Rackspace racks up job cuts amid market downturn and talk of offshoring

Cloud reseller and integrator Rackspace Technology is kicking off a restructuring process involving the loss of nearly 4 percent of the global workforce due to a slowdown in cloud computing growth rates. The organization, which was hit by ransomware in December, has written to staff to inform them of the actions designed to …

[alain williams]

I'm starting an anti "let go" campaign

I complained 5 days ago about el-Reg using the weasel phrase "let go" when you mean: sacked; fired; given the boot. So please say it as it is, do not use slimy mouthed management speak that makes it sound less bad about those given the chop.

[Headley_Grange]

Re: I'm starting an anti "let go" campaign

"Sacked" and "fired", in the UK at least, imply dismissal for poor performance, or something that the employee has done wrong. If you'd been made redundant then you wouldn't say "I was sacked from my last job" on your CV or in an interview, would you?

[elsergiovolador]

Re: I'm starting an anti "let go" campaign

or something that the employee has done wrong

Well, for starters, those pesky employees don't want to work for free, they moan about low wages and poor working conditions. This makes shareholders become increasingly upset and they are worried that they profits would have to be sacrificed for those greedy employee salaries.

Is making shareholders sad a wrongdoing? Yes!

Really employees should be grateful they get hired at all and it's only their fault they chose to be workers and not shareholders.

[Bond007]

Re: I'm starting an anti "let go" campaign

Not entirely sure what to make of your comments here!

Anyone who works for free is called a 'volunteer', most people though, don't work for nothing. We all have things to pay for.

As far as 'moan about low wages and poor working conditions', all employees have a right to 'moan' about anything they want, but doing so risks being fired, which in turn risks an unfair dismissal case.

As far as employees being grateful they get hired at all, perhaps you have a point there, but it's also worth considering for most companies, they wouldn't be IN business if they didn't have any staff!

[nobody who matters]

Re: I'm starting an anti "let go" campaign

Perhaps you wouldn't put those exact words on your CV, but potential employers read the word redundant on a CV as having a meaning in the same mould - been there, seen it for myself.

alain_williams is quite right, employers always use the words 'let go' because it turns the emphasis back to front and gives an impression that the employee wanted to leave, rather than accept that it is they (the boss) who has kicked them out. Having been through the process several times in my life, I would be quite supportive of any proposal to ban the use of the phrase (enforced by the use of capital punishment if needed!)

[frankyunderwood123]

Re: I'm starting an anti "let go" campaign

^^ What he said.

"Let go" is "made redundant", with all the legalities which come with that - workers will receive a payout based on their tenure.

"Sacked" or "Fired" is immediate dismissal - after following due process of course. There are immediate sackable offences, but also ones where a series of warnings and performance improvement programmes have taken place first, to no avail.

So, no, El Reg do not need to use the words "sacked" or "fired" instead of "Let go" or "Made redundant".

[Jason Hindle]

Re: I'm starting an anti "let go" campaign

I prefer shitcanned.

[ffRewind]

Re: I'm starting an anti "let go" campaign

I agree that "let go" is a bad description but it works both ways. It can make "The Company" look and feel better about making people redundant, or it can be a nicer way of describing getting rid of "The Employee" due to bad performance, while maintaining some of their dignity because they were likeable as well as being rubbish at their job.

In some cases badly performing employees are the ones that are "let go" when the company is "letting go" of employees and equilibrium is achieved.

[anonymous boring coward]

I always read “let go” as sarcasm. Like “leverage”.

[Anonymous Coward]

How about "granted more time to spend with their families" instead?

[anonymous boring coward]

Don't give them ideas...

[SirWired 1]

Can't have anything to do with that total ransomware fiasco; no, not at all.

It's silly that they won't admit the obvious that a bunch of the downturn in Rackware's sales specifically has to do with that complete ransomware disaster... truly a "You Had One Job!!!" situation. And of course it was compounded by the extended nature of the outage, and abysmally-poor communication. Ignoring the elephant in the room does nobody any favors at all.

[John H Woods]

Re: Can't have anything to do with that total ransomware fiasco; no, not at all.

but with far fewer staff, surely the risk of a similar cockup are reduced ... /s

[_Elvi_]

"Took the package"

.. similar to taking a powder ..

( but not taking "His" package, if ya know what I mean ..)

[Jason Hindle]

I think two sets of cloud providers survive the current environment.

You have the big three. You have the little players, at the bottom, who fulfil specific needs. For everyone else it’s going to be a bit harder. I think Rackspace is filed under everyone else.