Thread regarding 3M layoffs

Revisiting this gem of a post, with new data to share, clarifying one of the discussions below.

We currently have:
1 CEO
15 EVP equivalents
64 Senior Vice Presidents
261 Vice Presidents

Pause and let that soak in.

Assuming a conservative $300K/VP, and $500K/SVP, this translates to $110M in compensation for the first two layers above L3/T7. Sorting the data, only half of this goes to those who are responsible for the core of what 3M does to turn a profit.

Wonder why we have issues in this company?

If only this amount of energy posting rants were put in your daily work…..

Recent and current attrition rates are off the charts! It is quite evident from internal postings and LinkedIn postings. Everyone knows that. HR of course knows the true numbers as well as upper management.

For recent hires, attrition rates are anywhere from 22% to 30%. Let those shocking numbers sink in for a moment!

Many in tech bailed on 4q. Big brain drain - may never recover. Sad

Is there any way to discern in a more quantifiable way what the true voluntary attrition rates are? Mining through Linkedin comes to mind. I agree with comments made in this post and many others that the rate seems higher than at any previous point in my career, but realize this is anecdotal, and would love to see actual data. Even greater (and impossible to pry from HR's cold, dead hands) would be a comparison with other large companies. >90% of the people I knew were great assets, so a real loss to the company.

I want to add to what Varys said about how we all should be looking for new jobs. The culture at 3M is so toxic and the leadership is so reptilian that people are getting sick. That is wrong. We all deserve to be treated with respect.

What constitutes the COC? Is it MR + his direct reports or does it extend to other "leaders"?

@2dkz+1ljgXgVd

Thanks for the kind words. I have to be careful what I write here, as I'm sure that someone working for 3M leadership is trying to figure out who I really am.

To answer your questions:

1. First, keep a strong eye on what is really important to you. Any one of us is only given a short while in this world, spend it wisely. If you, me, or any other employee died tomorrow 3M literally won't do anything. (It is explicitly against corporate policy for 3M to even send a card and flowers to the family of a deceased employee, look it up.)

Second, keep your options very open. I would advise any 3Mer to be actively looking for better opportunities. I am. At my rank it takes time to find the next spot, but once I do, I'm gone. This is doubly true for anyone who isn't on the portfolio 1 pension plan.

2. No, in my career the culture was never this bad. From what I saw there was a palpable turn for the worse around early 2019. Since then the culture and morale have just gotten beyond awful.

Even in the dark days of McNerney an employee could find a more senior employee to actually complain to and be listened to. More than once over the years I've gone to an SVP and said 'this is wrong' and been honestly listened to, even if they didn't agree with me. Today any dissent is quashed with no hesitation.

I know many people just counting the days until their 55th birthday so they can press the 'retire' button, including several VPs. You see on this site people ready to volunteer for a few weeks of severance package to leave. HR seems to have started hiding attrition numbers, but I can only imagine how bad it is.

Hi Varys -- Thank you for sharing, I (and many others) appreciate and value your point of view.

I'm sure it's been challenging keeping this perspective over time, especially at your level. It seems it's easy for many to lose sight of what matters and why. Then again, it seems harder than ever to provide a space where people have the courage to speak their opinion without anonymity.

1. Do you have any recommendations / advice for others working to keep their perspective clear?

2. Has the culture always been... threatening & short-sided? Do you think the above suggestions will improve the culture as well? It's disheartening to read that someone at your level is needing to come here to get a point across (a dig on their leadership style and not you).

Post from TheLayoff.com

I was given a "quota" that only X people in my group could receive an exceeds expectations last year. This was a unique experience for me to be given an actual limit in number of people and an unusual circumstance. In past years there was never a defined limit, but I know well that I need to stay in the range of +/- 20% or face significant challenges to my ratings or override during "alignment reviews" at higher org levels. I do my best to spread high ratings among all my higher performers across the years and also reward any truly exceptional contributions within the given year. The challenge is that 3M has a lot of talented people and performance ratings are subjective and there is no way to define a specific criteria that defines "exceeding expectations" absolutely. I honestly feel that our process is reasonably fair. It is up to individual managers to decide who gets what, with caveats mentioned previously. If you are never seeing "exceeds" ratings it either means you were already promoted to a high enough level that aligns to your contributions or you just may not be a high performer in the eyes of your manager for your job grade, You also should not expect to see "exceeds" expectations every year unless you are consistently delivering very exceptional results, measured in dollars, that is way above others in your group and for your job grade, and then you should be looking for a promotion instead of exceptional ratings. Your manager is giving out exceptional ratings to around 20% of your group every year, it just might not be to you.

So what is the endgame ? Treating this patient t with aspirin isn’t going to cure

During the pandemic, we, the Mask Mask Mask company, use Mask made in China, at the HQ, in MN

@1dww+1ljgXgVd

A scary stat I once got from an senior HR manager long ago (may not be true today).

Over 40% of all employees at the L3 (VP) and above levels received 4's or 5's when 3M was still on the 1-5 rating system.

For us peons, the target percentage of 'exceeds' or '4 and 5' is always only 20% regardless of business performance. A good or lucky manager can maybe push/round that up to 25%. This ratio has been pretty much constant, at least in the US, for probably 15 years.

Any time HR tells you there is no 'quota' for ratings, they are flat out lying to you. It is a provable lie with lots of documentation that I'm surprised nobody has sued 3M over yet.

Does anyone know how much the salary MRP is adjusting upward this year? Intuition tells me that it's a measly 2%, which feels especially offensive in light of the discussion on L3 and above compensation by "Skeptic" and "Varys", not to mention the outrageous inflation and ongoing headcount cuts. My guess is that the L2/L1 group, especially, will be averaging far more than 2%.

please go onto the yammer site and check out all the managers and above, they post the biggest load of $hit, honestly do they live on another world, they are backslapping each other all the time it is sickening, if they were made of chocolate i think they would eat themselves, no wonder this company is up the creek without a paddle, do something worthwhile now, you are overpaid and over hyped and definetly underwork, more than likely working 2 days in the office and the rest from home

Thanks for the clarification, Varys. As I mentioned, I was conservative in my estimates, so the >$300M and >4500 employee equivalency gets a lot larger with your estimates!

A really good VP/SVP/EVP can certainly earn their substantial paychecks, but we're talking about a game of averages, where the cumulative drag on profitability due to this bloat is unsustainable.

@1ksr+1ljgXgVd

My count has COC at 15 right now, but I'm not invited to count. (L1)

SVP Level varies between 100 and 150. (L2)

VP Level well above 300. 500+ is a better number. (L3)

@Exec layed off
The truth is the N95s suck. The plants gave employees cheap China made face coverings that appeared to be made from tighty wh---y underwear remnants. If 3M doesn't provide their own product to employees, well, I guess that says it all.

We had a global respiratory disease pandemic. The demand for masks and respirators skyrocketed. And 3M - #1 in these markets - completely failed to deliver any growth. This example above all others demonstrates the sickness in the company's culture that has failed to take advantage of so many business opportunities in the last decades.

Great conversation. It seems to me the leadership from SVP and above do not believe in putting customers at the core (internal and external customers). I spend more time trying to find ways to cut costs than helping the businesses grow. You can only cut so much before you hit bone. There is no fat left at 3M except for those SVP or higher. I see the people at the VP/Director level working hard but feel they are so micromanaged by their respective leadership they cannot do their jobs. I also think the old statement penny shy but pound foolish applies to 3M. I spend hours trying to save 25K instead of focusing on my job. Then I get criticized for not doing my job. 😞

Agree with everything said. Additonal evidence that rethinking metrics, COC members, and compensation is a wise choice:

There are roughly 10 at the executive level, 80 at the SVP level, and >300 at the VP/Director level (hard to verify exact numbers, obviously). Very conservatively, the annual compensation for this group is >$300M (actual numbers when considering different forms of deferred compensation, severance packages tallies up much higher). This is an insane number when you consider that is the equivalent of 4500 average employees!!! This represents a lot of growth we will not realize and a big drain on COGS.

The worker-bees are the bedrock of 3M's historical success, yet clearly we have forgotten this.

Start the fire sale after settlement - spin or no spin. This co does not have a course to chart

Right on “Varys”!!! 3M quietly removed growth goals from their compensation awhile ago. Mentioned in in the many lines in one of the financial reports.

A good indicator of a companies future is how they recognize/reward/compensate the people at the top. 3Ms executives have year over year increased their payout at the same time lowering the stock price, having massive layoffs, and having practically no organic growth.

They have been doing financial gymnastics for years and their levers have been reduced to a “secret sauce” if just cutting overhead/employees.

Messages such as having sales reps not travel to customers to actually sell or don’t bring in more demand to the plants as they are laying off and cannot support it only emphasize their position on growing the company.

Show me one’s goals and alignment to their compensation and you can reasonably predict the companies future. Even if the message is grow- if they are not compensated on growing it will not happen.

What are the goals that you are hearing from your leaders?

Zero accountabilities at all management levels. Zero

Amen brother, so much middle and upper fat clogging up the arteries of 3M, the lungs of the company are wheezing constantly and the heart has been knocked out of the production worker, the best thing to do would be sell up and get the worker a decent pay day

Great stuff Varys. Now if only you worked for Kearny, someone might take your advice.

Amen brother! If ever the COC of any company deserved a vote of no confidence at 3M from it's employees it is this CEO and CFO/CIO of this company. They tell us to leave when we all know who should really leave, and it is the guys at the top, but they have no where else to shakedown, satiate greed, or take money from. This current CEO chose the money pit the corrupt aquisition that is Acelity/KCI with leveraged debt, and debt for the continued stock buybacks, basically flushing money down a toilet like Inge Thulin cashed out on. We could not grow sales during a pandemic of core products because lack of flexibility or entitlement treatment of select employees. This COC group chose the terrible legal strategy that is bleeding 3M company of valuable cash. Wasted millions on bad advice from worthless consultants A3M, to balloon ratio of managers to employees at a 3:1 ratio of managers, something no successful company ever does. They never cut any big salary individuals either just large groups of peons.
There are no true leaders, only One trick play in the playbook, or people with vision in the Executive conference. Just followers, COMPLACENCY, and yes men and women that will not tell the tyrants, especially the foul mouthed top tyrant, they are the one's failing. Certainly no servant leaders, just blame the employees. Customer at it's core my behind, it is lip service at 3M. The best and most talented are leaving because they see through the "Winning" and Exciting times BS of the self centered, so called self absorbed leaders that run everything, and are coasting on the shoulders of others.