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Amazon also said they are going to flatten their management structure and move 15% of their middle managers to individual contributor roles ( product development roles who actually do something useful for the enterprise! )
When will 3M implement that policy? We have a veritable army of mid level managers and even after being here for more than 12 years, I am not sure what value they actually bring to the table.
Reuters Tue, 17 Sept 2024
(Reuters) -Amazon.com said on Monday it would require employees to return to the office five days per week, effective Jan. 2, 2025.
The decision makers are also enjoying their Work your way at home. Especially those VP and directors. I know of some who also run their errands during work hours and take afternoon naps. That's 3M fairness for you!
I enjoy work your way and the option to work from home. The problem that I'm sure we're all noticing is there are businesses decision makers who are no where to be found when they are needed.
Heard BB going to take drastic action due to weak sales in Q3 and Q4. It seems the commercial team is unable to sell more. In fact factories have been told to reduce TVOS and cut inventory and operating expenses further. Standby for a brutal 2024 Christmas. Good luck
I heard today BB requested more people be in the office. This was in a channel sales meeting. The VP said they will ask nicely and for volunteers but if it's not meeting expectations it will start to be required (whatever and however that means...).
It's coming, get your DVRs ready.
So much more coming from 3M this year. It's going to be epic.
The CSO has had a place on the western edge of Austin near the Hill Country since the '90s so any tax benefits realized by her primary residency being in Texas have been in place for decades. Her getting an office in Austin was an attempt to be a high-profile show of support for 3M supporting WYW and flexibility.
Hopefully they finish all service events. We’re a company not an orphanage. This isn’t Charles di-kens England. If blue collars want porridge go buy it.
There’s no income tax in Texas but property taxes are insane and stay that way when you retire.
One would suspect the CSO "based" in Austin is living in Texas so as to not pay 9.85% state income tax (top rate starting in the 300K range) on the majority of her income. She was probably paying an average rate over 9% to St. Paul and now gets off scot free in Austin. One would have to be d-mber than a knucklehead to pay that much in taxes if they had a choice.
Brad was clearly being groomed to replace Mack. The move to Austin was to give him visibility to the Board. He got to use his layoff speech the one time before presiding over at least three other waves in Austin in just 2+ years. The "my daughter is crying" schtick doesn't work after the first Academy Award. It's like a comedian using the same joke over and over again to people who've heard it. After the Austin haircuts were done, he somehow got appointed to a crown jewel HC Biz. His downfall was started when Mack left for Boeing way earlier than expected (to replace Harry S who got into the news for the wrong reasons). Brad was clearly not ready so the Board went outside for Sir George. I don't think he outlasted that era.
Not sure what would have been better - Brad or Inge. Either way, McKnight would not have approved.
Post ID: @2opm+1u95thN7
Ah yes, Brad's greatest performance where he broke out the crocodile tears when addressing a standing room only cafeteria after the first round of many layoffs were announced. He got a few sycophants to say "awww" when he shared his heart wrenching (roll eyes) story about comforting his teenage daughter who was crying because some mean kids at school told her that her daddy laid off a bunch of people. Riiiiight.
At that time there were over 1,800 employees at Austin Center and almost 300 more at the Research Blvd plant. The total # of employees currently listing the Austin facility at McCallen Pass is maybe 300, and that's including contractors plus the Chief Sustainability Officer who put her single box of files in her 3rd floor office a couple years ago and hasn't been there long enough to unpack it since. The daily average of workers entering the building 18 months ago was less than 100. That's gotta be some of the most expensive rent per occupant in all of Austin.
Do the people still get their robot barista coffee for free? That was a pretty nice perk. It would be a JG 10 if it were a 3M employee.
3M Austin seemed to have a bright future when "the asylum" (the building design was hideous, reminding people of the place where the real-life One Flew Over The Coocoo's Nest cast would have lived).
It opened late 80s and was Lou Lehr's way of giving the middle finger to then-Minn Gov Perpich over what he perceived as Rudy's anti-business policies. It was meant to foster a close relationship with customers who were supporting the surging home PC market. Its heyday was the 90s.
McNerney was the guy who really put it on the track to oblivion. His OCD paranoid behavior made him feel Austin was going to pay lip service to a guy in the frozen tundra of Maplewood. Once Jimbo sent Brad there in the early 00s and gave his Academy Award Speech about layoffs (anyone there will never forget it), the slide started happening faster. Inge was the clown who sold the Asylum for lunch money.
I doubt there are even 500 left after the latest layoffs and attrition.
How many employees are even left in Austin? From what I recall, it peaked around 1500 or so in the early 2000s and was steadily declining with around 700 left at the time CMD was sold. CMD had about 100 people from Austin move to Corning. Must be less than 600 there now in 2024.
The real estate mess in Austin is a prime example of what Varys has outlined w/ regards to the actions of healthy vs dying companies.
Rather than invest in updating the old campus they sold it for song then moved to inadequate leased facilities on the other side of town. Why was it inadequate? They tried to squeeze lab operations into pre-fab warehouse space and trusted that the developer could "make it work."
Now they're stuck with a 15 year lease on 2 buildings that are lucky to see 20% occupancy on a good day, and most of those workers are essential lab employees or the IFM contractors paid to keep the building open. On any given day there are more custodians, security guards and kitchen workers than members of the EMD leadership team.
The new Austin facilities sold 3 times since opening on the strength of that 15 year lease. 3M's only option now is to try & sublease floors of the building at a loss, and they can't find any takers.
Many companies CEO are already mandating their employees to RTO, otherwise give up their promotions. 3M is always slow to react. Anyway the 3M employees WFH get to continue their afternoon naps and doing personal stuff during office hours. How good this that.
BB is there to thin down 3M Wait till Q4 He will show his T-rex nature
Bill Brown can't singlehandedly fix what is fundamentally wrong with the 3M business model. In fact, he won't even try. His job is clear: breakup what is left either by spins, mergers, or fire sales.
This is the same company that did a massive overhaul and upgrade of beloved Wonewok in 2019. Now it sits idle and no buyers to be found. Maybe my boss Frank Shirley will make a lowball offer using all the money he "earned" canceling the Christmas bonuses and service dinners.
I expect him to consult Saint Peter (Gibbons) on how best to get people to leave without severance by strategically implementing RTO.
3 categories are well defined. A dying company will also not have money to invest in growth projects or buy external technology to grow. The only way to increase profit is to cost cut and shrink.
RTO or not, I see this as another data point supporting a future bankruptcy.
There are vanishingly few cases where sell/lease-back is a good move for a company unless it is in serious financial trouble.
Healthy Company: Own their property, pay some property taxes on it, go about making a profit.
Healthy Company that needs money to grow: Take out a mortgage on the property to fund growth and only pay a bit of interest to the bank. Practically a company as big as 3M would just issue bonds instead at lower interest rates.
Dying Company: Sell the property for short term cash, kicking problems down the road for a bit. Longer term the company is stuck paying not only the property taxes but the landlords interest payments and profit margin.
ESC town hall mentioned looking at real estate and selling building/land and leasing back where it made sense. I guess I took that as a sign WYW was staying?
There isn't as of now any mandate. Mostly just trolling as the first reply said. But who knows what the future will hold? Whatever it is, it will be an increasing stream of negative events for employees, continuing just like the past few years.
When was there a mandate? Why does everyone keep saying this?
Trolls are going to troll