I want to understand how much control a Sr director or above has when it comes to saving their favorites over people who actually work?
I know atleast 5 people in my org who got hired because they are related to so and so leader in one way or another. You can tell how bad they are at their work.
They could not even get hired based on their own capabilities.
Really depends on the leader. As a senior manager, I was told to give x number of names when I was on a VPs team. He would assign quota to all of his direct reports based on the number of people they had and he did his best to be fair. So I would truly do it based on performance.
However in another role, I was a senior director reporting to an AVP , who was a bloody emotional mo--n , who took offense to everything and made snap judgments on people based on nonsensical things and whether they respected her or not, which many did not as she regaled people with her dating stories after a drink or two. So even really good people were put on the RIF list and our HR partner was a $&$$& joke , who really did nothing to challenge the leaders and ensure that the process was fair. So it totally depends on what kind of a person you have as a leader at the VP/ SVP/ AVP level.
It depends.
When I've had to make those decisions it was rate / rank and the low performers were impacted.
A wise leader uses it as an opportunity to cut bait on low performers or give those that want out (for whatever reason) a nice exit package.
Regardless, it was never a fun thing to do.
@at what if 90 percent of team is same profiles (similar ages, gender, race). Will kick one of the outliers just so they have a mix?
"How much control your leader has when it comes to Rif?" - OP
There are no "leaders", just followers and su-k-ups.
"Rah, rah, rah" (please see me boss, learn my name)
It comes from outside consultants and must approved by legal and Hr. You can’t have too many of the same profile. Can’t all be older, skin color, gender, etc… . So yes, DEI is considered when selecting positions.
Sr Director has minor input but not much. If it's one or two in a group, they may be given the option to provide feedback. If it is a larger RIF, they are told who to let go. This is why some of the who stays/who goes doesn't make sense every time there is a RIF. With so many RIF's, leaving manager discretion out of the picture is safer for Verizon.
I am certain that Directors and immediate supervisors have some say in who gets cut. In every RIF I’ve been through, the persons impacted on my teams have never come as a surprise. It is always the people who are not cultural fits with the rest of the team, something that an outsider couldn’t tell.
Last Rif, my Sr. Director selected who he wanted out with the input of the director. Usually they say "you need to lay off x amount on your team, pick who".
I've heard its also based on a calculated score, with factors such as tenure, cost, age, EOY ratings. These all go into the blender and based on the score you are in or out. Not sure if this is true but it is what I was told from leadership. Is typically managed by an outside company.
Unfortunately I have been part of several dark projects to reduce force. But never part of this magnitude. So this can be different . I can tell you that it is very little input from Sr Dir. At least what I was involved in. A lot of small NDA groups, some led by outside consultants, series of questions and tasks. We all set out to do modeling after modeling then submitted to another group often involves HR oversight. The final product is a combination of what each dark group worked on. The Sr Dir and VPs are made aware just right before. They can petition or have a conversation about the names, but it is done entirely independently. Ever wonder why some great people were riffed and C- people were saved? That is your answer.
Sr director has zero control
Not value .. it’s widespread in the entire org..
They must be in value