After getting back from the Holiday break and looking at mid-quarter numbers and run-rate being nowhere NEAR projections, Oracle leadership was in a state of shock.
Previous internal management plans to reduce headcount and optimize the size of various organizations that were due to start in March, were immediately moved up and implemented.
The internal travel moratorium for internal meetings, and some external-facing customer travel, was widened and significantly stiffened. Many job recs and hiring processes that were previously in place were frozen or cancelled. Most back-fill replacements for departing employees are u see orders NOT to be filled — exceptions require SVP or EVP (or higher) direct approval.
Plans to eliminate slow-performing and non-critical organizations and functions are being accelerated. This includes the gradual dismantling of Mark Hurd’s “Class of” pet project. Millennial attrition will prune its’ ranks fast enough, over time.
Legacy product orgs will also be milked for revenue and their attrition will be helped by periodic cuts throughout calendar year 2020.
OCI, despite protestations to the contrary, is also not immune and will have steady cuts made to non-important areas and product lines. Just because you are in OCI is zero guarantee that you are safe — even if you are in Seattle.
Oracle is targeting between 7,000 and 10,000 employees for gradual, under the radar elimination during calendar 2020. This will be from all teams across the company. Legacy sales, marketing, support and engineering teams will bear the brunt of these cuts, but plenty of pruning and optimizing will be done in “newer” groups like OCI.
Most Autonomous Database related engineering, prod mgmt and support teams are very safe.
Apps/SaaS and Industry teams will have some cuts, like OCI, but they will be VERY targeted and focused.
All layoffs will be in smaller groups and will be widely dispersed so as to generally stay under the radar. Approximately 305% of reductions will be the result of not back-filling departing employees, which will also help Oracle stay under the media radar when it comes to layoffs.
Total target for the next couple of years is to get Oracle down to 100,000 employees — which will take some time and effort and will not happen before calendar 2022. The decision has been taken to right size the employee count with revenue, which is not growing at a rate to sustain the current number of employees.
Good luck. Remember that you, and really no one, is immune to the coming layoffs the most prudent thing you can do in this business climate is to aggressively look and interview with other growing companies. It’s a three to six month process, so it’s best if you get going now.
While things are not DIRE at Oracle, and aren’t expected to be, it is a definite fact that tough changes are ahead and a lot of people will be being let go. Stock buybacks will continue but at a much reduced pace.
Oracle is in a transition and is in the fight for its life over the next three years. It is u clear as to whether the Oracle that emerges on the other side will be strong enough to stand on its own two legs, or will have to merge or get acquired by a younger firm. Internal bets are being placed they the latter is the scenario that will play out, and decisions are starting to be made accordingly with a 2-4 year horizon in mind.