Microsoft fired its employee, who worked in the company for 33 years. Jeff Bogdan, who was the Director of Learning and Development (L&D) at Microsoft Windows, was terminated from his position in February this year.
“My 33-year run with the wonderful Microsoft come to a close in February, when my job was eliminated. I spent the last 2 weeks at Microsoft trying to say a “proper goodbye” to my enormous second family. I then spent the 2 weeks that followed in Chelan, half the time with family and half the time in solo reflection,” he said.
Terming his experience as an ‘incredible ride’, Bogdan, wrote, “The three products I am proudest of are Windows Phone, Zune, and Windows 95. But the biggest payoff for me came in these last 2 years, when I pitched and landed an L&D role in Windows. My premise was that, after successfully spreading a “learn-it-all” mindset throughout the org, it was time to spread a “teach-it-all” mindset to accompany this.”
“I focused on organizing the learning investments for a 2,000-person org, and then worked to align that with learning & development offerings from our parent orgs and from central HR,” he added.
Revealing the reason of her termination, Bogdan said, “My job elimination was the result of HR adopting the hub & spoke model for L&D that I was pitching. Sadly, when my division already had their L&D team in place, there wasn’t a seat at the table for me. After abundant reflection, I have concluded that I am nowhere close to the “R word”. There is still so much that I want to contribute. So now begins the journey of finding my second career.” He is now looking for a new job.
He wrote the post on April 15. Since then It garnered more than 2,900 likes. Users criticised Microsoft for firing Bogdan.
Commenting on Bogdan’s post, one of the users wrote, “Microsoft definitely did something wrong to let someone as amazing as you go. You have been an inspiration and a great mentor. You’ll be a tremendous addition to any place that is fortunate enough to have you and I can’t wait to see what shenanigans you’re up to next!”
“Well someone has to say this – cannot imagine Microsoft elimating you from the company. I am sure they will regret the decision soon enough if not already. You were the best manager even though indirectly I had. Sad I missed connecting with you on my second stint at msft, and learning more about your L&D role but windows phone was for sure a fun and enriching ride. Wish you the best on your next adventure,” another user wrote.
