Yeah, they're doing a lot of hatcheting now. But I don't think they are reporting this publicly as they should. It doesn't sound good. With the kind of crap management we have I guess it should not be surprising.
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Seems like 3% of the workforce is being let go. I don’t see any press reporting this
We were told there would be between 250-300 positions cut in a meeting 1 month ago. Today is the day for cutting the majority among the identified positions. Most of the cuts seem be in non-technical position.
Happening right now. Few former consultants of mine turned Rackers (work for an agency in San Antonio) have told me their friends got cut and are sending their resumes over. Don't know how large the layoff is but it's touching a lot of different skill sets.
What say ye today?
I heard more 'restructuring' if that is what we are calling layoffs now, I'm told happened around the June timeframe, but still silence on the mattet. Does not matter any more though, the company is going private, execs have their parachutes, and folks jobs now will hang in the balance of the Apollo group. The purchasd could make things scary over the short haul, but maybe beneficial down the road for the company, who knows these things? Though I'm curious what the rackspace identity will be then. Figuring out what the company wants to be has been a sticking point for them for a long time.
From users on another site:
"Rackspace is lying. Rob La Gesse is doing damage control to protect the company. That's his job and he's just being a good soldier. These employees were told to find a new role within Rackspace or leave. There were NOT reassigned. Furthermore, they were expressly told that their roles had been eliminated. Rackspace is in real trouble."
And
"I personally know people who's positions were eliminated. It is true they were offered the opportunity to apply for another position within the company, but if they don't get "rehired on", they are out of a job. They can call it a "refocus", but positions were eliminated. This is just standard PR spin."
Looks like more people are getting the axe. No broad cuts, but I'm hearing people continue to be cut and walked out without warning.
Maybe they should trim somewhere else?
http://www1.salary.com/Executive-Salaries-Search-Result.html?q=rackspace
Rhodes is doing a good job taking the company from a low margin product to a higher margin service. When you don't have anything else in your arsenal but hosting, then no way you can act all tough against the bigger guys. That makes no sense. From what i hear, i was told like 86 folks affected (what a number, is that a message or inside joke)? I don't know why they would fire/rehire vs reallocate, but whatever. The bad thing is that there's a big disconnect between senior leaders and contributors. That's because of a hazy layer of overly stacked middle management (not all areas) covering their tails.
Taylor says he doesn't care about the stock price, but it's gone steadily down since he took over. It's lower now than it was when the sale was being considered. Most of his initial 12 million dollar compensation is in stock; his stock has halved in price since he came aboard. So yeah, he cares. He sold almost 4000 shares in November to make a nice 100k profit before the Christmas slump. http://www.octafinance.com/rackspace-hosting-inc-nyseraxs-insider-taylor-rhodes-unloaded-3866-shares/
Source on his salary: http://www1.salary.com/William-Taylor-Rhodes-Salary-Bonus-Stock-Options-for-RACKSPACE-HOSTING-INC.html
Former Racker here, the word is spreading around that the this is a layoff to the point where all the staffing agencies in the area already know. With over 6000 employees, 90+ folks cut is just north of 1%, but that's still significant.
Rob - So 90 staff members being made redundant is not a lot? Stock price plummenting there was a feeling this was going to happen. Please dont try and sugar coat it. I have been there a number of years and some of the managment seem to know less about business then myself and thats saying something.
I guess over the years I've seen the "you have 30 days to find another job in Rackspace" routine an exercise in futility. The folks that got notice today are tainted goods, if not they would not be in the situation they find themselves in. This tactic is an HR feel good move. If not, people would have been placed into other positions. Look it happens, that's what we get when we try to be more like Dell or Microsoft. We get big corporate bs.
Later Rob.
Actually, every impacted employee has already been teamed up with an internal recruiter. I can understand you being cynical. I've worked for companies like that. Today, I do not. I know it is painful for some and I do not want to belittle that. But the facts remain the facts. No massive layoffs. Still hiring. Still growing.
It is fair to say we realigned some positions. It is NOT fair or true to characterize this as something larger.
Rob La Gesse
210-845-4440
Rob,
Restructuring. How PC of you. For those with out a job today it is a layoff or more to the point a firing. Will they be the first contacted when these new positions are created? I think not.
I want to dispel the untruths here. There are no massive layoffs. Some employees were affected by restructuring - that is true. Every responsible company does that from time to time.
But we'll add a lot more Rackers than were impacted over the year. Sure - employee impacts are never good or easy. But the rumors of a "massive" layoff are totally unfounded and have no ground in truth.
Rob La Gesse
210-845-4440
So true bro - silent cuts