back to article DXC: We axed 10k staff, shut nine data centres, closed 4.6m sq ft of office space... and sales tumbled, funnily enough

Beleaguered outsourcing badass DXC Technology has just reported another uneventful year in which $1bn in revenues evaporated, and it saved $500m in overheads, in part, by chopping 10,000 employees. The corporate strategy since CSC crashed into HPE’s Enterprise Services business in April 2017 to create DXC, has seemingly been …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Bets, anyone?

    How long will it be until DXC files for bankruptcy? I put my money on Q3 2020.

    1. a_yank_lurker

      Re: Bets, anyone?

      Your an optimist.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Bets, anyone?

        His an optimist what?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Bets, anyone?

      Bankruptcy is unlikely; a more probable scenario is continuing declines in revenue followed by the carcass being bought by one of the big outsourcing companies.

    3. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge
      Paris Hilton

      Re: Bets, anyone?

      They are in a classic death spiral yet somehow Wall St hasn't twigged yet...????

      Avoid anything to do with DXC unless it is to send in the Bailffs. /s

      I doubt anyone will be shedding tears for them on their inevitable demise.

      1. Tom 35

        Re: Bets, anyone?

        Must still be some cash and assets to strip first.

    4. DontFeedTheTrolls
      Coat

      Re: Bets, anyone?

      How long before HP cry foul on the merger with CSC and sue the directors of CSC for misrepresentation?

      1. neilo

        Re: Bets, anyone?

        "How long before HP cry foul on the merger with CSC and sue the directors of CSC for misrepresentation?"

        Not going to happen. As bad as DXC is right now (and CSC was), HPE Services was in much worse shape. I use to work for DXC, and worked alongside some HPE folks on a few projects. So how bad was HPE Services? According to multiple people who told me this, Firings were a weekly occurrence as HPE needed to reduce costs. Is your project billable this week? You're safe. If the project wasn't billable this week, you're name was in the had for dismissal. Then two or three lucky souls would be fired, and the grim process starts again the following Monday.

        The HPE people were grateful for the merger, as at least they could keep their jobs.

  2. fredesmite

    40,000 people jobless in two years.

    That is called WINNING

    In trump land

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: 40,000 people jobless in two years.

      Suddenly IBMs “resource actions” seem relatively modest.

      The dinosaurs can’t seem to work out that outsourced it done badly isn’t cost effective. Maybe cutting costs even faster destroying both themselves and their customers in the process isn’t the answer after all? I realise that’s pure speculation as I don’t have an MBA...

      1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

        Re: 40,000 people jobless in two years.

        "I realise that’s pure speculation as I don’t have an MBA."

        I'm sure DXE have some spare they could lend you.

        1. J. Cook Silver badge
          Childcatcher

          Re: 40,000 people jobless in two years.

          Oh hell no; they'd charge you an arm, leg, first born, and their first born for a sniff at it.

        2. jelabarre59

          Re: 40,000 people jobless in two years.

          "I realise that’s pure speculation as I don’t have an MBA."

          I'm sure DXE have some spare they could lend you.

          Hell no; they're the first ones to destroy the company and the last ones to leave.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: 40,000 people jobless in two years.

        IBM is definitely the leader is sacking staff, closing offices and data-centres and wages.

        DXC has a long way to go before they catch up.

        1. lkerekes

          Re: 40,000 people jobless in two years.

          DXC has a long way to go to catch up to IBM?

          "hold my beer…" - DXC

    2. fredesmite

      Re: 40,000 people jobless in two years.

      who is the coward who did a thumbs down ?I

      1. Mpeler

        Re: 40,000 people jobless in two years.

        Said the Oblowhole shill...

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: 40,000 people jobless in two years.

          What's an oblo whole?

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: 40,000 people jobless in two years.

            Two half oblos joined together, of course.

    3. ecofeco Silver badge

      Re: 40,000 people jobless in two years.

      That number is FAR larger.

  3. David 132 Silver badge
    Facepalm

    Hiring for SUCCESS

    DXC “haven’t seen that much wage inflation” from those hires, the CEO assured analysts, because the people hired are “much earlier in their career.”

    Translation: “We didn’t hire the best people, instead we’ve cheaped out and hired a load of interns and recent college graduates. Experience and wisdom are EXPENSIVE, and frankly would impact our cost numbers for the next quarter too much.”

    1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

      Re: Hiring for SUCCESS

      "And we can't understand why we're losing business."

      1. neilo

        Re: Hiring for SUCCESS

        This. Entire. Thread.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Hiring for SUCCESS

        Oh, they know *exactly* what they're doing, and what the consequences will be- they're just not about to admit that in public.

        The intention- as always- will be for them to be out of there before the results of their short-termist cost-cutting hits the fan badly enough to make *them* look bad.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Hiring for SUCCESS

      But that's Trumps America down to a tee...

      Lower the unemployment figures by encouraging loads of shitty low paid jobs.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Hiring for SUCCESS

        "But that's Trumps America down to a tee...

        Lower the unemployment figures by encouraging loads of shitty low paid job"

        Not just Trump, UK is the same and many other countries.

        It seems like a 'good' way to reduce the unemployment figures at a low cost.

        Tends to be 'encouraged' by the lobbyist for all the global industies that need lots of 'cheap' bodies !!!

        When you are using flawed metrics to prove that you are 'successfully' dealing with unemployment ....... every little helps.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Hiring for SUCCESS

      So we've got rid of the older, experienced staff who actually know what they're doing.

      Others are leaving due to years of pay restraint, doing ever more senior roles but stuck in same old grade.

      Customers are cancelling work as we can no longer meet demand as it takes 4 months to recruit on average, with final approval from the CEO, and the process cannot even start untill we have a signed customer order that could have been in the sales pipeline for over 6 months already.

      And this is success?

      How's the share price looking now Paul? Down 50% in 6 months is a sign of continued success?

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Hiring for SUCCESS

      As a current DXC employee - yes, that is exactly what has happened. lots of graduates and apprentices - not a lot of qualified staff that have experience. and we are expected to "mentor" the grads and apprentices................................................

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Hiring for SUCCESS

        Here's a tip: don't.

      2. Lotaresco
        FAIL

        Re: Hiring for SUCCESS

        "and we are expected to "mentor" the grads and apprentices"

        For no increase in pay and with no decrease in the amount of other work you have to complete, natch.

      3. Jamie Jones Silver badge
        Unhappy

        Re: Hiring for SUCCESS

        You're expected to mentor the grads and apprectices?

        "Digging your own grave" has rarely been so apt.

    5. LucreLout

      Re: Hiring for SUCCESS

      Experience and wisdom are EXPENSIVE

      Not according to the millennial's I work with - talent is expensive, experience is just age. They genuinely don't seem to understand why anyone needs more than 5 years experience or why someone with 30 years experience is likely to be significantly better and faster at their job than they are, and so paid more.

      1. anothercynic Silver badge
        Facepalm

        Re: Hiring for SUCCESS

        That sounds familiar. A colleague who worked in usability had this argument countless times with one of their new junior hires. Something like this:

        10 Jr: "Why should I go and make the coffee? Is it because I'm a junior?"

        20 Sr: "No, because it's your turn. We all take turns. Linda did it yesterday, today it's your turn"

        30 Jr: "I'm here to work in usability, not make bloody coffee!"

        40 Sr: "We're all here to work in usability, but we share the tasks... today it's your turn to make coffee"

        50 Jr: "But why..." (goto 10)

        Replace "make the coffee" with any tasks that might be needed... like printing and preparing usability questionnaires, setting up laptops for usability studies... etc etc.

        You might have a lovely degree sweetheart, but so do I, and so does everyone else in this office. Now go and do the bloody job you've been assigned! </endsrant>

      2. Thomas 6

        Re: Hiring for SUCCESS

        Experience and wisdom are valuable and, therefore, expensive. Age, however, is not a reliable indicator of either of these things.

        If someone with 30 years experience is that much "better and faster" then their pay should reflect that. However, it should be based on performance and not simply their age.

    6. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Hiring for SUCCESS

      I absolutely guarantee that any DevOps, SRE, Cyber etc who is desperate enough to work at DXC will be the very bottom of the barrel. The kind clients ought to pay to keep well away from them. Hmm maybe that’s the business idea?

    7. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Hiring for SUCCESS

      Just don't assume all the fired people had experience and wisdom, many just had experience about swimming in big corporates without sticking out head too much. Paradoxically the hiring of young / unspoiled minds may be the smart move how to get faster to digital. Question is when DXC will get some fresh minds into the higher management roles to replace some of the dinosaurs boys club.

  4. Jay Lenovo
    Facepalm

    Less is more, So here's more less..

    Having a contract with DXC must feel like you made a deal with the US Navy, but the support is now delivered via the "USS Constitution" (Ahoy!, sail power).

  5. Chrissy
    Facepalm

    "CEO Mike Lawrie – who last month paid $6.8m for a second Palm Beach house in Florida"...... for an asset that is likely to be under water or at least regularly flooded within the next 20 years.

    Smart guy.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Dead by then

      And in 20 years Mike will probably be dead, he doesn’t care, he living for the moment and probably hoping there isn’t really a Hell in the afterlife

      1. Joe W Silver badge

        Re: Dead by then

        Put it that way: had he not bought it the money would not have gone back into circulation. Not being able to sell it later means it is a sunk asset, the money is lost for him..

    2. ecofeco Silver badge

      Most likely flooded a lot sooner.

      1. Fading

        Erm....

        At only 2.1-2.6 mm per year I think he'll be fine (unfortunately).....

        (https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/sltrends/regionalcomparison.html?region=USNA)

    3. RobertLongshaft

      Ah another of those famously accurate climate change predictions?

      What did Al Gore say in 2006? All the ice caps melted by 2017? 10 years to save the planet? 1 million american's displaced. Of course he wasn't the first, was he? Paul Elrich back in the 70s with the same shtick.

      Ask yourself this, if any of that rubbish was remotely true why to the peddlers of the scam all own beech front properties in the most luxurious locations on earth?

      1. BigSLitleP

        Is Al Gore a scientist? No. Is he a climate scientist? No. Is he qualified to speak on the matter in anyway shape or form? No.

        My wife is, she thinks he's an idiot. However, i'm willing to bet that she also thinks you are an idiot. How about you answer the same questions?

    4. DontFeedTheTrolls
      Paris Hilton

      Palm Beach

      That would be where Mar-A-Lago Club is located, right?

      Just sayin'....

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Another corporate sacking them off...

    ...Large FTSE company sacking off DXC imminently. Hardly news, though anonymous because I'm not sure it's widely known just yet. Suffice to say we changed laptop supplier recently and unfathomably they won't support a Windows build on our new supplier's hardware.

    Considering that when one employs DXC to run a helpdesk, you essentially have your own staff write the scripts, and troubleshoot them as well when the remote helpdesk hasn't the slightest clue what to do when anything off-script happens, I'm surprised they've lasted this long. I feel sorry for the staff of former businesses gobbled up by DXC, the guys that worked on our site did have a clue, and were the first to go. Go figure.

    1. neilo

      Re: Another corporate sacking them off...

      As an ex-employee of a company gobbled up by DXC, the good ones leave as soon as they can because DXC is probably the worst, most toxic employer on the planet.

      Forget about annual pay reviews; they are gone. My experience was that DXC cut my pay every six months. Although my entire management chain felt I deserved a merit increase to my pay, HR nixed it. I needed to extend my work visa: DXC messed that up. Management wanted to eliminate the department I worked in, and replace it with something that looked the same but couldn’t really be described.

      And then cane the off-shore push. All technical work was to be done in India; we were supposed to co-ordinate that work with the client.

      Don’t feel sorry for the good staff; they can find better work elsewhere. Feel sorry for the clients who have long term contract with this toxic puddle called DXC.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Another corporate sacking them off...

        I do feel sorry for the good staff. Many of my former colleagues have been there for years and when you're older and have family commitments it's a much bigger decision to up sticks and move on compared to when you're just starting out and don't have to think about schools, partners job, looking out for elderly parents etc. Making the decision to move on from a place where you're comfortable and know the routine is a big decision and should not be underestimated.

        I don't feel sorry for (ex)clients as they should have made sure the contracts included break clauses for missing targets and been aware of the risks of lock-in to any supplier.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Another corporate sacking them off...

          I do feel sorry for the good staff.

          Agreed. I've had dealings with one of the rare pockets of genuine expertise, skill, and competence in DXC, and that team has been central to some of our large sales. DXC's self-destruction hurts them, hurts us, and hurts our customers.

          Much as I hate the rampant DXC incompetence I deal with daily, I'd be willing to put up with it if DXC at least supported their good people. But it doesn't appear they have any intention of doing so.

          Maybe some other firm will cherry-pick the skilled teams. I can't see DXC trying to hang on to them.

      2. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

        Re: Another corporate sacking them off...

        "Feel sorry for the clients who have long term contract with this toxic puddle called DXC."

        I wouldn't worry about them either. (a) They outsourced so they deserve it. (b) There's such a thing as breach of contract, assuming they were smart enough to insist in service levels written into the contract and if not see (a).

      3. Lotaresco
        Unhappy

        Re: Another corporate sacking them off...

        "And then cane the off-shore push. All technical work was to be done in India; we were supposed to co-ordinate that work with the client."

        A colleague of min was sacked for "racial prejudice" because that colleague complained to the boss that none of us could understand what the people in India were saying. Their accents were so thick and their vocabulary that weird. We shouldn't have worried. It turned out they weren't doing anything. They kept saying "No problem" and "The project is on track" but refused to issue any documentation. At go-live they admitted they didn't understand what was wanted but had pretended the programme was on-track "To keep the boss happy."

        1. RatX

          Re: Another corporate sacking them off...

          And was Sir happy?

        2. werdsmith Silver badge

          Re: Another corporate sacking them off...

          A outsourcing firm that I have dealt with in a developing, or should I say recently developed in it cities country have speakers in any language.

          They recruit people with only their native language and then spend 6 months training them in whatever new language.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      we changed laptop supplier recently

      DXC not using HP laptops?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: we changed laptop supplier recently

        Despite the cull of senior HPers who had the temerity of not instantly agreeing with everything ML said, there are still 2 ways of doing things in DXC. So if you are former HP-ES you get HP laptops and if you are former CSC you get whatever ones they used to get.

        Although recently everyone has been getting the same laptop, none! Thanks to another bit of inspirational management, it was decreed that the programme to replace laptops more than 5 years old (or was it 6) would be stopped and instead only broken beyond repair laptops would be replaced.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: we changed laptop supplier recently

        More to the point, I wonder if they changed X86 Server supplier as well? If they did, then that would be a $1.2bn/year hole that HPE would have to fill ...

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: we changed laptop supplier recently

        In the case of the FTSE account being dropped - formerly we had CSC / Lenovo builds; while our new supplier is Dell. DXC refusing to come up with a Windows build on either Dell or some Lenovo hardware.

        The supply chain is jammed due to contractual intransigence and we now have new starters unable to get a laptop at all. No wonder we're getting rid of them!

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: we changed laptop supplier recently

          We got freakin heaps of them arrive! We don't even want the shit they supply.

  7. Uncle Ron

    It Might Be Ending...

    IMHO, the whole structure of capital formation in the West (Wall Street, investment banks, the bond market) is broken. It is causing self-immolation across the entire private sector. Capitalism is not dead, but it is killing itself.

    1. ecofeco Silver badge

      Re: It Might Be Ending...

      I would agree.

      Knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing always ends badly.

    2. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

      Re: It Might Be Ending...

      There's creative destruction, and then there's just plain destruction.

      1. werdsmith Silver badge

        Re: It Might Be Ending...

        You know its going that way when even Boeing are involved.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Halving share price in 6 months

    Hmm, interesting definition of success for a publicly traded company where increasing shareholder value was the reason for guttting the workforce.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Halving share price in 6 months

      The various investment fund vultures though have had their bellies filled by Mikey though. The share price itself is almost the crumbs left on the plate.

      But its all according to plan - they were promised an asset strip and they are getting one, which is why none of them are kicking up.

      Its only a question of when the carcass is thrown out to the birds.

      DXC was never a vehicle for growth, it was only an asset stripping machine.

      1. Lotaresco

        Re: Halving share price in 6 months

        "DXC was never a vehicle for growth, it was only an asset stripping machine."

        Next stop Greybull to buy DXC "assets" for £1.

    2. ecofeco Silver badge

      Re: Halving share price in 6 months

      I've worked for some globe spanning companies and it is amazing how many are run by some not very bright people at all levels.

      And yes AC, so many businesses these days are strip mined instead of grown.

  9. sanmigueelbeer
    Trollface

    Well slap my ass and call me Wally.

    What the heck do they expect? Who, exactly, are going to replace those skills and knowledge set that management have made redundant?

    Y'know what's funny with all of this? Stockholders are loving it.

    1. Lotaresco

      "Who, exactly, are going to replace those skills and knowledge set that management have made redundant?"

      And the bad news is... that many of those directly responsible for the cock-ups, failures to deliver, and sheer inability to give the customer the system they specified are set to move on and take their "special knowledge" to other companies. I've already seen some people hanging around places where I work who I hoped I'd never, ever see again. Have they learned? No. They are re-running the same strategy that failed in the past.

      1. neilo

        This is why I'm following those people on LinkedIn. If I see, say, Mike Gillis heading to a company I know to never go there because of the devastation he will bring. Same for all his "leadership" team; the collective incompetence they can amass is mind blowing. On the other hand, I followed (eventually) an ex-leader of an acquired company to his new company, simply because he is damn good.

  10. Cartimand

    Still whistling Dixie I see.

    So glad that I jumped ship two years ago!

  11. Lotaresco
    Flame

    Let me see...

    Having worked for both of the organisations that joined to form DXC, I note that the policies that each had before the "merger" haven't changed at all. Keep wages down, reduce the workforce, pile more work on those who remain, maintain senior salaries and bonuses as high as possible. It's a strategy that failed in the past and will continue to fail as those who know what they are doing leave and the only people left to do the work are the ones who have no choice other than to work for DXC. I also note that the customers are now deciding that it's more cost effective to hire talent direct than it is to engage with some cloth-eared Dilbert-style DXC pointy-haired boss who thinks technology is for losers.

    In my time at HPES I was so encouraged by the news that following a policy of cutting staff wages and cancelling all staff bonuses that we could rejoice because Meg Whitman had been given a $2 million bonus by a grateful board of directors. Woo-Hoo!

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Someone ought to tell this CEO that 'digital' was a buzzword that lost its effectiveness some time in the 80's.

    He should be saying shit like 'artificial intelligence', 'machine learning', 'quantum computing', etc.

    1. Lotaresco

      "He should be saying shit like 'artificial intelligence', 'machine learning', 'quantum computing', etc."

      Well, they are saying "DevOps" a lot and I've already had "Mobile First" from them and CSC were keen on "Software Robots" and "Robotic Process Automation" so I bet they are continuing with that nonsense too. "Blockchain", "IoT", "Quantum Computing" and "Microservice Architecture" are probably about to be spewed upon us as their suits attempt to bamboozle our suits.

      1. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

        People are so cynical. What besides AI DevOps robots can you use to manage the blockchain microservices in your mobile quantum IoT?

  13. Aristotles slow and dimwitted horse

    It's not all bad...

    It's not all bad news. I have an industry colleague making a killing at DXC supporting their SAP implementation practice on several UK accounts.

  14. adam payne

    DXC “haven’t seen that much wage inflation” from those hires, the CEO assured analysts, because the people hired are “much earlier in their career.”

    Translated that means you've hired the cheapest people you can get instead of the expensive people with all the knowledge and experience.

    I wonder how well that's going to work out for you?!?!

    1. FuzzyTheBear
      Coat

      working out ?

      Excellent question .. guess it's a wait and see .. i predict somehow things will go downwards .. when you trade experimented people for new hires one always looses in the end.

  15. renniks

    Yay - the company I work for!!

    (after being outsourced from one crowd to another, all the while doing onsite support for Ericsson who I started with in 1997)

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Another quarter

    Time for another round of thinning ...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Another quarter

      This quarter with extra enhancement, because they really really want to get rid of all the non-kids this time

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Another quarter

        The word on the street is that it's 25% of UK&I for the chop this time

  17. fredesmite2

    Good bye Eucalyptus Cloud

    Euca was swallowed up by that cesspool and dealt a death blow.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Stating the obvious

    Everything is going according to Mikey's plan so don't worry:

    October 2020 it will be all over.

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    This week in freakin DXC land they have decided to fire a whole load of people in their growth business. Yet they're still allowed to hire. Fill a freakin box and carry on until you can't carry on. EVERYONE working in any of the growth businesses (correct that...growth industries, DXC management couldn't grow a freakin weed) just get your ass out of there...trust me, let them choke on that...if you're involved in Microsoft Dynamics for example just move to a partner that does have a clue, many of them do and many of them are able to grow their business. SAVE YOURSELVES!

  20. Disenchanted

    Cost Cutting through Digital Transformation - the Retrench My Staff button

    DXC claims to achieved internal operations cost reductions through digital transformation - one of the biggest productivity savings would be that new button in the HR system, which automates the process of retrenching your staff?

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