We should all take a moment to remember those who are really hurt by Seagate's rough times... the investors, Seagate executives, and our customers.
Our poor investors - can you imagine what it feels like to not be able to buy that 3rd vacation home in Florida or the larger yacht? Our poor investors have cared deeply about each Seagate employee for years and now this is how we pay them back - we complain about a mere portion of our co-workers losing their jobs. These RIFs are nothing compared to the extra interest and dividends the investors should be getting. We all need to remember that these poor investors have placed their trust in us when they gambled with there disposable income. Is it really too much to ask that they can expect to be able to pay off that $200,000 RV within 3 years and take a 1 month cruise once a year. We need to remember that without big gains from Seagate, investors have to then rely on dividends from their other investments, trust funds, and IRAs. Yet here we all sit selfishly just focusing on our jobs.
Seagate Executives - can you imagine what it feels like to have to hide their true feelings about the loss of so many worker bees? They must feel awful to maintain a calm even keel when they are crying on the inside. Only people of their calibre can grow a business like we have - where we all can thrive. We all need to remember that these people know what is best for us. I would bet that these executives often refrain from accepting bonuses and taking expensive vacations in solidarity with their lower paid co-workers. If we have to eat cat food in the cafeteria to cut costs and give our execs back their pride, I have one thing to say: where is my bowl? Let's give them our support.
Lastly, ah.. our customers.. Our poor customers have lined up from time to time to choose our drives over our competitors'. Luckily we can undersell a little sometimes and sometimes we have an issue or two with a certain model. But that is what our customers expect from us - a decent product at a good price. Some people say that you get what you pay for, but our enterprising customers have no fear using non-enterprise drives to cut costs on their end too. We need to follow suit. We need to buckle down and continue to support the development of products like the 3TB barracuda. That is what is going to keep our customers coming back to us. Most importantly, we all know that our customers could go elsewhere unless we personally sacrifice. It doesn't make any difference that lower half of employees at Seagate do only what they are told and they have 0 decision making power, it is the gesture that counts. When our customers see that a portion of our workforce across the board sacrificed their jobs to keep costs low, they will be re-assured that they leave behind their engineering skill and their energy to give others strength. Is it not obvious that every cost cutting move Seagate makes will ensure that Seagate and their products will remain on the cutting edge of technology. Without these frequent, unpredictable, and difficult to understand measures - like RIF, our customers might come to believe that Seagate is losing it's edge and our customers might then go on to our competitors. We can't let that happen. Let's stay unpredictable - for our customers sake.