Does anyone know if the call center in Orlando will continue to exist? I heard many rumors that Oracle may be closing it and cutting jobs (moving work overseas). Nothing can surprise me anymore but we are fairly busy and I do not think that offshoring it would make sense (knowledge, quality, etc.) What are your thoughts?
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I vote Safra in. Hurd out.
I second that! Heck why not reduce the two CEOs @ $50+ million each to just one, there's a saving right there.
When will they outsource the CEO position? They can probably save quite a bit and get a better employee.
I worked at the Orlando center for many years. Once upon a time, the center was bustling with growth and activity. When the tech bubble burst, though, that all changed. The center has been shrinking for the last 16 years. We went from two buildings and several floors leased across two other buildings down to a single 3-story building with largely vacant floors -- because teams downsized and everybody telecommuted. There was an entire floor of just "hotel cubes."
I've been gone for a few years now, so I don't know what it's like now. When I left, morale was at an all-time low. Many of us lived under the threat of layoff since that bubble burst. We became accustomed to coming to work and seeing people escorted by security with a cart of their belongings in tow. Meanwhile, off-shoring accelerated. Many Orlando employees felt unwanted, under-appreciated. Some of us wondered how long it would be before they finally shut down the center.
Just recently, many of my former colleagues started leaving. All of them are very talented, experienced engineers with well over 15 years with the company. Lack of raises, bonuses and overall recognition for the efforts contributed to this exodus. It's almost as if upper-management is starving out the center.
As to your original question -- much of the technical work doesn't require live customer contact. Support teams in India can triage most incoming requests. The functions Oracle will have a hard time eliminating entirely are the premium support reps and escalation teams. This is where the culture gap might save some North American and European positions. I think talented engineers and analysts can still succeed with the company if they're savvy with their career choices. That said, I don't know how that squares with how they're starving the Orlando center in particular. Move to CA? Almost all of my former coworkers have families and roots here in Orlando, so their best option was to work for someone else.
I can't imagine any large layoffs in Orlando - as a major support center (with a lot of great people) I would be surprised if there were any significant layoffs.
Most if not all jobs in USA will get eliminated. My team have 10 people, only one in USA, if the person in USA quit, the replacement head count will be in low cost region.
Unfortunately going by past history with Oracle, you could guess that down sizing the TSC and sending the jobs off shore could be on the cards? They did the same thing in Australia just recently.