No end in sight for Dell lay offs

In an effort to stem declining stock values, Dell Inc. enacted a plan last May to lay off 8,000 employees (about 10% of its global workforce) within the next year. The Round Rock based computer company is doing this in an effort to counter certain factors and events that have hurt its stock value over the last several business quarters. One of these factors was Dell's loss of their #1 position in worldwide computer shipments to rival company Hewlett-Packard. Another milestone preceding these lay offs are the results of an ongoing federal accounting probe that discovered numerous financial discrepancies and evidence of financial misconduct at the company. In addition to falling stock prices as a result of public opinion regarding this investigation, Dell stock has also taken a hit from the $46 million cost of funding the probe.

Dell announced these lay offs in the form of a news release, but declined any sort of follow-up conference call with reporters or analysts. The following statement was later released by Michael Dell in regards to the downsizing:

“While reductions in head count are always difficult for a company, we know these actions are critical to our ability to deliver unprecedented value to our customers now and in the future.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18967391/

While lay offs are a necessary evil when conducting business, Dell's effort to keep an open and honest line of communication with their publics seems to come up short. The fact that they announced this ill news through a press release while declining to comment on the matter immediately gives Dell the image that they either don't care enough about their publics to do so, or that they are trying to hide something. This is especially true considering that Dell is under investigation for shady business practices and shoddy financing, which was one of the main reasons for the lay offs in the first place. While Michael Dell did comment on the matter, he should have done so immediately so as not to tarnish the trust that Dell has with its employees and consumers.

Since the time that the lay offs were announced, Dell's stock value has fallen from nearly $25 per share to around $20.50 per share. Clearly these 8,000 lay offs did little to slow the decline of Dell's stock value, leaving us only to wonder what lies in the future for Dell employees.
http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=DELL&t=1y