The company I work for is doing well and profits are going up, yet they are issuing redundancies. Our department has previously been spared as we are a small department with an essential function.
In the past few years, the department even hired. Starting last year, we had a steady stream of quiet cuts with one position being cut here or there rather than big announced cuts.
Even the only admin staff has been cut so now everybody will need to do their own admin stuff (likely through new self-service portals).
Growing in our Swiss office. After a harsh cut some years ago that turned out having been too extreme. In the last years we have been adding some jobs where I donāt see what they are needed for, so I assume we will have another ārightsizingā in a year or two.
I know several people who expressed happiness about those āuseless jobsā being added. They see them as collataral for when the inevitable call will come from the top to reduce by 10%.
In my sector, I am seeing a serious lot of redundancies; the companies I work for have ditched a lot of the physical SF and moved to OC, requiring many less FTEs. And among my peer companies, a lot of the backoffice work is being now made by AI, and āreorganizationsā (i.e. downsizing) happens continuously. Some of my clients found themselves recently out, and, whereas in the past, they would have lasted max 2 months on the unemployment office, they are now after 6 months+ still āenjoyingā the āhow to write a curriculumā coursesā¦
How well this AI wave will comeout on the long run, not sureā¦
The ācompanyā is flatlining with big infrastructure projects in Switzerland. Neither up or down. My little corner of geoscience is struggling because we depend on long-term private or government investments. Right now thereās not much to do, but a new long-term collaboration is being negotiated. If it works, we can practically retire with this project that will last 10-15 years.
PS. of course, I can always sell my soul to oil companies or geoscience in the USA. But, the situation needs to be extremely desperate for that.
I was about to start a new thread on this, but Iām glad I found this discussion. Iāve been living here for the past 10 years, working as an IT consultant. Unfortunately, for the past 11 months, Iāve been struggling to secure a new contract after my last one wasnāt renewed due to cost-cutting measures at my clientās company. I also know many others in my network facing similar challenges.
To improve my prospects, Iāve upskilled in AI, Blockchain, and other emerging technologies, but so far, it hasnāt made much of a difference in landing a new role. My German is currently at a B1 level, and Iām actively working towards B2.
This is the longest career break Iāve had since moving here, and as Iām in my mid-40s, Iām seriously considering a career change. Iād love to hear from others in a similar position or any advice on navigating this difficult job market.
Iāve heard that IT is especially bad. A lot of jobs have been shifted overseas and the higher end jobs near-shored to cheaper places in Europe.
On top of that, I hear that if AI is not creating redundancies directly (it seems to be in some cases), it is destroying new jobs as companies try to leverage up the existing workforce with AI instead of hiring more.
I believe itās a new mantra pushed down by investors/share holdersā¦ every company must demonstrate how āintelligenceā of AI tools increased productivity, even if itās not true but shortsighted duck tape like trick building up real technical debt.
One thing is sure, AI disrupted Ad revenue streams. The big names are loosing massive amounts due to less ad network consumption, because users moved to AI chats. When the big players are in trouble the whole market is in trouble, until it rebuild itself into some new reality. I guess weāll have to wait ~5 years for the next IT thing driving the jobs in the sector.
I was at a large pharma company about a decade ago and they decided to make 10% cuts throughout the company, no department was spared. The line managers were given the unenviable task of ranking all their reports in terms of performance and culling the lowest performers, even though they werenāt really low performers. Some people, especially those with very long service were given a package but the bulk were put on HR Performance Improvement Plans. These were never designed for anything other than a paper trail termination without any severance.
I knew many people who suffered greatly e.g. problems with their partners, drinking, not sleeping, lack of confidence, depression etcā¦ all the time knowing there was nothing they could do to save their jobs.
Salary round is coming up. What do you usually see there? Inflation adjustment plus some performance based?
We are lost in this grading system where your position in the salary band is not communicated to you but is used against you by claiming that āyou already have a very high baseā.
I find the whole process of grown ups grading each other like school children completely demotivating and stupid.
As a knowledge based worker my deliverables are fairy nebulous and intangible so itās all down to perception and manager bias. I personally have a difficult manager who finds fault in everything, so āachievesā is the best I can ever expect. There is supposed to be a calibration round but this is hardly ever done properly because HR are next to useless.
The only way to really get ahead in such dysfunctional environments is to leave.
This is actually making it worse in my view. If all the bullshit about āmeasurable, factual targetsā was true, nobody would need this. But as the company sees salary increases as a budget item and not performance based, they decide that there needs to be this stupid bell shape and 75% need to sit in āachievedā. And then they feed you the crap about merit-based performance culture.
Anyhow, I cannot really complain. I am well paid. And while I of course want to max my pay, it is also true that salary increases only provide for a very short term motivational jump.