VMware Confirms Layoffs: ‘Limited Number’ Let Go As Part Of ‘Workforce Rebalancing’

VMware has confirmed to CRN that the company has let go a “limited number” of employees this month as part of its annual workforce rebalancing strategy.

“We can confirm that there have been a limited number of changes to our workforce this month,” said VMware in a statement to CRN. “This is a part of regular workforce rebalancing that ensures resources across VMware’s global businesses and geographies are aligned with strategic objectives and customer needs.”

VMware said it has an active employee support program to ensure, where possible, affected employees will be redeployed to open roles within VMware.

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VMware declined to comment on the total number of employees that will be let go this month, or if there are specific departments or geographies being reduced.

As of Feb. 2, 2018, VMware had approximately 21,700 employees, up from 19,900 the company had in Jan. 1, 2017, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Sources tell CRN that the number of employees being let go is less than the number of job openings VMware is currently looking to fill. According to VMware’s career website, the company is currently seeking to hire around 2,000 people, including 599 engineering and 736 sales positions.

VMware, who is majority owned by Dell Technologies, has typically done similar layoffs during the month of January in prior years. In January 2018, VMware confirmed a small percentage of employees were let go as part of the company’s annual workface rebalancing strategy.

“We continue to recruit in areas of strategic importance for the company,” said VMware.

The fast-growing Palo Alto, Calif.-based virtualization pioneer has been doubling down investments areas such as hybrid cloud, as well as its technology partnership with Amazon Web Services.

VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger told CRN that a main priority for his company in 2019 is to work with customers to address the primary challenge they’re facing in, “the multi-cloud era” – running workloads that span sprawling environments. “We’ve been saying over the past year that customers want to remove the complexity in their digital infrastructure, so that they can securely run, deliver and manage any app, to any device, on any cloud,” he said.

One executive from a solution provider who partners with VMware said he isn’t worried about the VMware layoffs affecting his VMware business. “Every big tech company usually does this every year or so. Technology moves so fast that a company needs to constantly evolve its workforce -- the types of engineers, sales people, communications, etc.,” said the executive who did not wish to be identified. “VMware is hot right now. NSX and hyper-converged are doing good, software innovation is above par. They’re the crown jewel for Dell [Technologies]. I trust that VMware and Pat know what they’re doing.”