Chicago Tribune (Illinois), December 25, 2007, Tuesday
Copyright 2007 Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune (Illinois)
HEADLINE: Pink slip for holidays? It's not that uncommon: Skiles joins growing list of yuletide firings
BYLINE: Michael A. Lev and Barbara Rose, Chicago Tribune
BODY:
Dec. 25--It isn't just shopping mall Santas who lose their jobs on Christmas Eve.
Add Bulls coach Scott Skiles to a notable list of people who got fired the night before Christmas.
Skiles, who was struggling to turn around a promising but underachieving team, was let go Monday, paying the price for the slow start to a season that was supposed to take the Bulls to the next level.
Rather than dwell on the holiday timing, Skiles focused on the facts: "Today was my day to be held accountable," he said.
In a way, Skiles' demeanor reflected today's business world, a competitive environment in which results matter, releasing material information in a timely manner is required and traditional niceties can get squeezed aside.
For example, while many businesses were closed Monday, some employees still got unsettling Christmas Eve news.
MAXjet Airways, the all-business-class airline that flies between several U.S. cities and London, ceased operations and filed for bankruptcy protection, leaving passengers stranded. Its non-executive chairman and two directors resigned.
And in Chicago, most of the operations of Merrill Lynch Capital were sold to GE Capital. The fate of several hundred local employees hangs in the balance as GE decides how to integrate the two entities.
In that context, Richard Hurd, a professor of labor studies at Cornell University, said Skiles' preholiday departure isn't so unusual. "There is less commitment by employers to employees," he said.
"Take it back 30 or 40 years, it would be hard to believe that employers would be so insensitive to fire someone on Christmas Eve," he said.
Two years ago, a Louisiana paper mill fired 160 workers on Christmas Eve. The employees had been given 60 days' advance warning, which may have softened the pain a bit. And when discounter One Price Clothing Stores Inc. suffered a financial debacle in 2003, it fired its chief financial officer on Christmas Eve.
Comparisons between business and sports only go so far, however.
For one thing, Skiles was pushed out with nearly $7 million left on his contract.
But the name Scott Skiles will now be forever linked with other coaches such as Billy Reay of the Chicago Blackhawks, who was fired just before Christmas 1976. He returned home at dawn on Dec. 22 from a road trip to find an envelope under his door informing him that his services were no longer needed, columnist Bob Verdi reported at the time.
Bulls coach Tim Floyd resigned under pressure on Christmas Eve 2001 and assistant Phil Johnson was fired.
And Notre Dame football coach Terry Brennan got the bad news a few days before Christmas 1958.
Other sports executives have avoided using the Christmas Eve ax. Atlanta Hawks general manager Pete Babcock waited for Dec. 26 to fire Lon Kruger in 2002. "I didn't want to make a change on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day," he said at the time.
Some Chicago sports fans reacted with shock to the timing of Skiles' firing, but Skiles brushed the issue aside.
"The fact that it's Christmas Eve is neither here nor there," he said. "The timing doesn't bother me. I'm not destitute."
But executive counselors and recruiters were hard-pressed to recall recent examples of high-profile executives being canned on Christmas Eve for their performance.
"If it happens once, that's one time too many," said Gail Meneley of Shields Meneley Partners in Chicago, which counsels executives in transition. "High-profile leaders can expect to change jobs every three to four years, but despite those statistics, it's always very, very tough.
"It's traumatic any time of year, but firing someone on a holiday can have a long-lasting impact. [Christmas] will always have part of that memory embedded in it."
John T. Gardner, vice chairman of executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles, said there always are trade-offs when delivering bad news.
"It can be even worse for somebody to be hanging out there without support and not knowing what's happening," he said. "Once you've made the decision, in many ways it's better to get on it."
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mlev@tribune.com
berose@tribune.com
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LOAD-DATE: December 25, 2007
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