Posted on 07/20/2014 6:10:46 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT ) recent announcement that it will cut 18,000 jobs was much higher than anyone expected. It's the company's largest layoff by headcount since it laid off 5,800 employees in the midst of America's Great Recession back in 2009.
Microsoft isn't the only one to make such striking job cuts. Global pharmaceutical company Merck (NYSE: MRK ) is in the middle of a two-year plan to reduce its workforce by about 20% -- which equates to about 16,000 employees. At the end of it all, the company expects this to contribute substantially to its goal of saving $2.5 billion by 2015.
Eliminating jobs is obviously bad for those on the receiving end of the downsizing. But it's also possible for massive layoffs to hurt the companies as well. Conventional wisdom says massive layoffs create a more efficient company and makes it easier for the company to retain profits. But the research on mass layoffs may paint a different picture on the long-term benefits of deep employee cuts.
The cost of layoffs Researcher Wayne F. Cascio from the University of Colorado's business school found that simply cutting jobs isn't the answer. Companies need to change how the business is run as well. Cascio looked at data up to nine years after a company's downsizing event and found that, "As a group, the downsizers never outperform the non-downsizers. Companies that simply reduce headcounts, without making other changes, rarely achieve the long-term success they desire."
He notes that massive cuts lead to fewer sales people, less research and development, and a loss of high-producing individuals. The result is lower sales, reduced product innovation, and decreased productivity due to low morale.
(Excerpt) Read more at fool.com ...
Shut up and gives me my Soshel Securty check!!!!!!!
Layoffs are the way upper management hides their stupid decisions and ensure their bonuses.
Surely the ‘bring back jobs, just sayin’,’ reads the fool.
I’m surprised Microsoft makes enough to keep the employees they still have. Their stuff is crap. No good ideas in years and years.
Eliminating jobs is obviously bad for those on the receiving end of the downsizing.It's not obvious, and it isn't necessarily bad.
What’s the savings on firing 18,000 Americans, and hiring 18,000 H1-Bs at a 30% discount, or overseas Indians for a 50% discount?
I agree, can you imagine if an nfl coach decide that
a winning strategy was simply to let 1 out of 10 players go?
Inept managers can’t find a business plan that makes sense.
Microsoft will no more make a go as a iphone competitor than
blackberry or hp did.
How much of the discount is eaten up by re-work and schedule slips? This based on my experience in the engineering and construction world.
Maybe not a great analogy.
NFL teams cut from 90 to 53 from training camp to beginning of reg season.
any thoughts if massive layoffs might work with government?
>Eliminating jobs is obviously bad for those on the receiving >end of the downsizing.
Not for all. Some will go to work for the competition and do very well. Some will take ideas that microsoft didn’t like
and will do a startup. Some will retire and find a better target for their efforts.
yes the do but they have a strategy to the process versus decimation.
So Microsoft won’t be allowed to apply for or employ any H1B foreign visa employees.Right?
Because what qualified USA employee in the IT field would even want to apply for a position with them, knowing of their recent firings?
Can they profit from creating a hostile working environment?
Never underestimate the power of inertia in IT. If Microsoft had come into existence over the past few years, of course nobody would buy any of its products. However, because its products have been in use for so long, most of the do-nothings in IT administration will continue to pay for them year after year.
Nobody ever got fired for suggesting Microsoft products just as nobody ever got fired for suggesting Cisco networking equipment.
You will occasionally find an IT worker who is willing to do more than the bare minimum and *think* instead of rubber stamping whatever happens to be “ mainstream,” but such people are rare.
By and large, you find paper tigers who growl about Metro, Office, and everything else imaginable, but never do anything about it. Microsoft knows this, which is why it can continue to do what it does: nothing.
They need to reduce the number of H1B visas by 18,000 immediately and push out 18,000 by the end of the month.
The government is another issue entirely and it’s going to take a team of first class detectives to figure out who all does what. For instance, responsibility for issues dealing with Veterans is spread across at least six different agencies. I would suspect that most government tasks function in this manner. The goal seems to be to make things such a tangled web and mess that no one can figure out who does what.
Certainly one way of finding out would be to eliminate everything except those that are engaged in direct military or security operations, plus the GAO, Budget Office, CIA and FBI and see what happens.
Mass layoffs can change the way some of the metrics look, so the stock will look more appealing to anyone who doesn’t look too close. But it’s short-term, and hamstrings the company’s long-term operations. You lose your employees, who does the work?
When analyzing a stock, one of the red flags I watch for is a sudden drop in certain expenses. That’s usually a sign that the company is cutting corners that really shouldn’t be cut.
Xbox. People spend a fortune in games and extras there.
CEO dreaming. Windows 9 will bring on a hiring frenzy at Microsoft!!
I bet that 9 will try charging everyone money each year just like they are doing with Office 365.
Charging people for update in Windows 8. Just stupid:
Users who install Windows 8.1 Update 2 from scratch will need new license keys. They said, assuming Bing translated it all properly, Microsoft will offer two options to users who are still on Windows 8.0: update to Windows 8.1 Update 1 and then to Windows 8.1 Update 2, or for likely a small fee, purchase a direct update to Windows 8.1 Update 2 from the Windows Store.
http://www.networkworld.com/article/2449563/microsoft-subnet/wzors-return-brings-windows-9-rumors.html
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