Eastern Research Services (Texas) Abruptly Closes, 150 Laid Off

Some layoff stories are actually more heartless than others. This is one of the bad ones, as reported by a local Texas television station:

A west El Paso research company shut its doors for good Thursday, which left 150 people out of work. Employees said the layoffs happened overnight and with no warning.

The employees of Eastern Research Services said they walked into work Thursday morning and were immediately called into a meeting to be told they were being let go. After being escorted out by security, a group of employees gathered outside to break the news to their co-workers.

"We were at work yesterday. We had extra hours," said P. Haji Rivera.

Just 24 hours later.

"We're working one day and today we're out of work," said Rivera.

Rivera said some were notified of the layoffs when they called the employee hotline.

"ERS is permanently seizing operations and shutting down all of its offices," said a recording on the hotline.

Other employees of the company said when they showed up for work managers told them all ERS offices across the country were closing their doors for good.

"The company has been losing money for some time and no longer has the ability to continue operating," the recording said.

The company based in Pennsylvania does polling and market research for many agencies.

"We were hoping that they give us at least a notice, like a week notice that they're going to be closing down, not just overnight," said Rivera.

That's the problem with the recent trend to change over from having "Personnel" to having "Human Resources." When you are merely a resource, they think they can treat you like just another piece of furniture.


Bonus: I guess all we can do for El Paso is play you a song