As a part of my middle management death march of a job, I was tasked with identifying team members for "Project Diamond". Project Diamond is DXC's initiative to identify team members to move to "talent optimization" (i.e. layoff/WFR) in an effort to reduce labor costs. You can be replaced by a lower level employee on shore or an offshore resource. You get bonus points if you replace someone with an offshore resource on a lower level. Fun stuff. Laying people off is a core competency of this company and they have invested huge amounts of capital developing systems and procedures for doing it. They have actually built a web based application to manage the process of ruining peoples lives to squeeze every last of profit possible. Now the folks that own this application have reached a level of delusion that must be nice. They seriously believe that what they have built has nothing to do with layoffs, and that team members identified for "action" will be redeployed elsewhere. The last straw for me was when I logged into this app over the holidays and whatever jackweed developer who owned this thing had taken the time to decorate the page with Christmas lights. Nothing like spreading the Christmas spirit with a pink slip.
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One very strange thing in this company is that there seems to be no reward for the best people. You can absolutely bust your a$$ with 100% client utilization, working late, finding novel solutions etc and you get literally nothing for it. Or you could do next to nothing and be incompetent, yet you'd have exactly the same DXC career outcome. That's a pretty crazy state of affairs for any technical company, displaying far more in common with the worst of government red tape.
My current role has as many project managers as actual techies. It's completely insane and has become a self-fulfilling bureaucracy. It's extraordinarily complex from a technical perspective, yet even the delivery lead is just a glorified PM. The company is massively bloated, yet it's incredibly difficult to find anyone who is willing to make any tactical decisions, or actually act as a leader. As soon as lockdown is over and I take off my days accrued so far, I'm bailing.
GtMjKS - danger is project fails - lets get rid of the techies at the bottom and keep the multiple lines of "Yes" managers = you can hazard a guess what happens
Project Diamond is a real thing.... just thought I'd add that to support the OP.
Its about making sure each account hits it's mandated profit margin, one way or another.
Still too many badly priced contracts with many accounts and the target gross margins are higher than they used to be.
You can't reprice jobs already agreed with clients, so something has to give.
That is probably true universally. If your manager doesn't like you, you should either repair the relationship or try to transfer to a new manager. Managers tend to like the people that make them look better and will find work for them, keeping them off the "naughty list". If you have a rare skill set that is in demand, you can afford to be more of an a– and your manager will have to deal with it. Of course if that were the case you probably wouldn't be here.
As best I can tell the primary driver is (and always will be) billability. If you are not running above 80% as a rule and only dip to 50% on occasion.
I wish this was true - Under Mikey 1, the selection was definately more about managers having the power to get rid of those they didn't want/like.
They have also built a "hyper automation savings app" to track the savings due to attrition. Someone leaves you have to go fill out a form to give them the details. Lots of focus on cost control, not seeing much on growth. Like they say - no one ever saved their way to profitability.
As for rules...That is a tough one. It's hard to see what the evil genius is doing in the ivory tower to select candidates for reduction. The Diamond Program wasn't driven off any algorithm, they gave the business unit a target number and let the leaders figure out which of their children were going to have to die. Trust me, you never want to be a part of that sausage making exercise. As best I can tell the primary driver is (and always will be) billability. If you are not running above 80% as a rule and only dip to 50% on occasion. If you drop below 50% - get hustling for more work because you are in the cross hairs. Back office/non-billable people have a harder road to safety. The pandemic has shown just about every job can be done remotely and there are low cost centers that span just about every time zone. So you need to find something unique that needs to be done on shore. Billable resources should find areas that require onshore resources for the best protection (ITAR, defense, government). They are pushing offshore so hard, I don't understand why my job, my bosses job, their bosses job, hasn't moved offshore yet. Heck the CEO can be moved offshore for significant savings. So I have no idea at what level the offshore push is no longer important. Make no mistake, if you just want to hide until you can retire or find something else, there are positions you can find around here.
For those looking for a lucrative exit, that is a challenge for sure. Severance packages in the States are a joke, so probably not that lucrative. Your best bet is to have a flexible option waiting for you and to stay close to your manager. Layoffs will always be happening around here. If you can work with a supportive manager, you can let it be known you wouldn't be opposed to being on a WFR list when it comes around. Unless you are in a critical role, you might get your wish. It's a long shot, but it has happened.
If you are happy with what you do and comfortable with the position and pay you make, stick around. I'm not sure of the long term prognosis for the company. Some positive upticks, but it's a big ship to turn around. If you are prepared to wait 3-5 years for improvements stick it out, but that is 10% of your work life. I'd say it's at least worth investigating the market. You don't have to leave, but at least see what your value is. I've had team members leave for 40-50% increases.
@OP+19GtMjKS - thanks for the insights. I think most DXC emps are are of 'a process' but had no idea on the sophistication...
So we have a software algorithm governing WFR selection - it must be susceptible to 'nudging' or 'gaming' by skewing user inputs - appraisal, feedback, timesheets etc.?
There are two *major camps within the DXC disgruntled employee community - those that want to keep lowdown, sqeak through and keep the job (no criticism here) and those who want to plan an exit and would be grateful of some 'trigger control' to maximise any potential payoff!
Would it be possible to publish some rules for members of 'longevity' and 'exit plan'
Yes. Well written. But oh so sad. People pulling the lever on others don’t even know they are doing it.
Man, you write well !