Veritas considers 'restructuring' another two offices, with 350+ pink slips possible

“Veritas” is the Latin word for truth, a fact we mention because data management software vendor Veritas has offered The Register a revised explanation for the closure of its support desk in Sydney, Australia, after we received information that told a different story.

That document was a workforce plan dated July 2017 and, in another irony for a data protection company, The Register understands the document was mis-filed on Veritas servers and shared beyond its intended audience. We understand the plan reached many Veritas employees, who were less-than thrilled to learn that it called for for over 150 redundancies in Chengdu, China, the closure of an office in Culver City, Los Angeles, “consolidation” of offices in Heathrow, Florida, and Green Park, near Reading, UK.

Those plans were balanced by ~35 hires in Beijing, China and ~100 people in Pune, India, plus the intention to open a new San Francisco office and fill it with up to 150 people as part of an effort to concentrate management positions in the Bay Area.

The document also calls for Veritas' Mountain View office to “scale to the right footprint”. A Dublin office will grow from 20 to ~250 workers by March 2019, probably because the document we've seen marks the Republic of Ireland as a low cost destination. Which sounds like Veritas plans to take advantage of Ireland's welcome mat for corporate taxpayers.

The Register described the document's contents to Veritas and a spokesperson for the company told us it has decided that “In order to bring products to market faster and deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers, Veritas is working to deploy a more sustainable product development strategy globally.”

“This strategy is designed, in part, to attract top talent with desired skills in emerging areas of focus for Veritas. It is also focused on providing the best opportunities for our existing highly skilled engineering talent.”

The spokesperson also hinted the documents we've seen were an early version of its plan, as “Veritas is still determining how best to align sites to our evolving portfolio needs and product development strategy, while considering the impact to employees, customers, partners, local jurisdictions, and our overall business.”

The statement continues: “As Veritas solidifies its long-term sustainable product development strategy, the company will communicate with transparency and respect to a wide-array of stakeholders – including with employees, our most important asset.”

Employees, however, are demoralised. The Register has heard from people close to the company who say management have explained that the company is temporarily willing to disappoint customers by reducing support, in the name of a better-looking balance sheet. That could be in service of a future IPO, or just because things are tight. Either way, the Sydney firings have gone down badly.

There's more uncertainty to come, too. Veritas' spokesperson told us that while “No final decisions have been made to close the Chengdu office” the company “remains committed to product development in China.”

The company is also “still evaluating” restructuring plans in Florida, but has backed off from restructure in Reading. ®