The cuts were across the board in IT. It was not just based on performance reviews, 9-blocker results, tenure or current salary. Management went through two rounds of ranking everyone in their departments, and then they were forced to make cuts. Based on current and future work prospect. People were being led away randomly, one at a time, as their managers came to get them. In some cases, they sent someone else unrelated to their workgroup to get them and tell them about a meeting they needed to have with their boss.
Many, many good people were lost today. It's unfortunate, sad, and certainly not fair considering how much people did for Raymond James to get them through the Morgan Keegan acquisition.
Nonetheless, every penny not spent on IT goes straight to profit. They need that bottom line to look better, and this is a big way to help with that.
Going forward, they will outsource, possibly with offshore resources, and use contracting wherever more capacity is necessary.
I mean really - you had to see this coming. Laying people off is expensive with severance packages, unemployment payments, etc... Not to mention that it makes the company look bad in the news when big layoff numbers are announced. It's always easier and cheaper to convince people to quit on their own, so they tried that first.
So, they bring in new senior managers. They make sudden, confusing and often unannounced organizational changes. People lose track of what their job is, and how to do well at it. People get new job titles, sometimes new roles...even if they aren't sure how to fulfill that role. No - no training is provided for in the budget...sorry!
Then you include a deliberate lack of management direction on future work assignments, and make sure you assign people work that is completely outside of their wheelhouse. For those who don't fulfill their new role and job title, they get bad reviews. Top it all off with an overbearing, manipulative and sometimes vindictive manager and you've got a recipe for reducing headcount.
In general, their goal was to make people uncomfortable so that maybe they'll quit. It worked to an extent. But,some folks dealt with it and would not leave.
For those that still decide to stay...let's put all internal transfers on hold and shut down all external hiring, so they can't move around so they them feel stuck in their role. Let's see if that works.
Still here after all of that? Well fine, they must be stubborn then. The company will lay the rest off and begrudgingly pay them a severance to leave. They tried hard not to have to do that, but oh well...