Thread regarding Wellcare Health Plans Inc. layoffs

You people are actually surprised that this happened? Should have known this was bound to happen when you initially submitted your resume! That's corporate America for you!

Employee morale at an all time high after last week.

Announcement on CNET about 3,000 layoffs and 1500 open positions being closed. Impacted employees will know by the 12th.

Meeting seems to coincide with reviews.

There is a meeting this Friday that some of our leaders have been invited to with HR. They are getting information on who is getting laid off the following week.

@Lazy leadership poster - I wanted to add something to my previous comment.
You are sharing your experience in the form of story is great. Remember one thing, you shared your side of story and we are only halfway to understand the problem. I would check the supervisor's side of the story as well to know what they have to say about you. Every story has 2 sides and more than 1 actor.

To "Continuation of the "Lazy CM Supervisors""
I read both of your articles and found something which can help you grow more.
looks like, you need to be more self aware and develop good self esteem, as I sense b–ching behavior, jealousy, insecurity & ego in those articles. If you have a problem then do something about it. Resign and get another job.

To the poster about the lazy CM supervisors. It takes balls to be a leader and stand up for yourself. I understand there are people, who want to play Victim and influence system indirectly. Not sure what category you fit in, but If you think your supervisors are lazy and not fair with you, then I would suggest you to be a smart and start your own company, and hire people who are not lazy and unfair. It takes lot of data about different kind of people working in the organization, and brain, to analyze the performance of each and every individual working in the company. People with brains, seat on the chair, analyze data and make informed decisions about day to day activities their subordinate needs to perform. On the other end, People who use less of a brain may think that people with brain are lazy seating on chair, but I find It to be skeptical with limited information.

@Lazy leadership poster - be grateful you still have a job and continuous income .. keep working hard and outperforming others so that you remain valuable to the department and the company... don’t put them under the bus publicly on this forum , it’s not only unprofessional but it’s petty easy to pinpoint exactly who you are just based off all the details that you post. Use the company resources to report the issues that you see if it’s really bothering you that much. I wish you nothing but the best in your futures with or outside the company... life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it. Which means you have 90% control over all this uneasiness ... you say anonymous on the post but obviously have totally identified yourself .... take a different route ... I have been laid off since January and it’s rough out here .... Good luck 👍

Continuation of the "Lazy CM Supervisors"....There is one particular supervisor who does not even say good morning to me anymore...evening though I say it. Its happened this whole week. I say good morning loudly and clearly and they keep moving to there desk as if I don't exist. So when they come by I treat them now as they don't exist. What comes around goes around. Not only are they lazy but they appear to be snobbish and rude. They do nothing all day and mope there heads like they dread to come to work when all they do is play and flirt with the other lady supervisor. All 4 of the supervisors are treating the other male employee like a baby giving him far fewer cases then I get. This is been going on for 7 months...perhaps even longer. They are all in a coupe to protect him. They will treat him like an angel while they will throw everything but the kitchen sink at me with the extreme amount of cases I get. If I did the amount of work that this "protected" employee did over the last 7 months my a** would have been canned...fired. However for this employee everything goes. Different stroke for different folks I guess. I have talked about this with multiple supervisors who doesn't want to face the facts that this employee is getting away with having to do little work because there in the coupe with him. Its so sickening. So while I carry the burden of carrying the whole team and the whole department on my shoulder, this employee acts more like a cheerleader then a team player. Like the person below said save my sanity and once covid starts to clear I will start looking. I am sick of this sht and getting no respect...just getting grief from these so called lazy supervisors. On top of it they have the audacity to call me rude... for what? For carrying the department on my shoulder while you do nothing. I would say the supervisors are rude and disrespectful to waste the company's time and money by not doing sht all day and covering up for all employee who should not be there.

To the poster about the lazy CM supervisors... Even if Centene’s HR Department does see this, they won’t care. It’s all about who you know and how to play the game. For example, people with little or no experience being put in positions they’re not qualified for because they get cozy with a senior leader. You seem like a good, solid employee. Take the advice of someone from PHS who was in one of the early layoffs - take your talent elsewhere and save your sanity. Let Karma sort them out. Easier said than done, I know it is frustrating but I am so thankful I don’t work for those a-holes anymore.

I will tell you all here what the term lazy means. I hope Centene is looking at this board. In the PHS department, There are four care management supervisors who choose to come to the office to work rather then at home? You know why? Its about accountability. If they work at home they would actually have to do work! So they come in the office and do absolutely nothing! The two care management supervisors who are male talk about sports for two hours in the morning. Then they go for a half hour walk. In between that one the male supervisors walks over to the two female supervisors on the other side of the cubicle and flirts with them. Then they come on the men side and further flirt with them and all this time it has nothing to do with work. They all go to the gym for a hour. Then when they get back from the gym they take another hour to eat there lunch at there desk. After the lunch they giggle and laugh as they trade sides talking to each other. Again not work related. Then in the afternoon they take another half hour walk around the building. They don't do any work and they still yawn and complain. In between there surfing the net and going on you tube. I know this because on my one on one done through the computer the supervisor shared her screen and you tube was showing. If there not on you tube then there on there phone. This is all happening on the first floor of REN 4 in the care management department. Its ridiculous. While Im making close to 150 calls a day and panting for breath in between calls these couch potato supervisors do nothing. Also there is huge favortism. There is one other employee who the supervisors play favorite to. While I am busting my butt making over 100 calls a day, this employee only does about 25. I do quadruple the work he does but he will get all the recognition while I dont get any. I don't mind if Centene lays me off but they should certainly lay off those 4 care management supervisors who are the laziest people I have ever met in my life. Also why the hell does this department need so many care management supervisors in the first place if they dont do anything. What a waste of company money and talent.

Centene is a near-ideal takeover play. It's not a brand, it has a ton of different businesses, and they sold off a remote patient monitoring-related one fairly recently. They've stripped down corporate, outsourced marketing to a captive agency, and pushed a lot of positions to the markets. There's a 75 year old CEO in place for a quarter of a century, and no succession plan. What do you think?

Get your resume ready and start exploring the market. Don't assume an acquirer even wants you.

They are going to "decentralize" a lot of positions, put them under the leadership of the markets. Layoffs coming from market to market.

MFN has not only been CEO for nearly 25 years, but he is also 75. Given Centene's stealth strategy of being a family of brands, its position as the largest in Medicaid managed care and the staff cuts, with no apparent succession strategy for the CEO spot, there's something else brewing and possibly it's a sale in part or total. Think a parallel to CVS-Aetna.

I once worked for a company that was a conglomerate of various businesses and it traded for far less than it was worth, which was a vote of no confidence in the CEO and management. It was literally broken up and the various businesses sold for a lot of $. That factor isn't present with MFN–investors seem to like him–but there's a lot of money looking for a home in healthcare and further plan acquisitions are problematic.

For many of us, today is our last day at WellCare and the lack of communication with HR about final information is pathetic. Maybe work on that, Centene, for the future groups that you’re sure to lay off in the quarters to come. I think a lot of people are upset and feel that voicing of their concerns to HR will be pointless as we are not high enough on the ladder. There is zero accountability in my area of WC; a leader was promoted and lost the respect of a lot of people with some shady actions yet nothing is done. Keep building your stellar, greedy, character-lacking company, Centene - great “good ol boys” network thing you’ve got going and now you’ve inherited some of the mo–ns from WC. What goes around, comes around. I hope the head of my area gets a slice of humble pie and realizes that shttng on people isn’t cool, especially those of us who were loyal and sacrificed a lot (namely time away from family).

Sad to see such a great company totally sh– on great workers. Worked in IT for 10 years, was let go. For what? Greed and more greed?? Senior mgmt and MFN have more money than they can count.

They get rid of people, then talk about building in Charlotte.

They have no idea of the impact on single moms, families, etc that laying people off has. And worse, they don't CARE! Let's just keep moving up the Fortune 500 list.

When I started at Centene, I loved what I did. I thought we were providing great things for many people and communities.

Looking forward to a job where work from home is not an issue and quality of family life is valued!

Yes it was forced, much as WellCare did with companies it acquired like Universal American. People there were forced out, reorganized, required to take lower titles and benefits, and the same. And it did not stop after the integration. I worked with many of those people right up to the executive level, though I joined a year after UAM was acquired.

My point, which I think was misunderstood, was that those in an acquired company are always vulnerable after the closing, but this is affecting a huge swath of people who work for Centene, many for years. You're not only NOT safe if you have been with Centene a long time, but also if you were one of those selected to transition from WellCare, you may be transitioned, and then booted. No fault of your own.

Of course we can always wonder at the infinite wisdom of the management and board of WellCare succumbing to Centene's offer, when the company was doing well and could have fetched even more $ in 2021. But as individuals, we have to deal with it and get past it. We all know what we have to do....and help each other.

The difference is that we did not apply to a job with this company, we worked for another company and this was forced. Many would never have applied to this company as their reputation is extremely poor. If we applied to this company knowing it's reputationand this was happening, that would be a little different.

Gee, Centene just outsourced its entire corporate marketing department to an outside local St. Louis ad agency. That's well over 100 people. Those are the folks who prepare the AEP and plan communications to members and much more, and keep what's said compliant with the Feds and states. If Centene management thinks so little of those people, not many of those who were carried over from WellCare or other acquired plans, you expect better treatment?

I am sick that this is what has become of a great company and great people just to sell out to greed and profits.

PHS town hall was demotivating and indicative of more layoffs, although they like to dress it up in fancier terms.

I agree that some of the open positions will be closed however, what a higher up wants - a higher up will get. We saw it happen in a department that my team works closely with. To make it worse the person that was hired does not have a background in this area so it is slowing us down because we have to stop and explain relatively easy things that one should know. The leader got their way, hired the person, and now we (and probably other teams) are stuck trying to work with this person who seems to have appeared out of nowhere. Efficiency at its finest.

Get ready for layoffs

I’m betting that we see open positions start to disappear soon.

Year #1 after acquiring WellCare hasn’t panned out how execs promised. You can only blame COVID so much.

Wake up people! These decisions were made long ago after PWC submitted their reports. Anyone who’s going to be cut already has their name on a list. Those who think “If we work real hard and meet our targets we’ll be spared” is dreaming. Look at how many who have brought in great numbers have already gotten the axe. No one is safe. If you think you are well good luck to you. If you work from home and aren’t near an office please update your resume and start looking. Mr N does not believe in WFH so that is not going to be an option. PHS this means you. The cuts have already started. More to come through the end of 2020. Tenured associates from all levels who have been great contributors. It’s not just IT and marketing folks. It’s care management and other areas as well. I’m sure this means me too. So peace and good luck everyone. Stay safe and Godspeed.

“ What really gets me is that leadership secretly planned people getting fired and department structures shuffling around...”

BINGO. Kudos to PHS leadership who seem to have this method down pat. What goes around, comes around...

What really gets me is that leadership secretly planned people getting fired and department structures shuffling around, but neglected to ask anyone who actually did the work and are now finding out that they did not plan for important items to be clearly transitioned before firing the only people who did that job. Now they are scrambling trying to get people to cover while also trying to blame people who were never handed the responsibility and never had a role in it previously. Sorry leadership, your poor planning is your own fault when you don't ask the right people or do succession planning.

They were probably drinking buddies with someone important, that's how it seems to work around here.

How do Sr Mgmt and Neidorf sleep???
I was let go, 8 years experience with Centene.

Just saw that 2 mo–ns with zero healthcare experience have been promoted from worker bees to: VP and Director???? wow....so glad my salary went to that.

Well, you get what you pay for. These two people have zero skills.

How do all these layoffs stay out of the news?

I agree with the post below, promoting people in to jobs and departments where they had NO experience, knowledge or skills!! It's all about who you know and how you play the game. Many more qualified people being passed over despite years at the company and true knowledge and skills.

“Still no structure in a lot of departments, people being promoted with very alarming track records and performance.“

The poster who said this - YES!!! Been at WC a few years. It’s funny how the higher ups get who and what they want, despite there being more qualified people, who have been at WC a hell of a lot longer and know the systems, etc. The message it sends (along with the declining morale) is that as long as you kiss the @ss of the right senior level leader, you too can get promoted from a position that has ZERO to do with what your new role is. Just create the position, be underhanded and expect the teams to rally around the new “leader” who was no idea what they’re doing (and basically be expected to answer tons of questions that a qualified person wouldn’t need to ask)? Sure. That...makes...sense... We see what you’re doing, jerks!!! Stop acting like nothing happened. Address the elephant in the room - and stop being d*cks.

I hope everyone has a good weekend and stay safe. We need to be here for each other to lift each other up and help through these difficult times.

Whoever posted about the 401k I had the same issue, had to take a 20% tax withholding.

Agree with previous poster about saying we have jobs and then going back on that. We hear there is a new saying at Centene....you have what is "true" and what is the "true true" while leaders say this and laugh.

Still no structure in a lot of departments, people being promoted with very alarming track records and performance.

Legacy WellCare employees are out of luck if you need to take a CARES Act withdrawal from your 401k because centene or the no longer WellCare did not elect to allow us to utilize the cares act to withdraw money without penalties during a pandemic when our jobs are changing, spouses are losing jobs and employees need assistance.

PHS = Population Health Services (I could have the “S” wrong). It encompasses the Medical Directors, CM, UM and a few other departments I believe.

Hello everyone , just a positive message for everyone, I was laid off with the 1st wave back in January right after the buyout ... I was devastated, well it’s 7 months later and thanks to the Centene generous severance package I am still being paid with the company and they did extend the package due to Covid (thank you Centene!) while the whole ordeal was really stressful, I am happy to say financial Wellcare/Centene set up a platform for me to transition they didn’t just leave me out in the cold , I’ve still been able to provide for my family and maintain my lifestyle while I searched for other employment, I landed another job that actually pays more than I was making at Wellcare & the start date will come right as my severance is scheduled to end. There was light at the end of what seemed like a dark tunnel. Take care everyone and I wish the same positive outcome to all that have been impacted by the lay offs.

What does PHS stand for? So far the people let go in the Wellcare IT side have been minor. We will see how that changes in the future. Centene is generous with training so any laid off should have no trouble finding work.