4 ms·

Rackspace literally decimates workforce: One in ten staffers let go this week

38 points by LinuxBender 5y ago

LatteLazy 5y ago
Technically it's only decimation if the remaining 9 workers are required to kill the 1 themselves. But it's still nice to see the word used.
- ssss11 5y ago
  I went to see the definition of the word decimate because I thought it was a stronger word than one-in-ten reduction, more like reduce-most-of or something, but yep, it’s history is fascinating and it actually does mean one-in-ten harking back to Roman army times apparently!
  - LatteLazy 5y ago
    To me the crazy bit was the other nine having to perform the execution. Imagine doing that to someone you knew.
mountainriver 5y ago
I worked for a company that was acquired by rackspace years back, they were hands down the worst company I’ve worked for. The acquisition was a total mess, working there for the short time I did is what I imagine prison feels like. Very territorial, aggressive and pointless.
mariojv 5y ago
This is really disappointing to see. I have fond memories of starting to work for them back in 2013, which for a lot of folks I've talked to was peak Rackspace. The "Castle," a mall they bought in San Antonio and converted to office space, was thriving with folks working on cloud computing, frequent tech talks, and just a great office culture. As late as the mid-2010s, they were innovating with novel products like OnMetal, on-demand full hosts with the elasticity of the cloud, that AWS didn't really have an answer for yet. They also gave me the opportunity to work on open source full time, which was a rare and fulfilling experience early in my career. I really thought the Castle would be a tech hub for south central Texas. I do feel lucky to have worked there when I did and still work with and keep in touch with a lot of Rackers. I wish those still there the best and hope they can turn things around at some point.
- kclay 5y ago
  Went to the highschool right next to them. We all thought the same, that the area would be a hub for Tech. Sadly nothing every came from it.
sunshinekitty 5y ago
I joined the Rack in 2013 as my first professional role. It was a place full of ambition with a bright future. Looking back, the unfortunate leave of the charismatic leader Lanham was the beginning of the end from my perspective. There was such a large plethora of projects to work on and lots of freedom to go out and build what we thought would be the next big thing. From new simple website hosting to baremetal power9 machines there was no lack of interesting projects. In my 3 years at the company I saw employee sentiment plummet, as I left before the first large layoff in early 2017. I met so many wonderful people there that I try and keep in touch with, it was such a bittersweet experience. My outlook on Rackspace now is very bleak.
pixl97 5y ago
>Not that the work they do isn't needed. In an paperwork submitted to the SEC on Wednesday, Rackspace disclosed that 85 per cent of the positions being cut will be backfilled by workers in "offshore service centers."
- France_is_bacon 5y ago
  And Kevin Jones CEO is making $6,620,458. I bet he didn't decrease his own compensation to give shareholders more value for their shares. No he didn't. But he got rid of the highly paid workforce, got cheaper workforce, in order for the CEO to increase his compensation. We need a law saying top executives can't make more than 10x (or whatever) than the lowest paid employee. It happens in other countries. Some may say that it won't attract the best, but it's not like they are going to not work, those type of people are driven not by money, but an internal drive. And for those who may say my words are awful, don't worry, it will never happen, because of the bribery, aka "lobbying", will prevent that from ever happening.
  - missedthecue 5y ago
    I remember when Ben and Jerry's tried that CEO pay ratio scheme you mentioned, and they couldn't find a ceo until they upped the ratio twice.
    - Rebelgecko 5y ago
      In addition to upping the official ratio from 5:1 up to 17:1, they also started excluding stock compensation from that calculation
    - gota 5y ago
      Wait, what does "couldn't find a CEO" mean? Wasn't there a single VP- or director-level person in that industry willing to be a CEO for that pay? Or does that mean they only consider a very small set of people who are CEO-worthy? I'm asking for general curiosity; Will look for articles but appreciate any insight or references you might have
x86_64Ubuntu 5y ago
>Apollo Global Management bought Rackspace in 2016, took it private, and layoffs followed. Yikes, private equity strikes again!
- missedthecue 5y ago
  They are a public company now.
  - kjaftaedi 5y ago
    That's how the private equity firms squeeze their assets for cash, on the open marketplace.

38 points by LinuxBender 5y ago

Technically it's only decimation if the remaining 9 workers are required to kill the 1 themselves. But it's still nice to see the word used.

ssss11 5y ago
I went to see the definition of the word decimate because I thought it was a stronger word than one-in-ten reduction, more like reduce-most-of or something, but yep, it’s history is fascinating and it actually does mean one-in-ten harking back to Roman army times apparently!
- LatteLazy 5y ago
  To me the crazy bit was the other nine having to perform the execution. Imagine doing that to someone you knew.

mountainriver 5y ago

I worked for a company that was acquired by rackspace years back, they were hands down the worst company I’ve worked for. The acquisition was a total mess, working there for the short time I did is what I imagine prison feels like. Very territorial, aggressive and pointless.

mariojv 5y ago

This is really disappointing to see. I have fond memories of starting to work for them back in 2013, which for a lot of folks I've talked to was peak Rackspace. The "Castle," a mall they bought in San Antonio and converted to office space, was thriving with folks working on cloud computing, frequent tech talks, and just a great office culture. As late as the mid-2010s, they were innovating with novel products like OnMetal, on-demand full hosts with the elasticity of the cloud, that AWS didn't really have an answer for yet. They also gave me the opportunity to work on open source full time, which was a rare and fulfilling experience early in my career. I really thought the Castle would be a tech hub for south central Texas. I do feel lucky to have worked there when I did and still work with and keep in touch with a lot of Rackers. I wish those still there the best and hope they can turn things around at some point.

kclay 5y ago
Went to the highschool right next to them. We all thought the same, that the area would be a hub for Tech. Sadly nothing every came from it.

sunshinekitty 5y ago

I joined the Rack in 2013 as my first professional role. It was a place full of ambition with a bright future. Looking back, the unfortunate leave of the charismatic leader Lanham was the beginning of the end from my perspective. There was such a large plethora of projects to work on and lots of freedom to go out and build what we thought would be the next big thing. From new simple website hosting to baremetal power9 machines there was no lack of interesting projects. In my 3 years at the company I saw employee sentiment plummet, as I left before the first large layoff in early 2017. I met so many wonderful people there that I try and keep in touch with, it was such a bittersweet experience. My outlook on Rackspace now is very bleak.

pixl97 5y ago

>Not that the work they do isn't needed. In an paperwork submitted to the SEC on Wednesday, Rackspace disclosed that 85 per cent of the positions being cut will be backfilled by workers in "offshore service centers."

France_is_bacon 5y ago
And Kevin Jones CEO is making $6,620,458. I bet he didn't decrease his own compensation to give shareholders more value for their shares. No he didn't. But he got rid of the highly paid workforce, got cheaper workforce, in order for the CEO to increase his compensation. We need a law saying top executives can't make more than 10x (or whatever) than the lowest paid employee. It happens in other countries. Some may say that it won't attract the best, but it's not like they are going to not work, those type of people are driven not by money, but an internal drive. And for those who may say my words are awful, don't worry, it will never happen, because of the bribery, aka "lobbying", will prevent that from ever happening.
- missedthecue 5y ago
  I remember when Ben and Jerry's tried that CEO pay ratio scheme you mentioned, and they couldn't find a ceo until they upped the ratio twice.
  - Rebelgecko 5y ago
    In addition to upping the official ratio from 5:1 up to 17:1, they also started excluding stock compensation from that calculation
  - gota 5y ago
    Wait, what does "couldn't find a CEO" mean? Wasn't there a single VP- or director-level person in that industry willing to be a CEO for that pay? Or does that mean they only consider a very small set of people who are CEO-worthy? I'm asking for general curiosity; Will look for articles but appreciate any insight or references you might have

x86_64Ubuntu 5y ago

>Apollo Global Management bought Rackspace in 2016, took it private, and layoffs followed. Yikes, private equity strikes again!

missedthecue 5y ago
They are a public company now.
- kjaftaedi 5y ago
  That's how the private equity firms squeeze their assets for cash, on the open marketplace.