The Apria Healthcare company …
Laid off 105 people California in June, along with 30 more in Illinois and Maryland due to "Medicare cuts" – er, I mean outsourcing - uh, no I mean because of the overall economy. 35 more got the axe in Indiana in December. 33 more hit the trash heap in Ohio due to plant consolidations or the economy or because of Medicare a week or so ago. 18 good folks in Tennessee are on their way to the unemployment line. 27 people in Connecticut got bad news a month ago. Last July 85 people were shown the door in St Louis.
Apria is owned by the Blackstone Group whose driving philosophy seems to be "Above all else, our people – their creativity, imagination, dedication, teamwork and integrity – will be our key assets" – your people, on the other hand are disposable. Blackstone put a guy named Payson in charge when they bought Apria – now that Payson has his SEC sanctions behind him for insider trading violations at his last gig he is ready to roll with Apria.
A bunch of Ivy Leaguers with a Park Avenue address in New York buying a company and going on a slash and burn crusade to outsource everything it can, and laying off anyone with a pulse making more than minimum wage is not news. Everyone knows why thse people are being laid off – Blackstone has no idea how to actually manage a business, nor any intention of doing so. Apria doesn't know how to actualy run anything either, which is why they needed Blackstone to bail them out in the first place. The bottom feeders at Blackstone only do numbers, so they get rid of the people and let someone else actually make decisions and get any work done.
The outsourcing and layoffs are purely because Blackstone only knows one thing – slash the payroll, make short term profits look good,then unload the remaing shell of the company through an IPO on the unsuspecting public for a big profit. The new owners, then, will steer the wreck of the business to its inevitable demise.
Despite the layoffs being very predictable, every time Apria trashes a few mores lives and wreaks havoc on another community they have a different story. First it was Medicare cuts, then the economy, then plant consolidation, then the need for cost control. Now they claim tax dollars for retraining – asserting that the layoffs are actually the result of moving work to Mexio.
C'mon Apria – get your story straight. Lisa Getson (Apria Healthcare's VP of Government Relations) your nose is growing longer with every layoff and press release.
AJ says
On top of all this, I find it very disturbing that Apria has applied for Trade Adjustment Assistance for Firms funding to “retrain” their staff due to outsourcing that their parent (Blackstone) initiated. (http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/feb/11/sp-layoffs-related-to-outsourcing-labor-training-r/) Not only is this unethical in and of itself, it’s taking funding from a program that’s been set up to help SMMs that have legitimately been hurt by outsourcing. Barbarians at the gates …
Kuwabatake Sanjuro says
Is Private Equity a natural part of the business world? Like mould or carrion eaters? They may be repugnant to us but serve a purpose?
Apria clearly wasn’t interested in being a successful company. Not every firm deserves to stay in business.
To be sure the US cannot base its economy on simply making money instead of making things and providing services that add value but if firms in the US are committed to their own demise then why not profit from it?
Apria’s competitors *might* get the hint and start to improve themselves lest they end up the same way. The wasted human potential locked up inside a poorly run company can now seek useful work (if its available).
I am not so much defending Private Equity as suggesting it serves a repugnant but necessary role in a healthy economy.
Stacie says
News flash people, I was one of the people who lost their job due to outsourcing by Apria. I’m grateful to the federal government for approving us for TAA. Some of us have no other experience than office work. Many, like me, never had the means to get a college degree and you can be damn sure that I’m taking advantage of it. Also, getting the assistance has been a lot of hoop jumping so government is not handing us this on a silver platter. There are lists of what the government will and won’t pay for.
Jane says
You failed to mention the people in Minnesota that lost there job’s. Our office in Minnetonka shut down and around 100 or so people also lost there jobs.