Prediction

Clearly, Citrix is completely f--cked financially, as we've now publicly seen with the two Financial Times and Bloomberg articles. They have to make cuts so deep that it will rival the Viking Battle of Edington.

That being said, here's what I think is about to go down:
1 - Remote workers will be forced to relocate to an office location, selling their new homes, and ripping their children out of schools within 2 months of starting the new school year. They will be offered a laughable relocation package and an illusory benefit of being able to work at this great cluster-f--ck of a company.
2 - Local employees will be forced to work 5 days a week in their local office, and their badge swipes will be monitored to ensure not only they are coming in 5 days a week, but they are staying in the office longer than just a few hours. People who have fled Communist Cuba/China will start having flashbacks.
3 - All of this will be an attempt to make people leave. Anyone on the fence and clinging to any thread of hope that once was the Great Culture of Citrix will finally see that it has gone, dissipated, and washed out to sea by a flood of greed. They simply can't pay your severance, and they will target any leftover employees clinging to their upcoming RSU cash-out vesting schedules (the only thing keeping them here at this point), to make it so uncomfortable to stay, that they also leave, allowing them to save that cash, too. By the way, that is 100% illegal.
4 - Long term Citrites in the highest leadership positions will have to grapple each night as they lay in bed trying to sleep as they are faced with a moral and ethical struggle, knowing darn well this is a horrible mind game that has affected every employee in the company, minus the individual mentioned in #5.
5 - And for the a$$ clown troll who keeps telling us to get our of our pajamas: you need to get your head out of your a$$, or perhaps TK's a$$. But perhaps your view is much nicer with your promised golden parachute. How nice that must be to live a life devoid of empathy.

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@2gqf+1iOaYToX

I love the comments about the pajamas. Only the people who have been slacking off this whole time can think that way.

Want to pi-s off the hardest working of your employees? Tell a bunch of people that have worked their a-s off during a pandemic where half the people in the country expected to be paid to do nothing that it's time to "get back to work". You know what we've been doing? Earning all that money you're pocketing or squandering on stupid business deals and well hidden fraud. Building the products that you're about to wring all the value out of before disposing of the dessicated husks. Putting on our pants every morning and getting our jobs done as our work invaded our personal lives and sanctuaries and every hour of our waking lives.

You want to talk about accountability? Look at who has been hitting their targets and who has been missing them. Because it's certainly not engineering that dropped the ball.

I'd love to get back to how it was before the pandemic. Hybrid was great! But that's not what this is.

If you feel like people here need to "get back to working hard" it's time for you to look in the mirror and realize that you are the useless one.

To those thinking you’re gonna sue for “wrongful termination” - you better check your employment agreement. You’re likely “at-will”, as the majority of Citrites are. Those suits can take years to even settle, if you find an attorney willing to take it. They can let you go for wearing the wrong shirt on a Teams camera call. I’ve already seen them culling people this way to avoid having to pay them anything on the way out.

Whatever you do. Dont resign. They will try everything to get you to leave without severance. Just quietly wait. It will be worth it.

Folks, read the news. FB and Google are starting small layoffs. And you guys are still talking about keeping your pajamas on for remote work. Wake up people! The pandemic is over. The sugar high is over.

If you leave Citrix whether willingly or not, your next job will be in an office, or you will take a pay cut for remote work unless you are in a role that’s already remote.

And I am no TK minion. Just sharing the hardcore view of what is going on so that you will succeed in life and keep your jobs.

Yes, this is absolutely a ploy Vista would use in a second. The minion comment about "they have evidence that remote work is unproductive" is just that: a TK minion with no morals assigned to tell lies.

If your role was remote, why would they ask you to return? Sales, sales support etc have always been so and will remain so. Inside sales usually works in a pit arrangement for rapid collab. Not clear where that will go but if you were hired remote, you will likely stay remote.

Engineering is the biggest group that will need to move back to the office. That’s where the biggest productivity drops have been observed.

Regarding #1, this is the same approach that IBM used to push longtime marketing employees out of the company.

Options: relocate at your own expense to be closer to an IBM office, or resign (without severance). A few 'loyal' remote 'IBM lifers' chose to relocate, but the majority resigned. So, this is a proven game plan that Citrix HR minions will execute without question.

This is a naive view of how business is run.

They are forcing back to the office because they think they have evidence that productivity is sagging. It likely is, because of the turmoil and lack of collaboration.

But the ploy that they will use this to nudge people to leave is unlikely. It may help to some extent but it’s not a predictable path for them. If they need to get to a lower budget, they will just do the layoff, period. They are asking you to come in as part of the process to decide who to keep. The more you want to just be remote when you are within a commute distance, the more likely you will be considered a less- cooperative employee and added to the RIF. Unless you are a rockstar, and only a handful can claim to be, your ability to deliver steady work and collaborate to increase your productivity will outweigh cries of your home life flexibility.

Citrix, the company that hired you in the remote role was acquired and is being merged. All bets are off.

It’s not wrongful dismissal if the new company decides your remote role should now be in the office. They can say that it’s a change in scope and business need for their new organization

It doesn’t just impact the people who moved quietly, there are some people who may have just worked it out with their managers and not had their current location updated in Workday.

Everyone should be concerned. Especially if you are a remote worker and the bulk of your team is close to a Citrix location

It says in the FAQ that they will review the remote status of roles in the upcoming planning cycle. Just as an FYI- That starts next month in October.

Thanks to whomever mentioned checking out the FAQs

A couple of points of concerns, if you’re currently designated as a remote worker.

Everything the previous leadership did with Space to Succeed and working from anywhere ceases to exist once we are acquired.

The ELT will be reviewing the remote status of all employees currently designated as remote and determine which roles are “appropriate” to be remote. It doesn’t matter if you were hired as a remote worker. If I’m a few months they decide that role is best served from a Citrix location, your remote role will be eliminated

I agree - this has “wrongful dismissal lawsuit” written all over it. “Let them fire you and sue and easily get another remote position from a different company.” They may not be able to afford severance, they definitely can’t afford wrongful dismissal lawsuits.

Wrong and read why below “You guys seem to miss the point - if you were hired to work at one of the offices, but moved to Idaho or whatever over the last couple of years since you were temporarily working from home, you'll have to move back to wherever you were before the pandemic to go back to the office.That's it. It's not forcing anyone who was remote/at-home before COVID to move anywhere. It's the folks who moved - on their own - who now have to figure out what to do.” Wrong, wrong and wrong - NO ONE relocated without approval from management. Firing people because they now want you to relocate will qualify for a wrongful dismissal law suit. They really only want / need support engineers back in the office and junior sales so they can learn / grow faster. However, again, if they allowed people to relocate then they can’t force them back. They also hired people who are totally out of territory for what had traditionally been inside roles. Regardless, you can’t give employees a green light to relocate or hire them out of territory and then FORCE them to sell their homes and relocate or lose their job. Don’t quit, that’s what they want. Make them fire you and then sue them. In the meantime, it will be easy to get another job in the industry that is remote….cause that’s the new norm….and technically what our solutions are for …..but I’m just being annoyingly logical.

It's not only the people who moved. The announcement also said they'd be reevaluating anyone who is currently remote.

They know very well that nobody is going to relocate.

You guys seem to miss the point - if you were hired to work at one of the offices, but moved to Idaho or whatever over the last couple of years since you were temporarily working from home, you'll have to move back to wherever you were before the pandemic to go back to the office.

That's it. It's not forcing anyone who was remote/at-home before COVID to move anywhere. It's the folks who moved - on their own - who now have to figure out what to do.

Revoking a telecommute agreement may be considered constructive dismissal.

Any thoughts about people who joined company as remote employees as per contract? When they renew contracts already remote employees will be forced to come to the office?

I think that's the point: no one is going to relocate to work at a dying company, so they will quit.

Backstage; where information goes to die. Who even thought to look there?!

My whole team has been hybrid/remote for over a decade. Going to the office everyday won't be a "return." In two ways. Both because it would be completely new, and because none of us are going to go along with this.

I feel bad for anybody who doesn't quit. Things are going to suck.

The FAQs were posted this morning on Backstage. The "statement" I think others are referring to related to the OP's first point is this:

We understand that during the pandemic, you may have made life decisions that may take time to readjust. For example, we understand you may need to move back to a city where we have an office location, find schools close by, plan for new caregiver responsibilities, etc. We will provide temporary accommodation for a transition
period on a case-by-case basis for employees who need to readjust to returning to the office. Please contact your immediate manager, your HR business partner (or for Citrix employees: reach out to AskHR) to discuss your situation.

What "statement"?

They can't force anybody to do anything.

Take care of yourself. You gain nothing by trying to get even. Just get out. If it gives them what they want, so what. Take care of yourself. NOBODY is looking out for you but you.

By the way, go read your RSU agreement again.

Spot on.

If you read the statement today, #1 sounds like it's already beginning. They mentioned relocating back to being near an office...

Thread regarding Citrix Systems Inc. layoffs

Prediction

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