YTB has laid off nearly 10% of their headquarters employees. This move had been rumored since just before the convention and of course denied by all the RTAs and Reps that are "in the know". Some even went so far as to allude that YTB was more sound than Royal Caribbean who laid off 400 employees a few months ago. While 400 is a lot of people, it is certainly not 10% of their workforce!What is ironic is that since the convention, YTB has created the pitch to "Recession Proof Your Income" They are selling the DVDs to their Reps and the message is clear--join YTB and don't worry about income ever again. Does YTB listen to their own advice? Or do they just creat advice that will create a revenue stream in the form of another DVD, Magazine or flyer to purchase? Did YTB provide this DVD to the 25 employees they laid off? Is there any truth to the rumors that they required 12 hours workdays for 8 hour pay at the convention?
It certainly does not seem that YTB is quite the "darling" of Wall Street or Main Street.
I realize business is business and tough decisions need to be made all the time, but the current economic condition did not sneak up on us (and if it did sneak up on YTB, they deserve everything they have coming to them), yet in the past 8 months they have purchased a corporate jet (from an insider), purchased a multi million dollar foam stage prop (from an insider), chartered two ships that failed to sell out, and made a lat ditch effort to stave off the California lawsuit.
My best wishes go to the employees who were laid off, I hope it is a sort term issue and I am confident that there are much better opportunities that lay ahead.
Gee I wonder if they had a plan B??
ReplyDelete"Some even went so far as to allude that YTB was more sound than Royal Caribbean who laid off 400 employees a few months ago. While 400 is a lot of people, it is certainly not 10% of their workforce!
ReplyDeleteRoyal Caribbean has about 3,361 employees in South Florida and about 861 in Eugene, Ore. and Wichita, Kan
Those represent call centers. What about on board? Other offices worldwide?
ReplyDeleteBefore the YTB supporters get you for exaggeration, you should note that the percentage for YTB layoffs is actualy between 7% and 8%. The article claims 300 to 350 employees at YTB headquarters.
ReplyDeleteClearly RCL has more than 4000 employees. There are more than 1000 on some of the larger ships alone.
John, Have you sent a copy of that biz report with the $6000 guarantee to the CA AG?
ReplyDeleteWhat does YTB not know if they employ 300 or 350 people?? John did state...nearly.
ReplyDeleteBut that doesn't surprise me when the head exec doesn't even know how many people are in his own company.
But then again, I thought "GOD" was behind this company. Were these not the chosen ones? And how could "GOD" let them down!?!
Well, Kim did not know how many RTAs there were either.
ReplyDeleteSteve MEncik...the AG I am sure has all the info he needs and I do know they check this blog out so I am sure they have it.
And I was careful to say ALMOST 10%.
They'll probably just say this is a glitch, like losing IATA.
ReplyDelete"Clearly RCL has more than 4000 employees. There are more than 1000 on some of the larger ships alone."
ReplyDeleteYou are correct. RCI's 2007 Annual Report says 46,000 employees. It also says that the payroll expense for 2007 was $584.081M. That's an average of about $12,700 per employee, some of which was paid in stock. Who would want to work there? Why would Vicki Freed leave Carnival for that kind of money? That's barely above poverty level. (silly, isn't it?)
Don't forget that many of those employees work on the ships and get free room and food as part of their compensation. Many also receive tips.
ReplyDeleteYTB only laid off 17 people. Also, the employees were not only paid for their hours, anything over 40 hours was time and a half for convention. I really wish that people would get their stories straight. The newspaper that posted the story with "25 people" has pulled the story and printed a correct story complete with a response from YTB. Here is the link.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thetelegraph.com/news/clarifies_17698___article.html/cuts_new.html