Dell starts new round of layoffs while it looks to 'unlock modern AI' Dell has made another round of layoffs, which The Register understands have cut deep and seen even company veterans let go. HR exit meetings kicked off on Tuesday morning, spurring a wave of LinkedIn status changes, while others found comfort venting or trading information in online forums. Dell confirmed the layoffs to The …
Dell do seem to be very disorganised.
They have cancelled their Vostro laptop line, which had ethernet ports, but don't worry, they are in the Inspiron line :
https://www.dell.com/en-uk/lp/vostro-update
Which states :
"Easily connect to peripherals and other devices with plenty of ports and slots, including an RJ-45 Ethernet port and USB Type-C. "
Yet, none of their Inspiron line has ethernet ports. Utter dipsticks.
The number of people who actually need a laptop is 3-5% of a company. Everyone else gets them and plugs them into a docking station, never using the battery. Then two years later when you do need to take it into a meeting the battery is kaput and lasts 15min.
Meanwhile the guy or gal in IT who needs to spend 6+ hours in a datacenter can't get their lappie to last more than 1.5 hours.
"And for personal laptops... Who isn't using wifi most the time?"
I use wifi much of the time with the laptop since I'm using the laptop in places where I don't have an ethernet connection. I have a spot on the desk to plonk the laptop down with a connection for power and an ethernet line. The majority of the time I'm doing things on a computer, it's a desktop that's hardwired. The speed difference is noticeable and right now, for instance, I'm on a 27" iMac with a retina display which is far superior to my 13" MBP. My media production machine has a pair of 24" monitors. The linux and Windoze boxes have a 23" monitor each. Everything other than the laptop has a really good keyboard and mouse.
Wifi is useful, but there is a better way.
"Faster isn't always better. Gigabit is a bit of a power hog compared to 10100, not so important in powered kit but if you're trying to squeeze every last bit of life out of a battery it makes a difference."
Maybe, but if you can hardwire into ethernet, chances are there's a power outlet nearby too.
I know with my laptop that it's a huge speed difference between wifi and having ethernet plugged in.
Stop dealing direct and go through resellers, there's some great resellers out there that hoover up the talent when these large companies are too blind and stupid to keep the truly talented people on staff. Resellers will often fight tooth and nail to get you far better deals than those offered by large companies who think most businesses are beneath them. DELL is one such company that's chucked out so many good people who've found great jobs in resellers or started their own.
If the options have not vested, they are not really yours. If you no longer work there, they will never vest, so they are null and void.
If the options have vested, you can exercise them. At a previous (private) employer I was given 30 days to exercise them or they would also become null and void.
If you’ve exercised the options, the stock is yours and the company can’t touch it, unless it’s a private company that gave themselves the right to buy it back for a prearranged price.
"If you’ve exercised the options, the stock is yours and the company can’t touch it, unless it’s a private company that gave themselves the right to buy it back for a prearranged price."
You really want your own attorney to comb through the verbiage and give you a clear summary if stock is offered as part of your compensation. If it's just a bonus and you count on it as such, you can save the fees and take the risk. There are plenty of examples of stock being dangled in a way that isn't cricket. I was at a company that said we all had to sign new contracts that just plain sucked or they couldn't offer stock rewards/profit sharing. Pure excrement according to my attorney that advised me to not sign the new contract as nothing was to my benefit.
You have a limited time, usually 30 days, to purchase vested incentive options or lose them. These are stocks that you can optionally buy at the price of when they were originally awarded to you. Non-vested incentive options are lost unless you negotiated accelerated vesting in your contract. If the options are recent, there's a risk that you're purchasing stock for more than it's worth. After all, you wouldn't be part of a mass layoff if the company had a profitable outlook.
A vested grant of options (company buys them) and other cash bonuses are yours the moment they vest. It would be time to chat with some government agencies if they messed with that.
Hey, Mr./Ms. H.R., if you want to "incentivise" me, do so with cold, hard cash, and keep your dancing-and-singing stock options whose potential economic value to me can vanish with the stroke of some executive's pen.
Aside from that, most of what controls a conpany's profitability (and hence the effective economic value of stock options to the stock option recipient) is outside the control of the rank-and-file workers, and of low/mid-level management.
"Hey, Mr./Ms. H.R., if you want to "incentivise" me, do so with cold, hard cash, and keep your dancing-and-singing stock options whose potential economic value to me can vanish with the stroke of some executive's pen."
Cash is awesome, of course, but so can flexible holiday and work location options. This can be very important to people with kids. If you can take a half day off to watch the kids playing sports in exchange for coming in for a half day on Saturday or working from home after hours, that can be worth more than mere money. It also applies to people with other family care responsibilities and those wishing to further their education and need classes that are only offered during working hours. Companies that do that often have employees that stay for much longer or find out that most other companies won't get anywhere close and come back to stay. The incentives need to fit the people.
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