Tidbits from those in the "know", layoff total was north of 600, it includes all levels of employees. This wasn't an after effect of the loss of the MQ-25 bid, but the fact that the air force has pulled out of future orders on the MQ-9, GA's bread and butter. Purely a financial decision to mitigate future financial losses. Defense sector in general has been hit hard with multiple layoffs industry wide, sad times.
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I am so glad I left six weeks ago. They have been planning this layoff for almost a year. This company was a good company for several years but they got SUPER top heavy and became more and more bureaucratic and inefficient. The upper management at this company is clueless and out of touch. I left this company when I heard that USAF was no longer going to be buying the MQ9. Additionally, when upper management indicated that their indirect costs were exceeding revenues, I knew they were in trouble. It is sad that they laid off so many people. I am thankful I read the tea leaves and got the heck out of there when I did. For the past year, the morale at this company my department specifically, was in the toilet. Upper management had been basically burning employees out with more and more busy work leading to 80-100 work weeks.
Sad news to hear about all the lay offs especially those who need the work and actually know what they are doing. I hope production output in the future reflects some wrong decisions. A lot of favoritism and a– kissing goes on.
Hot off the press...
https://www.defensenews.com/2020/08/27/drone-maker-general-atomics-lays-offs-hundreds/
upper management was shortsighted when they continued to hire more and more managers, lower managers, supervisors Created a hierarchical pyramid despite slowdown in all programs. They drained the financial resources on top of loosing contracts and coronavirus effect.
We at GA-ASI we’re spoiled over the last 20+ years, not many defense contractors can go this many years without layoffs. I believed upper management was shortsighted when the continued to hire despite slowdown in all programs. had to tell them several times over last year not to bring. on people due to loss of hours. we were getting to the point where a good number of people were on overhead and not working contracts. with covid, normal attrition had pretty much stopped.
lost a number of senior people in department and even though i have 15+ years I no longer feel as secure as i did a few months ago.
We've known since Air Force Magazine published an article about the uncertain fate of the MQ-9 production line on February 26th, 2020 that the company was in trouble. There are no "roomers" in this company when things are spoke upon its because its going to happen. Everyone knew what the article stated in February when Chris Pehrson, Vice President of strategic development for the company, explained the peculiar situation, stating:, "If they stop production today, say, that’s going to have an immediate impact on … the composite manufacturing team, but as time moves on, that impact is going to ripple throughout the whole labor force... We’ll have unemployment or a layoff situation in certain skill sets if we don’t find a way to fill this decreased demand immediately with some other new product or new capability.”
Wasn't malicious at all in Aviation unfortunately this happens.
The manner seemed heartless for many because so many are working from home. Covid distancing played a role. I know this layoff was heavy on the hearts of the owners and executives. I think they tried and tried to stick it out until natural attrition right-sized the workforce.
My heart aches for those impacted!
Almost 20 years and today it’s over with a phone call! I’m in shock.
The way it was handled is cold and speaks volumes of the company.
I got axed today and I am devastated. This is not good time to look for jobs. I have three dependents.
We lost a lot of good people today.. :(
Got laid off today and was surprise how they decided who is going to leave. I'm sure its not by performance coz they kept some people that who is not good enough to do the work or even use tools like excel. No early announcements.
Not sure how the o.p knows the loss of the mq25 had no impact. There were huge hirings leading into the run up of that project and then no layoffs when Boeing won the contract.
Before i got the word that i was laid off today, Some departments on first shift had only 2 people left i was told it was in excess of 650 people laid off company wide with 250 people being let go in the high desert.
GA is corrupt. Hope they get shut down. They kept the kids that don't get paid much. 18-23 yr olds. GB won't last much longer. Such a cold heartless situation.
Very sorry to hear this happened today. Our team was told in a very scripted way and gave us no details of numbers or which groups were impacted. Only to call HR if we had questions. No one was even able to say or ask anything. I feel like it was done in a very cold and impersonal manner. Sure leaves a bad taste and a terrible feeling for us not impacted.
Feeling shocked for our fellow coworkers who were laid off today. Someone on our own team was laid off too.
Got laid of today in Rancho Bernardo. Was told it was 600. Three director levels from my group. Sad that things have come to this.
What primary areas of the work force? Mainly support/excess engineering personnel, or technicians?
I also got laid off earlier today, I was told that 630 people were being impacted by this layoff and was not specified the reason of all this. Shocking surprise for everyone affected. I'm still in communication some people to try and find out the true reason of all this.
Hubby got laid off in the high desert. Super big blow out of nowhere.
Yes its too bad during covid.
Yep, 630 total and 250 in the high desert and the rest in poway.
I personally just got laid off, was told 250 employees in the desert of So-Cal and 630 company wide.
A good friend of mine who was affected told me it was 700. It was unexpected. He did not indicate in one way or another that it was related to a program cutback.
The number is 640
NASWOGS