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Conference 7.286::digital

Title:	The Digital way of working

Moderator:	QUARK::LIONELON

Created:	Fri Feb 14 1986
Last Modified:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	5321
Total number of notes:	139771

4184.0. "Are we Down a Quart?? ..." by CGOOA::WARDLAW (Charles Wardlaw / DTN:635-4414) Fri Oct 13 1995 01:41

      ---------------------------------------------------------------
       Short and Sweet -
    
        -   Top management: 
                    Company back in the black = improved compensation
    
        -   Remaining management: 
                    Company back in the black = "We now return to our 
                                                 regularly scheduled 
                                                 program ..."
    
        -   The rest of the crew: 
                    Company back in the black = "You should be thankful
                                                 you still have a job"
                                            
                                                 *OR*
    
                                              = "Digital - love it or 
                                                 leave it"
    
      --------------------------------------------------------------
      Now the Long Version <soapbox on>
      ---------------------------------
      Correlating indicators from several different threads (especially
      the "Qtrly DTN", the "Good-Bye", and the "Annual Report" threads),
      it would seem that Digital has not come to grips with a long-term
      strategy for rebuilding the employee base, especially in the context
      of a "flattened" organization.  It is my observation that "blood
      loss" has gone on long enough that a significant number of brain
      cells are beginning to show signs of the strain.
    
      As a survivor of several organizational downsizings, I am getting the 
      sense that while this issue is of concern to top management, the impact
      of the drain is not yet registering as life-threatening to the
      corporate organization.  Unfortunately, the magnitude of the loss may
      only become visible in hindsight.  The chief difficulty is that
      loss of expertise several years ago, while upsetting, would not have
      had the impact it has today, because of the depth of Digital's "bench".
      This may have had the effect of convincing management that losses
      can be sustained without permanent impact to the company.
    
      In today's Digital, however, every loss seems to leave the
      organization weakened.  As a Scout, I once learned that loss of blood
      eventually leads to shock, and then later to death.  I also learned
      that a tourniquet for stemming severe blood loss is for TEMPORARY use
      only; real treatment must be given, if permanant injury is to be avoided.
    
      Charles
      
      (writing this not to further depress folks out in DECland, but 
      to surface explicitly something I keep sensing as an ongoing issue)

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
4184.1	from Dow Jones/News Retrieval via Prodigy	GRANPA::JWOOD		`Tue Oct 24 1995 15:51`	32
	PRODIGY (R) interactive personal service 10/24/1995 3:43:14 PM COMPANY NEWS (sm) provided by Dow Jones/News Retrieval Copyright (c)1995 Dow Jones & Company Symbol Searched: DEC 10/24/95 Digital Equip CFO -3-: Modest Layoffs Seen In Near Future>DEC Digital Equipment's Mullarkey said the company was ''close to announcing'' a new chief for its personal computer division in the next few weeks. Mullarkey said that though Digital reduced its headcount by a net 200, to 61,500, during the first quarter, it hired 1,500 new people during the period. ''Modest layoffs'' are planned for the coming months, he added, The company's alliance with Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) to feature personal workstations that exclusively run Windows NT will become a more ''significant'' contributor to revenue after this year, he said. Mullarkey declined to say if he felt comfortable with current earnings estimates for the company, but he does look ''forward to continuing profitability.'' The company's shares were up 5/8, or 1.2%, at 53 1/8 on volume of 1.6 million, compared with average daily volume of 1.7 million for the NYSE-listed stock. (END) DOW JONES NEWS 10-24-95 12:58 PM --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4184.2		NEMAIL::GEIS	Diane Ciuffetti Geis, 238-4992	`Wed Oct 25 1995 12:09`	5
	Re: .1 Gee, I wonder what 'modest' means???
4184.3		SMURF::PBECK	Paul Beck	`Wed Oct 25 1995 13:52`	5
	> Re: .1 > > Gee, I wonder what 'modest' means??? Maybe, the barrel is supplied?
4184.4	contractor vs. employee headcount	STAR::jacobi.zko.dec.com::JACOBI	Paul A. Jacobi - OpenVMS Alpha Development	`Wed Oct 25 1995 18:02`	13
	>>> Mullarkey said that though Digital reduced its headcount by a >>> net 200, to 61,500, during the first quarter, it hired 1,500 new >>> people during the period. ''Modest layoffs'' are planned for the >>> coming months, he added, Do these number include both employee or contractors? Are there any published number on the currently active contractors vs. employees? If not, then these numbers are very misleading. -Paul
4184.5	They can start with marketing and work up...	LACV01::CORSON	Higher, and a bit more to the right	`Wed Oct 25 1995 19:09`	7
	Who do I send my list of "targets" to? 'Course it only has a couple of hundred names, so far ;-) the Greyhawk
4184.6		WLDBIL::KILGORE	DEC: ReClaim The Name!	`Thu Oct 26 1995 07:30`	24
	.4> Do these number include both employee or contractors? Are there any .4> published number on the currently active contractors vs. employees? If .4> not, then these numbers are very misleading. I'm willing to bet that any employee numbers officially released by DEC do not include contract workers. As I recall, a change was made two years ago in the company's quarterly/annual reports such that contract workers were no longer included in the official employee count. It was stated at the time that this was to align DEC's reports with standard business practice. This report change promoted favorable movement in employee expense and revenue per employee numbers, and was one of the signs of DEC's acceptance of a universal shift in business philosophy that distances employers from any long term committments to employees. (This philosophy shift was best demonstrated by SES, which shortly thereafter revealed its intention to have virtually all of its real work done by contractors and vendors and coined the phrase, "Management is our core competency.") Is the exclusion of contract workers from employment statistics misleading? Of course! Is it unethical? That's a subject better examined in a different conference.
4184.7	yep	DPDMAI::EYSTER	Texas twang, caribbean soul	`Thu Oct 26 1995 10:25`	7
	Kilgore's right. The very last report that I saw listing employees, contractors, and DecTemp showed that although Digital had shed 10000 employees during the period report, it had added 9400 contractors and DecTemps. If I'm off on these numbers due to misfiring synapses, it's only by a maximum of 200. Tex
4184.8		ICS::CROUCH	Subterranean Dharma Bum	`Thu Oct 26 1995 11:09`	5
	I'm sure with all the contractors and consultants that we are still actually around 80,000. Just a guess. Jim C.
4184.9		CALDEC::GOETZE	erik goetze; 543-2132; To remember Nezahualcoyotl the poet king	`Thu Oct 26 1995 13:55`	7
	Well look at Sun, who has from the beginning relied heavily on contractors and vendors. What was their real total employee count then, and how would the larger number alter their revenue or earnings per employee figure? erik