Was laid off last week, US employee at Capgemini on the developer side of things. There was a wave early January and then when I was hit late Jan/early Feb. They might not be done yet even if they say "we think we probably are". Also would be on alert around end of quarter 2.
Several notes
- In terms of how the corporation handles layoffs its fine. Separation letter and agreement is reasonable, severance package is fine, can get paid for unused sick days, allow you to sign up with a program that can help you find a new job, health benefits continue for a month and you can use COBRA after that. However....in terms of how my specific department and region handled it, it was a clinic on how not to do things. No notice at all, you get a vague notification on your calendar the morning theyll lay you off saying "business update". You get laid off that exact day going forward. People who are on the meeting with you wont even turn their cameras on which is at best unprofessional at worse just cowardly. This part isnt surprising but very vague in terms of elaborating on what/why etc.
- I was a grade A who had been their only 12 months. Company has claimed in meetings and calls they really really try not to lay off Grade A's on the bench.....but I know a handful of others like me who got the pink slip. Frankly in my particular area they just overhired, way over promised on number of projects available, and didnt know what to do when they were off. What makes it extra lame is they are bringing in a new cohort of hires in my exact division next month....the very division they are struggling so hard to find projects to give people and laying off a handful of us for.
- My advice to anybody who ends up being in my shoes or comes to capgemini in near future is be super aggressive from day 1 looking for projects. Not action learning, but projects(another thing I wish I knew was action learning wont erase your time on the bench like an actual project will). I only landed on one project my time there which fell apart within a few months which led to long bench time and subsequent loss of job. Network, be aggressive with it from day 1 its the thing I regret. Usually there's more lenience with how long new hire grade A's will remain on the bench but those thresholds have changed.
- Ultimately just not a great look for the company to hire Grade A's, have them on the bench for months and months because you cant find work for them and then cut them within a year or less. I got very lucky I was able to find another job days after but thats just pure luck not the norm. There alot of good people who work their, the company is good, the job itself I enjoyed I dont have bad things to say about that. Ordinarily I would recommend this job/company just fine. But at this very moment given the situation they are in financially and how a number of us have got laid off 12 months or less into our career here, it might be best to look elsewhere for the moment.