It's Almost the Season for WOTC layoff!

[Thornir Alekeg]

I had an aunt that worked for a department store for several years. Every year they did layoffs of their highest paid people. SHe said everyone knew it was coming and you just dealt with that reality. When those that were hired a year before you were, you polished your resume and left when you found any other job, even if it paid less. You knew it wasn't a reflection of your job performance or your worth as a person, it was just the reality of working for that crummy company.

With as heavily ingrained as yearly layoffs are at WotC, I'm willing to bet the employees there have a similar attitude towards the whole situation.

As somebody who has managed to jump ship before layoffs occurred on more than one occasion, I agree. I saw the writing on the wall and took action rather than waiting and praying it wasn't me. I learned that in my first job out of college where I was certain I was safe since I was running my lab.

I left one place where everyone thought I was crazy because I was giving up a position at a large, stable company for a small, risky one. My risky company job lasted about six months longer than those of the department I left.

I dislike the idea of Christmas layoffs, as it puts a cloud over the holiday season for those affected, but is it really any worse than losing your job at other times of the year?

 

[Shemeska]

It's a trap!

Nah.

They'll move the WotC HQ to the moon.

It's a wonderful place where no one can mock you, no one can pick on you, and where there are no edition wars.

 

[Azgulor]

I had an aunt that worked for a department store for several years. Every year they did layoffs of their highest paid people. SHe said everyone knew it was coming and you just dealt with that reality. When those that were hired a year before you were, you polished your resume and left when you found any other job, even if it paid less. You knew it wasn't a reflection of your job performance or your worth as a person, it was just the reality of working for that crummy company.

With as heavily ingrained as yearly layoffs are at WotC, I'm willing to bet the employees there have a similar attitude towards the whole situation.

<Emphasis mine.>

See, this is the crux of the issue for me.

As others have stated, this bi-annual layoff policy works for WotC. In other words, it's proven to be a viable business practice. The policy is a fact and the fact that the trend has been observable for several years strongly suggests it's a viable business practice for WotC.

However, WotC is, as is frequently reiterated here, the 800 lb. gorilla of the RPG industry. Supposedly, their sales numbers, revenues, & by extension their success, is orders of magnitudes greater than their closest competitor. 4e sells great, DDI is a new lucrative revenue stream. Working for WotC is supposed to be the pinnacle working experience within the RPG industry.

In other words, it ain't supposed to be a crappy place to work. If all of the statements of the preceding paragraph are true (and I'm inclined to think that they are, FWIW), then are we truly supposed to believe that this policy of whacking talent is the only viable business practice WotC could adopt?

I don't buy that for a second.

And that's where I have the issue. If WotC doesn't have to adopt this policy, then they are choosing to do so. If it is a choice then I have a much, much harder time passing it off as "it's business".

 

[Ourph]

And that's where I have the issue. If WotC doesn't have to adopt this policy, then they are choosing to do so. If it is a choice then I have a much, much harder time passing it off as "it's business".

So don't ever work there. Easy fix.

 

[Umbran]

However, WotC is, as is frequently reiterated here, the 800 lb. gorilla of the RPG industry. Supposedly, their sales numbers, revenues, & by extension their success, is orders of magnitudes greater than their closest competitor. 4e sells great, DDI is a new lucrative revenue stream. Working for WotC is supposed to be the pinnacle working experience within the RPG industry.

That last sentence is highly questionable. All the others are about success in the market, which historically (and presently) has little to do with the experiences of the employees.

 

[Adso]

That last sentence is highly questionable. All the others are about success in the market, which historically (and presently) has little to do with the experiences of the employees.

As someone who worked for WotC for a little over 9 years, I can tell you that it is a great place to work. The people are fantastic, the offices are great, and the pay and the benefits are good.

The worst part is holding your breath for the layoffs (second worst is some of meetings). I survived 8 rounds of layoffs until the last ones got me. Layoffs at WotC come for a variety of reasons, none of them are good. At the same time the severance is often very fair and you often get freelance work after the severance is up. I hope no one gets laid off this Christmas, but if it does happen there is life after WotC.

 

[Umbran]

As someone who worked for WotC for a little over 9 years, I can tell you that it is a great place to work. The people are fantastic, the offices are great, and the pay and the benefits are good.

And, by no means did I want to claim that working for WotC was bad.

I was picking apart a bit of logic. Being the best in the market does not imply that it must be a good experience for the workers. Even if it is the best experience for the workers in the industry, doesn't mean there's not the occasional bit in there which kinda stinks. Holding a layoff axe over employees every year before the holidays is what I'd call sub-optimal.

Mind you, the chance of my ever working for WtoC is negligible. I wonder if my opinion of the practice would change if I actually had to make the choice.

 

[Azgulor]

I was picking apart a bit of logic.

That comment was only made based on the posts made on this site by current & former WotC employees & others in the industry. It was only meant to illustrate that WotC does not have a reputation of having a corporate culture indicative of a company in decline whereby regular layoffs are a necessity rather than a choice.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

As others have stated, this bi-annual layoff policy works for WotC. In other words, it's proven to be a viable business practice. The policy is a fact and the fact that the trend has been observable for several years strongly suggests it's a viable business practice for WotC.

However, WotC is, as is frequently reiterated here, the 800 lb. gorilla of the RPG industry. Supposedly, their sales numbers, revenues, & by extension their success, is orders of magnitudes greater than their closest competitor. 4e sells great, DDI is a new lucrative revenue stream. [snip]

If all of the statements of the preceding paragraph are true (and I'm inclined to think that they are, FWIW), then are we truly supposed to believe that this policy of whacking talent is the only viable business practice WotC could adopt?

I don't buy that for a second.

There are a couple of things to keep in mind:

While WotC may be the 800 lb. gorilla, that does not necessarily mean their operating margins are better than others in the industry, so while they may have great sales, it is possible that they are operating on the razor's edge (admiittedly it is probably a much bigger razor than say, Paizo). If that is the case, layoffs are the simplest way to pull back from tipping over the edge. Since we cannot get financials for WotC, we cannot know one way or the other.

WotC is the only RPG publisher I know of that is part of a much larger corporation. Business practices will be influenced by the expectations of the parent company.

 

[Azgulor]

There are a couple of things to keep in mind:

While WotC may be the 800 lb. gorilla, that does not necessarily mean their operating margins are better than others in the industry, so while they may have great sales, it is possible that they are operating on the razor's edge (admiittedly it is probably a much bigger razor than say, Paizo). If that is the case, layoffs are the simplest way to pull back from tipping over the edge. Since we cannot get financials for WotC, we cannot know one way or the other.

WotC is the only RPG publisher I know of that is part of a much larger corporation. Business practices will be influenced by the expectations of the parent company.

While everything you've presented is possible, none of it is at odds with the supposition that WotC chooses this policy rather than being forced to it. There are many strategies that could be employed including the path of least resistance. (If that's what the regular firings are.)

And while I'm sure WotC has much larger operating costs & expenditures, as you said, none of us have hard data.

Lacking such data or reports from former WotC employees supporting a hypothesis of "WotC is barely profitable", I'm going to reasonably conclude that isn't the case.

If your theory is true, than D&D is hanging on by a slim margin. However, I'm willing to bet that in the next Edition War/Sales-#-Speculation thread that surfaces, we'll have posters coming out in significant numbers reminding everyone how insignificant WotC's competition is when compared against the 800 lb. gorilla. How profitable D&D is, how successful DDI is, how valuable the D&D brand is, etc.

While I'm sure one could craft a scenario that fits it, it's not plausible that both operating conditions are true. It's certainly not plausible that it's been true and sustainable in such a fashion for years. This little anniversary process has been around since before the launch of 4e. Since then, we've had reduced competition via the abandonment of the OGL by WotC, the introduction of the DDI subscriptions as a net new revenue stream, and the introduction of a significant (degree of significance is debatable) competitor emerge in the form of Pathfinder. All amidst a global economic slowdown/recession. Yet the policy has held consistent despite signficant changes in the RPG market & WotC's business model.

So... IMO we're back to it being a choice rather than a necessity. YMMV.