(My previous post somehow didn’t show up, maybe it’s taking time, so trying again with incomplete draft and memory 😀)
Former (laid off) employee here and these are my personal opinions. Your experience obviously may differ so apologies if it hurts your feelings.
Hock runs Broadcom as a private equity company in the disguise of a public company. Profit first, period. He has been a great operator, investor & steward of the shareholder and bondholder capital. Anyone who can read financial statements knows this & consequently the stock performance over many years since he took over is undeniable evidence of it.
However he is not stupid, he will not get rid of a person or group or product that is indispensable, profitable & aligns with the long term vision.
Obviously he cannot decide who to get rid of all through the company, that’s the job of the management chain. If it is up to a manager, they will layoff every employee before themselves. Who would not? Basic human nature. Food on the table of your family or your report?
That said, “generally speaking”, people who get laid off (in a group that’s kept for sustenance or investment) are people whose loss the group can bear.
As an employee & a manager, I hate stacked rankings (it’s not fair as perfectly good people get canned just because somebody is slightly better, manager has too much power & it’s demoralizing to the team) but that’s one thing which is almost always used in deciding the layoff candidates. FWIW, think of these rankings as order of your value to the company (lowest rank most dispensable, highest rank, least dispensable). Most of the times it works as intended, on very rare occasions, they may end up rehiring a person whose value they miscalculated. So the game is to remain as high ranked employee as possible for as long as possible. The group, business unit or overall company are things whose performance you cannot control. Yours, you can.
People who really are assets to the company, belong to a indispensable group, product or solution AND continue to develop sustainable competitive advantage for themselves, their group, product or solution rarely leave because 1. rarely any other company can match what they make at Broadcom, 2. Believe it or not, they also love working for Broadcom (not due to financial reasons alone) and 3. They have seen Hock’s style and growth better than newcomers and many actually like it.
Broadcom is very competitive environment, only the fittest survive (ignoring occasional ranking or product execution gaffes) but those who do for 5-10 years, usually end up with a very sizable nest egg. If you can & want to, you will have plenty of time to decide the next phase of your life, without worrying about the money part.
My two cents. employee here.
Hock runs Broadcom as a private equity company in the disguise of a public company. Profit first period.
However he is not stupid, he will not get rid of a person or group or product that is indispensable, profitable & aligns with the long term vision.
Obviously he cannot decide who to get rid of all through the company, that’s the job of the management chain. If it is up to a manager, they will layoff every employee before themselves. Who would not? Basic human nature. Food on the table of your family or your report?
That said, “generally speaking”, people who get laid off (in a group that’s kept for sustenance or investment) are people whose loss the group can bear.
As an employee & a manager, I hate stacked rankings (it’s not fair as perfectly good people get canned just because somebody is slightly better, manager has too much power & it’s demoralizing to the team) but that’s one thing which is almost always used in deciding the layoff candidates. FWIW, think of these rankings as order of your value to the company (lowest rank most dispensable, highest rank, least dispensable). Most of the times it works as intended, on very rare occasions, they may end up rehiring a person whose value they miscalculated. So the game is to remain as high ranked employee as possible for as long as possible. The group, business unit or overall company are things whose performance you cannot control. Yours, you can.
People who really are assets to the company, belong to a indispensable group, product or solution AND continue to develop sustainable competitive advantage for themselves, their group, product or solution rarely leave because 1. rarely any other company can match what they make at Broadcom, 2. Believe it or not, they also love working for Broadcom (not due to financial reasons alone) and 3. They have seen Hock’s style and growth better than newcomers and many actually like it.
Broadcom is very competitive environment, only the fittest survive (ignoring occasional ranking or product execution gaffes) but those who do for 5-10 years, usually end up with a very sizable nest egg. If you can & want to, you will have plenty of time to decide the next phase of your life, without worrying about the money part.
My two cents.