Saturday, March 3, 2012

Ericsson Slashes 10% Of U.S. Work Force--1,400 Jobs


What's that you say? You're calling me over your Sprint wireless network to tell me how great the economic recovery is going? I'm sorry, but I can't make out what you're saying. We must have a bad connection. Call me back later.

Here is the story from the Kansas City Star:
Ericsson Inc., the company that operates the Sprint wireless network, eliminated 130 Kansas City area jobs this week as part of a company-wide 10 percent employment cut.

The employees let go across Ericsson’s North America operations will receive severance, though the cuts were based on an annual performance evaluation the company does, said Carolyn Curtis, director of communications.

The evaluations lead to job loss for the employees ranked in the bottom 10 percent.


“It’s painful, but it’s an exercise we go through … to ensure we have a high performance culture,” Curtis said.

Curtis said the job cuts would not affect Ericsson’s ability to run the wireless networks that Sprint Nextel Corp. relies on for its core service. Sprint’s faster 4G services runs on a network built and managed by Clearwire Corp.

She declined to say whether Ericsson would replace any of the employees.

Ericsson’s job cuts across North America hit 10 percent of its 14,000 workforce, Curtis said.
Wow, that's the first time I've ever read a layoff notice in which the company actually had the stones to come right out and call the employees they are firing a bunch of slackjawed losers. Sure, I absolutely believe that if the CEO's nephew were to score in that bottom 10% he'd be let go instead of someone who doesn't have a relative working in senior management. Because America's corporate culture is all based on merit. No fucking nepotism or favoritism allowed. And if you believe that fucking nonsense, you probably also believe that fucking George W. Bush got to attend Yale and Harvard, got run an oil company, got to buy the Texas Rangers, got to be gubbner of Texas and then got elected president because he was such fucking high achiever and not because his asshole old man arranged for his every move up the ladder of "success."

Oh, and I also absolutely believe that slashing one-tenth of the workforce will not effect "Ericsson's ability to run the wireless networks that Sprint Nextel Corp. relies on for its core service." Because those fired workers surely didn't actually do anything for the company--they just sat in their offices all day turning coffee into pee and surfing porn sites.

Oh, and I also really believe that this move was done "to ensure the company has a high performance culture” and not to line the golden parachutes of the CEO and other senior executives, because they would NEVER be so crass as to fire the little people in order to improve their own bottom line. Perish the thought.

You know what else I believe in? Rainbow colored unicorns that shit Skittles night and day.

I really do.


Bonus: "The people who ran these companies were the greediest group of fuckers ever"

16 comments:

  1. Oh, and I also absolutely believe that slashing one-tenth of the workforce will not effect "Ericsson's ability to run the wireless networks that Sprint Nextel Corp. relies on for its core service." Because those fired workers surely didn't actually do anything for the company--they just sat in their offices all day turning coffee into pee and surfing porn sites.

    Oh, and I also really believe that this move was done "to ensure the company has a high performance culture” and not to line the golden parachutes of the CEO and other senior executives, because they would NEVER be so crass as to fire the little people in order to improve their own bottom line. Perish the thought."

    Thanks, Bill, for telling it exactly like it is! Your site is one of very few that keeps up with the "economic recovery" in real time. I appreciate it.

    mtlouie

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    1. I got layed off on feb 29th , this is the biggest bull am looking at in my group there is a person who is on performance improvement plan and he is still at work.I am in San Jose California, Ericsson need to be sued for telling me that i am a bottom 10% this is bullshit.Ericsson has already few discrimination sues going on and they are not learning there lesson.

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  2. Add to the comment above I have been with Ericsson for 4yrs and 6 months , Also i joined this RNAM on April 11th 2011 so this annual bullshit they can shove it some where else because i have not completed my year yet. And there are employee who are not Ericsson certified but they are still at work..in RNAM

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  3. I wonder if Carolyn Curtis is on the list. She certainly should be. Talk about low performance!

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  4. Here is what I know... I left Ericsson on my own terms... I walked away last August because I could not stand it anymore.

    I worked side by side for just shy of 16 years with 3 people that just got the boot. They were in fact TOP rated and because they were rated they were getting TOP pay. They were told directly my HR that they were let go because "They traveled too much". Which is BULL SHIT! I know 2 people at Ericsson right now that are worthless, in fact under Sprint Nextel right before the outsource they were going to be placed on a PIP... they are still there and the my sources tell me they are still worthless and some employees have actually gone to HR... but somehow they made it through the cuts... well they make crap for money so I think that is why. Ericsson says one thing... but it is ALL about money. If you make good money at ericsson you are a target... if you make little money and basically don't do your job... you are the perfect employee at Ericsson!

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    1. I totally agree with your statement. There are several people in my old group that are still employed and were on PIPs. Ericsson has made it hard for the people they laid-off to find new jobs, because recruiters are asking about all of these 10% poor performers articles circulating. They really need to be sued.

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    2. I agree that is real B.S. My impression is the 10% bottom lay off is to keep everybody on their toes. I've seen a lot of cases where the guys being laid off are old timers in the company so it appears to be cost cutting higher salaries as opposed to low performance. . Another reason is favoritism. in one case Indian manager laid off Pakistani engineer who was in a TMo project and called it "performance issue" that was about 2 months after I witnessed those guys arguing..I left them last year and is now with competitor. My last straw was witnessing Indian managers promoting more Indian engineers with lower qualification and experience. It happened to me. Someone needs to start a discrimination lawsuit.

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  5. Like so many other statements made by corporations, this could sound reasonable...unless you have seen what actually goes on from the inside. I worked in telcom years ago and the fact is that the review process is just an easy way to explain a layoff. The process was called "rank 'em and yank 'em".

    When a layoff was needed, managers were told to give a certain percentage of their staff a "fails to meet expectations" rating; these would be laid off. Problem is, that each group was required to provide their sacrificial lamb(s). So even if you had a team of stellar performers who always (deservedly) received high ratings on the annual reviews, suddenly one or two folks failed to perform. If you had a team of deadwood, only the required percentage would be let go. This was frustrating to everyone who recognized what was happening. I heard of one manager who quit because he would not agree to throw any of his high performing team under the bus; it's very rare to find someone who would stick to his principles to that degree.

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  6. I know exactly what kind of people can be in the company for long enough. People who suck on to others and doing all non-sense work. They dont give credit to techies or hardworkers who contribute for the products they develop. They give credit to who bullshit and talk non-sense without doing any work . All they want is Loud Mouths who talk non-sense. The higher management is so dumb that they cant understand what is good and what is bad. This company is going down for sure. I worked with them as part of the Redback acquisition and I know what kind of people Ericsson likes and promotes and what kind of people they remove.
    I was tired of them and left the company after 7 years of my hard work and contribution. I dont know how they hired all the left over or dumb people from Cisco and give big roles at Ericsson . Some of them include Derek Iverson, Brian Abott, Shah Rehman, Sachin Desai, Ravi Balakrishnan , Loghashankar srinivasan, ohh the list doesnt end . This company is all set to go down the drain.

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    1. I agree! Huawei already beat E// in worldwide revenues. Its just a matter of time that the deadbeats they keep and hire achieve critical mass... :)

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  7. if your swedish... your a protected species in Ericsson... only directive by Ericsson management is to protect the homeland and its residents... the rest... expendable

    Know so many that could be deemed "dead wood", but they just get promoted and moved elsewhere...

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  8. I went through the Internet debacle in 1999 - 2000; I was spared simply because of my age & that, at the time, I had good reviews (& good, non-Swedish managers) & a skill set in working with the Intranet. I sat & watched as they shrank Ericsson's U.S.'s footprint from about 3,000 to 900-1000, walking everyone out as if they were thieves. I lost virtually all of the value of my 401k. All the Swedes, no matter how over paid & worthless, were spared.

    Over the course of the next years, the main management tool was fear. Ericsson's is a sales-driven company, that is, if you are selling stufff & bringing in money--you are too important to lose. Any support function is, in this reasoning, largely superfluous, & that includes network support. At this point, my health badly deteriorated with a chronic disease, Crohn's disease. I was shuffled into a group of older & loud-mouthed employees who were consigned to doing every shit job that no one else wanted to do, including establishing Sarbanes-Oaxley, which has completely failed to do what it intended to do: stop the fraud & deceit of corporate upper management, as is illustrated with the latest depression. Upper managers, largely kept their jobs--and, at least, went home with bags of money.

    Do any of you know Angel Ruiz's history or how he was able to ascend to his kingship?

    During one of the austerity programs in the middle-2000s, the management decided they needed to fire every secretary at the company & virtually every assistantt project manager--or any other low hanging fruit. I suggested to my boss, a Swede & a VP, that if they were serious about saving money, they should get rid of the massive number of VPs who were making multiple 6-figure salaries (working from home)--instead of schlubers who were, at best, receiving menial wages. You can see why I had to go ;)

    In late 2007, 100 of the older & higher paid workers were "offered" a package to retire early; I was 63. It was also made clear that if you didn't take the package--you would be laid off & receive little recompense. At that juncture, I was so sick that I was quite clear that the job was killing me. I took the "offer." In 2008, I lost most of what I had recouped in my 401k.

    My original intent in coming to this blog was to see if there were any group of Ericsson's retirees that were having the same experience I am having. I am now 68, & I received a letter from Ericsson's HR that every retiree over 65 & on Medicare were being kicked out off the Ericsson Retired Plan--& we were on our own with a new & nifty outside service to help you. So, no matter what anyone still employed at Ericsson's, you no longer have what you were promised; you no longer have an Ericsson Retirement Plan--in order to save money.

    Look, extensive studies of best service practices has clearly shown that companies treat their customers in the same manner they treat their employees. So, yes, there is ample proof that Ericsson is putting itself out of business. Unfortunately, a state of affairs that endangers the little help I get from my Ericsson retirement--& any loss of it would put me on the street...

    I will check back to see if any other retirees are having an experience similar to mine...& what recourse, if any, we might have...

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  9. I used to work for Ericsson India and what you say about some of the senior managements folks is bang on. Sachin Desai is the biggest loud mouth we used to have in the organisation -- useless, dumb, and has no clue on how to lead the nincompoops (a.k.a senior management) around. You see him for a second in the office (that is 1-2 days in a week) and then he is gone -- sashaying out of the door with his laptop bag swaying like that of a schoolkid's, never to be seen again. He used to be hardly in the office for 2-3 hours and rushes off for what I have heard is his personal business. He does not have the ball to lead the team and mingles only with a few losers like him around and talks utter nonsense in a tone that is really funny. We have often wondered in my team what the heck goes on in his office, from where he hardly steps out of, and he gives an impression that is the most approachable person in the fucking organization around. Ericsson is going to dogs and with such people around, it is not surprising that folks like Huawei are beating them black and blue.

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  10. 18 years with Sprint. Ericsson came in. Stayed for 4 years. 60 hours minimum a week. Where are labor laws when you need them. A perfect example of a company that needed a Union to demand fare labor practices. but here in the USA such things have been demonized by the press. Wake up people. Hope Softbank looks deep on the Ericsson issue. Maintenance sucked at the cell site as all the "low performing" senior tech's were ran off. Quiet as a pin drop has a whole new meaning. Can you hear me now. Hello? Hello?

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  11. I used to work for Ericsson USA as a field technician for Sprint. Whoever has been let go be Ericsson USA, believe me, it is the biggest favor they could have done for you. I quit EUS got a job at VZW with better pay and makes EUS look like a bunch of dopes. Their WFM sucks and makes life miserable for everyone, I just can't believe I stuck in there for 4 years or so taking the punishment. Grass is greener! People don't call EUS the "Golden Handcuffs" for nothing. Get out while the market is not saturated with people like yourselves looking for a job, and good luck.

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  12. I disagree with most statements here, Ericsson US is probably one of the best companies around to work for, have been there for 20 years and loved it. I would not argue about the Indian thing, but it has nothing to do with Ericsson but rather the culture, Indians promote and bring their own in most cases. They have a stress induced motivational culture in management and most people outside of it can hardly survive and usually hate their manager.. However that's not the Ericsson culture and it mostly depends on a manager you work for, just like in any other company. As for Angel, he has read Jack Walsh and considers is a bible of corporate structure hence the bottom 10%...He himself has let go 5 of his direct reports while I was around in RNAM, has always favored flat organizations and holds his managers accountable. Granted Ericsson has grown big in US now and its getting harder to manage, but overall I like what they are doing. As for Huawei comment, if you didn't survive in Ericsson with its Swedish (all inclusive, individual matters) approach, I can assure you the huawei experience will be 10 times worse.

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