Thread regarding Mattel Inc. layoffs

Compare LEGO and Mattel during RIFs

Tells you all you need to know about the company cultures...

LEGO Board Chairman in 2017:

"We are very sorry to make changes which may interfere with the lives of many of our colleagues. Our colleagues put so much passion into their work every day and we are deeply grateful for that. Unfortunately, it is essential for us to make these tough decisions.”

"The person to blame for these poor outcomes is unfortunately me and I take full accountability for that today."

Mattel CEO in 2018:

"So as we said, the majority of the reductions came from back office and support functions. We definitely were very mindful of maintaining the revenue-generating part of the company and the creative capabilities."

And CFO: "While changes like this are not easy, this was a necessary action taken to realign our cost base with the top line and restructure the organization to better support the execution of our going forward strategy. This specific action is expected to result in full-year run rate SG&A savings of approximately $150 million with one-third expected to be realized in 2018."

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Post ID: @OP+Ul1XG3D

7 replies (most recent on top)

Ynon, you can spill your bs and big words all you want. You are a world reknown hatchet man. Mattel must have been out of there mind to hire you. You take a good hard look at some of the positions eliminated and they do NOT make any sense. Putting uneeded burden on remaining employees just to satisfy your "numbers". Total and smelly B.S.

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Post ID: @kqg+Ul1XG3D

HA, HA, HA! These CEOs and their spiels are a joke. Here is the ACTUAL plan (and it is the same as it was for the last several Mattel CEO 's): "I am here to slash people's jobs wherever just to make sure I get my millions and skip town in a year or two. Don't give a s**t about turning this company around". Wake up people. Get another job somewhere else and be happy.

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Post ID: @hxf+Ul1XG3D

Moving things to India has been a big cluster since day one.

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Post ID: @fxo+Ul1XG3D

Ask if they view moving most of their support back office functions to India a success. Are the projected savings as planned?

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Post ID: @uvd+Ul1XG3D

They’re only accepting questions re tech assistance from remote locations. es you’re going to have to represent!!!!

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Post ID: @lqj+Ul1XG3D

Don't back down during the townhall today.

Grill them.

Give them hell.

Speak up, and be heard.

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Post ID: @ivg+Ul1XG3D

Felicia Hendrix - Barclays Capital, Inc.

Okay, that's helpful. And, Joe, can we just talk for a second about the 2,200 head count reduction. I think I heard you – it sounds like it's a bit shy of a quarter of your back office. Can you help us just understand a bit more what these functions were? It was such a big number. Was this just a ton of redundancies? Are you automating a bunch of stuff? I'm just trying to understand kind of this part of your business and that kind of reduction and if you're cutting into bone or there was just so much fat. Could you give us some perspective?

Joseph J. Euteneuer - Mattel, Inc.

Yeah, no. So, look, it is a combination of everything you said. I think you've heard me comment on earlier con calls about the lack of automation here. So we're making a big push to get more and more automated, which helps us become far more efficient. The other thing is I think we're just re-looking at the cradle to grave processes that we have to streamline them to get rid of the excess steps so that we can operate more efficiently and create more profitability. So, Ynon, what have you got to add?

Ynon Kreiz - Mattel, Inc.

Look, the way we think about this reduction, this is not simply about cost savings. We are transforming the way we operate. And there were systems and processes that have been in place for a long time in the company that are simply no longer needed or there are better ways to affect them. And I guess it goes back to an earlier question about how we're going to manage the company given these changes. So I can tell you that this was a process where we involved leaders across the organization and spent a lot of time on to make sure that we are doing the right thing, that we're not throwing the baby with the water, that we're not leaving the company with gaps and handicaps in any area. Even though we took it largely out of support functions and back office, even that is important. You want a healthy, robust company that can support itself. So we took while you can say – and it is significant approach into our restructuring and kicked off this process with a real action. We did it very methodically. This was developed and planned for. And we think, if anything, it will make us more efficient, more robust, more effective, better performing. It's not about cutting into the bone and weakening the company. We believe it will make us stronger even in the short term, let alone longer term.

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Post ID: @nhz+Ul1XG3D

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