5am CT this morning. Email from Waddell and Kirby about cuts in ITS and DV.
75 replies (most recent on top)
@fx Correct. Those pension funds are managed by private equity firms. 957 of them, to be exact.
@fx their go the pension funds. No more PTO to delete to pad the earnings. They are running out of ways to cook the books. What was that company???? Oh yea ENRON
@fe I have. It's actually a significant number of pension funds.
@f6 Bullsh-t. Look into who owns the most shares.
@ez it's a publicly traded company. It is not run by private equity.
Welcome to the world of working for an employer run by private equity!
@eq Something better always came of it. Companies in our industry and supporting industries have historically been looking for talent. Networking within my industry has always led to my next position and better situation. CDW may be the exception to that observation, but I digress. I really do like what I do at CDW and my manager is excellent, but I think the people above my boss (at every level) haven't quite figured it out. Making people decisions using spreadsheets is a terrible way to run a business. Use your contacts whether you know them well or just a casual acquaintance you met at a conference. Your best contacts can advocate for you at their company or assist with posts on LinkedIn or other social media platforms. People are always willing to help, because many of us have been in that position and know what it feels like. Looking for your next position can be a team sport. Use all the resources available to you. Good luck!
Someone mentioned " This has happened to me a few times in my career". How did you find strength to apply for jobs again? Once or twice in a thirty year span can be explained with "it's not you" or "something better will come out of it".
Staring at an application and thinking whats the point of going through the motion again? Someone somewhere made a "big bet", and average joe found themselves at the receiving end. The job was a mean to raise a family while living a simple life. Did my part of showing up on time and fixing what needed to be fixed. Sometimes went an extra mile and did not expect much from that sprint. Now its gone. Not the first time.
What really is the point of four/five round of interview and culture fit meeting if the game of chicken little is the only thing consistent among all shops I have been. It must be me, and nothing good can come out of this.
My biggest client in majors had 3 people working on projects of theirs that got let go. When they weren't available this afternoon, I had to break the news. They were not happy. They said we're just like everyone else and they won't continue business if we try to subcontract out the work or offshore. They also commented that they won't be paying for new people to learn their environment and people. I'll probably lose this account, ill lose money, and CDW will lose millions. There's just no logical thinking occurring anymore.
Some of the restructuring I understand, some of it I don't get at all. People actively billing on two of my customers projects were laid off. Now we have to go find people outside CDW to do the work, very strange.
Saw a post on LinkedIn by a 21yr CDW vet who just got let go and he actually thanked them for the experience. God bless him for praising this piece of sh-t company for anything after axing him. Good karma coming his way.
If you have to sign off on a certain date how can you get a new severance pkg offer? And this company s_cks for sure, I hope all companies outsourcing jobs that are currently worked by good seasoned people crash and burn VERY SOON, we are supposed to keep US jobs employed by US people, my opinion.
@bq 16 yrs June 29. Axed
Got let go a few days after my ten year anniversary, my anniversary gift was getting delivered to my porch while I was in a teams meeting with CWS being fired. Was re-org'd to another manager about a week ago and had my mid year review a few days afterwards where I was mostly meeting / exceeding expectations. Never been on a PIP or anything, manager clearly read from a script.
Any VPs of DX or DV or ITS let go or are they immune per usual?
@bm what was the severance?
Very sorry to those affected. This has happened to me a few times in my career, and it is no fun. The best thing you can do is to start looking for positions with competitors, OEMs and networking with folks in the industry. Put CDW in the rear view mirror, and move forward is my best advice after going through this a few (painful) times in my career.
Lots of disappointment to go around in CDW executive leadership. When I was recruited by CDW 5 years ago, one of the recruiting selling points was that CDW has had very few RIFs in their history. Times have certainly changed and there is very little job security in the IT business. Since that time, it seems like once a year CDW is implementing RIFs like it is standard operating procedure. This is clearly on the shoulders of the CDW Executive Leadership Team who appear to be d-mb, deaf and blind to the situation.
@by underperform... they made over a billion dollars in reported net income for 2024. They can afford millions for sponsoring and giving free equipment for the Olympics, and the execs get multi million dollar bonuses. They are not underperforming, they are over run by greed.
In what universe is talking about unionizing going to destroy your job? Whole lot of people upvoting nonsense comments here that don't know the history of labor in this country. And unless you're some high level VP, you are labor.
This is getting ridiculous.
CDW underperforms, so they moved a bunch of roles offshore.
CDW continues to underperform, so they dig their heels and move even more roles offshore? I don’t understand why they won’t instead talk to teams at ground level and figure out what’s needed to maximize our roles, what support or tools are necessary.
In my current experience with the offshore IT team, it has been a nightmare tying to communicate with them (the team makes a ton of assumptions, and just close your ticket). So I can only imagine when more teams are moved overseas…
@bq Go fir it. That would be considered an Unfair Labor Practice. The primary law that protects workers from retaliation for union organizing is the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) of 1935, sometimes called the Wagner Act. Here’s how it works:
✅ Section 7 of the NLRA guarantees employees the right to:
Form, join, or assist a union
Bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing
Engage in other concerted activities for mutual aid or protection
Refrain from any or all such activities
✅ Section 8(a)(1) and (3) of the NLRA make it unlawful for an employer to:
Interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees in the exercise of their Section 7 rights
Discriminate in hiring, tenure, or conditions of employment to discourage union membership or activities
Retaliate against employees because they filed charges or gave testimony under the NLRA
So, if a company fires, disciplines, demotes, reduces hours, threatens, or otherwise punishes employees for union organizing or supporting a union, it’s generally an unfair labor practice (ULP) under the NLRA.
Any sales impact so far?
Thank you to everyone for the updates coming through. I know some have PM meetings, making it hard to get through the actual work day. Best wishes.
@bm please share what the details are behind the severance so others can prepare with their families. I'm sorry you're affected
Just was told this- UNCONFIRMED
100 DV
40 in DX
40 or so in other ITS
330 total
@bk, don't you dare try to destroy my job with your stupid union nonsense. I will make it my life's mission to find out who you are and get you terminated.
@bd seconding this - how did you approach/navigate this?
@bg You don't know what the he-l you're talking about. CDW has zero interest in bad press or litigation, but there is a clear pattern of age discrimination. If the individual impacted pushes the issue they will seek to make it go away, and in a number of states there are additional protections built in for employee protections. (California, New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, etc)
@bd was affected by this. Meeting was at 9 am incredibly tone deaf and read from a script. Felt no love or compassion, very robotic. 10+ years here and this is how you are treated. For those who said to not accept first severance and threatening to sue how did you navigate that and what was the final outcome?
@bc I did not get laid off, and I do think that unionizing would address the disjointedness of these haphazard layoffs. I am for meeting with their representatives.
@bd There is a pattern of age discrimination.
@bd I too am curious on this
@bd Those folks are emotional id--ts, so please do not take their advice. Take the severance and look for another job.
EBO included in this.
Layoffs, a lot of role off-shoring, and role changes/re-structuring all taking place.
DV folks please post what team you were on if you were impacted, I am very curious. Only post it if your anonymity can be guaranteed, of course.
For those that are saying do not accept the severance the first or second time until you threaten to sue, what do you even say? that you are going to sue them for letting you go? interested to hear how people get around that
I’m unfortunately one of the ppl that’s affected by the recent layoff. My meeting isn’t until 11:00 am, but I know what’s coming. Investing millions of dollars into systems that don’t even work properly, but laying off workers that actually do. That’s the CDW way, I guess huh ? I really don’t know what to expect, what to say or do. Very unfortunate situation
@b7 we've heard nothing. Which team are you on?
@a1
If you didn't get a meeting invite for a discussion you should be in the clear