Cygnus to Allow Employees to Wear Blue Jeans on Tuesday

Absolutely brilliant - will Friday be Hawaiian Shirt day too?

Just why is this newsworthy? Who is forwarding Cygnus emails to Folio?

Agreed...at what point does folio figure out that they are getting off the mark.

This is such a throw the dog a bone tacky tactic, but still with a threat. “If the folks who were preaching productivity-in-denims are correct – we could have more casual-wear-days more often.” Implying what? We are going take this great benefit away…. Who cares?

The ineptitude of the person wrote that e-mail is truly baffling. The e-mail shows a complete disconnect between the real problems widely reported at that company and what the management apparently perceives the problems to be. The employees have complained of inept management, being overworked, being underappreciated, frequent layoffs, seeing good people forced out while others who don't deserve their high salaries are kept on, having part of their pay unceremoniously removed and then partially returned and treated as if it were a bonus, and many, many other examples of how they have been trod upon by those running the company. But according to the P.R. person's email, apparently the company seems to think the staff is in an uproar because...well, they can't wear jeans more often. Talk about bread and circuses--in typical fashion, the management honestly seems to have thought this tactic would work, instead of angering a lot of people, which is what actually happened. This illustrates just how completely clueless the management is at Cygnus, and how little they care about the welfare of the staff. Cygnus' employees are producing the same amount of work and the same number of magazines now as they did when there was twice the staff, because Cygnus never bothers to replaces anyone who leaves--and a LOT of people have left. And yet, the P.R. person's e-mail implies that people aren't being as productive as they could be. What's more, her tone is so snide and condescending that it's clear she has no respect for those to whom it was sent. I have to wonder why a couple of people have taken Folio to task for posting the e-mail, as it IS relevant, in light of all the recent insanity at Cygnus, in showing the incredibly disconnected mindset of the upper management, and in illustrating exactly why the employees feel so mistreated--it's because, as this e-mail shows, they are.

Would someone please tell the Cygnus management team to go rent the movie Office Space? Gotta run; I've got a meeting with the Bob's.

I agree with the couple comments above, this is not newsworthy. If employees ask to wear jeans to work why not explore that option? If Folio changes their dress code are you going to post it to your site as news? Next you will be reporting if Cygnus gets new vending machines, has their lawn mowed, turns on the lights... Stick to real business news.

We posted this because a) Everyone loves corporate memos; b) In the context of the other news we've reported about Cygnus' severe cost-cutting measures, any concession made by management is notable; c) as Jean Machine notes, "The e-mail shows a complete disconnect between the real problems widely reported at that company and what the management apparently perceives the problems to be." I think that's a fair assessment; and, finally, d) It's fun. It's the Friday before a long weekend. I'm sure Ms. Heidebrecht was thinking the same thing when she sent the memo.

Slow news day at Folio magazine?? Hey, I am wearing my multicolored jacket today with my jeans. You can use that since it seems you are really hitting bottom looking for ways to slam Cygnus. Also to the person from Cygnus feeding all of this to Folio magazine, stop taking a pay check and move on. Don't let the door hit your jean covered butt on the way out.

This is hilarious....another brilliant move by the clowns running the circus.

Well Dylan A) If you look at the date it wasn't sent the Friday before a long weekend, it was sent Thursday, B)Employees came up with the idea, not management and C) Why does anyone seriously care? Folio makes it seem like Cygnus is the only company that has issues these days. And I feel as though Folio has a tendency to blow them out of proportion or take them out of context. I think Cygnus isn't as concerned about covering things up like other companies. Those are the ones I'd be worried about. The quiet ones.

wearing jeans is BS - Cygnus needs to consider allowing employees to work remotely - with nothing on but a smile - Now that's taking a huge step for employees

As an employee of Cygnus; please leave us alone!! I am thankful for my job and enjoy the clients I work with so I would really appreciate if Folio and others would stop slamming my place of business. Move on and leave those of us striving for the success of this company alone. This only causes problems with our clients and hurts the strong relationships that "us mistreated employees" have worked so hard to establish. Cygnus is made up of many properties; properties that are strong contributions to the industries that they serve. I am proud of my team's hard work and the product that we produce so that is all I care about. The only mistreatment I have received is from Folio and how it has hindered the relationships with my clients by having to explain the overexaggerated, inaccurate news that it is conveying to the masses. I haven't seen any slams on the products that we produce and distribute to many satisfied readers. All companies have areas of weakness and things they need to work on. I'm sure Folio has many things to work on themselves, one being accurate reporting of the issues. In closing, I would like to echo the statement aimed at the fellow employee feeding our corporate emails to Folio; "stop taking a pay check and move on" your not doing your fellow employees any good by fueling the fire.

Why would they read folio? Find it hard to believe. Do you read industry rags other than the industies you are involved in?

Hi Stacy. I appreciate your comment. If there is an inaccuracy in any of our reporting, by all means, I want to hear about it. However, reporting on business, by definition, is a meta thing. I'm sure that when an employee who received a memo sees it in print or on a blog somewhere, it's a surreal experience on some level. The one thing I would caution you from doing is to tell me what's worthy of news coverage and what isn't. Just judging from the strong reaction (both positive and negative), it makes me think this was worthy of posting. I also think you are giving us too much credit. Who are these clients reading FOLIO:? We're not the Wall Street Journal, right? Stop it, I'm blushing ...

"Cygnus' employees are producing the same amount of work and the same number of magazines now as they did when there was twice the staff." Well, that would seem to indicate they got rid of the proper people then as they were simply taking a paycheck and not contributing to the bottom line.

I can only speak from personal experience, but our magazine staff is at our most productive when the wind whips past our legs with the least amount of resistance.

So Jason, boxers or briefs? The publishing world is dying to know.

How does a guy who graduated from some small college barely 5 years ago and who hasn’t held a job much more than 2 years at a stretch become an instant expert worthy of such scathing commentary in a blog for Folio? His own company, Red 7 Media has only been in this business since 2002 – a year before he got out of college, yet he deems himself “expert” enough to comment on a company that’s roots go much deeper with magazines that have been around as long as Folio… and much longer than the blogger! He’s one of the new media and knows that in a blog you don’t have to let the facts get in the way of the story you want to tell. The more outrageous you are the more comments you’ll get. The more comments you get the happier the boss is. It’s all about response, right? Jason, you should have stuck with boats, we hear you had promise in that market.

Wow I wasn't aware that FOLIO was a gossip column about what companies employees have for lunch and wear each day. It seems ridiculous to be spreading this memo around as if our company was horrible for having a little harmless fun. This WAS the idea of the employees and was meant to be a fun day. I’m sorry if you assume by this enlightening e-mail that Cygnus must have NO other tricks up its sleeve and is really doing this to increase productivity. If so you obviously need to learn to have a sense of humor and have fun with life instead of sticking your head in other people’s business and gossiping about every little thing you can. This is the Business world- NOT high school. Maybe you should report on real business news instead of resorting to gossip like a 14 year old girl. I agree with the others on this site about the person who is fueling your little gossip mill- If you don’t like it here then get out! Stop being a child. Maybe there is an opening at Folio for you since you obviously work for them already.

I'm a former employee who made it out of the Cygnus jail (not voluntary I might ad, they closed our mag. - we may have not been happy with mgmt. but we were happy with our book and our fellow inmates). But I joined the real world and now work in a top media/web/b2b publishing company in NYC. This whole blog and comments made me laugh so hard, it was needed after all the previous acrimony. And yes I hope it was a joke on Judy's part (because she is actually a good person). Maybe in Wisconsin they dressed - for whom I don't know - but there they were always full of company insiders with badge of honor platitudes; petty rules, long working hours, little pay and a prissy attitude typically Midwestern (very small town-ish and very media-ish) but certainly in Melville most dressed down more often than Tuesdays. But Judy certainly knows Cygnus people are productive enough without demanding more just for wearing jeans or whatever? And if she was serious then things are really, really bad. Appreciation and money talk, something never in supply at Cygnus except for the annointed few. And getting real, if anyone checked out the cutting edge companies in media and online, and digital/advertising companies, lo & behold they'd notice hardly anyone dresses at all anymore (they actually wear the least possible and are in dress-down mode daily - well they are all "youthful"). The biggest worldwide digital ad firm (part of one of the biggest ad agencies world-wide’s NYC branch) is in my Manhattan office building and you should see their staff's outfits and we all know how much successful they are. Hey even my prep school took away the “you can't wear jeans unless it is below freezing rule” in the seventies. Yes, dress if you are calling on a client or at a trade show. But getting real if no one sees you but fellow employees dress as you like (I mean only sales ever really dressed historically in b2b companies. If you are still there and defending the company, you (a) are someone’s pet employee or (b) you can't get a job elsewhere due to your talent level or where you are located or (c) you haven’t been out of the Midwest yet or (d) you are one of the senior executives.

Wow, I wasn't aware there was an age requirement to report on an industry. Jeez. I guess all of the political reporters and sports journalists and aspiring b-to-b editors can go home. They must've missed the memo too. Too bad there wasn't someone to forward it ...

Vending machine prices are up and they took away several parking spaces near the building from cars to give to motorcycles, but I only ever see 2-3 bikes there. These conditions are untenable to the accurate and timely production of magazines. I quit.

Hi, Jason: Just wanted you to know that today at Cygnus I am wearing black dress pants and a dark green button down shirt. I have a black belt and shoes on, too. It's Wed.

What is the big deal? The other offices have been wearing jeans every day for YEARS ... modern days just caught up to Wisconsin.

Thursdays are long jacket and no pants days at the Cardboard Factory. We are very productive on Thusdays.

So when are we going to find out if employees were, in fact, more productive? Where's the empirical data? It'd be a shame to have gone through all of this without getting the results of this experiment.

I just scratched my ass. Quick, pull the lead story!!!

Work remotely? You mean like the CEOs and their pets? Good one... Won't be happening anytime soon.

I think what this really points to is the lack of any real HR initiatives at B-to-B companies and allowing jeans on a Tuesday--oh what fun! Can I add my own personal "flair" too--is yet another example. After having worked at VNU/Nielsen and others -- not to mention the late Fairchild's B-to-B branch for a brief interment -- they are desperate. VNU's HR was a joke, which the numerous lawsuits over the last few years might indicate. I complained about a coworker making racist remarks while an employee at VNU and I was the one eventually punished. No thanks! it's enough to make you go get that nursing degree you've been contemplating. And by the way, despite his relative youth, Jason Fell is nothing but a consumate professional. Having dealt with him on a strictly professional basis I can honestly say that he is a young man any publication or publishing company would be lucky to have. It's attitudes like those at Cygnus, VNU, et al.--attacking the messenger--that makes me glad I got out of the tepid trade media.