CA folks - do you have any advice for those of us at Symantec? In case the Broadcom acquisition goes through? Should we ride it out or should we start looking for a new job right away?
I skimmed through posts here and I have a bad feeling that the second option will be the one that gets mentioned more.
When it all went down I hoped to be on the transition list because of the money. I would have also been happy to be a TERM because of the severance. But I'm a STAY. I'm hanging on as long as I can because my severance just keeps growing the longer I stay.
The transition offer isn't what I want, even if they offer a big incentive. I want out ASAP and I want a severance package.
@ZS6FvhK-muuj, I don't think that was entirely true. I worked with a few transition people. They said they were allowed to leave early and still get their severance. They might forfeit some or all of the transition depending on how early they left, but not their severance. I don't know if that was universal though. Still, transition isn't a bad deal. They give you enough money to make it worth it.
No.
What happens if you get the TRANSITION offer but you really want the TERM offer (take the severance package and get out)? Will they give you that?
66 should be 16.6 not sure why that happened
@ZS6FvhK-gjle 50% for the department breaks down as follows:
Are you saying there is no adoption???
Maybe a line item for
— other 50% (corporate)
25% - operating income
25% - revenue
@ZS6FvhK-coot, I looked at the generic bonus plan and the one for the MFBU and I do see the difference. 50% is allocated to the BU/department. This must be different for each BU/group. For the MF there is a individual metric. If you look at the generic plan there are also still minimum guarantees. You can be p-ss-d off you want, but I've talked to people in others BUs, and they've all been happy as can be about the bonus. Maybe you were lucky at CA and saw some big payouts, but I haven't seen a decent bonus since the days of Charles.
@ZS6FvhK-bytz AR has presented the pie graph numerous times there is 0 individual metrics. AR even specifically said there was no individual component which is a deviation from CA bonus plan. AR said we can even earn up to 150% if some of those metrics do well. Which again has nothing to do with a specific persons performance. Now let’s say the bonus is to pay $0 because we do badly, I don’t see it out of the realm that a manager can find money to comp his/her top performer. Nothing special, this existed under CA happened all the time.
According to a Financial Times article, Broadcom was offering $28.25 per share this weekend but then saw something (when doing due diligence) that made them ask for a $1.50 reduction on that price. When Symantec said No, BC walked away. At least for now.
However, this is just over a 5% discount we are talking here? I think cooler heads will prevail and we might see negotiations start up again. Probably meet in the middle??
Following CNBC this acquisition won't happen.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/15/symantec-and-broadcom-cease-deal-negotiations-sources.html
@ZS6FvhK-9ohp not quite correct...
Your rating will also determine payout...might want to speak with your manager.....
@ZS6FvhK-9uru You are in MF , Broadcom bought CA for you. Bonus has no individual component. It’s all corporate and division metrics. Nothing about an individuals performance. Perhaps there is off the books room to comp others higher, but each pie slice of bonus has no mention about specific IC’s performance.
Some of these posts are flat out BS, at least for R&D. I work in the MF division, no ICs were demoted. Managers yes, but not ICs. No one had their salary lowered. If anything, most people got huge raises via the bonus and stock. Despite what one person posted, part of your bonus is guaranteed, and that is the 1/4 related to personal performance. If you are top performer you get 150%. If you meet you get 100%, if you don't meet you get 50%. The rest are based on division and company performance. Those can be taken away if goals are missed.
I know a lot of people in the ESD, it's basically been the same thing over there. The few differences between MF and ES is that ES did lose some people to day 1 and RIFs, plus they're targets are a little bit tougher for them to reach. While I wouldn't call Broadcom a dream work place, they're still better than CA has been in the last 10 years, at least as far as MF R&D is concerned.
I made about 105k at CA and I make 125k with Broadcom, in support. I do not think 105k for tech support is underpaid especially since I don't live on a coast
@ZS6FvhK-5pka If you get more money now it means you were underpaid under CA, which is a rare thing indeed and sounds like you are lucky to have gotten a stay offer in the first place. Enjoy it while it last but ultimately there is no future for Tech Support at Broadcom.
I want to comment on a few things I recall
Broadcom keeps only groups that have a very profitable division and can be #1 or 2 in market. No incubators.no Distinguished engineer writing white papers nobody reads
I believe It was like 2 weeks after the close. Everyone, at least in the US, got an email that said you were Termed, Transition or Stay. They were sent out before the start of business. We all new weeks in advance that we would get notice that day on our status. But... some teams said they were told they all were getting cut so it wasn’t a shocker.
First RIF was mid-may, and the acquisition was announced 4-6 weeks later. Closed the deal in November and the next RIF was within weeks of that.
CA folks,
Can you give us some timelines? When was the acquisition announced and when did the RIF's happen?
Former CA Professional Services in EMEA
We have been divested to HCL with a bonus representing 2 weeks of salary.
Our contract has been transferred: same salary, same advantages... for the moment
At HCL, we have the salary that corresponds to an HCL EMEA manager ... i don't know how long that this ridiculous situation can last ...
In France, people are leaving from HCL: no visibility on IC plan (sometimes 25% of salary), no visibility on future projects, need to log into Broadcom Clarity to get paid, contracts still need to be established by Broadcom in Switzerland (illegal ?), a lot of people on the bench, work location where you can easily commit s--c-de (regus)
My honest advice for professional services guys: take a lawyer and do not trust syndicate (in France, syndicate k--ls CA Professional services guys)
Broadcom is a terrible company to work for. Start looking for a new job immediately.
Broadcom is mostly engineers and from what I hear it is 90% engineers and 10% other. Hock values engineers as intellectual property. If you are less than a principal engineer you will probably be cut unless you are essential. Broadcom has a hiring policy which only hires Staff level engineers which is an R&D 4 or above. Everyone was demoted a level by Broadcom so if you were a Principal you were demoted to Staff level 4 etc. Pay is good for engineers with your Base salary, a percentage of salary as bonus each each year and a generous stock grant in the form of RSU's which vest on a quarterly basis. There is not much culture and it is what you make it. The layoffs were brutal and fast but the company was transparent and honored seniority and offered transition bonus at 150% of your monthly pay which might be for 3, 6 or 9 months.
And if you're working in professional services, there's a good chance you'll be divested. That's the fourth option, along with stay, term and transition.
Broadcom expects 50% margins and professional service margins are typically single digit, or at best low two-digit.
The entire CA Services business was sold to HCL (Google it). In EU countries that was under TUPE legislation, so terms and conditions transferred over mostly identical. Not sure about outside EU.
I want to thank all the CA people, former and current, who posted here to help us Symantec folks. Again, THANK YOU very much!
In Europe the selection process for retaining employees seemed to be based upon job title and Broadcom for support kept everyone with the highest job titles for each product. However in the US this was not the case as they needed to balance the age of each employee who was let go against the ones who were on stay so that the average age for both groups were balanced. In the end they realized they over cut and asked some of the transition staff to stay (95 engineers and 5 managers worldwide). A lot of people in Europe refused as the payouts were already known and just about everyone was happy. These positions are now being backfilled very slowly.
There are very very few remote workers. Hock has to approve all remote requests. If you are within 50 miles radius of an office you are expected to be there.
What about remote employees? Are they automatically axed or does Broadcom have this type working environment available?
In order France, Italy, Spain... we got lost of money. Germany as well... if your support is based in Poland i have doubts you can get the same... colleagues from Prague only got few months... good luck but fight against the chinese octane
"and to those who say that Broadcom pays well.... nope. No they don't. At least not in sales. "
Can't speak for sales but in Support they do. I make about 20% more now than at CA, and the stock units are awesome. I plan to stay as long as I can.
In Europe it's best to get a lawyer to represent you as when the negotiations start they will tell you what benefits Broadcom offers which was a lot less then CA.
In Spain, Broadcom closed (illegally) our Madrid office twice before the time of negotiations was over. Our lawyer had them reopened until after negotiations were completed.
With our lawyer we were successful to get our 28 days of vacation Grandfathered back to those who had it as country law here is 23. For those who had company cars they were given an extra allowance for 1 more additional year.
Our lawyer is still trying to negotiate with Broadcom for family health insurance as Broadcom only offers health insurance to employees and not their families. They did keep our current family insurance until the end of this physical year. Without a lawyer we would have been steamrolled as our local HR (who is being cut in a very long transition) and the lawyers representing Broadcom banded together to provide a package in their interests. This package for term and transition with the help of our lawyer was improved over the legal minimum.
I'd be interested to see what the previous aquisition did in respect of EMEA. Symc has a big presence in europe, with support in Poland, sales and inside sales in the UK and Ireland and its European HQ in Dublin, Ireland. Anything non US related to gauge?
There will be huge cuts to your staff.... and to those who say that Broadcom pays well.... nope. No they don't. At least not in sales. They pay a fraction of what CA paid, and the stock bonus was a joke. Something on the order of your annual salary as bonus, but vests over 8 years. Like anyone will stick around that long. Even if you get asked to stay, I would be keeping eyes open. It's not a great place to work, no culture, no standard perks of the software industry, no top seller rewards or trips or bonuses. If you are a field seller and get asked to stay... get ready to eat mcdonalds and stay at the motel 6. The software staff is going to be all CA people with some Symantec people to backfill the positions from the CA people who have quit over the past few months. No positions have been backfilled.
If you are Inside Sales at Symantec, expect to be cut day 1 unless you are in Plano in which case you have a better chance of being retained.
As previous posters said, management will be cut to the bone. Literally, to the bone. There is roughly a 1:30 mgmt to staff ratio at BC.
Coming from CA (and a smaller fish that was acquired by them before that):
Broadcom pays you in money, that's about it. There's no perks here. There's no culture here. There's just money and stock. They pay very well. There's also big bonus at the end of the year, and they shoved a bunch of stock our way too (that will take 7 years or so to vest) for an added carrot to stay.
They are very blunt and transparent about what their goals are and how they will attempt to accomplish them. I kind of like that but it's off-putting at times.
The biggest worry I have is that their company culture (or lack thereof) is not going to translate well in the software business. But we'll see.
As other have that, the positive thing about Broadcom is that they are transparent and efficient. They will work to get you your status as soon as possible and then move on. But also, there is no way to understand how staff decisions are made. And your manager and your managers manager will not know either. Some poeple were cut that were mvp's while employees that were considered useless by their peers got to stay.
"Hock Tan aims high, he would love to buy IBM one day (he is not joking)."
IBMers i hope you can stop IT before destroying you too.
Every method is fine
In emea every country payed the severance , based on their local laws... France was the best... but I'm not french....😁 c"est dommage...
Broadcom is about efficiency and profit. It invests only if it sees possibility of good return. Otherwise its better to buy new company and do staff optimization. Broadcom stock is good for long term speculation. Hock Tan aims high, he would love to buy IBM one day (he is not joking).
Former CA/ current Broadcom employee here... working in support.
Before our acquisition someone at Broadcom posted here about the way it will go down and they were 100% correct, it went down as they said it would. So I'll post here about how it went down for CA and you will very likely see the same thing with Symantec.
You will be surprised at how transparent they are about most things. They won't yank your chain or lead you on. Very soon after the deal is closed they will let you know when you can expect to hear the status of your job.
You will be given one of three statuses:
TERM - you are terminated, with a severance package.
STAY - you are given an offer with Broadcom to stay on board. Your base salary won't change, but your bonus might go up (mine went from 5% of salary at CA to 20% of salary at Broadcom). Your original start date at Symantec will be honored as your Broadcom start date., so no loss of seniority for future severance purposes.
TRANSITION - you are asked to stay on for X months (usually 6 to 9 months), at which time you will receive a large transition bonus and severance package. There is a possibility, depending on circumstances, that you could be offered a STAY position at the end of your time, but no guarantee.
As far as "how they choose", it's not entirely clear. We lost some long time veterans and kept some people who aren't that good, it almost seemed random.
Damn, 55 Months!
Did you join CA when you were 10 or what ;) How many weeks of severance for 1 year of service?