For the folks new to the strategy game at the top of the house let me walk you through what happened. Abby and team unhappy with what’s going on in PI. Joanna and surrounding team fired / shown the door. Shuffle the cards and brought in Roger “the grim reaper” to fix things. New team needs funding for their strategy shift, of course they don’t issue debt… they move the chess pieces, lop off headcount to free up funds. This is what happened in 2017 and is what happened here with a 5% shave. So yeah they would say it’s not you all it’s us playing our strategy games. Enjoy feeling used? Welcome to Corporate America
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Why would they give one group a VBO, and lay off another, makes no sense. I doubt very seriously there is a VBO.
Some firms do a 5-15% cut of bottom performers every year.
The writing was on the wall in the 3rd quarter results. For the millions spent - what was delivered did not bring in the amount of new business for the $$ spent. Leaders got greedy - building their empires with a essentially was a blank check. Those that should be held accountable are the senior leaders - Domain Leaders for hiring with not enough delivery results in bringing in new business. It was all there in the numbers in 3rd quarter results - as someone said above - same thing happened in 2017 - hired up - and then need to trim - refocus on goals and now with all the tools - Abby is all over it. Don't blame your direct managers/CLs - they had no control and are on a gag order - the focus should be on senior management - not even Abby - Domain Leaders are the problem. There I said it. Some of them don't even know what is actually being worked on - they don't even have an elevator pitch. Unfortunately the focus was on new hires because they are not vested yet in any way - and severance is only a couple months - 1 per year worked. With a sweep of some of the problem children. Also - with Bill Akerman out - new HR lead - they put their own spin on this. Yes - I would definitely go into the office. Put your big girl/boy pa-ties on and deal with it - or go find another job.
The poster here is likely right. It’s shedding and calibrating headcount for the new org while keeping the budget flat or reduced, addition by subtraction. Add in getting rid of complainers (wfh and dei zealots, also rans, etc…) as well as the overpaid and over tenured. This is how you pivot the business while keeping the budget flat. Happens in other orgs too, a standard game plan sold by the leech consulting firms like Deloitte and McKinsey.
Even though your role was “eliminated” you can likely expect to see job postings in the near future that sound almost exactly like your former role. Keep in mind if your manager didn’t like you or you were a pain, you likely have the “do not rehire” box checked on your termination form. My advice for all, update your resume and move on, there are better companies out there than this one.
I had heard 5% across the board was the goal. Also heard no VBO for 2024.
How can you be sure that there will be a VBO?
From a sure there is going to be a 2024 VBO to an actual up to 5% haircut.