Broadcom is laying off 1,267 Palo Alto-based VMware workers following its acquisition of the company

Chip manufacturer Broadcom wrote the latest chapter in the long story of return-to-office tensions between bosses and employees.

After completing its $69 billion acquisition of cloud computing company VMWare, Broadcom CEO Hock Tan issued a direct order to his new employees about where they must work. “If you live within 50 miles of an office, you get your butt in here,” he told the workers of previously remote-friendly VMWare.

The comments came during a meeting Tan hosted on Tuesday after the merger between the two companies officially closed, following approval from Chinese regulators. Like many other executives, Tan cited in-person work’s benefits to collaboration and company culture. “Collaboration is important and a key part of sustaining a culture with your peers, with your colleagues,” he said.

    • Tikiporch@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I think that’s the idea. Why do costly layoffs when people can just be led to quit? This issue is politicized so they’ll have cover.

    • Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Probably, but the tech industry has cooled a little. They’ll bail, but they won’t bail as quickly as they’d like to bail.

      • Moneo@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        If this happened to me the first thing I’d do is start looking for other jobs. The second thing I would do is start giving the absolute bare minimum effort possible without getting fired.

        This CEO is a fucking idiot. In what I assume is an attempt to increase productivity he’s just caused his entire workforce to not give a fuck about their jobs anymore.

      • eltrain123@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Really, this is what will happen. People will eat the shit sandwhich in the short term, but as hiring at other firms picks up in the coming years they’ll lose all of their talent to higher paying companies. Then they’ll complain about no one wanting to work or not being able to find good hires.

    • jj4211@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Note that broadcom is notorious for buying a company with “captive” customers and gouging the customers while slashing expenses.

      They are ecstatic to have people quit and they don’t even care if the “good” ones quit, because they just need to gouge VMware customers for a few years and if VMware becomes a dried up husk of a company, they roll their revenue into a new company to vampire into oblivion.

    • SoleInvictus@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Come on over baby

      Whole lotta quittin’ going on

      Come on over baby

      Baby you can’t go wrong

      Ain’t no bullshittin’

      Whole lotta quittin’ going on