How come RIMM didn't have the balls to announce how many will be laid off?
Not sure where you have been but the number of potential layoffs has been published.
all over the place. If you are looking an exact, down to the person number, I don't think
you will get one. In a company the size of RIM numbers such as these are sort of a
moving target.
Is this what the rumored big internal meeting was about today? On the software side, I assume the layoffs are on the Java side of the house (people who had been working on the legacy OS)?
Is this what the rumored big internal meeting was about today? On the software side, I assume the layoffs are on the Java side of the house (people who had been working on the legacy OS)?
That makes sense. I'd assume anyone working on BB10 is bulletproof, for a while at least.
The number over all is irrelevant they are hiring and firing at the moment, at the earnings summery we will see how many total employees give or take are on board and can do the math as to the number of layoffs
But if RIM lets go 4000 people and hires 2000. The focus will be on 4000 loss, not the net 2000 loss.
I hope if there is to be an official announcement (and I agree with DeRusett, they don't need to make one), they don't do it today. If they suck the oxygen out of Microsoft's big announcement today, MS is not going to be pleased. And there is NO value to RIM making MS angry.
How come RIMM didn't have the balls to announce how many will be laid off?
Originally Posted by ptpete
Give me a number!
Published rumors are between 2000 to 6000. That's a huge range. Heins needs to get in front of this before earnings this week.
Why do they need to state a number of people laid off before the earnings call, if ever? If they announce it before they'll just get hammered two times for the same bad news, or just once during the call and take one hit. Stating a number will not make the transition to BB10 go quicker or help the stock. Let's just hope that everyone laid off finds new jobs quickly.
Published rumors are between 2000 to 6000. That's a huge range. Heins needs to get in front of this before earnings this week.
As others have pointed out, there is no reason to announce the current status of those layoffs before the next call.
Also, if you've ever done layoffs, you know it is very difficult to be precise with numbers because you can't predict how people will react. Some employees who are going to be let go will have left on their own. Then other employees who are not on the list often panic and leave when you didn't want them to, making you then go back and readjust the list again for your division or group. So it's always a fluid situation on a group by group or division by division basis.
They put a $1B number out there for total cost reductions. I'm sure on the next call they will report how far they have gotten to that goal.
The number over all is irrelevant they are hiring and firing at the moment, at the earnings summery we will see how many total employees give or take are on board and can do the math as to the number of layoffs
But if RIM lets go 4000 people and hires 2000. The focus will be on 4000 loss, not the net 2000 loss.
The other question I'd ask is: are the layoffs actually starting to take place today or are they offering packages first?
I wish all the laid-off employees a quick and easy job hunt. I just wish the higher-ups did a better job at leading the company so it wouldn't come down to this. If there was any way to save these people's jobs, I hope RIM explores all their options before resorting to lay-offs to save money.
I wish all the laid-off employees a quick and easy job hunt. I just wish the higher-ups did a better job at leading the company so it wouldn't come down to this. If there was any way to save these people's jobs, I hope RIM explores all their options before resorting to lay-offs to save money.
I think I remember reading an article a few weeks back about RIM hiring a group to help former employees find jobs/resources to live on during the job hunt, so perhaps they already have measures implemented to cushion the layoffs.
It's a real shame. The way corporations are run these days...
Guys up top make mistakes, they get $12 mill
Guys downstairs take orders, lose their jobs
Obviously more complicated, but that's a sad, simple way to look at it.
Where does that "these days" come from? Are you suggesting that large corporations used to do things differently?
The "guys upstairs" essentially got severance, and most of that was in the form of stock options. Considering that each of them has lost hundreds of millions of dollars in their RIM stock holdings (and that this is very low on the scale when it comes to outrageous golden handshakes), it's liveable.
Of course it's scary to see job cuts. Remember, though, that there are employment contracts in place that guarantee severance packages. Many of the affected workers will be in better shape a year from now than they would have if RIM had held on to them until the bitter end.
I wish all those well who lost their jobs. I was in a similar position 11 years ago. I did what it took to make it through and I survived, so it is possible. Chins up and be vigilant!
