anyone else hearing about some orgs losing people in record numbers?
68 replies (most recent on top)
arxx- GRC has bad leaders, no products of their own, and a new business model that hasn't worked in any established for-profit business since Bell Labs basically folded 20 years ago. Exactly how will VA get the new GRC funded?
1) GE will likely require any 'outgoing' business to pay a retainer and shared services fee for R&D at GRC. Think SABIC in the 2000's. We're talking Healthcare, BHGE, MAYBE Transportation. But how much $$ can GRC expect from these partners? Definitely less than today, and with a finite duration contract.
2) VA and Co will renew the high-level pestering of GEP/GEA/GER to maintain sizable funding at the Center. Again, no direct corporate assessment but think of it as back-room cigars and winks...
3) The sciences TDLs will be expected to bring in come level of corporate welfare....er.....externals....but since many parts of GRC are poorly connected and the businesses won't care, you won't see any material increase.
4) Sure GRC will have a few pockets of success....but GE won't allow cooperation with competitors, and most of the agreements with be relatively small (2-3 researchers supported at time) due to the cripplingly high rates at GRC (can you guys really justify $300/hr to do some CAD and analysis??)
Where does that leave your career, arxx and others? Begging for externals, hoping you get on a gravy train project that ends every December? Just ask any former GRCer, even the ones in Power, where they would rather be.....
Feb 23, 10k, page 168
I expect nothing new in terms of vision or concrete execution plans to be announced on tuesday. VA will recycle some slides from the last leadership meeting, open the floor for some softball questions and move on. If someone does ask a hardball question, VA will get defensive and justify his position. He is on a mission to decimate the place and return to power/downtown. AL, the cfo of GRC has had enough of this and is already on his way out.
Self sustainability is not a vision, it’s a strategy to cut costs to manageable levels.
I think there is some good to this soul searching exercise that GRC is currently going through. We have been too closely associated with the businesses for far too long. Being an 'independent' research org will have its benefits - both to the businesses and GRC. We can get some real research - "science projects" as some of our business colleagues eloquently put it - done, while not being a drag on the businesses. Frankly, for the first time in months I am feeling the dust is settling regarding GE/GRC's future. Or, may be I am just a fool and being over optimistic.
Hope we get to learn more about the future in the upcoming all-hands on tuesday!
Another example of GRC telling the businesses that they know best how to fix the situation. The message is what’s important, not the messenger and the message still stands. If you think you will gain enough skills to remain marketable in 10 years (or how ever long you think this ride will last) then fine, stay and hope for the best. As for the rest, make a move while you still can on your own terms. Good luck.
This is great. We have a few people from GE businesses telling us all about GRC -- that we do science projects, that anyone with talent should have left by now, and that GRC should close because we don't "make any money for the business". Now @9elv gives us career advice, essentially restating the view that talented people should leave.
And they say GRC people are arrogant!
We at GRC know d@mn well about the problems in GE and GRC. Each of us has a unique situation in our career, family situation, and mobility. And each of us will decide what to do about it and when.
Some of us dare to hope that GRC can recover, along with the rest of GE, and that we can help with that recovery. In the meantime, we have enough problems without anonymous GE business people telling us we should find new jobs and/or close down.
I don’t blame the mid career folks @GRC for leaving. As for those still there, ask yourself this - will staying another 5-8 years improve your skills and make you marketable in your 50s? If the answer is yes, then stay. If no, then it’s time to make a move when you still can, on your own terms. I’m in GE power and have seen a lot of good people from GRC go. Sad to see this happen.
@8xki I take it the other guy meant it as a sarcasm. Just today our very very best best composite guy sent a mass email that this is his last day . I feel like OMG, we really are approaching a point of no return with so many bright experienced people (trained at a great expense by GE) are leaving now.
8gth -- You act like you know more about GRC than David Joyce himself, whose business directly or indirectly funds 40% of our budget. He wouldn't send that much money here if he didn't see the value.
Your suggestion that Joyce could take part of GRC and send the rest packing is one scenario we can foresee. But you contradict yourself: why would Joyce want any of us, if all that's left are "leeches and mid-career folks"? The answer is that he wouldn't, if your claims were true, and you are wrong. GRC has lost many good people, and there are "leeches" everywhere in GE. However, many excellent people are still in GRC. But they won't stay forever in these circumstances. If Joyce wants to keep even a fraction of the good people who are left, the enviornment must improve.
Contrary to your claim, GRC is losing many good MID-CAREER people. They have marketable skills and experience, but they're young enough to be immune to most age discrimination. Proportionately, more of our most senior people are staying, because they have deeper roots in the area, and it's harder for people in their 50s or older to get hired in a comparable job. We're also keeping a good fraction of early-career folks, as they're still building marketable skills and experience.
@8nkt -- I never got any Power "science project" money, so I don't miss it. If Aviation ends up in as much financial trouble as Power, then GRC's business funding would probably shrink too much to sustain us -- and GE itself might die. Fortunately, I don't see Aviation falling that far so quickly. And ideally Power will get stronger in a few years. In contrast to those of you who apparently wish GRC would go away, I hope Power recovers. And I hope GRC can help Aviation and Power (and Renewables, etc.) be more successful. That means giving you good technology, solutions, and IP -- not "science projects".
LM - Skunk Works, Boeing - Phantom Works, Siemens - Siemens Corporate Technology, NG - Innovation Institute, etc... the list goes on. OK, kill GRC, go into a survivor mode, forget about the future and 'out there' ideas, but will you still be one of the best 30 years from now? If you still care that is.
unfortunately money doesn't grow on trees, and no matter what Vic's boss says about GEA, you guys as a whole are an anchor on the businesses. Better if he just absorbed the useful parts and sent the rest packing. And like 8nkt says, it was crystal clear that y'all were in serious trouble last Feb. The smart ones got out...the leaches and mid-career folks are all that remains! Which one are you, 8cff?
@8cff News flash: GE is also dying. Remember the money we in Power used to send to GRC to pay for science projects? We haven't been able to fund any of that for over 2 years now. And soon Aviation's luck will run out. Who will fund you then?
I feel bad for all of you up there. But you had to have seen this coming.
@8xki -- your summary is ignorant and insulting. Aviation CEO David Joyce is GRC's strongest supporter in the businesses, and says he can't have a world class engine business without a viable GRC.
In Niskayuna, GRC has lost over 500 technical people since February 2017, through layoffs and attrition. We're under 1000 technical staff for the first time in at least 30 years. Our global footprint is down much more than 50% after the elimination of GRC orgs in Shanghai, Munich, and Rio.
GRC is looking to sell technology outside GE under Flannery's direction, because our corporate funding is decreasing. And Vic is (over-)amplifying Flannery's message.
With all the above and GE's realignment (Healthcare spin-off, etc.) many more researchers are looking to get out, and attrition is unsustainably high. Small raises, and the surprise announcement that smartphones will be available to all salaried employees, won't stop the exodus. Unless the GRC enviornment improves, those who can will continue to leave.
So, if you don't like GRC, maybe you'll be happy to hear that it's currently dying. >:(
So to summarize:
GRC doesn't make any money for the business
are trying to figure out a business plan to sell tech outside GE
don't have any solid direction
and yet they get raises, iphones, new XLPs and are hiring. Umm exactly what is WRONG with this company???
@UedK8Ni-5aos which org are you in? Multiple orgs are hiring. Check out linkedin. And yay, we are all getting i-phones now, so there!
Actually quite a few postings are up yet I have failed to see any actual hiring.
My org is about to lose five people in next three weeks. That is 10% of the advanced degree talent pool. A lot of talent is still around though. Red badge fellows cannot move around easily.
This year’s XLP class was hastily chosen (like less than a few hours notice) from the reject pool of prior years. They didn’t even have any new applicants this year. This is a pathetic situation. Sad to see a once great institution come to this
Fat cat E-bands and greater than thou XLPs doing low brow operations jobs. Flannery can talk all he wants but the bloat is still disgusting. Talks of HIRING while the business is laying off is insane!
I was there and it was mess. There were (probably still are) so many senior engineers (~10 yr or more at GRC) who are doing nothing but talk and host meetings and yet claim credit by pretending good results (if at all) are made because of their leadership. Got sick of it. During mass lay off, majority of those useless folks still managed to remain while many talented folks were forced to leave. Some of them were even promoted because they are close friends of directors, chief engineer, etc. So lame.
Added value over the years, yes. Looking ahead - GRC as the GE store is less effective if the number of GE businesses shrink. Fewer opportunities to cross pollinate ideas. Add attrition of talented people to that, and it makes things worse. The latest efforts towards self-sustainability are a joke. Smart people see that and are leaving.
who cares. GRC has added (significant) value in years.
It’s true - Attrition has doubled since prior years. Big enough deal that some people getting retention bonuses.
Same guy. Over and over. Imagining out loud how to argue with himself.
In 2016 I was recruited to GRC from a top 10 research university and was given $105k/yr to start with a promise of a promotion to Lead Engineer in 2 years and a chance at XLP in 5 years. GRC just isn't the world class research org I was expecting and our President just doesn't seem to care. Now I still haven't been promoted and it seems all the XLPs are going to engineers who could be my Dad's age!!
In winning companies, everyone is in sales, marketing, strategy, innovation, customer service, cost reduction, competitive analysis, continuous improvement....you get the idea.
In dying orgs, everyone complains about doing someone else's job.
Think of a good sports team. Every play is everyone's job. Every moment. Every game. Every season.
GRC is going to become advanced technology group for business with most money (you know which division that is). GRC leadership does not believe in pure research. GE does not have deep pockets anymore. Only option - learn to make the business successful by making products customers want to pay premium for. Be a team player - don't be like Nikola Kalinic (Croatian Soccer player)
If you are good at raising money, go find a good research university. No one bothers you about commercialization there. Sorry dude/dudette. Losing patience for whiners with cushy jobs.
Well Mr/Ms/Dr Scientist, good luck finding another fairyland boondoggle country club environment like the old GRC. Ain't. Gonna. Happen. GRC lifers like you have no idea what it is like in the businesses, and how much contempt the professionals at GEA/GEP have for your leach-like tin cupping and greater than thou demeanor. Don't let the door hit you on the way out....
This lack of direction and strategy is very frustrating. Externals, research as a service, commercialisation of granted patents,... blah blah blah.
And yes, market testing!! Heard the boss and team visited PARC and SRI for benchmarking. Wonder what the outcome is.
Yes, and I am hearing that hiring back will be on pretty soon. I am actively searching for a way our though. Screw this search for commercialization b-t. I am a scientist, not salesman!