I received a promising offer, but once I looked into the company's background, I saw it had layoffs a few months ago. It's the only issue I've found so far. All other aspects work for me, including the pay and company culture.
I can't decide what to do. Would it be safe to accept a position at a company that had layoffs so recently?
Take the job if it suits you and if you don't have any better offers. Otherwise, I'd advise to steer well clear of HPE as it's a toxic dump.
More layoffs just last week!
I say the opposite -- if you're young and smart and ambitious, then work at a startup or small company for the first part of your career. You'll be a part of something, make friends, and grow your skills. Any big company, be it meta, google, hpe, cisco, or whatever is only for those who want to be corporate rats for their career. Creative, managerial, engineering talent, is all wasted there so if you have them, it's the wrong fit for you. But if all you want is to float for 10-20 years with good benefits and work-life balance, it's good. Unfortunately, the contract used to be, that you give up your marketable skills, but in return they keep you employed. Now, you give up your marketable skills, and then you get laid off and no one wants to touch you, mid-career. Corporate rats, DEA preferences, and imposters -- that's the core of any large corporation so don't go unless you're one of those or in the last 10 years of your career.
I agree... I did nothing for over 15 years and nobody noticed. Just attended meetings and volunteered for everything but never did anything because everyone forgot or didn't want me to tap them to help. Then when the bogus employee rating period came around I just wrote some BS results and was never questioned. Google "Dilbert wally reflector" it's a great strategy!
@1ycs has summed it up very nicely and accurately. On the one hand, HPE is filled with the laziest, most incompetent management you will find anywhere, not to mention every one of them runs away from any type of responsibility or accountability. This fact brings with it many risks to individual contributors, especially ones that are looking to learn, grow, and gain expertise in their field. On the other hand, it will be the easiest job you'll ever have. I don't know where half of my team is at any given time (this includes my manager) or what exactly they are doing.
No don’t accept that position it’s too dangerous and you could be next
Getting hired during a hiring freeze is not impossible. I've been hired before during a hiring freeze. The hiring manager basically had to beg and pled with HR and it took about two months for me to finally get a starting date after being told that I was going to be selected for the job. It's rare, yes, but if the hiring manager can convince HR that no one internally is qualified and they absolutely need someone lest the organization's strategy is at risk, it's permissible.
Now back to the original post...
If you are unemployed and have absolutely nothing else lined up, take it. But know that the company has had rounds of layoffs for multiple years, even before COVID. Performance will be a constant battle between you and your teammates. As a former HPE'er, I wouldn't recommend being employed at an OEM company, particularly one that focuses purely on hardware, i.e. HPE, HP, Dell, Lenovo, etc. Truthfully, you'll have better pay, better job security, and better skills developer working as one of their suppliers.
I consider working for HPE a good choice for new college graduates who are trying to springboard their career. Anyone who has worked here and goes somewhere else that is non-OEM, will quickly see a huge difference. Working for HPE is easy compared to non-OEM companies. Your skills and technical knowledge will quickly degrade overtime and you would have to perform at an insane level to try to maintain it. Frankly, it's not worth it. Yes, again, working for HPE is easy but it can be stressful, particularly when you have to carry for your team.
Last thing I want to bring up is the hypocrisy of large tech companies. They preach about equality and how much they care about employee wellbeing. Some of it is true but the majority of it is not. Management never pushes for training, goal setting, or skills development, management never connects with you on a semi-personal level, management will often miscommunicate your contributions and performance to directors and VPs when discussing raises and bonuses, management will not help you if you were told that your position is getting eliminated, management is not particularly helpful during escalations, etc.
Good luck!
I am shocked you received an offer, I thought everything was frozen.
If you have other options, or have a current job, I probably wouldn't take the chance.
The continual layoffs mentioned are absolutely true.
I left HPE for two primary reasons: they offered me a package and upper management doesn’t seem to have a clue. HPE is currently a rudderless ship and rats are still jumping off when they get a chance.
Simply ask yourself if your job could possibly be done in any way shape or form, remotely from outside the USA/Canada? If the answer is yes, then you're taking a big risk.
Every quarter its cut costs, cut costs, cut costs. And the #1 lever to pull, is the labor arbitrage one. Lift and shift the work to a lower cost county. Don't innovate or invent.
This was a hilarious post to read!
What position did you receive an offer for and we can tell you if it's safe or run for the hills
What large companies are not doing layoffs right now?
Good luck.
Yeah, not sure what you mean by 'layoffs recently'. HPE lays people off on a continuous basis. Management has no clue as to what they're doing so they throw sh-t on the wall to see what sticks.
RUN, in almost 20 years the layoffs have NEVER stopped.