Hi Cassandra - hope you are well, and that you will not be directly affected by this mess.
I think as our CEO has been mentioning from the start of this - it is apparently not being done due to COVID. Apparently we, the employees, have asked for it. He feels the need to keep repeating that. During his 100 days of traveling the world on the PJ he was apparently told by many employees that they struggle to do their jobs, or don’t enjoy doing their jobs because there are too many steps, people, levels...
Fair enough, we do have lots of levels. We are quite top heavy (even now, after the departure of some VPs).
What is utterly disgusting is how it has been handled from the start. As you mention, the company is doing incredibly well, despite COVID-19. We keep getting told how we should appreciate getting a 100% PSP. We only received that, so the CEO could collect his bags of gold. He could play the “Covid is not my fault, I did my job” game, but only if he did the same for the rest of us. In addition, they saved many millions on basically NO T&E investment from February onwards. What they have done is make a very difficult and challenging time almost unbearable for so many. The CEO mentioned early on: “I don’t know how this will look, but I want to be transparent, to limit rumours etc”. He mentioned that was the only way he knew how to be. Well, if this is a process of transparency, I must be legally blind.
The market leader, with many of the finest employees in the industry should be treating its people with more respect and humility than this. We would function perfectly well without any of those ELT members and their 7-8 figure annual salaries. Their strategy and direction changes all the time, so it is not like they are setting us up for success.
We are a company that innovates and designs incredible products first and foremost. This work comes from lower down the food chain. Then we have incredible supporting teams that help make these designs come to life, in the smartest, most environmentally sound way. Other colleagues test these, until perfection. Groups come in to sell it to our geo teams and sales forces. Digital teams make it look great online, influencers make it look cool. Brand teams build memorable stories... and sports marketing get the goodies on the best athletes. This is where the value is. Again, often lower down the food chain.
To leave these employees hanging like this, with genuine threat of being laid off, when good jobs are hard to come by elsewhere, is just sickening.
It feels like this CEO is here for the short term, to clean up... and then will be on his way. I certainly hope so.