Got laid off earlier this year and initially felt like the rug was pulled from under me. After months of grinding job-search, I landed a more flexible, less stressful gig. Fewer perks, but more time with family, less pressure, better work-life balance. I won’t say I’m totally healed, but some part of me feels like I’m finally breathing again.
16 replies (most recent on top)
@OP
Congratulations on your new job. You would be surprised how many employees who left SAP come back. Nonetheless, I say rest, work and recharge. Technology is a tough demanding industry, but it is a privilege to be working for the GREATS.
I know the employer market very well
i call this working for the "Navy Seals". We assimilate information and adapt well and learn on the fly. They SAP have the best clients in the world.
It is a wonderful skill, anything below that will pale, in terms of experience to work in a different company.
Nonetheless, one must always take care of themselves first and have a work life balance.
Work is important but it should not take over your health and family.
Be well. Be Healthy.
@OP “better work-life balance” than SAP - mathematically - would be called a trivial solution. Sadistic customers force consultants to work weekends, evenings, and worst of all PTO. Cowardly managers let customers extort PAID time off - and hence pay or compensation - out of their employees’ pockets/wallets.
@dd DA in Latin is DOOFUS AEROSPACIUS
Growth companies innovate, hire and grow - companies on the decline layoff people and reduce salaries, benefits and bonuses. When is the last time SAP acquired a new marquis customer? Yes, DA was brought on for one purpose - and his claim to fame, and some of his direct reports, is offshoring, outsourcing and layoffs.
@cn 100% agreed. But every time this was proposed, HR and the board shot this idea down. It will never pass. And we’ll continue to see board members who exploit the company for personal short term financial gain and leave. CK got 19 million last year and he wants more. And to get more, he’ll fire as many employees as possible. DA is also supposed to get a huge bonus apparently. We’ll have to wait for this to be shared in the public company documents after the fact.
This may change if the trust in board goes below 50%
@cg Don't even make it stock, make it options that only become available after a decade, so they have to care about the business even after they leave
@ck Struggling doesn't include doing stock buybacks or acquisitions. If were having difficulties due to market conditions etc, thats what the cash reserves are for to allow us to weather external shocks and use that time to beat the competition . SAP isn't struggling because of external forces but due to mis management that only prioritizes, incentivizes or cares about the moral of sales. The actual people who build, operate or configure the software don't matter and can be shipped to the cheapest place possible as they are fungible. And they are making the part of sales they care about smaller every year.
Employees aren’t even getting enough salary increases to keep up with inflation. And the executive board is trying to use that money to give themselves millions in bonuses. And some employees still support this move. This is so sad to see.
I think layoffs make sense when a company is struggling. SAP isn’t doing great but it is doing okay in its space. And if the board focuses on innovation, we will see additional revenue and also the stock price will go up. This short term selfish thinking by the executive board should make everyone angry and we should protest. Instead we’re supporting this idiocracy.
If they wanted 10000 layoffs in 2024 and only 3000 left and if they want more layoffs due to AI, we’re looking at 15000 or 20000 layoffs globally. That is never good for any company. And if we do lay off employees, this money should go towards the company not executive board bonuses. I don’t see why this is an unpopular opinion.
@cf laying off employees to improve the bottom line is the easiest way to show success as a CFO. The board is singularly focused on getting their bonus. They probably don’t care how their decisions cripple the company for years to come. Because they get their bonus now and they won’t be here to suffer the consequences of their decisions.
Executive board bonuses should always be as stock not money imho. And employee bonuses shouldn’t focus only on stock. This is exactly what will make a board work to better the company and give the employees power to leave when they want. But SAP is doing the opposite. All T4 and T5 bonuses will be tied to the stock program in the future. Growth culture they say.
In mid 2024, they wanted to lay off 10000 employees. That was before they decided to lay off due to AI. Adopting AI means that certain tasks will be automated and employees won’t be needed. And also AI recurring costs are very high. Only 3000 quit last time compared to their expectations and that was very expensive for SAP. So my guess is that they want to lay off more employees on top of the 10000 originally planned.
A good executive board and company focused on growth and wants to hire more to keep pace with growth. A bad executive board has no ideas and wants to save money by layoffs because it’s the third largest expense. The only reason SAP has grown year after year in terms of headcount is because of acquisitions.
My friends at Airbus say that Dominic Asam is very anti employee and has no ideas to grow a company. He left Airbus because they didn’t fire 15000 employees as he originally wanted and told investors. So if they brought him in, it’s because SAP wants to go down the route of laying off tens of thousands of employees. If he is able to do that, he will achieve his targets and get his bonus.
@cc he said that in mid 2024.
CFO Dominik Asam told investors: "We now estimate that between 9,000 and 10,000 positions will be affected with the corresponding impact on restructuring provisions, cash out and run rate savings after completion of the program. As compared to what we had indicated in the first quarter, we added about €800 million of restructuring expenses and cash out.”
https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/23/sap_staff_cuts/
Now he’s pushing for more layoffs
@c2 Where did he mention the number of 10000?
I hope the layoffs end soon.
Dominic Asam was the one who pushed for 15000 layoffs at Airbus. And he is pushing for 10000 layoffs at SAP. So we'll see more such stories in 2026.
I can understand that... honestly, it's very hard working with the current atmosphere,demotivation and continue realization that for this board employees are only a cost. I hope l will be part of the next round, hopefully get a fair package and restart from s place where you feel that you can be impactful and you matter.