It was good while it lasted - Architect Slalom Employee Review

It was good while it lasted. There were lots of parties and events, nice perks, good bonuses, everyone onshore or close to it. The layoffs started in 2022 and still ongoing. They were still in a hiring spree when the economy and the market was slowing down (end of 2021), as well as handing out promotions like it was candy. Now, there's not enough projects and those people who were promoted cant perform and/or cannot earn the rates being asked. Perhaps they needed training, which was not provided either. They are not even giving decent severance packages for the people who worked for years, which speaks how they treats their employees. The layoffs are very secretive. Colleagues and friends you have worked with over the years have disappeared without emails or farewell messages. Some good leaders and managers have left on their own or have been laid off. It used to be that when you were in bench (a few weeks out of the year), it was a time of self development and rejuvenation (learn new skills, certifications etc). Now, it's anxiety driven - the clock starts ticking as soon as you hit the bench (which is happening more often). You have 12 weeks to find a project, or you will be let go - which is really not the engineers faults. You are required to stay busy and work on internal projects, and every daily/weekly need to show/report to management what you were doing and so forth. It also used to be all onshore - in order to reduce the high rates that clients didn't want to pay, they are now hiring off-shore to get cheaper rates. Sound familiar? So now, clients obviously want consultants with lower rates and why wouldn't they. As projects run down, project pipeline dries up, repeated layoffs, talented folks/leaders leaving, dreaded reorg and AI disruption, the morale keeps going down day by day for the engineers and consultants. The senior leadership is failing in it's vision and their shortsightedness. It is not too late - things can turn around if senior leadership and C-level executives can realize their mistakes and fix the issues and stop the bleeding.