I know people keep saying not to worry before something happens but I'm just not wired that way. I'm a worrier. I've had a miserable week and I know the next several months will be the same. I would pay good money just to learn right now what will happen to me. Even if it's not good news, it would be preferable to having to spend the following weeks and months stressing like crazy.
10 replies (most recent on top)
From experience, our office went from 125 people to 35 people in a years time.
The back office people were laid off immediately and our HR Rep who not many liked always sat on the Broadcom side for any discussions with our hired labor lawyer. I expect he made enough to retire comfortably being on the Broadcom side.
Most everyone was given transition bonus of 3, 6 9 or 12 months that paid a bonus of 50% salary for staying until your transition period was over. On top of that an extra 15% was paid on top to prevent any small rounding mistakes.
People used the transition time to study and look for a new career and almost everyone left happy when they received their payouts.
Lots of valid points made above. Unfortunately, in order for this acquisition to make sense Broadcom will have to cut pretty drastically. That is the model they follow and this transaction will be no different.
As a worrier, find something in the market and move forward. If you are retained, you may not be happy at Broadcom. If you talk to anyone that works at Broadcom the only thing they talk about positively is the compensation. You never hear that word culture discussed in a positive way at least.
Money is important to some, but so is culture and work like balance too. Broadcom is not Google, but it is also not a terrible place to work, depending on what is important to you.
I’ve met Hock personally and all I can say is he is a leader with conviction and tells the truth. He is not trying to be like Google and he will say that directly. You may agree or disagree with him, but unlike other CEO’s, he is the real deal. While I couldn’t work for him and his style, he is a CEO I would trust to do the right thing for the shareholders. He doesn’t believe in wasting money and that is admirable.
Bottom line: you should find a job now and move forward as your status won’t be known for a while and you will drive yourself crazy with worthy and it is not necessary. Good luck!
Agree with all the comments here. Take your destiny into your own hands and start looking now. Even the best case scenario is working for the new VMware under Broadcom, and to me there are other companies that pay just as well where work probably doesn't suck (he-l even Amazon sounds better than that). Managers have it even worse so they should be the first ones looking. Broadcom wants a flat hierarchy with minimal management.
I would also say, if you're coming to a site called thelayoff.com for solace, methinks you're making the number 1 mistake right there. If you find yourself doom-scrolling through all these threads on this site, I would say stop, and do something productive, such as polishing up your resume, etc. Actually, just resisting reading the threads on this site would probably improve your mood greatly, but taking actions into your own hands would probably help also.
I don't think anything said on this site will really help anyone other than perhaps those who are hopelessly fooling themselves that everything will always always always be bright and shiny.
You might be safe. Or not. This acquisition could be dramatically different from the others, or not -- but no one here is going to be able to tell you one or the other for sure, unless you find the thread where all the execs and board members are discussing everything that is going to go down.
Do not wait to see “what happens” expect the worse scenario and take action now
The market is still pretty decent, I have made a short list of companies and roles I want to consider and made a few versions of my Resume and even had a few calls with other companies. They have all been very positive and one looks very promising, all in one week
Do not sit on your a-s and do nothing. Take responsibility and take action now.
Either you update that resume and go find a job fast or buy a crystal ball.
Management will always say nice things. Thats their job to get work done. But think logically. Majority will get laid off either by closing time or after few months. I was also in same situation on what will happen and whether some one will buy (after splitting groups and all). Think the worse case and start doing what you can do. This means resume, contacting friends, leetcode, system-design (educative.io) and then start interviewing, irrespective of the level and so on. Even an entry level job is better to land than delaying and eventually not able to find a job. Imagine the interest hikes towards the end of this year and next year will slow down the earnings and then every company will either freeze or layoff employees. Its already happening in many places.
I dont count of severance for regular employees. It will be 1 week per year at some cap. (may be 20 weeks).
There is no point of worrying if you know what's going to happen.
How do we keep our shelves motivated to work after all this. Does the management does not understand.i would definitely like to knw if my job is safe. Not everyone will lose job.but for those who will need to be given enough time.
It’s easy to say . New job search is complicated. It’s not only your skills , it how can you sell yourself . It’s also luck . The higher your pay the harder to find the position. If you have been happy with company , it will be disappointment, even you accept the offer from a new company .
Most of us should go on this journey, but it’s not always fun . Mostly not .
OP, Broadcom and your management chain may hold your severance status in their hands, but they do not control your destiny. You have until November to find another job. Nobody is going to be working anything but the bare minimum at Vmware until the merger happens. Use the time to get paid to find another job.
Once you find a better job, you will know what is going to happen to you: a new future at a stable company that you choose by taking your future into your own hands to the best of your ability.
Taking action is better than worrying.