Based on goal setting and accomplishments, ten percent will be culled in the new year but with reduced severance (watch for new policy).
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An acquaintance survived the initial Broadcom layoffs at VMWare. He is age mid 30s, extremely hardcore/superior work ethic and in a highly skilled customer-facing tech role.
It is cruel. Ask the folks at VMWare.
Broadcom bought them -- instead of SAS -- and is laying them off as we speak.
"Will this happen in 2023 or 2024?"
Most likely 2024. 2023 is almost over and it would be too cruel to layoff right before Christmas and New Years .
It’s not baloney. A layoff surely won’t be done in GE style. But it’s quite believable that a company would lay off 10% in front of an IPO.
Of course, until we get proof, this is just a rumor.
This thread is baloney. The SAS culture is too soft and unmotivated for a GE style performance evaluation system.
Will this happen in 2023 or 2024?
SAS lost a large percentage of the brain trust that built Viya and could have taken it forward (recognizing the difference between Viya infrastructure and its current products) to higher degrees of success as a basis for scalable enterprise ML/AI and analytics-based product solutions.
Why did many-if-not-most of these hardcore employees leave? At the top of the list: substandard pay (given their skills and productivity), no equity, and time/effort wasted dealing with too much mediocre BS around them.
From everything I can discern, JG lacks understanding in what it means to build and sustain a truly hardcore tech workforce at this juncture in time.
SAS could hire 1,000 “hard-core” employees and give them equity. The owner’s a billionaire, so of course he could fund project that if he wants to.
But a new project that size is a big gamble. He just took a big gamble, funding Viya. If you were in his position, would you follow that big gamble with another one?
Or would you IPO and use the proceeds to buy more real estate?
They aren't going to offer any equity. If they were going to do that, they would have done it by now. An IPO gives his family a way to raise cash, pay an "allowance" dividend to, or use as an asset to borrow against.
I'm sure enjoying my use of Tableau and R Studio!
SAS cannot attract the “hard-core” employees required for such a transition because it can't offer equity and it's brand is too severely tarnished as "legacy". It's trying to fix the first but it can never fix the second.
… the future of SAS depends upon them retaining (or hire a new) roughly 1000 key “hard-core” employees between R&D and across various customer facing roles — especially within management. Truthfully, everyone else is just supporting their leadership and drive.
When SAS figures this out and acts upon it they have a chance at future success building enterprise software products based on AI/ML and advanced analytics. Until then it’s just going to be different flavors of the same old dysfunction.
To become IPO-ready in 2025, it's desirable to improve the numbers in 2024. A 10% headcount reduction would improve revenue per employee.
But profit per employee depends on salary. The layoff in July was based on salary, not performance. We can expect more of the same.
This sounds like it will be a cost savings (less employees) but a disaster for SAS, if carried out like we all assume it will be :)
"Corporate compassion for loser products is a big reason that revenue is flat. That mindset must immediately cease."
Agree. I bet the managers/directors of these loser products are fighting hard politically to keep their empire of losing products and their jobs and don't really care about the future of SAS or its survival. The Big Guy, for some reason, cannot come down hard on these losing products and get rid of them. Very strange, because a successfully business cannot be run this way by hanging on the losing products for so long. Cut the losses asap to free up money and resources to invest in products with better prospect.
Much more culling is necessary if the company is serious about a sale.
Cull the bottom performers who are assigned to BOTTOM performing products. Then freeze those products and advise customers(of those products) that those products are frozen and will not be enhanced nor supported.
Corporate compassion for loser products is a big reason that revenue is flat. That mindset must immediately cease.
"What is the probability that the true bottom 10% will remain in 2025?"
Very high and likely since SAS does not know how to identify and eliminate the bad employees from good employees. They don't know how to or want to get rid of the
"quite quitting" employees. Managers will keep their buddies or those that they like and don't disagree with them. If you don't have high-powered (management) friends to protect you, you will be gone regardless of your performance. I knew good employees got the layoff but the bad ones remain.
@OP+1pQXhdCr
OP, is your information really trustworthy or are you just guessing and wishing for this new policy?
Who else thinks this will allow stale/ineffective directors and managers to further drive the company into decline? What is the probability that the true bottom 10% will remain in 2025?
Does that mean at this year's review you will be assigned a rank or at least a number based on your performance? And will you know this number? New policy, probably capping the weeks they pay out. I am guessing this will be in leu of a voluntary retirement, as it would be cheaper.