First The WB Layoffs, Now The Promotion

COMMENTS (19)

• I’m an HR guy and nobody in HR likes to “preside” over mass lay-offs. It’s the horrible aspect of our business but one that needs to be done. Especially with an economic recession. Kiko Washington is an OK guy. A mutual acquaintance told me that he was just “sick about” eliminating positions when he got the order from the top brass to do so.

  However, he was hardly alone in eliminating positions. Nearly every industry across the country had to eliminate positions.

  Comment by John H — Wednesday September 16, 2009 @ 2:33pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • Kiko ‘Tiger’ Washington won’t be there after Mr(s) Horn and Meyer depart next year. None of the execs in consideration to replace them like him and for someone heading up HR, why would they promote someone who had a “close” relationship with his Assistant while he presided over HBO Human Resources. A leopard doesn’t change his spots.

    D.D.

    Comment by DD — Friday April 30, 2010 @ 4:27pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Not surprising.The big bossmen all love a guy willing to do the dirty work for them.

  Comment by redmenace — Wednesday September 16, 2009 @ 3:46pm PDT  Reply to this post

• how’s that bully pulpit you jerk? i bet you get 500 comments on this you wouldn’t approve

  Comment by you are an idiot — Thursday September 17, 2009 @ 9:19am PDT  Reply to this post

• Eck – in such poor taste to advance on the bodies of others and announce within the same fiscal year – how does one justify if budgetary/econ crisis is to blame? Resourceful? Human? – they are acting as the recipients of the bale out money did … sometimes business judgements whether in poor taste and judgement or not, should just be put on reserve for a while

  Comment by equalsmc2 — Thursday September 17, 2009 @ 12:45pm PDT  Reply to this post

• John H – you’re just another HR flack that has no reason to have a job (you do “Job Justification”, like all the other HR’s).

  LET’S GET THIS STRAIGHT: TIME-WARNER HAD ONE OF ITS BEST YEARS. I work here, and I can tell you positively: it didn’t NEED to fire anyone…lay off workers/crews. I’m going to repeat that: THEY DIDN’T NEED TO FIRE ANYBODY.

  The reason they did is that all the other studios were going that route, and a few assholes at the top (I’ll let you guess their names, and boy, it’s easy) decided, “Hey! Now we can dump those creeps with seniority; now we can ditch those suits we don’t like with the extra-big, extra-long contracts!” And, fellow readers, they did.

  Back to the desperately needed HR departments (both inside & outsourced)…. ASK AROUND THE STUDIO to see what the people who work there really think of these morons.
  How many times have departments needed to hire staff and the HR cretins would send in people they “thought were nice ‘n qualified” but in reality were eminently unqualified & unsuited for the job. These HR flacks never did a decent bit of research into what genuine qualifications are REALLY needed for a specific job – and I mean real-world qualifications and temperament (through which they’d fit in with the culture of a particular department.) I work at Time-Warner, and Jesus! – and how often did they waste our time by sending us who were just dreadful.

  Anyway – HR people are the dregs. They’re happy ax-murderers. They’re pink-slip smilers and bottom feeders dressed up in ties, which equal what Lewis Black calls: “those little shits.”

  Kiko Washington is one of those. And as in real-life Hollywood, the bastards get promoted. Maybe Entourage will do an episode on Kiko and call it “The Degenerate Who Smiled”.

  Comment by Still InTheOffice — Thursday September 17, 2009 @ 1:30pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • Yeah, Entourage is a Warner Bros. show however…

    Comment by Entourage??? — Friday October 2, 2009 @ 3:50pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • I worked in Kiko’s division for years, he takes the human out of human resources. The turnover in HR needs to be looked at by the higher execs at WB. Remember: Fish stinks starting from the Head.

    Comment by Clark Paul — Saturday May 1, 2010 @ 12:16am PDT  Reply to this post

    • WB HR eliminated many positions over the past 2 years…………..but strange how they have added the same and I bet even more to their HR headcount since then. How??

      They post positions with new titles in HR, Recruitment, Org Development, etc. at a slightly lower level. They save money by decreasing salaries and pensions of those newbies as compared to those shown the door who are getting up there and then Kiko can still get his nice promotion and salary increase.

      Who cares about employee retention and continued training for the HR staff…………certainly not Kiko Washington. Talk about not practicing what a company preaches.

      Shame on you Warner Bros.!!!!!

      Comment by Reorg is an Excuse — Saturday May 22, 2010 @ 6:30pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • We wont have to wait for an episode of Entourage, there is a book coming out about the unauthorized history of WB, and wait till Kiko Washington is mentioned, oh boy, he will be looking for an early retirement when his true colors come out.

    Comment by D.Decino — Saturday May 1, 2010 @ 12:21am PDT  Reply to this post

• I’m one of the laid off TW employee’s who have yet to find employment. It’s been 15 months…enough said!

  Comment by Precious Commodity — Saturday September 19, 2009 @ 4:29pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • I was lucky that Sony at least provided a good Outplacement firm for 3 months after. I got to have 1-1 meetings every week for 3 months and it helped me get back to work…..did you get that thru WB?

    Comment by Sonyguy — Saturday May 1, 2010 @ 10:39am PDT  Reply to this post

    • …..Yes, but the one WB set us up must be a subsidiary of ‘Costco:………we only got to see our so-called career counselor twice in a group setting. No 1-1s like you did. Come to find out for every 1 (joke-of-a-career counselor) – they had 40 of us assigned.

      Signed,
      Lucky You!!!

      Comment by stacey — Sunday May 2, 2010 @ 3:52pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Kiko is a hypocrite, I was an HBO Exec when he had a ‘strong’ working relationship with his asst.

  Comment by Diane Decina — Friday April 30, 2010 @ 11:56pm PDT  Reply to this post

• HIGHEST TURNOVER AT WARNER BROS. IS HUMAN RESOURCES

  My God, how can a department that prides itself on Training, Re-Training, Retention, and Recruitment
  have such high turnover the last two years! It seems Mr Washington just permits his new SVP Organization Development/Training, Andrew Ortiz to terminate staff at free will. Folks who have been in the WB family for 5, 7, 10, 15, 20+ years w/no alternative position to go into or updated training provided just laid off or asked to leave. The Recruitment Dept has had 75% turnover the past year and Training and Development 100%, and Org Effectiveness 60%.

  This is a travesty and looks quite unfavorably for Mr Washington and Ortiz.

  Mr Meyer, Mr Horn – PLEASE STOP this unjustice!!! It’s obviously time for them to go!!

  Comment by TSmith — Tuesday August 31, 2010 @ 2:18pm PDT  Reply to this post

• ……………hey I remember Andy Ortiz at Disney for a very short time in Training and Development.

  Disney let him go and he returned to Healthnet. Did Warner Bros. know that before they hired him?

  Hmmmm? Maybe someone should check his application??

  Comment by disneygal — Tuesday August 31, 2010 @ 2:23pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • And I hear they are not the most beholden to those close to 60 either who have so much knowledge to offer the employees!

    Comment by Kate B. Gonzalez — Saturday October 2, 2010 @ 1:28pm PDT  Reply to this post

• I am a current EVP with WB and have been an employee for over 20 years. I don’t know anyone anymore in HR, and those I do know appear to be Pushing-Papers. I wish some of them had experience in other areas of our industry, besides HR. Anywehre. They come across as so ignorant and aloof about what the hell is going on!

  Comment by Karen — Friday October 29, 2010 @ 10:02pm PDT  Reply to this post

• So I hear an HR employee from WB was fired recently for receiving favors from females in his office.

  Thats not new for that dept. Didnt a former HBO HR exec now with WB HR have a sexual relationship with his asst and she is now an HR Exec within TW and a WB Compensation Exec have sex with one of her subordinates while he reported to her as well. She has risen nicely up the ranks at WB too

  Comment by Miguel F. — Friday January 14, 2011 @ 1:51am PST  Reply to this post