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The uncomfortable truth at this scale is that some employees are absolutely essential and some are just phoning it in collecting a paycheck. Ideally management

The uncomfortable truth at this scale is that some employees are absolutely essential and some are just phoning it in collecting a paycheck. Ideally management would have visibility into where the performers were, but with this many layers of management it's very very difficult to see the forest for the trees. It's one thing to repurpose people when the trend lines are positive or at least flat, but in HP's case there is a real question mark about what growing sectors they can successfully move into. Certainly they still have the talent to do amazing things, but have the leadership with the deep visibility into the organization's inner workings and talent pool and the outward facing vision to actually pull off a reorg like that seems almost impossible.

wpietri 11y ago
If some employees are phoning it in, I think it's worth asking why. It's been a long time since I felt that way at a job, but for me it came out of shitty, disempowering, unrewarding environments. But even running with your argument, that the people laid off are slacking, I think it's an enormous failure that they let 30,000 of those people accumulate such that they were wasting $3 billion per year. Especially given their massive layoff a few years back. And if they've built an organization where it's difficult to tell where they're wasting $3 billion per year, I don't see how that's anything but an enormous indictment of the managers.
- mahyarm 11y ago
  You work remotely, life is pretty low stress. Live in a cheap cost of living place, take care of the kids while the spouse is out working on their other job. Never get a raise in 6 years. That is why they phone it in.
  - FilterSweep 11y ago
    I find it hard to believe a matured company, rife with middle management, wouldn't have held those people "mailing it in," so to speak, accountable years ago. Whether they work onsite or remotely, some work is turned in. A handful may fall through the cracks, but it's just that, a handful. Not 30,000, even in a company much bigger.
    - rqebmm 11y ago
      what if the middle managers are phoning it in?
      - raincom 11y ago
        Many at Cisco do:) But they are managing people, mananging some cost centers, etc. They are contributing in a way, but not for the next $X Billion innovation.
    - mahyarm 11y ago
      You find out that large companies start reflecting some of the 'evils of government' eventually. I've realized it comes more from large bureaucracies than something fundamental to government. These people who phone it in still do their jobs, but they aren't hard workers, they are not active in the technical environment so much. They're static workers, working on projects that might be not so necessary any more, but ignored by the business because it's part of a profitable unit. Such as printers and so on.
crdoconnor 11y ago
>The uncomfortable truth at this scale is that some employees are absolutely essential and some are just phoning it in collecting a paycheck. Ideally management would have visibility into where the performers were Even if they could, they have no real incentive to be truthful about it.
- pound 11y ago
  many time this^. Management in big companies cares only about benefits coming with position. Product? Fuck it, as long as they have power and cookies.

wpietri 11y ago

If some employees are phoning it in, I think it's worth asking why. It's been a long time since I felt that way at a job, but for me it came out of shitty, disempowering, unrewarding environments. But even running with your argument, that the people laid off are slacking, I think it's an enormous failure that they let 30,000 of those people accumulate such that they were wasting $3 billion per year. Especially given their massive layoff a few years back. And if they've built an organization where it's difficult to tell where they're wasting $3 billion per year, I don't see how that's anything but an enormous indictment of the managers.

mahyarm 11y ago
You work remotely, life is pretty low stress. Live in a cheap cost of living place, take care of the kids while the spouse is out working on their other job. Never get a raise in 6 years. That is why they phone it in.
- FilterSweep 11y ago
  I find it hard to believe a matured company, rife with middle management, wouldn't have held those people "mailing it in," so to speak, accountable years ago. Whether they work onsite or remotely, some work is turned in. A handful may fall through the cracks, but it's just that, a handful. Not 30,000, even in a company much bigger.
  - rqebmm 11y ago
    what if the middle managers are phoning it in?
    - raincom 11y ago
      Many at Cisco do:) But they are managing people, mananging some cost centers, etc. They are contributing in a way, but not for the next $X Billion innovation.
  - mahyarm 11y ago
    You find out that large companies start reflecting some of the 'evils of government' eventually. I've realized it comes more from large bureaucracies than something fundamental to government. These people who phone it in still do their jobs, but they aren't hard workers, they are not active in the technical environment so much. They're static workers, working on projects that might be not so necessary any more, but ignored by the business because it's part of a profitable unit. Such as printers and so on.

crdoconnor 11y ago

>The uncomfortable truth at this scale is that some employees are absolutely essential and some are just phoning it in collecting a paycheck. Ideally management would have visibility into where the performers were Even if they could, they have no real incentive to be truthful about it.

pound 11y ago
many time this^. Management in big companies cares only about benefits coming with position. Product? Fuck it, as long as they have power and cookies.