I am hearing the layoffs are going to be devastating. Word around the office is that it will be over %10
11 replies (most recent on top)
its already started in the western region 40-50% reduction
Bernard J. Duroc-Danner
Chairman, President &
Chief Executive Officer
M E M O R A N D U M
Date: January 26, 2015
To: All Weatherford Employees
From: Bernard J. Duroc-Danner
Re: Organizational Changes
My last organizational memo spoke to the external environment that we collectively face. I won't reiterate that message other than to say that the situation is intensifying rapidly.
Historically, Weatherford has shown drive, speed and fighting spirit. We now have to show the industry once again who we are and what we are capable of. We also need to adapt the way in which our leadership is organized for the greatest market responsiveness possible. At the risk of over simplifying, we need all hands on deck and we need to reduce the number of layers in the organization.
The focus in 2015 is going to be threefold – Cost, Cash and Client.
On Cost, it is clear that we have to respond to the activity reductions and pricing reductions that are upon us, more acutely in North America than elsewhere. In addition to activity based reductions, we also have to aggressively reduce our support costs across the board, starting with corporate and addressing every product line and region. This is essential for us to preserve our financial strength and ride out this downturn.
On Cash, while we have significantly de-risked the company by monetizing several divestitures in 2014 and collectively over $1.7 billion in the process, we still have not learned as a company to generate positive cash flow from operations. In 2015, we will focus on continuing the capital efficiency program, namely reduce DSO and DSI while also reducing capex aggressively by dramatically improving our asset utilization and maintenance programs. As a company, we have to demonstrate that we are fully capable of generating cash consistently.
Last but definitely not the least, on Clients, we have to re-focus our efforts to preserve and indeed, increase market share in 2015. The Halliburton / Baker Hughes merger presents some compelling opportunities for us to grow with the help of our customers who want to help us develop into a strong and viable number three player. The distance between our product lines and customers has to be reduced and as a company, all of us need to be much more customer facing than ever before. Internal focus cannot be a substitute for working with customers.
I realize these are a number of further adjustments which come but a few weeks after the prior ones in December. We are gearing up for a period of intense competition where three things will determine a successful outcome: most efficient cost structure, client intimacy and quality in execution. The markets, industrial and financial, will not be forgiving. The whole purpose of these changes are to make us flatter, faster, leaner and more driven to establish ourselves as a quality alternative to both SLB and HAL. Help me get this done. The recession which is upon us will come and go. The challenge of raising our operating performance to the level of the two industry leaders will remain. That is ultimately what we have to prepare for and what I am asking all of you to help your Company achieve that.
Thank you for all you do at Weatherford.
They have already started some IT contractors. Most JDE Indian contrators will go in March when the JDE 9.1 go live is completed. US Fracing operations will most likely see the most layoffs.
WFT cut last year because it simply had too large of a headcount for the revenue compared to the industry.
WFT WILL cut 10-20% due to the current state of the market. Yes it will have an adverse impact because WFT is very inefficient as is and hid behind large employee counts for tasks that were nonvalue add waste. The thought would be to reduce headcount to cut overhead and expenses to match the downturn and force internal efficiency improvements to stay afloat.
To be honest, WFT is currently looking down the barrell of bankruptcy or a sell out if things don't change real soon.
60987, layoffs ARE coming. It's already been confirmed by numerous managers here in the US. Whether it's the 10%+ that others are saying, who knows?
Doubt it. What geography?
60918 where are you posting from?
I seriously doubt such big cuts. As it was said somewhere here below, we had deep cuts last year, while the competitors did nothing. I think we are well prepared and that our staffing levels are healthy. Not sure if you can cut another 10% without adversely impacting Weatherford's ability to run its operation. I think that 2015 will not be a year of layoffs for Weatherford, we might have some reorg, some folks will leave but to cut 10% would absolutely not make sense for me. This may be just my distorted perception of the situation but I just do not see such a massive layoffs as something that might happen any time soon.
Budget cuts in Engineering, but no extensive headcount reduction so far
The mass layoff can start any day now, I assume next week and all thru 1st quarter. Last year they started in early Feb.
Have you heard when they will start?