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Job Cuts For Dell, Motorola, and Circuit City
maeveth writes "Talk about not a good time to be working in the tech sector. Layoffs all over the industry have been announced, in a variety of different areas. Last week Dell announced they were partnering with Wal-Mart; this week they are planning a ten-percent reduction in their global workforce. Motorola was already going to cut some 3500 jobs by the end of June; they're now adding another 4000 pink slips to that number (and hoping that next month's RAZR2 launch will boost profits). To top it all off Circuit City is acting in a decidedly schizophrenic manner. The are going to axe about 850 employees, on top of the 70 stores they closed last month ... while also planning to open 165 new stores."
Meanwhile, every tech place I know can't hire fast enough. The good candidates are getting soaked up by the market fast. Wasn't there a stat recently that computer people are in higher demand than during the tech boom? But maybe its just a localized phenomena where I live.
... where the cuts will occur. Obviously the Circuit City cuts will be in the US, but what about Dell & Moto? Any bets that they are not in the call centers of India? The Dell article mentions employees in England & Ireland but doesn't say where the cuts will be.
Nothing like making the employees pay for management's bad decisions.
What's so strange about closing 70 locations and opening 165? Anyone that has had anything to do with corporate retail planning can see that it can make perfect sense: The company wants to grow, so they add more stores, at the same time, some stores have been performing so badly that they think the location will never be profitable enough, so they are closed.
The only surprising part is that we are talking about all that many stores at the same time: It either means that the former management was ignoring all the indicators, or that the new management has just gone overboard to make a point.
Either way, it's something that seems perfectly healthy for a retail chain to do.
Quite a few ways...
Circuit City and Dell are retailers. Moto is not.
Dell and Motorola make products, circuit city just sells them.
Dell and Circuit City are hated by portions of the population.
Circuit City treats their employees worse than anyone else in the United States and should die a horrible death. My mother worked in HR there for a bit... did I mention she has no degree?
FTFA:
"This time around, the company [Circuit City] axed roughly one manager from each of its 654 stores along with nearly 200 positions at its Richmond, VA headquarters."
How does sacking a bunch of retail managers and back office support staff spell doom for tech sector employees? I understand that job cuts are bad things, but I don't think this one should be lumped in with the tech sector.
[sig]you really dont want the answers, trust me[/sig]
Perhaps someone can inform me how people getting laid off at Circuit City is any indicator of the status of the tech sector. Now I have never bought anything from a Circuit City but they weren't the most technically adept people I have ever talked to...just a bunch of dullards spouting numbers off of a tag and having no clue what they actually mean. I can see Motorola and Dell, but lumping Circuit City in there is just grasping for straws
During growth cycles in the stock markets, like the record-breaking S&P 500, it's very typical for companies to shed employees. It has nothing to do with Tech as an industry segment, has nothing to do with outsourcing, has nothing to do with EducationInAmericaToday, has nothing to do with anything but pleasing Wall Street. This allows stockholders to fatten up the stock price, lower DE ratios, and at the end of the day, inject new blood.
Does it suck? Of course it does. Wall Street is a nasty bitch.
---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
"decidedly schizophrenic manner"
Schizophrenia != Split Personality
I don't know if I'd really consider working for Circuit City to be part of the "tech industry". More like retail sales.
Bad times? What are you smoking.
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Here is today's article from NY Times Dell Reports Better-Than-Expected Profit http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/01/technology/01de
The reason these people are laid off is because the companies want even more profits, not because they are losing money during "bad times."
Obama likes poor people so much, he wants to make more of them.
I consider Dell as much a part of the Tech sector as I do Kenmore or Whirlpool.
http://www.bynarystudio.com
Right. Circuit City is a retailer. Their industry is the same as Wal*Mart, CompUSA, etc. They are not a 'tech' company anymore than RadioShack, Wal*Mart or Amazon.com.
However, most of the jobs that are being cut in these companies are unskilled, low-paying jobs. Everywhere I look sysadmins, DBAs, network admins, developers and systems analysts are in high demand -- IOW, the higher-paying, higher-skilled jobs in the tech industry.
My blog
Your company does well and STILL you get massive layoffs.
Yeah, this is how broken corporate America is. If your company does badly, lay people off to reduce costs (Motorola). If your company does well, lay people off to increase apparent productivity (Dell). And if you have a senior cadre of expensive workers who have built the foundation for your success over the years, lay them off (Circuit City).
If you have a problem, we have a layoff.
Take home message: no one should ever under any circumstances be loyal to any company beyond the exact penny of their last pay-cheque.
Blasphemy is a human right. Blasphemophobia kills.
Maybe this quote from the article would make more sense :
"By now, it is accepted wisdom that Wal-Mart makes the companies it does business with more efficient and focused, leaner and faster. Wal-Mart itself is known for continuous improvement in its ability to handle, move, and track merchandise. It expects the same of its suppliers. But the ability to operate at peak efficiency only gets you in the door at Wal-Mart. Then the real demands start. The public image Wal-Mart projects may be as cheery as its yellow smiley-face mascot, but there is nothing genial about the process by which Wal-Mart gets its suppliers to provide tires and contact lenses, guns and underarm deodorant at every day low prices. Wal-Mart is legendary for forcing its suppliers to redesign everything from their packaging to their computer systems. It is also legendary for quite straightforwardly telling them what it will pay for their goods."