful OP 25 points The sale of the company fell through. Thee private equity company invoked something called a "MAC" clause which means Material Adverse Change and got their huge down payment back from the family selling the business. The selling family had already bought vacation homes and farms and started spending the money so I know it hit them hard (they're still rich though). The plant is closed and padlocked. A once viable business r
    via u/alldogzzarebeautiful
  • 06
    [deleted] A grocery store near me was bought out and they made all employees reapply for their jobs. Not only did most of the employees not reapply but locals stopped shopping there to protest how they treated employees. It's to make people who have been working somewhere reapply for their jobs, what is wrong with these people that they have to be like that? 15.5k Share
    via u/alldogzzarebeautiful
  • 07
    WhydIJoinReddit Again The truth is that business is used to have MUCH more leverage over employees than they have right now. There hasn't been this much hiring since the mid-90's, and even that was small compared to what is happening right now. That's at least 25 years of managers and owners having the upper hand when it comes to hiring in a really obvious way, and they are so used to it that they can't stop themselves from being the ¡ that made them into. 5.8k Share
    via u/alldogzzarebeautiful
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  • 08
    BigSpoon89 You should grab some coffee and donuts anyway. 6.1k audiodude9 Share Exactly. Get coffee, donuts, and on the application simply write "thanks for the coffee and donuts" 2.9k Share
    via u/alldogzzarebeautiful
  • 09
    DriedUpSquid Come back as "consultants" when they get desperate and start calling the old employees. Charge them through the teeth. 9.3k Share slashthepowder Get the former workers together and offer a buyout turn the company into a coop. 3.5k Share
    via u/alldogzzarebeautiful
  • 10
    00 CO d4rkwing Sounds like a very good opportunity for the former employees to get together and start their own company. 1.5k Share OneTimeMadeAGif Or for some machines to accidentally break on their last day. 323 Share
    via u/alldogzzarebeautiful
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  • 11
    PTAwesome I would have totally taken a plate full of donuts and just handed them out to everyone. What are they going to do? Lay you off twice? 1.0k Red__M_M Share 186 ●●● Nah, leaving the full boxes of donuts makes a stronger statement. Share
    via u/alldogzzarebeautiful
  • 12
    nickis84 So much for the former employees being liabilities. The new owners are finding out that the former employees were the true assets of the company and that they should have highly valued. But they didn't and discarded them. The new owners even expected that they would return for more mistreatment. But, they were so overcome by greed they didn't pay attention to what was going on. Great resignation, low unemployment, older workforce: their plan is doomed and since the employees are already
    via u/alldogzzarebeautiful
  • 13
    opa_zorro Seems like a really weird way to buy a niche business. Most anyone doing this type of thing understands the value of the employees and contingencies for events like this are often in the purchase agreement. Having said that, the owner was horrible for selling this way as wel.. 237 Share
    via u/alldogzzarebeautiful
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  • 14
    opa_zorro Seems like a really weird way to buy a niche business. Most anyone doing this type of thing understands the value of the employees and contingencies for events like this are often in the purchase agreement. Having said that, the owner was horrible for selling this way as wel.. 237 Share
    via u/alldogzzarebeautiful

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