Thread regarding Dell Inc. layoffs

You deserve what you are contracted to. Your wage.

Everything else is at Dell’s behest.

This is employer to employee dynamics.

Stop thinking in terms of right & wrong. That stuff simply doesn’t exist here.

Keep your head down or get out. That’s all there is to it.

It's a part of the company culture to be hypocritical. While they try to tell you cliches like they'd rather want people to be brave and fail than to not try at all they sweep every single failure under the rug and pretend it never happened.

Waiting with anticipation on how they will sweep yet another completely atrocious tell dell result under the rug and call it a success.

The VP leading AI segment comes from networking background and has no data science experience or knowledge or understandin . He does a "program" in AI ML and thinks he is qualified to continue in his position.
Do you think any of the grunts seeking job in the market might be able to convince the hiring mgr that a "program" is sufficient to be hired ?
If not, how is this ok for the C-suite ?

I need AI to summarize JC's DTW speech so I don't have to watch over an hour of him talking? Also, the t-shirts are getting old...

"Soft layoff without payout. If you have a brain, you can see that the goal for the company is to automate with agentic ai and massively reduce all task oriented roles while shifting the burden of order management, order processing and quotation to the customer. Forget about talking to
a person anymore if you are a
customer. You will be interfacing with ai and it will be just as terrible as it sounds. JB leaving was the writing on the wall."

This is the answer. Listen to Jeff Clark's DTW talk. He's laying out Dell's strategy, telling customers it's existential that they do the same.

"Junior employees need in-person mentoring."
Haha, if I'm based in the UK and my junior fresh hire colleague I'm supposed to mentor is in Costa Rica, I can be sure I'll be sent on a 6-month business trip to Costa Rica to provide that "in person mentorship", do I get it right?

It’s all about insecure, inept leaders and their need to assert control. They can’t actually do anything productive so the only way they can prove their value is to say to their bosses,”see, my whole team is in the office, complying with the policy because of my excellent leadership.”

It’s a joke and the joke is on us.

Soft layoff without payout. If you have a brain, you can see that the goal for the company is to automate with agentic ai and massively reduce all task oriented roles while shifting the burden of order management, order processing and quotation to the customer. Forget about talking to a person anymore if you are a customer. You will be interfacing with ai and it will be just as terrible as it sounds. JB leaving was the writing on the wall. He was the only senior leader that actually cared about people.

Rto (return to office) is an unofficial layoff. They don't have to pay out severances if they mandate everyone quits that cant work in an office. My guess is they are doing all this to get under a certain headcount so they can be more efficient and lean, maybe for a buy out? Either way they will NEVER admit what they are doing to us at the bottom. The horrible thing here is they don't care about you or your feelings or your mental health.

What They Say:

1. “Collaboration will improve.”

Yes, spontaneous hallway chats can be great—but they aren’t the only way to collaborate. Many teams thrived remotely with clear communication tools and intentional planning.

2. “Culture needs in-person presence.”

Culture is built on trust, respect, and shared purpose—not just shared air. If culture only exists in the building, we need to question how strong it really was.

3. “We’re worried about productivity.”

But where’s the data? In many companies, productivity increased during remote work. Blanket RTO policies suggest fear, not evidence.

4. “Junior employees need in-person mentoring.”

Mentorship matters—but forcing entire teams back isn’t the only way to achieve it. Hybrid models, intentional check-ins, and structured mentorship also work.

What’s Really Going On:

• Legacy Leadership: Some execs still believe “if I can’t see you, you’re not working.” This is a leadership problem, not a workforce one.

• Unused Office Leases: Many companies are stuck with long-term real estate deals. Instead of owning the financial decision, they shift the burden onto employees.

• Manager Discomfort with Remote Leadership: Some managers never learned how to lead remotely, so instead of growing, they pull everyone back into their comfort zone.

• Desire for Control: Tracking badge swipes, monitoring attendance—it’s less about productivity, more about surveillance.