Thread regarding FactSet Research Systems Inc. layoffs

You forget that when we actually hire generalists that understand workflow and even when they bring millions to the company … they were the first to be laid off because they cost more and people who have 0 sales experience took their spots and even got promoted. I had very high hopes with the change of CRO, thinking he is more human but this company can’t seem to get the CRO role right. When the person is good for the business and moral, they don’t get along with the CEO and get laid off… For the people who keep asking why people complain but stay, it’s because deep down we love the company and as an eternal optimist still want to keep hoping for better days. Sanoke, you are our only hope but for change you have to listen to the right people and form your own opinions. You have to decentralize decisions so that we become truly global. You have to decentralize knowledge to make sure we have cover and expertise across the globe. It’s not possible to be dependent on one time zone and one country’s holidays in the 21st century, especially if we want to be serious about real time and front office. We can definitely do more if we efficiently spread resources, we hire in the right places and we pay people at market levels regardless if they are hired internally or externally. Look at efficiencies… if people have been in the same team and the product still doesn’t work - are they the right people to do it? If they are, are they given the right resources ? Take the total compensation team, every year the calls preparing managers for the discussion is like a broken record… if their inefficiencies is because they are not given enough budget to solve the issues then let them say it and say we know the bands don’t make sense but we can’t solve it because we don’t have the money but please stop telling us you use proper benchmarking sources. You have the data of the people leaving and how much more they are earning so please compare apples to apples. I can go on for hours on many different subjects. So Sanoke we are counting on you

@1qf - here’s the issue- we hire externally in a lot of areas- to your point of sector- an entire suite of external sector specialist coming from acquisitions or SnL- experts in the field.. ability to have large input and steer our position in the market to displace competitors.. and yet we have one sales specialist who even understands sector specifics who is in sales. The misalignment of product, content, and then sales is real. So on one side you have a large external presence - and then on the other responsible for hunting and executing, not a single generalist can’t speak to the workflow.

Until we agree that our investments need to be enterprise wise which means every and anyone who touches the workflow from inception to delivery - there will continue to be the break down of why we can’t make the true impact

@1qf 100% spot on. If we cannot teach it, then at least hire for it. Or do both.

@1pe all very good points but you shouldn’t bash the idea. Leadership could pay up they just choose not to. If they continue to pick that path you’re right all we can do is work harder and train our people better. That shouldn’t just start at the consultant level. We have several senior individuals who don’t truly know the product. Hopefully this 0 cost way of making things better can work for leadership. Still think the last person point is valid. We could pay up for a few folks who understand banking, the quant workflow, AM and wealth even though I do believe we have wealth covered. I look at banking and our consultants don’t know that you have DCM, ECM, IB, FX, Rates, etc. all these place have workstations but consultants don’t understand how to help in each group. That’s not even going to IBK sector coverage and catering the conversation for that. TMT is different than Consumer and Retail.

@1kr be honest.. we can’t keep saying we want solutions while offering ideas that aren’t realistic or actionable. Suggesting we hire someone who’s unavailable, unaffordable, or unwilling to return isn’t a solution - its a lose lose. it’s rhetoric of lots of complaints, few workable ideas, and “I told you so” And when leadership makes a tough decision (JB) the same kind of decision that everyone praised leadership for finally listening.. now two months later everyone is yelling NO ONE LISTENS- it doesn’t take long before the narrative flips and the blame starts coming back. That kind of inconsistency doesn’t move us forward; it keeps us in this vile culture of negativity.

Accountability doesn’t sit only with the ELT or HR , it sits with every one of us. But if this is people’s big bold ideas- hire folks that we can’t afford or won’t come back, no wonder everyone feels like their ideas aren’t being heard .. they aren’t solutions …do better.

But we can’t keep tearing things down and calling that “feedback”

@1e6 FWIW, I’ve given a few ideas internally but they haven’t gotten any traction. We keep spending on the wrong things. We should be trying to bring back some of the folks who left for industry so we can actually advertise and position the FactSet product properly. I know we can’t match their comp, but the institutional knowledge gap is real—so many people in the org don’t understand how each workflow actually works and just rely on the product being “good enough.” That’s exactly why we’re stuck.

@1e6 I mean - the website is called the layoffs? How a company handles its employees in tough times specially when they are laid off, not promoted or demoted speaks of its leadership, no? By your standards, unless commenting here is a KPI for you, don’t see why your judgment of posts here is necessary.

What a miserable wretch. Some who's failed in every aspect of life and just keeps posting about everyone and everything while liking their own comments and threads here. Probably miserably butt-hurt from getting fired, demoted, or not promoted. Try adding something useful for once in your life here instead of constantly ranting about your mama and papa. Go get some help

@15a idk how much comp you could get by selling as they reduced bonus a lot, so in the end management fails to build the structure for rewarding

@13z You’re obviously very busy selling given your attention to the posts here…

@11v Bravo !!!
I’m in RCS and all I can say is well said! Get off your a-s and get selling! All you working from home numpties get into the office or out to your clients.

since most of the comments here are clearly from the Sales org, do you log this as your 'meeting clients' diary? if you spent nearly the energy you do as keyboard warriors sitting here spewing negativity and refocus on actually closing a deal, maybe we wouldn't all have to suffer at your inability to hit goal. Refusing to visit clients and crying about having to go to the office but unable to get off hate websites all day complaining how your children hate you and you don't know why.

@ys I’ve worked with the ELT and can vouch for their sheer incompetence. Their intentions might be sincere but their attention to detail, understanding of the product, situations on the ground and ability to inspire trust is highly questionable. The ex-CRO made no effort to learn sales or understand her team. As a CFO, she is perhaps a notch better. The Head of HR is an absolute sham as are the groups under her - L&D, Talent Management and HR. Absolutely empty on skill and effort. The CRO’s idea of putting the Ex- Americas Consulting Director as the global director of consulting undoes any collaboration and effort that existed on the ground between regional teams. The Consulting Directors fill the HR gaps more than being ambassadors of FactSet with existing clients. Enough has been said about the Sales leadership who gate-keep entry level user relationships rather than build top down relationships and pursue influence across the client org.

I will refrain from commenting about the CEO - it is too soon to do so. His tenacity will be tested and he will need to build a culture of deliberation rather than half baked random change initiatives. He is at the helm of an organisation that has pushed out its L4/L5/L6 talent unequivocally in pandering to the out of touch L2/L3 who are basking in their millions.

I hope we remember that everything we say and do reflects the company we represent. Let’s come together as one team and support our new CEO and ELT as they work hard to achieve best outcome for all of us.

Our new CEO is a genuinely kind person who really wants the best for all of us. He’s putting in tremendous effort and holding himself to the same high standards he asks of others. Everyone is working hard to bring us back to where we once were and even further and it’s up to us to set an example for all new hires joining FactSet (including consultants)

Let’s work together in every job, team, and region to make this a fun, collaborative, and inspiring place again. Each of us has the power to make a difference because the ELT can’t do it alone. They’re not perfect, but their intentions are sincere, and they want the best for all of us.

Let’s continue to nurture the amazing culture that Mike D started, even as we go through growing pains. Don’t let frustration take over or divide us. Instead, let’s lift each other up, work as one, and bring back the spirit, culture, and energy that made this company special. And yes, let’s aim to see that stock back over 500!

We have some of the best people in the company. Let’s embrace that, support one another, and make FactSet the incredible place it has always been.

"Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success.”

Let’s be real here. Presales is a joke. Useful for a big workstation deployment, but that’s about it. 6-7m for that? Marketing is a joke - half of them don’t know the product. And Is there seriously talk about consultants defending cancels? Half of them are incapable of giving a demo of a basic workstation.

I agree A&T is overprotected and no strategy but I am not sure if it’s clever to cut them now as majority of asv is coming from buy side which is eventually A&T. Getting rid of those team and headcount were exactly what previous CRO tried to achieve by merging EDS/MO/FO and the mess started there. I saw so many sh---y people in there too but perhaps it’s the area we should pour more money even? I rarely see the deal which goes beyond couple of mil without any analytics. I don’t think current ELT or board has ability to restructure A&T without shooting our own foot. If you did you eventually will lose one of the competitive advantages

At what point do you get rid of A&T specialty who do nothing but strut around the office all day? They don’t prospect, they only show up after RCS has done all the heavy lifting, and even then they turn away more than half the leads with “the client isn’t ready for our premium product.” It shows — their book is shrinking and new logos are few and far between.

Meanwhile, consultants are left fighting to defend cancellations of those same “premium” deals. But when there’s allocation to fight over on deals they barely touched, suddenly they’re the loudest in the room.

The rot starts at the top — toxic managers like FF set the tone. These people are likely paid more than RCS heads, which is wild. If leadership actually cared about saving margin, that’s exactly where they’d start cutting — and maybe, just maybe, they’d end up with a healthier culture built on shared accountability.

Before you complain about EDS, remember this is the team that has been outperforming and saving everyone else time and again. It is easy to point fingers as sales when other groups aren't delivering on their end. No team product, finance or otherwise is flawless but constant whining and blame shifting don't solve your problems. If you are that unhappy or unwilling to step up then maybe this isn't the place for you - mo--n.

We should remove expensive EDS sales who are literally coordinators of product, content, implementation and various teams.

You are not going to see a real change until there is a serious shake up in the sales org. Goran is a nice guy but making decision is not exactly his superpower. He is overly protective of his own circle and won’t touch the mess in apac or the dysfunctional sales setup in Emea. Just look at EROs who prefer to take credit for everyone else’s work.

Same story in Americas. It’s been a toxic place since JB took over and still is. There is constant drama over accounts reassignments and team infighting. They can’t even make a call on the regions “famous couple”.

One half that couple runs a 50 person team for implementation and presale burning through a 6-7M headcount budget. Never shows up in any offices or meets clients. The other half didn’t get a job and now there is chaos as everyone scramble to finds roles. The new head of Americas is so obsessed with direct reports that soon she will have 30 people reporting straight to her.

At this point we are not a really sales org but more like a social experiment in corporate finance with same people rotating.

Operation3B. What a joke.