Hi! My BF works in the Bay Area at a restaurant supply company that also deals with restaurant buildouts and renovations. His role is similar to a Project Estimator, but he typically deals with purchase orders and operations.
He’s been there for a year and a half, and liked it a bit at first, but soon found that they require a shitload of OT and have him doing an insane amount of workload. He hasn’t gone into specifics about benefits and PTO, but I know his base pay ($75,000) is low for the area (he has over 10 years experience in peripheral areas of expertise). He’s been regularly working 12-13 hour days, and since I was let go from my teaching job in May, the extra money has helped but I’m worried about his stress level and health.
His company was acquired by a larger company in 2019, but nothing has changed since then until very recently. Several things in the past couple of weeks have seemed kind of alarming from an outsider perspective, such as:
1) Corporate finally coming in and fulfilling the formal acquisition process
2) Hiring freeze since earlier this year
3) Project Managers putting in resignations this week
4) “Onboarding” meeting happening tomorrow between corporate and existing employees at the office (along with employees of the smaller company at another local location
5) BF hasn’t been given his $5k bonus from last year, nor the annual raise and evaluation that normally happens in July (pretty sure it’s not just him that hasn’t gotten these things)
The larger company is not publicly traded, but a private equity firm did invest in the in them back in 2017. I read what I could of the last Moody report (Jan 2022) and the company was given a rating of B3 with negative outlook. However, they had their largest year in revenue last year and made $1.2B.
I’m obviously not a business major or well-versed in economics or whatever, but to me this all seems kind of sus.
My BF was laid off after being at a similar company for 10 years back in 2020, which absolutely blindsided him. Now, with me being out of a job (due to health problems so I won’t be working anytime soon), right now is the worst possible time for him to get laid off again. Could anyone share any insight as to what could be in store this week or in the near future? Or any advice on next steps he could take? Thank you so much!