http://localtechwire.com/business/local_tech_wire/news/story/3636603/

I use to work for Ericsson before I was laid off in 2001. For any graduates that are even considering working for them, I'd strongly advise against it. This is the second large massive layoff in less than 10 years. Swedish management sucks, and the company is devoid of any real culture. I'm sorry for those of you that are employed with this company that are going to have to deal with this crap, but as I found out, it was the best thing that could have ever happened to me.

9/29/2008 3:14:06 PM

damn that sucks;

glad i did not end up getting a job there. Still got friends tehre hope they keep their jobs.

[Edited on September 29, 2008 at 3:18 PM. Reason : a]

9/29/2008 3:18:06 PM

Apparently 450 out of their 750 RTP staff are being laid off. My uncle works for them, and he's relatively new to the company. I haven't been able to get up with him, so I'm pretty worried. He has a new son and really can't afford to lose his job right now.

9/29/2008 3:18:28 PM

hopefully he gets enough severance to find a job quick enough and not die.

9/29/2008 3:20:16 PM

I have tried to warn people in the past about working for this company. I said if they did take a job, leave at the first opportunity to advance somewhere else. Its such a horrible company to work for in so many ways, its hard to describe.

Left a really sour taste in my mouth, because as I was being lead to a room to be told my position was being eliminated, my HR rep was laughing hysterically in a room right across the hall (door wasnt shut). There were many people being laid off in consecutive offices while this was going on. No respect, whatsoever.

I remember that a year prior to the layoffs, as people were biting the bullet, we would wonder the halls like cattle after every dissapointing quarterly report, wondering when the ax was going to fall, and to whom.

[Edited on September 29, 2008 at 3:35 PM. Reason : .]

9/29/2008 3:20:51 PM

Are the layoffs for Ericsson or Sony Ericsson??

I never have heard good things about working for the Ericsson side of Development Dr.

[Edited on September 29, 2008 at 3:45 PM. Reason : a]

9/29/2008 3:44:46 PM

Ha. my uncle is one of their VP's over in Sweden.


I still don't like that company

9/29/2008 3:45:54 PM

Apparently the cuts are going to come from development areas mostly, but it shouldn't be as many cuts in other areas like testing, specifically with Alltell. So, we're not certain, but we think my uncle should be safe in his division. Everyone who is laid off should get paid through the next nine weeks at the very least, whether they work for that period or not.

Bobby said when he got to work this morning, the entire building was shut down and the cafeteria wasn't open. They called a mandatory meeting at 9:30 at the Sheraton to discuss the changes. People were escorted by security if they did not arrive to the meeting on time. After the meeting they were all told to go home, that the building remained locked, and they would not be able to re-enter the building until tomorrow.

He said they haven't given out specifics as to who will not have jobs. The development areas are supposed to take the biggest hit, going from 15 people to 2 in a lot of cases. We're not certain, but we think he's safe, because he's the only one in his position with the company in the testing area (which they promised to keep in tact).

9/29/2008 3:51:12 PM

Quote :

"They called a mandatory meeting at 9:30 at the Sheraton to discuss the changes. People were escorted by security if they did not arrive to the meeting on time. After the meeting they were all told to go home, that the building remained locked, and they would not be able to re-enter the building until tomorrow."

damn

9/29/2008 3:55:14 PM

they just don't want to contend with an angry mob that might damage their building or steal a bunch of stuff

9/29/2008 3:59:40 PM

My question is why they would rent out the Sheraton for 800 people when they can't afford to pay their salaries? Why not hold the meeting on site and save some money?

9/29/2008 4:10:05 PM

That's a big number.

Got a friend who has been there since '03, said the place was a mad house after the meeting this morning. Should know whether jobs are safe/gone by Friday.

Oh, and to back CarZin, SE told the RTP employees about this meeting on a Friday afternoon and essentially ruined a weekend for everyone there. Great handling.

9/29/2008 4:10:50 PM

They always do it on a Friday. See Office Space for details.

9/29/2008 4:13:02 PM

so are the layoffs for Sony Ericsson or Ericsson???

9/29/2008 4:15:14 PM

Sony Ericsson .

9/29/2008 4:54:55 PM

Does anyone hear anything about Nortel? any layoff coming?

9/29/2008 4:58:39 PM

^ Didn't Nortel invent the layoff? Sometime I think that every forth person I meet is a former Nortel employee.

9/29/2008 5:16:59 PM

they are laying off 48% of the RTP location.

My mom's been at Sony Ericsson for over 10 years now...so hopefully she survives yet another round. *fingers crossed*

[Edited on September 29, 2008 at 7:25 PM. Reason : .]

9/29/2008 7:23:17 PM

Huh?

Laying off 450 of 750 would be 60% (Triangle Biz Journal)

and 400 of 750 (N&O) would be 52%

Or is that 48% referring to another Nortel layoff I haven't heard about.

^Hope all goes well, I know several people over there and.......yeah.

[Edited on September 29, 2008 at 7:29 PM. Reason : p]

9/29/2008 7:26:53 PM

the writing's been on the wall for quite some time

I too know quite a few guys over there, hope things work out for them, sucks

[Edited on September 29, 2008 at 7:39 PM. Reason : ]

9/29/2008 7:36:35 PM

yikes. at least you wont have to be an engineer for a few weeks. looking for a new job will buy you a few weeks of freedom

9/29/2008 8:57:56 PM

I worked at SE from 2004-2007 as a co-op in rf and baseband depts (hardware testing, verification), I probably trained you if you filled that possition between those times. I enjoyed what I was doing. So after 3 rotations when I graduated I had my possition lined up in type approval. But then something got weird right around my time to interview. My recruiter's voicemail informed that he was no longer with the company. Whoever was left with the responsibility went silent and would not contact me back. The job was no longer available. Around this time I heard of the hiring freeze going on over there, and that was disappointing. Now with these layoffs it's clear that after the company went through all their reorganization and rehiring someone lost track of long term sustainability. They over hired and underestimated the market, and they have failed again.

9/29/2008 9:57:46 PM

i was just about to look up if sony-ericsson would be at the career fair tomorrow

nevermind that idea, i did work there as a co-op though, i didnt do anything the whole time
but it seems that ericsson is never doing well in the mobile phone market

motorola and other brands seem to be doing a lot better

9/29/2008 10:09:13 PM

Quote :

"Swedish management sucks"

you take that back!

9/29/2008 10:34:21 PM

that sucks

not just the situation but the shitty attitude this company seems to have towards its employees

makes me feel blessed work for a company that doesnt make me feel this way

[Edited on September 29, 2008 at 11:24 PM. Reason : j]

9/29/2008 11:23:59 PM

Quote :

"i was just about to look up if sony-ericsson would be at the career fair tomorrow"

They are.

9/30/2008 12:00:07 AM

I worked over there back in 2003... got laid off in the first round since I was a contractor.

9/30/2008 3:20:38 AM

^^ aha I can imagine some students making that awkward for the recruiter

9/30/2008 5:32:45 AM

Quote :

"but it seems that ericsson is never doing well in the mobile phone market"

I did a COOP there in 2000...we were working on a phone that Ive only seen or heard about once since my COOP was complete, and that was in Tomb Raider.

9/30/2008 6:01:56 AM

They have a lot more market share in europe and asia.

Not so much in N. America.
I'll give LG credit they do good at marketing to dumb americans by calling their phones stupid things like "chocalate or gossip"

perhaps if Sony Ericsson made a "Pizza" phone they would have done better here.

9/30/2008 7:25:51 AM

Quote :

"motorola and other brands seem to be doing a lot better"

.... depends on what you're looking for. I would stay away from Moto right now as a dev, they haven't quite turned the corner yet.

9/30/2008 7:49:36 AM

Moto is not doing much better.

RIMM is where its at. I have seen those things everywhere as of late

9/30/2008 10:51:53 AM

doesn't RIMM have some employees in the triangle? I know my friend's dad used to work for them.

9/30/2008 11:22:25 AM

off topic:

motorola hasn't been out of their slump for years.

they are doing poorly in asia AND NA. i have no idea about europe.

9/30/2008 12:35:06 PM

My friend (ex co-worker) who works at Erricsony knew about the layoffs months in advance. Most of them knew it was coming. He already has a job with General Electric in DC right now. They weren't doing well in this hemisphere anyways.

[Edited on September 30, 2008 at 12:50 PM. Reason : meh]

9/30/2008 12:50:16 PM

After the meeting yesterday, they let everyone take the day off. All I could think in my head was

SONY ERICSSON PWNT

Stay Home

9/30/2008 1:36:32 PM

I wonder if the CoOps are getting laid off LOL

9/30/2008 2:00:34 PM

Quote :

"My friend (ex co-worker) who works at Erricsony knew about the layoffs months in advance. Most of them knew it was coming. He already has a job with General Electric in DC right now. They weren't doing well in this hemisphere anyways."

i just finished doing a co-op there over the summer, and they told everyone in july that there were going to be layoffs. i think they said it wasn't going to happen until the end of the year though. i guess they miscalculated that too.

9/30/2008 2:05:30 PM

trust me, this isnt the end. There will be more layoffs. I believe when I was there, at one point, the peak head count was over 2500. When I left, it was well below 1000.

Sony Ericsson is really good at making people about as unproductive at work as possible during these times.

9/30/2008 3:30:26 PM

^^^Last I heard coops had to take the week off, paid.

9/30/2008 3:47:40 PM

CarZin Sony Ericsson!=Ericsson. There have never been 2500 people working for SE in RTP. I think their peak is about now, at about 800.

9/30/2008 3:52:40 PM

I obviously know that, but if you think they are really all that different, then you're wrong.

Its still a joint venture tied to Ericsson and Sony, and given the influence of ericsson in the deal, I would say if you work for S-E, you might as well say you work for ericsson.

I am fairly confident the peak of Ericsson in RTP was very close to or over 2000. At that time, ericsson in RTP was mainly cell phone development anyway, with maybe 100 or so for DWOS, etc.

[Edited on September 30, 2008 at 4:07 PM. Reason : .]

9/30/2008 4:04:34 PM

these job cuts means it will be that much harder for me to find work in the RTP when i compete with these laid off workers

its bad news for us all

9/30/2008 11:05:52 PM

Man, I work at Sony Ericsson right now (Co-op) and I went to the "layoff" meeting and there aren't a lot of facts in this thread.

They actually told us what to talk about and what not to talk about so I assume most of this is speculation in which case it worked.

It really makes you wonder about all the other stories you read on here and wonder how much of them are erroneous.

9/30/2008 11:17:19 PM

So did anyone ask them at the fair today about this?

9/30/2008 11:33:59 PM

Sony Ericsson was MIA at the fair...

1 big table + 1 white table cloth + 1 lonely SE sign => chuckle


Ericsson is not the same as Sony Ericsson.

Ericsson develops the chipset which Sony Ericsson puts into their phones.

Sony Ericsson develops mobile phones.

Quote :

"They actually told us what to talk about and what not to talk about so I assume most of this is speculation in which case it worked. "

so.... Sony Ericsson owns your mind even after you're laid off?

10/1/2008 12:45:51 AM

All coops will be staying through the end of the current rotation and will most likely not be coming back for another rotation (why would you want to after this?) They were sent home for the week (with pay) because they are going to be shifted around, since the PC Card dept and others got axed. When they return on Monday, they'll be w/ new managers.

10/1/2008 1:15:17 AM

at least they're getting paid.

10/1/2008 1:23:03 AM

Quote :

"Sony Ericsson was MIA at the fair... 1 big table + 1 white table cloth + 1 lonely SE sign => chuckle"

Uh ya they were as I talked with someone there. Them and Ericsson were both together.

10/1/2008 10:37:15 AM

Quote :

"They actually told us what to talk about and what not to talk about so I assume most of this is speculation in which case it worked."

They laid me off I'd be blabbing my mouth about everything.

10/1/2008 12:22:17 PM