Since our client base has now been notified, I am no longer required to keep schtum about the fact that the company I work for has been sold.
It's not a publicly traded company, and it's a sole proprietorship, so I don't want you all getting the impression that this was some kind of cutthroat boardroom coup. Our owner and CEO has just decided that he wants to retire--at least partially. He's at an appropriate age to do so, and none of us harbor any feelings of animosity toward him for his decision. Obviously it was something of a shock last week when we were told about it, but that's how these things are handled. I had had a premonition, however. I've been through this before, and I know the signs of an impending change of ownership. In the spirit of total honesty, I'm pissed I didn't start a betting pool on it, because I could have made some serious cash. Oh well.
The beauty of working for a small company is that you know everyone. The hierarchy is still there, but it's less stringent. My entire team refers to our CEO as "Boss Man", and we razz him mercilessly at any opportunity--and he does the same to us. He is a genuinely decent human being, and when he told us the news, he was the one getting verklempt. We don't doubt for a minute that he did everything he could to ensure the best possible outcome for all of us. He told us about all the deals he passed on, or tried to make and failed. In the end, he sold us to the 'devil'--payroll leviathan ADP. (Cue much groaning and exclamations of disgust during our meeting.) It was his best option, however, so he took it, and not a single one of us blames him. Though we do make a lot of faces any time ADP is mentioned, which, given the circumstances, is about every twelve and a half seconds these days.
We all have a "sell by" date at this point. We've been guaranteed our jobs until then, and the severance is nothing to sneeze at. We have time to look for something new without being too rushed. ADP does have jobs to fill, yes, but not in our area of specialty in our geographical area, so much as they've tried to push the "you can apply for our jobs" message, we did the job search on their website and determined that they were blowing smoke up our asses.
And none of us actually want to work for ADP, because ADP is evil.
A great number of our clients are ADP refugees. They came to us because we can offer that personal touch that the big payroll companies can't. I have about 200 clients on my books. I know all of them. They call and email me directly, because I am their dedicated payroll manager. ADP doesn't do that. They have a call center, and you get who you get. The thing I'm hearing most from my clients right now is how they came to us because the anonymity of being just a number on a list was too impersonal--and they're right.
We've had a range of reactions, from rage (which we transfer directly to our CEO for triage,) to disappointment ("We left ADP for you because we didn't like their quality of service!") to clients who have been with our company for so long that they feel like they're losing a friend instead of a payroll provider--and I'm talking clients who have been with us for twenty-plus years!
At the same time, we're getting an outpouring of support and sympathy. I've had at least a dozen of my clients reach out just to tell me how much they've enjoyed working with me and asking me if I'll be going with them to ADP, or what the sale of the business means for me and my livelihood, and one of my clients, a husband and wife team with whom I've worked very closely have a freaking prayer bowl, and they're going to put us all in it, and I'm not religious at all but dammit if that didn't get to me.
On a more gratifying note, several of our clients have already placed 'dibs' on some of us. Our CEO's keeping a list of people who want us after our time runs out. I'm going to be talking to the CEO of one of my larger client groups next week.
Not gonna lie, right now, it's really nice to be wanted.
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