Contractors and managers hit in Alcatel-Lucent layoffs
6,000 'realigned' to dole queue
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Recently-installed Alcatel-Lucent boss Ben Verwaayen has wasted little time in swinging the axe - today the firm said 1,000 managers and 5,000 contractors are for the chop.
The company-wide cost-cutting programme is planned to save €1bn per year in the next two years. The loss-making telecoms equipment maker said it will break even next year and be profitable in 2010.
Alcatel-Lucent has been losing billions since it was formed by a merger in 2006. The combined outfit has already shed 16,500 jobs in its struggle for profitability.
Verwaayen will also seek savings in Alcatel-Lucent's real estate, support functions and discretionary spending (so get those creative expenses claims in sharpish).
The Dutchman was hired as CEO in September. At BT he was credited as the father of a massive restructuring from 2002 that saw it deliver huge profits. He sacked lots of people there, too.
He said: "The new management team is committed to rapidly executing this new strategy and leveraging the new streamlined organization. We are focused on delivering results and restoring profitability."
The market responded to today's announcement by sending Alcatel-Lucent shares down more than 11 per cent at time of writing. Analysts had expected a more radical restructuring. ®
COMMENTS
drop table contractors; truncate table managers; growfs customers
Lucent inherited a very tall and narrow public sector style managment hierachy from AT&T. When combined with the very French (need I say more?) Alcatel you have a top heavy structure where almost everyone is a manager. I'm often in situations where I'm alone on site doing a software install or acceptance testing and have half a dozen PMs phoning me for status updates. Way too many chiefs and not enough indians (no pun intended).
I propose a simple test for weeding out the people who are no longer needed. "Did you meet a customer this week?". If the answer is no then they're obviously not required. As for corporate functions like HR, finance etc, they're almost all pushed onto the backs of the employee via web apps these days.
As an ALU grunt on the front line I feel safer working from the customers lab than being a potential target for down sizing back in the office.
I am so confused?
Well, here in America it was the darlings of the conservatives, those might warriors of Wall Street that brought the economy to its knees. I can't believe that someone who was on the "dole" could possibly cost society enough to take out those $billions of dollars.
Oh, but by all means! Please, as you always have, ignore the truth and wait for the next time. And... there will be a next time! S&L, insider trading, ENRON, Global Crossing, TYCO, internet bubble, wall street melt down, WEB 2.0 melt down. Sure, it is all the fault of someone getting something for nothing... like food for their kids.
You see, in America, people are finally getting wise to that garbage. Blame the workers, chase the woman using food stamps to see what kind of car she is driving... while we were being robbed blind to the tune of $billions... tens of $billions... hundreds of $billions!
That is why the Repubs and Conservatives got their butts handed to them in 2006 and 2008. We just ain't buying it anymore. Sadly, I doubt if my friends there blaming "Labor" can deal with something that doesn't fit on a bumper sticker.
Your American Cousin!
@ Z
> The new management team is committed to rapidly executing this new strategy
Quickly doing what we planned, not that we are telling, until its far, far too late.
> and leveraging the new streamlined organization.
Giving marketing a swift kick in the nuts to go out and find some damn business PDQ or else we are sunk. Our products are world class so we don't need to do anything there, not that we have any engineers left anyway.
> We are focused on delivering results and restoring profitability."
I will only get a fraction of my $$millions$$ if[1] they parachute me for spending all the sales budget on cats[2].
I'm reminded of Reynholm Industries for some reason...
[1] When.
[2] khittenz actually.
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