Rivian to Layoff 5% of Non-Manufacturing Workforce

[jjswan33]

I sure hope this doesn't include service at either corporate or the local level.

I have tickets that have been open for over a month that they quickly called about and then didn't ever follow up, they haven't even responded to my last issue I submitted at all and that has been nearly 2 weeks.

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[xyskis]

I ran into a person who supports the c Suite folks at rivian flying out of San Jose this weekend for Hawaii. Tough way to start a vacation if you were in the know or not in the know and worried about your own position.

 

[Honey]

I hope not their communication division... because well you know....

 

[Citibeach]

So if you just go to the Venice, CA hub, which is just a showroom basically to look at the trucks and look at all the options available. Test drives as well. They have at least 8 Rivian employees standing around chatting with each other and waiting for someone to to walk in. I’ve seen this a dozen times and every time I wonder why no one is seeing what a waste of money this is. I would cut the number of employees there on any given day by at least half.
Realizing they had a successful IPO, it doesn’t mean you don’t manage your costs like you are broke right now. Those dollars all add up.

 

[mkg3]

I hope not their communication division... because well you know....

Actually, I hope it is their communication's department. Need a complete redo.

 

[Yellow Buddy]

So if you just go to the Venice, CA hub, which is just a showroom basically to look at the trucks and look at all the options available. Test drives as well. They have at least 8 Rivian employees standing around chatting with each other and waiting for someone to to walk in. I’ve seen this a dozen times and every time I wonder why no one is seeing what a waste of money this is. I would cut the number of employees there on any given day by at least half.
Realizing they had a successful IPO, it doesn’t mean you don’t manage your costs like you are broke right now. Those dollars all add up.

Telsa had the same. When they cut, they kept those folks and cut the service and delivery folks.

Service has gone down and those folks still stand around on their phones.

 

[Zoidz]

Plant only operating 30hrs a week

Irrelevant to manufacturing jobs - the article said the layoff was non-manufacturing jobs.

 

[R1Sky Business]

Irrelevant to manufacturing jobs - the article said the layoff was non-manufacturing jobs.

Hope you're right

 

[ironpig]

My Guide was great - but it is a very strange customer service model to have Guides, Customer Service and regular service center workers. The idea was flawed from the start. The overlapping responsibilities of guides and the service center workers really became apparent in the last week before I got my truck.

Rivian needs more Service centers and service center employees should handle deliveries and any necessary Hand holding through the final purchase process (kind of like a dealership, but for those that can handle the online process themselves they'll never need to deal with the dealership).

 

[rraj2k81]

The memo RJ sent to employees as shared to Engadget.
Rivian CEO tells staff the company is carrying out a 'major' cost-cutting effort | Engadget

The key element here is they are going to get aggressive with the R2 platform.

Hi Team,

I’d like to address the news reports that are circulating about restructuring at Rivian. The reports speculate broadly on many intricate internal discussions about our business so I wanted to offer more clarity.

As discussed in recent all hands meetings, we’ve been working to focus our business in order to stay ahead of the changing economic landscape. We are financially well positioned and our outlook remains strong, but to fully realize our objectives it is critical that our strategy supports our sustainable growth as we ramp towards profitability. Earlier this year, we outlined our core strategic priorities for the next 18 months:

1) Ramping and enhancing R1 and EDV

2) Accelerating R2 development

3) Continuing to ramp our go-to-market capabilities, including our charging and service infrastructure

4) Optimizing costs and operating expenses across the business

As a result, we’ve implemented changes across Rivian, including prioritizing certain programs (and stopping some), halting certain non-manufacturing hiring and adopting major cost down efforts to reduce material spend and operating expenses. We also began the process of aligning the organization as a whole to ensure we are as focused, nimble and efficient as possible to achieve our priorities and objectives.

The hardest part of this process has been working through our organization to assess the size and structure of our teams and how well this aligns with our strategic plan. Our team is the core of Rivian and we are working to be as thoughtful as possible as we consider any reductions. We will always be focused on growth, however, Rivian is not immune to the current economic circumstances and we need to make sure we can grow sustainably. Every decision about our team is being assessed through the lens of our strategic priorities, not as a mechanism to simply reduce costs. Our team will continue to grow in support of our production ramp and product roadmap.

This is not how we intended for you to hear about this. We had hoped these very sensitive and complex conversations would have stayed within Rivian until we could address them more comprehensively. However, because information is coming out unofficially, I wanted to personally address it. I’ll be sharing more this Friday at our scheduled All-Hands meeting.

Thank you everyone.

RJ

 

[ja_kub_sz]

I sure hope this doesn't include service at either corporate or the local level.

I have tickets that have been open for over a month that they quickly called about and then didn't ever follow up, they haven't even responded to my last issue I submitted at all and that has been nearly 2 weeks.

What was wrong with your Rivian?

I just got mine back after due bill items were fixed upon taking delivery (May 25th delivery, June 21st pick up, July 10th return).

 

[jjswan33]

What was wrong with your Rivian?

I just got mine back after due bill items were fixed upon taking delivery (May 25th delivery, June 21st pick up, July 10th return).

This will actually be my 3rd service call, second where they are going to take it.

Typical set of issues:

Tonneau Cover
Passenger side wind noise in the tiny window
Steering wheel not aligned

I called them yesterday, I asked them to schedule something the first week in August.

 

[AllInev]

The guides seem like a good place to start. Maybe I just got unlucky in my assignment but can't say that mine's facilitated much of anything on his own.

It’s not that my guide was bad, I just didn’t see any added value in the role. In my opinion, the guides’ primary value is as a marketing tool.

 

[cbuckley]

It’s not that my guide was bad, I just didn’t see any added value in the role. In my opinion, the guides’ primary value is as a marketing tool.

I don’t wish for anyone to lose their job but I don’t see the value either. I ordered in Jan 2019 (delivered March 22) and didn’t need any assistance or hand-holding during the purchase process or pre-delivery period. I wasn’t offered a first drive or any other perks during the pre-delivery period. After delivery, I reached out to my guide by phone and email with questions regarding basic things like my missing key band, registration, dealership funding request etc. but didn’t get responses without calling general CS multiple times. When I called CS after days with no responses from my guide, they told me that my guide is the only person with my details and has to be the one to help me but fortunately sent him messages which seemed to get me a response within the next 24-48 hours. My guide is a nice guy and seemed genuinely excited about my delivery but definitely has not been a value-added part of my ownership experience.

I’m glad to hear that others had glowingly positive experiences with their guide. Maybe I would have felt differently if I needed more assistance in the pre-delivery process or had the stones to ask for a different guide.

 

[DJG]

I sure hope this doesn't include service at either corporate or the local level.

I have tickets that have been open for over a month that they quickly called about and then didn't ever follow up, they haven't even responded to my last issue I submitted at all and that has been nearly 2 weeks.

Definitely not, in fact that was called out by the statement as being one of the things they are prioritizing with this realignment: ramping production of existing vehicles (more revenue), accelerating R2 development (path to profitability), ramping of service and charging infrastructure (to support current and future sales).

If anything, the layoffs of admin type roles frees up resources to invest in the above. This is almost surely the result of the 30 day 1:1 between RJ and the new COO from Magna. He said, here are my observations and recommendations. Now it's execution time.

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