#gold

#GOLD post!!!

Sad to see Intel is going in a similar direction.

Seriously, you could substitute "Cisco" for "Intel" in the post, and at least 90% applies.

"Some observations from a long time Cisco employee" is a #GOLD post

#GOLD POST

I was one of the giant telecoms' ex employees who got laid of a couple years ago in my 40's. I feel for the affected folks at cisco though some of you might probably have saved a lot to weather through the upcoming unemployed days and some might not. In my case, I was called back multiple times as a contractor to work on the very same things/projects that they said "redundant". I declined. Two years later, I still get the same job/contract description from various staffing agencies asking me to come back. It's really pathetic I tell you. It's the insult of my intelligence that I declined to come back. They could have just asked me to take a pay-cut (20 or 30%), and I would gladly do so believe it or not, but they just decided to lay me off. Anyways, there's life out there guys. For some, it might be an uphill battle; for others, this is a new exciting challenge. I wish you well.

#GOLD post

I wanted to give my best wishes to folks who underwent the LR . Remember , its not the end of the world and specially if you are in the Silicon Valley region , jobs are a plenty .. I don't think that the folks who are not impacted by the LR are feeling any better . Its like wading through a minefield with Bombs going off all over the place . This is no longer the Cisco I used to know . A crushing amount of work and the only reward is .. you get to keep your job .

It does not hurt bro. It's liberating. Yours is a #Gold post indeed...

Source: Personal Experience. LRed in August 2015

How long does it take?

I’m extremely nervous, never been laid off before, but if it’s gonna be another round, I am sure I’m gonna be on the list. Noting firm, just have that horrible gut feeling. Does someone know how they usually do it? Are you being called to a meeting in conference room? With HR only? How long does it usually take?

#GOLD post

#GOLD #Deadwood thread...

• • If everyone in your group sees you as lazy.
• • If you never volunteer to do extra projects.
• • If you live less than 30 minutes away and you are always late.
• • If you are the first one to complain about PTO.
• • If you treat low priority jobs higher than high severity jobs.
• • If you don't pick up your coworkers when they are on PTO or sick leave.
• • If you always have an excuse why you can not drop what you are doing for something more important.
• • If you never are late for company fun events.
• • If people complain about you countless times.

...If... you my friend are a piece of deadwood.

#GOLD

What keeps you going?

There's is a lot of anxiousness, fear, vile energy and company bashing on this forum right now, so to move in another direction, could you share with us what got you working in this firm and what keeps you going, and still working here?

For me, it was and still is the money, and i still like what i do, but this uncertainty drives me crazy.

#GOLD

The more money they save, the more for them to distribute to themselves. It's so simple.

Chop, chop, chop....

All they need is a couple of years of fat salaries and balloon bonuses.... And then, they are sent, they children are set, and children of their children are set for life.

I am OK when a founder does this, but when bureaucrats and corporate types climb the ladder just to graft the corp, I have a problem with that. And our economy suffers as characters like this contribute nothing to growth, capital, improvements. They burden the economy and slow growth. You can literally plug in a monkey into one of the C-roles and the animal would manage not to get fired for 24 months as the system that supports it is relatively well oiled to keep running for VERY long time. Monkey then gets fired, the new one is appointed, two more years of the same stuff, the company will keep going, will be less successful but will keep going.

I guarantee you that if we were to cut their total comp to 400K each you'd still have armies of people lining up to take the role as it brings power and prestige.

I personally think that it's just a matter of time when one of F500 companies tries something like this and knocks it out of the park (the'd save a ton of money, improve the bottom line, send the stock soaring, etc.) We'll see, I still do have quite a bit of hope in Capitalism's ability to repair itself. And it so desperately needs a major repair job...

#GOLD

Ten Things Upon the layoff

===========================================

Clean up your life, in every sense

Do the basics. Update Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, if you are not on it, get on it

Get a project, any project

Network your a-- off, online/offline

Fish where the money is, check out crowdfunding sites, you’ll see who is hiring

Create a storm system that s---s you along – blog, write, post

Make it easy to do business with

Spend some money to make money, invest in yourself and the search

Start a blog about job opportunities in the industry you want to be in

Say no to everyone and everything that won't help you get a job

a #GOLD post...

A bit of career advice

Seems like a ton of anxiety and worry over potential job losses. I will give my best advice (whether you work at Cisco or not)

Corporations are not your friend, parent or caregiver. it is a transaction, not a 'relationship'. You provide a service in return for money.

Automation is the new reality. If a robot or code can do your job, you will not have a job. Period. Do things robots can't do (it will become increasingly difficult as robots are getting better at an alarming rate)

Layoffs and periods of under/unemployment must be factored into your financial plans. Don't get into a mortgage and car loans that assume a 30 year stretch of uninterrupted income.

Save money. Don't be a dumb--s. Save. Lots. Of. Money! A six month cushion is a minimum. Eat ramen and drive a 10 year old Subaru. (Note: if you have worked at Cisco for 10+ years and don't have 2 nickels to rub together, you are an idiot.)

#GOLD Post

Is it a bad idea to start a career in Semiconductor Industry?

For the past few years, with so many mergers and acquisitions, layoffs, uncertainty - is it a good idea to start a semiconductor career?

Also, is there going to any scope for Hardware in the future? or it is dead?

@mvk

#gold post

This is a true #GOLD post

I heard they will cut another 20,000 ppl by the end of 2016

We will really strip to the bone!

The goal is to shrink to less than 35,000 employees if the oil price does not pick up to $60/bbl by mid-2017.

It is understandable... if we have no drilling jobs, no pumping, no fracking, how do we get funds to pay the bills ? !

Dave is doing the right thing - painful, but right thing.

OP - amazing mater post #gold

Not many people know, yet this is a #GOLD post, we should make sure people know

How popular is this site at HPE?

Do you think most employees at HPE know about this site? How many people here are managers and how many are not?

#GOLD POST

In MN, things are going really well. We have a really top-notch management team. They are very inspiring. We are always being asked for our feedback, and the culture is so vibrant. There is no stagnation of any kind. Directors and VPs are ALWAYS meeting with their direct and indirect reports in order to better address morale and employee needs- even though that is hardly needed. They hold round-tables and other fora and they really LISTEN and ACT. There is no micromanagement, and we have no more than the minimal number of meetings that we need. It is all very streamlined and efficient. We are making such incredible progress on all of our future technologies, so there is no doubt that we will be THE storage vendor of the future. I don't see how WD, or any of the SSD companies for that matter, will really be able to compete with us going forward. Not with this caliber of talented management. They routinely criss-cross the globe in order to cover all the bases. They even make sacrifices like having to go to far-off locales like Bali in order to hold important strategy meetings for us. They are so dynamic, so talented, and so conscious of How To Build A Great Workplace. And with I-Map, of course, we have the single most objective, fair, efficient, effective, sound, inventive and inspiring method of accurately quantifying employee performance. In fact, it works so well, that all of us get the same incredible ranking every year! A "3"! Isn't that amazing? Proof positive that we are all as Driven and Innovative as any technical group anywhere. Is there any other Employer Of Choice anywhere quite like this? I think not. So quit complaining.

OP, this is real proverbial #GOLD

Sweat W2 income versus passive income. A simple lesson, especially when it comes to job layoffs.

A lot of Americans never understand you just don't piss away your earned W2 income (sweat income) on useless crap from Walmart and the likes.

Money represents freedom. The dollars you earn from your W2 or 1099 if you are a contractor, are soldiers to achieving "fvck you boss" status. You waste your soldiers on crap that doesn't appreciate or generate income, and that makes it that much harder for you to achieve "fvck you boss" status. And if you use up too much or all of your dollar soldiers, then when the sh1t hits the fan and some boss or economic climate declares war on your financial well being (like threatening to lay you off or outsourcing you to cheaper areas) , you are totally fvcked, because you have no soldiers, guns, weapons to withstand a full frontal financial attack.

Don't be stupid with your money, even when times are good. Learn how to invest when times are good, never wait until you are fvcked over before you start thinking about financial plan B. And don't listen to the morons that don't bother to invest and just still their money in a stupid 1%CD for 8-10 years. Yeah, how's that working out for them? Engineers are good at math, so stupid finance should be a walk in the park. As Andy Grove once said, only the paranoid survive. And that applies to you and your wallet.

#GOLD

Intel's next layoff notice....

(Yes, I know it's probably old but)...

Dear employee

As a result of the reduction of money budgeted for all department areas, we are forced to cut down on our number of personnel. Under this plan, older employees will be asked to take early retirement, thus permitting the retention of younger people who represent our future.

Therefore, a program to phase out older personnel by the end of the next fiscal year, via retirement, will be placed into effect immediately.

This program will be known as S.L.A.P. (Severance of Late-Aged Personnel).

Employees who are SLAPPED will be given the opportunity to look for jobs outside the company.

SLAPPED employees can request a review of their employment records before actual retirement takes place. This review phase of the program will be called S.C.R.E.W. (Survey of Capabilities of Retired Elderly Workers).

All employees who have been SLAPPED and SCREWED may file an appeal with upper management. This appeal is called S.H.A.F.T. (Study by Higher Authority Following Termination).

Under the terms of the new policy, an employee may be SLAPPED once, SCREWED twice, but may be SHAFTED as many times as the company deems appropriate.

If an employee follows the above procedure, he/she will be entitled to get: HE.R.P.E.S. (Half Earnings for Retired Personnel's Early Severance) or CLAP (Combined Lump sum Assistance Payment).

As H.E.R.P.E.S. and C.L.A.P. are considered benefit plans, any employee who has received H.E.R.P.E.S. or C.L.A.P. will no longer be SLAPPED or SCREWED by the company.

Management wishes to assure the younger employees who remain on board that the company will continue its policy of training employees through our: Special High Intensity Training ( S.H.I.T.).

We take pride in the amount of S.H.I.T. our employees receive. We have given our employees more S.H.I.T. than any company in this area. If any employee feels they do not receive enough S.H.I.T. on the job, see your immediate supervisor. Your supervisor is specially trained to make sure you receive all the S.H.I.T. you can stand.

And, once again, thanks for all your years of loyal service with us!

Intel Executive Team

#GOLD post

The problem with Intel

Client CPU under pressure

Steep drop in unit volume from the 2012 peak of 343M units to estimated 232M units this year (Gartner estimate)

Caused by lack of innovation and "good enough" computing

#GOLD

Kissing supervisor assis one of the most important things to learn from AT&T, Fortunately for the majority of our co- workers, they do not need a degree from an Ivy to learn this skill, in our group Nearly every one of us has the capacity to be a kiss assto our repulsive leadership,

#GOLD - a really good question and some solid responses...

Layoff process at Seagate

Is there any warning to those who were getting laid off or was it a complete surprise shock? Do they give you any explanation?

With layoffs supposedly coming around the corner, just curious if I should start packing my cube early.

#GOLD #KOOLAID

Probably #best and #gold post so far...

The de-evolution of Intel in 4 phases - Learn & Enjoy

#GOLD

Working in the Silicon Valley as an engineer use to be the ultimate career.

Today, the Valley has been overrun by H1Bs from India and Pakistan that refuse to work with other ethnic groups. Additionally, Indian management has taken over the best companies in the valley that now just want to hire H1Bs from India. The H1Bs that came to the valley from India 15-20 years ago were really sharp. Yet, today, the H1Bs coming from India are subpar to the American standard and are mostly a burden to the workplace. Today, High Tech wages are suppressed, Real Estate and Rents continue to rise, and the highest skilled tech workers in the valley have now been deemed too expensive and therefore obsolete. Everything that made the Valley wonderful and worthwhile is now gone. We've given the best jobs in the world to the H1B, allowed the H1B to reside in the best geographic location in the world, and now the highest skilled workers in the world have been disparaged and displaced by the #H1B over cost rather than skill. American High Tech workers are not being put first. In fact, they are being put last. American High Tech workers are being treated as third class illiterate felons while the H1B is being treated as a first class citizen that does not hold citizenship. If you are an American Citizen and have been displaced by an H1B - then it is time to write to your congressmen and ask for the denial of any further work visas to the country.

#GOLD post...

I’ll go a bit wide here as I think this is a very good question. I think the board morphed since I landed here for the first time back in 2015.

In general, the workplace information availability is asynchronous, with the management having access to dis-proportionally more information if compared to the worker. This applies to layoffs, strategy, policy and pretty much any other topic that is of relevance to the worker.

What’s going on here on thelayoff goes one step beyond sharing info on layoffs, this forum provides each of us a chance to slightly level the information availability playing field by pooling info we have access to. Add to this some good Samaritan leaks, a bit of frustration, suppressed emotions, and a handful of nut jobs, there you have it – thelayoff dot com…

Each of us is free to choose on how we use this resource, there is a ton of noise here, but you deal with that in your everyday interaction with the media as well – you filter out junk, and you focus on those rare nuggets of good stuff that provide some substance.

So, had it not been for 2016 layoffs, we’d probably never know that we have a platform for anonymously exchanging opinions and info. It’s entirely up to each one of us here what we will do with this resource. Many of us land here once and never visit back, yet, given 1,000s of views each post gets, I’d venture to say that there are many who find some value in getting info and finding some entertainment here.

#GOLD

And you sir just earned a gold star!

#GOLD POST

It's not the Corporation, Company to blame

The company was once a great place to go into and walk out of happy. People enjoyed the good ol' days of Intel. Things change, management shuffles. We entrust the Board of Directors to represent the company. The perverbial "torch" is passed on, we've had some great Leaders( not managers ) Leaders who cared about the company and the people who were employeed.

Now it's an assembly line of numbers,everyone is a number, you need to move faster, there's no room for illness, "management" sees that as weakness. I actually had a manager tell me his integrity was intact and he had no problems sleeping at night, I call "BS" . He bold faced lied to me. I say to him, good luck continuing sleeping without any guilt of impacting individuals lives.

As for BK, your day will come around also, the lavious life you live now, I hope , actually I strive to succeed, and have you serve me. Your time as CEO ticks just as the remainder of our tick has died.

We can live with knowing our character was never in question. Intel management is heavy, lighten the load, go face the people who you cowardly set a criteria onto managers to ensure they could not be successful. There are lies to ensure you meet a quota to eliminate the job force. It's not an American Company. Face the people who are left behind and see the sadness, they are beaten down. How will you change morale in a failing company?

#GOLD Post

Productivity is at a Stand Still and So Difficult Watching Colleagues be Escorted out and Waiting to see if your next

I wish that the leadership would have done more to address the impact this week would have on productivity and emotional status. Work is not getting done, and any meetings, nobody speaks about any of it.

Yet the elephant in the room is crushing morale and the ability to function. I can't believe meetings are even being conducted this week. Management absolutely needed to pro-actively manage all aspects of the impact of this huge downsizing. I would like to see a plan mapped out for those employees not laid off that communicates the impacts across all the orgs (not by name, but by role), and a strategy for how the work is going to get done and mitigation plans in place to realign and re-prioritize the work.

There has been no communication internally like that. It's an eerie silence that is very unhealthy for all. Those leaving feel awful, those remaining feel horrible, and no one can talk about it in open forums. We have to log into this one to do it. What a huge miss on Intel's part. I hope they can collect and analyze the postings this board has facilitated over the past week and incorporate into the process in the future to help maintain integrity and respect in the midst of corporate re-orgs and downsizing. This isn't their first rodeo, this is a very complex system that impacts a global portfolio. It would be easier for the employees to de-personalize the outcome if they were treated with more dignity and not feeling undermined.

#GOLD POST

It all began in a parking lot looking at an Intel sign

Here I am standing in the Intel parking lot in front of a large Intel parking sign I remember looking at 19 years ago. I remember looking at this same sign, different Intel logo, but the same sign all those years ago.

I had just gotten out of the Military after many years of active duty getting ready for an interview thinking, “If I get this job this will be the last job I hope to ever have”. I start thinking about all the major experiences I had at Intel during these past 19+ years. The people, the change, the high lights, the major projects, the success, all those awards, all the people I’ve come to know, friends I’ve made. I don’t know why my manager gave me that SSL4 at focal. In all my years I’ve never gotten one.

I can remember want to ask why, but didn’t. My manager acted like I did well, gave me a raise, a Success Focal, and stocks I never seen so low before. I sit here and ask myself where did I go wrong? I don’t blame anyone for my layoff but me. It’s true, all those years of 7 days a week work, 60, 70, 80 hours, focused on the business groups, on the projects that made Intel a better place. One year I didn’t take vacation at all. I use to postpone most sabbaticals for good of Intel. Most years I rarely took 4 weeks. I missed out on most of my children growing up. I know how grandchildren.

But the last year and a half I have to admit I could have done more. Why did slow down to 50 hours 5/6-day work weeks? I found myself spending time with my family. There’s much healing that needs to go on with the lose my children experienced with me being gone all the time. My children have much resentment toward me and I did fail them. Not just with being gone with the military serving in so many wars, but then working so much to get ahead with a great Corporation who gave me and my family so much. I spend time with my grandchildren.

The mistakes of the past don’t need to be repeated. I have slowed down. It’s not Intel’s fault because it’s true. I stand in this parking lot, in front of the Intel Parking lot sign, a sign I stared at so many years ago with a whole different set of desires. And I now look at this sign saying, “Thanks for the memories, thanks for great times, thanks for the challenges, thanks for the lifelong friends, and most of all; Thanks for giving me my family”. I salute you Intel and all my former co-workers and friends. God bless you and best wishes to all of you.

@1ksj this is #true and #gold

Look, they're going to lay people off. That's not going to change. But what the managers can control is what they say in the layoff meeting. What words they use. What their body language says. The message should be, "we really value your contributions. honestly. and we're really sorry to do this. it's only b/c we have to. believe it or not, this is really hard on us." My managers were the opposite: cold, glared at me, made it sound like it was my fault. Never once mentioned that every single written review I ever got was above target. Seized my badge, kicked me out onto the sidewalk. That's what I'm asking WD management to not let happen to anyone again.

#GOLD Post on Intel Culture:

SHANKED! in the Intel prison (you should be so lucky)

Looking from the outside now back into Intel many things amaze me. It's strange how comfortable and at the very same time how stressful that place was; as if high stress was a natural state. It's strange how it felt like home and how I treated it like home, and also how I clung to it when I should have left. I should have left it many years before the shanking.

The reason I never left sooner was because it was a prison. It was a prison for my mind. By it's very nature a prison for your mind is invisible, you don't know that your thinking is limited by your environment because you're not able to experience life outside of that environment. But life inside Intel was very limiting. It was a "failure is not an option" view that enshrines perfection, turns minor issues into major worries, and distracts from true opportunities. And it was insidious - that view of life had crept into my view of the world and personal life. The shanking came on my 17th year at Intel after a great deal of career success.

I say shanking because it fits that urban dictionary word perfectly: out of the blue I was being stabbed with makeshift instruments by those around me who I thought I could trust . One day it was "good job" and literally the very next it was "you're going to be getting an IR". The explanations were there but like I said they were "makeshift", as in so and so said this about you. Sometimes providence comes from the most unusual circumstances, because when you are shanked at the Intel prison you don't die there, they just show you the door and you leave for good. I didn't realize that Intel was my mind prison until a couple months after being on "the outside" when I noticed the quantity and quality of my thinking improving.

Now much more time has passed and I can see clearly that I had kept myself in that prison. While the actual act of being shanked at Intel is never something that can be remembered fondly, I am very grateful that I escaped that prison... even if I needed help to do it.

#GOLD POST

The Last Day

Well, just about everyone should know their status by now, either directly or a gut feeling. What did you think as you are leaving for good or watching others leave? After staring blankly into your owrn thoughts wondering how it has all gonè so terribly wrong, getting yelled at by your spouse, looking at your kids, worrying about your finances, getting drunk, chain smoking, firing up a doobie, then post your thoughts here. That is, after your have cleared out your head from the anger, bitterness and betrayal you might feel. Will the company help you in your job search to a new path in your life?

#GOLD POST

I never been laid off before, its somewhat exciting yet sad as it will be a different routine overnight! met some good folks here.

I suppose the invite means they will tell me I've been laid off? I assumed that if I were selected they would have sent an offer letter in the email like they do during the PDC? I already know that one person has been notified and she decided to leave immediately this past Monday.

#GOLD POST

Out of Sight Out of Mind

It is amazing how quickly a laid off person becomes nonexistent. No one will contact you to see how you are doing. None of your so-called friends and coworkers will mention your name. A manager in my group joked about all the empty offices being available for the new college grads. What have we become? Remember, you are on your own. Don't count on Facebook or LinkedIn to bail you out. Do your own job research. It is dog eat dog right now.

#gold post

#GOLD POST

Layoff ideas

This time, the HR needs to be come up with some creative ways of kicking out the old white farts. Below are some ideas I have and I am open to better suggestions/recommendations:

• Letting the folks staying back give the old white fart a gift marked "get lost you filth"

• A heavy kick on the old fart's butt by the youngest millennial on his team

• Offering him a trash can to carry his mess from his decade old cube

• Rotten egg and tomato pelting on the old white fart the moment he steps out of the campus

• Asking him to wear a pink hat with "I got fired today" written on it

• Asking him to cut a "cake of losers"

• Presenting him a gown marked "I am useless"

Enjoy the misery sh--holes :)

#GOLD POST - I hate working, period

I hate working here

I wanna quit but I do not have anywhere to go to. I HATE working for the company, it is been a nightmare...

What a great post #gold

#GOLD

Minimizing taxes on a severance package

Tax Deferrals

Severance package recipients can take steps to defer income tax on some of the money they receive. This is especially useful for workers who lose their jobs close to retirement. Placing money in an annuity or individual retirement account creates the opportunity for a tax deduction. Although the severance income is taxable, it also counts as a deduction from taxable income if it goes into a qualified, tax-deferred retirement plan.

Maxing out such contributions will minimize the tax impact of a severance package and allow the recipient to pay taxes at a lower rate as the money is withdrawn

Source: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/tax-options-severance-packages-23917.html