Rivian laying off 6% of its workforce

[lambo]

This in addition to 5% previously announced?

No, I think this is the official announcement. Just a little higher than initially thought.

Sponsored

 

[Sean]

Was at the service center today. A number of people just hanging out...

In the afternoon, never got a call to come pick up the truck, so I showed up and it was somewhat disorganized. Guess they might have been distracted by this.

 

[cbuckley]

Hate to see people lose their jobs but never got much value from my guide. Seemed like a reasonable place to trim the fat.

 

[rivianUGA]

Does anybody have the text of the actual letter that RJ wrote?I would like to read it in addition to the media reports.

 

[kanundrum]

Does anybody have the text of the actual letter that RJ wrote?I would like to read it in addition to the media reports.

 

[TXR1S]

Had my first mile drive at the service center. Rivian employee said morale was pretty low around this.

 

[Derek]

What is most likely happening is that when a company hires as many people as Rivian has, and as quickly as they have, you end up with underperforming employees. A company will use this bottom 6% strategy to clear out the deadweight to make space for new hires.

I think we will keep the concierge-style guide experience through this first generation of vehicles and most likely lose them in future generations.

 

[mpw81]

A buddy of mine works in engineering for a firm that would be looking to hire some of the people being let go. He said it's "white collar jobs." Also said he's picking up a couple and he's heard of voluntary severance offers with multiple months of pay, some additional vesting, etc. and that offers expire next week.

 

[echerod]

A buddy of mine works in engineering for a firm that would be looking to hire some of the people being let go. He said it's "white collar jobs." Also said he's picking up a couple and he's heard of voluntary severance offers with multiple months of pay, some additional vesting, etc. and that offers expire next week.

If there ever is a good time to lose your job, this is probably it. The U.S. is at full employment (or very close to it), so presumably it won't be that hard for these folks to find a new job. In 6 months the situation might not be the same...

 

[Max]

I hope the cuts are smart. CS was a nice feel good feature but rarely made any difference for me. Some of the design guys may be mostly done since manufacturing has started with R1. They may even be done with R2.

The main question is, if these cuts are not enough, what would be the impact on us? Would the original pricing hold? will the feature content be seriously cut for explore or even next rear Adventure? Will some of the service calls that are covered now be Nickle and dimed and wait time drastically increase? Will expansion of charging structure and service centers go on pause? Will new orders with new pricing start getting priority delivery? When a business survival is discussed in meetings, all kinds of things end up on the table.

 

[Guy]

Don’t know what they are paying guides, mine was for a test drive, but he owns an R1T and has a R1S on order for the wife.

Sounds over paid or too generous with the employee benefits. Either way Rivian needed to save money and is thankfully.

 

[mkg3]

I hope the cuts are smart. CS was a nice feel good feature but rarely made any difference for me. Some of the design guys may be mostly done since manufacturing has started with R1. They may even be done with R2.

The main question is, if these cuts are not enough, what would be the impact on us? Would the original pricing hold? will the feature content be seriously cut for explore or even next rear Adventure? Will some of the service calls that are covered now be Nickle and dimed and wait time drastically increase? Will expansion of charging structure and service centers go on pause? Will new orders with new pricing start getting priority delivery? When a business survival is discussed in meetings, all kinds of things end up on the table.

Having gone through something similar in my career over the years in the aerospace industry, there are similarities whenever a company manufactures high technology content vehicles.

During tough times, one layoff duplicate skills and non-essential to the current focus. Yes, its a good time to trim the bottom 20% performers too.

Companies continues to hire critical skills and even pay signing bonus in certain areas critical to the business (e.g., specialized SW, AI, ManTech, ...). Expenses are cut and travel is trimmed. In other words, old fashion belt tightening.

If the initial cut doesn't solve the problem (often it is the case because the cut is not deep enough - no one likes to let employees go), then the subsequent rounds of layoff occurs as well as incentives to leave the company (early out but Rivian is too new so perhaps immediate vesting of equity shares or alike).

After that or at the same time, the company goes through further strategic reviews. How that would affect us would probably be things like:

- the role of guides and ratio of how many customers to guide, responsibilities (probably will be more online customer relation management approach)

- delay or rethink of RAN (no longer Rivian build out but joint venture with EA, EVgo or alike where RAN simply may become Rivian priority reservation on fast charger)

- price increases on all options as well as base vehicle (probably not pre March as it was already PR mess and impact is already absorbed)

- lower the warrantee period and miles to reduce liabilities

And if worse, company can seek new equity offering (dilution to the existing holders) and/or investment by large entity (e.g., Amazon taking larger stake or partial ownership by legacy auto mfg, which may spell end of Rivian as an independent car company)

But we're seeing the step one so long ways from any further actions. The best thing Rivian can do is to deliver as much vehicles as they can and improve cashflow. Right now, the expenditure side of the ledger is greater than income and they see the expenditure rate going up higher than planned.

 

[shumdit]

I knew this personal “guide” luxury would be cut out soon. I was stunned to hear that Rivian was delivering vehicles to customers homes.

Tesla? You order online and get a text when it arrives. You get 15 minutes for any questions at your delivery and the representative is on to the next customer.

As a early Tesla model S customer they used to do the same thing Rivian is doing now. It works until you get to a mass market level where the manpower/logistics are just overwhelming but it's also a little perk for the early adopters who take a chance on an unproven company/product

 

[seatosummit]

Was at the service center today. A number of people just hanging out...

In the afternoon, never got a call to come pick up the truck, so I showed up and it was somewhat disorganized. Guess they might have been distracted by this.

I was also at a service center getting my spare and mood was similarly distracted.

They did a great job of installing the spare and fixing my window trim quickly, though.

 

[H3nryR]

Is this the reason I can’t get a hold of my guide Ruby ? No contact for the past 48hrs.

Sponsored