Thread regarding Medtronic Inc. layoffs

Medtronic can’t afford to just get stuck in old, outdated ways of working. The company and workers have to evolve with changing times, this includes WFH.

WFH actually affords a company to obtain more productivity and cost savings on physical spaces. If anything the lines between home and work gets blurred and I work over 8 hours/day. My last med tech company had this model for a decade and they faired better than Medtronic. Put the blame for any failures where they belong on leadership and poor decision-making.

It was pump sales. Look at who quit when we had to return. 75% of pump sales quit. They refused to do more then 3 orders a day and their sups refused to hold them accountable. It was agents and sups who quit on return, because they were going to have to face the music.

So other departments in my building were good in a WAH environment, it was pump sales who screwed us all over.

Sales has and will always be the issue. This company kisses their butts everyday, even though they are the problem.

Keep sales in the office and send the rest of us home. Stop punishing everyone because your beloved sales department betrayed you.

Why don’t we all just calm down, be rationale and do a little CAPA and root cause analysis 😂

I got promoted a year into WFH, please tell me again how I'm a lazy good-for-nothing because I WFH.

Idk about everyone else but WFH for me improved my ability to communicate and collaborate in an effective way. Before COVID, I can't tell you how much time was wasted in unproductive meetings that went way off course more than they stayed focused. Now, with all the collaboration tools implemented because of WFH, I feel way more in touch with what's going on and it's so easy to track projects whereas I miss one comment in a meeting and suddenly I can't figure out why anyone is talking about. Now, the meeting is recorded, I can go back and catch up super easily. Miss a meeting, no need to wait a week to catch the next one, just watch the recording and you're back in business.

you've seen projects slip because the company keeps re organizing, arbitrarily cutting funding, stopping travel, having backorders, reshuffling resources, doing layoffs, and missing numbers (aka sales team failing)

do you really think those above things have zero effect on projects? oh and none of those things have anything to do with WFH...they're decisions made by the top brass.

but no, lets ignore the complexity of issues and definitely blame the WFH...you're definitely on to something revolutionary here

This is the person who posted the original thread.

You are all lying if you think working from home is more productive and more collaborative. Compete non sense and you know it. Bunch of bull shitters!

I have seen projects slip due to WFH people being less productive across lot of sites.

If you can show me how your WFH work has helped this company in getting product to our customers, increased sales, or launched new products that is selling then I’ll take back my comment about WFH works. It’s obviously not working for Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon, hence their recent announcements to get people back in the office to be more productive. We are bloated with all this excess fat from WFH employees not producing results. We will see in 3 weeks who survives, if it’s any indication how Geoff will make the call, he will most likely follow the actions Amazon, Microsoft, and Google have made with layoffs trimming the WFH non essential staff. Good luck to you folks.

The people assigning horrible attributes to WFH people are likely the ones struggling with these issues. It is entirely possible many spent nearly a year working at home and their own lack of productivity was noticed and called out. It is not for everyone, but one should not assign attributes to an entire population of people they know nothing about.

And FYI, I have been going into the office since May 2020. Some groups had to, yet, our groups have told us to continue to flex when needed because we delivered an amazing amount of work and had no pandemic project slowing. I realize this hasn’t been the case for all groups, but those who manage it well should not be forced back. We will lose some critical talent because other places will happily take them. And we had/have some of those who need to be in every day or their production completely falls off (while others can be home 3-5 days a week and deliver).

The solution is simple - let the accountable people make the decisions for their groups. If it flops, it is on the person accountable. If your boss says you need to come in while others do not, the problem is likely not the others.

The idea that RTO efforts are meant to justify the cost of real estate is nonsense. It’s much cheaper to maintain an empty building than a fully/partially occupied one, and even easier to justify getting rid of it, leasing, storage, more lab space, etc.

Saving time on commuting, walking your dog during lunch, and all the other benefits of WFH benefit you, not the company. It only takes one person to not respond to slow a team down or innovation to slow down with WFH. But the real watch out is outsourcing. It’s not the India/SA type of outsourcing, it’s “outsource” to areas with low cost of living. Why pay MN metro salaries for a job that can done anywhere? remove commuting cost, cost of a dinner in your town, cost of childcare, and you could end up with cheap labor costs. There are areas where all of these things are much much cheaper. Other industries have seen this. We might think that our technical work is so unique that it couldn’t be outsourced, but the pandemic has provided a case series of how your job doesn’t need to be done where you live nor does it have to be done by you. Just think of the competition for your job now that candidates are not limited to a 20-30 mile drive. There are people who don’t have kids or dogs to walk.

I really like WFH, but it could be a slippery slope. Im not a boomer. I saw outsourcing happen to my parents and they thought they were untouchable at the time too.

Like the other post on the main page, if WFH ruined everything and destroyed productivity, why did Medtronic keep those clearly underperforming people around?

Maybe...just maybe, its not WFH that is ruining this company but the incompetence at the executive level?

Also, OP sounds like a sales guy. Don't you have some surgeon to schmooze? Why don't you go treat them to a fat steak and pretend you're "selling"?

WFH is here to stay. It's a Medtronic accepted policy that people have to accept.

I get more done WFH than I ever did in the office, my mental health & quality of life has improved. But like anything, people can take advantage of it. But in my experience, the vast majority see it as a privilege, and they don't abuse it because of what it adds to their lives.

At my site, the ones who bi--h the loudest about people who WFH are the same people who spend 5 hours doing just that. Stop worrying about where people work and just do your job!

I’ve been a remote worker here for over 15 years. But agree it’s not for everyone. You need to be self motivated and dedicated to getting your hours in and your work done. Early if you can so that you can prove you are a good worker. Also, it helps to teach the family/neighbors early on that just because you are home, doesn’t mean that you are available.

Working in the office is also not for everyone: I couldn’t stand the water cooler chat, the bagels, bday cake, heads popping into my cube, and endless fund raisers for people’s kids!

My mental health was immeasurably better with WFH.

Companies want workers back in the office because the companies don't want those expensive real estate parcels sitting empty. Some also want more control over their employees.

By working from home, I was able to avoid commuting a quite stressful, 25-mile, 1.5 hr long commute every day, eat whatever I want from the kitchen/pantry, be in comfortable clothes, contribute to parenting, watch my kid grow every day, see my spouse all day. I never shirked work duties over family or leisure; I always got my work done well and on time.

Work from home has worked better than I thought. I don't have to deal with the cr-ppy screens at MDT. I have my ergonomic chair which I need for serious pain / health issues I am awaiting surgery for.

When the need arises I go in plenty. More than most engineers. There are other things that can be done without making everyone drive in traffic to go in to sit on a tiny screen on a zoom meeting. If you can't tell if people are being productive at home then there is a problem with project management.

WFH is here to stay, even if nostalgic corporate fogies like GM are trying to fight it short term. Top talent will be drawn to businesses where they’re trusted to work flexibly. I personally work from home most days and love it. Being able to work out at lunch, or talk with my partner, or walk my dog is a game changer for my mental health. My coworkers can spend more time with their families. It benefits Medtronic because I don’t have to waste over an hour a day commuting. If someone is taking days to respond, that’s their own issue. I’m often logging in late at night to check emails to make sure everything is in on time and running smoothly. WFH is a genie we can’t put back in the bottle.

Agreed. There is a reason why stock is at a 6 year low.

How can you innovate sitting at home all day watching Netflix and surfing internet?
There is a reason all great companies like Tesla and Apple want people back.

2020 is over folks. If you can work from home, your job deserves to be outsourced to be cheaper places like Mexico and India

I’m a full time remote employee- I start working at 7:30am and typically don’t log off until after 6:00pm. And I wear the same clothes that I would in an office- never pjs… The only breaks I take are to pick up my child from school and to make a quick lunch (which I eat at my desk while I work). I don’t take ‘leisure trips’ anywhere. If I need to run an errand or go to an appointment, I use my PTO. I think your words are pretty harsh and do not represent us all. Most of my colleagues who work remote are also very professional, hard workers.