I work for Dell in an anonymous location doing an anonymous job (sales is all I will tell you), and the reason for the upcoming layoffs is nobody's fault but the company's. Corporate, Ent and multiple other sales teams received absolutely unachievable quotas for Q1 and Q2. No team in the entire US has hit their number from what I've seen and I'm on weekly sales reviews with sales leaders, and we are one week from EoQ. The entire sales org has thrown in the towel because there's no point closing deals this week realistically as we're still a massive margin from even coming close to the goal. Some teams are still tens of millions away. Many team members and tons of my colleagues are barely making any commission and the lack of motivation across the country due to upper mgmt setting quotas that no team will hit is abysmal. Nobody gives two sh*ts about deals this week because it literally won't make a dent in the absurd quotas. Its so bad that team managers are complaining to corporate, HR, and sales ops about reps receiving barely any commission. Turns out it's not a mistake, we're just not even shaving fractions of percentages off the over-inflated quota. Lots of reps quitting. You can't help but think it was intentional so waves of people would quit and Dell wouldn't have to lay them off. This first half of FY24 was horrific country-wide. If it keeps up into the second half, the company very well may implode on itself. Pi-s poor management. So sad to see this one booming and respected sales org get tossed to the curb.
10 replies (most recent on top)
@1iet+1nK7vpYM This is hilarious. That is exactly my experience in Dell. They don't trust their own data unless the data matches up to a magic number they were hoping for.
Not surprised at these outcomes. I was on a team that set targets and got out of that role as fast as I could. If you give them a realistic, statistic based target number a VP will just roll in at the last minute to make the goal higher with numbers pulled directly from their a$$ because it “looks better”. Director/VP and above at Dell these days are all no-experience rotating MBA clowns.
To whoever said "...setting targets high above reasonable is strategy to limit commission (costs) without losing resources - you effectively have cheaper resource for work."
The problem though is that by restricting commission, you DO lose resources. I'm seeing it first hand with plenty of fellow reps leaving for other companies. A huge percentage of reps paycheck is commission so if you restrict it, we go bye bye
And also responding to: "Layoffs come from revenue drop of 20% YoY - means costs are still eating to profits and above measure of 'no commission paid' didn't resolve the issue entirely."
No commission = no sales reps as they all leave for greener pastures = crazy revenue loss that can take years to recover from if you treat your workforce like sh*t
That is not the reasons for layoffs
Layoffs come from revenue drop of 20% YoY - means costs are still eating to profits and above measure of 'no commission paid' didn't resolve the issue entirely.
What I don’t get is why not just suspend 401k matching, inspire points and such until inflation settles? That was something smart they did during the pandemic. It saved a lot of jobs and helped us weather the storm.
setting targets high above reasonable is strategy to limit commission (costs) without losing resources - you effectively have cheaper resource for work.
That is not the reasons for layoffs
Layoffs come from revenue drop of 20% YoY - means costs are still eating to profits and above measure of 'no commission paid' didn't resolve the issue entirely.
I can’t disagree with a thing written here. Is it just me or did most of the sh--e start when Chuck arrived?
2nd prize is a set of steak knives. You should know this working in sales.
It's not just the staff same goes for the customers.
When they spend more, they get burdened with higher targets and worthless. A hot potato so heavily targeted nobody wants to handle them once the representative moves on.
This has always been the way. Quota setting is the number one impact in everything we do. We punish good performers and reward new starters and small territories. Always have, always will. You cant buy food and pay rent with inspire points.
"You can't help but think it was intentional so waves of people would quit and Dell wouldn't have to lay them off. "
It's not just Sales, Engineering is experiencing the same. Musical chairs with VPs, reorgs seemly designed to break teams and employee spirits. It's the one thing they have succeeded in doing.