This happened last month. I worked in a manufacturing facility as a team lead for a critical line. Large employer in my small town.
Out or the blue we came in to work and were told by management to not start the line. No context. Note: had a meeting two days prior trying to determine how much more work they could put on us.. wanted to double production to meet demand. So being told to not start was odd.
Then an email came through to all employees with a company email. The company was pulling out of our location. No context. Management advised us to not speak to subordinates as of yet. The company is 30% permanent workers, the rest temps.
Then myself and the other team leads and permanent employees are called to the main office where we are systematically pulled into offices and told that our jobs would become obsolete at a future date TBD.
I was told that because I run a critical line it was crucial I stay to the very end and they would be offering me a retention bonus along with severance. My line produced the only money making product we had, and I had been running it since it's inception.
They could not give me an end date. My line was being offshored and once permits were in place they'd cut the cord. I would essentially not have any notice, nor would my team.
Most of my team is temps. They get no severance nor retention bonus. Management kept them in the dark for hours before telling them the same they told me. Then they said our line needs to ramp up production and to continue working per usual.
My temps have worked their assess off with the prospect of a permanent hire. The company dangled it in their face and gave them promises. Now they were expected to work even harder and their only reward was to get discarded when the company was done with them, with no compensation.
Naturally my line became soul crushing. No one's heart was in. Some quit immediately. My line uses specialized machines only few are trained on. It takes months to learn the equipment and only those who know the machines can train.
I decided the money wasn't worth it. Within 48 hours I had a job offer elsewhere. More money, less stress. Office work. Insane benefits.
I gave my company 36 hours notice of my departure. My manager wouldn't speak to me and told me when I was leaving that he was disappointed. I said I was disappointed too and I'm not going to stick around. He can stay oknthis ship but I'm getting off now.
The last thing I did was wrote personal letters of recommendations to my entire team and handed them out. I've since fielded many calls for follow up references and my team is slowly falling apart as they leave for new jobs with no notice. They only need to lose one two more critical team members before the line will grind to a halt and cannot continue.
I feel like I wasted almost 5 years or my life putting my heart into a company just to have this happen.