Thread regarding ViacomCBS layoffs

The two people who commented about leaving and coming back and knowing your worth as well as HR s—ing a– (well said btw) are ABSOLUTELY RIGHT! LISTEN TO THEM!

I work at Showtime. Unlike a lot of people here I have worked at multiple studios. People have been very comfortable for a long time. There were way too many people before the merger. It doesn't need two major offices with hundreds of employees at each. CBS should have trimmed its operations a long time ago. The most common title is VP, and VP's who don't have anyone reporting to them. And it's not like anyone works long hours here.

Lots of fat at Showtime and CBS? I have not heard of any large scale layoffs there. However, it seems Viacom is getting hit pretty hard. There will be mass layoffs, it will brutal. The company filed notice federally where they intend on laying off a significant amount of people, so you will at minimum, get 90 days. Then severance will kick in.

Remember, when you get let go and ViacomCBS asks you to come back for a project, freelance, consultant, temp, etc. Charge what you are worth and don't commit to staff or sign a contract. Don't answer emergency phone calls after hours, unless you are billing for it. It's not personal, it's business.

Compensation is key, if they cannot compensate you, there are plenty of companies actively looking for Viacom employees. "Viacom workers are great, we love to poach them. They work the hardest and get paid sh–." – Post Prod. and Ops from a major VIAC competitor.

Know your worth. Glassdoor other salaries in your field. Start looking. Be proactive.

Good luck.

The HR department is a corrupt council that most reasonable people would never call upon for help in time of crisis. The idea that one day most of us will have to negotiate the terms of our exit with these mere effigies of human existence should deeply trouble everyone at every level of the corporation. Don't let them push you around, stand your ground and get the severance you deserve.

I don’t work at Showtime but I am aware of the showtime counterpart department of mine. The amount of employees there is ridiculous. Double the amount of people for 1/5 the channels. Things are not adding up.

There's lots of fat at CBS when including all the other entities. I work at Showtime and this place has so many unnecessary layers of people. I work in West Hollywood with about 200+ and every other person is a VP for some reason. Then there are 400+ in NY and I have no idea why. Combine that with the fact Showtime relies almost entirely on CBS for things like IT and I'm not sure why the head count has been this large pre-merger.

I’ve heard rumors of 20-30% of workforce being let go, abigger portion coming from the CBS side. The Viacom side has gone through many reorganizations over the past few years, so there isn’t a lot of room for more cuts unless they want a heavy majority freelance crew. who knows. Prepare and try not to worry. It’s out of our hands.

Starting this week- Lots of execs flying in/out to handle lay offs- if you have a new meeting or catch up scheduled- make sure to purchase a personal external hard drive and start backing up your work. Start applying elsewhere if your smart ..or book a vacation.

Grab your torches, head back to camp. Good night

Yes, it has already started today on BOTH SIDES. Don’t forget, Joe gets around 100 million to be unemployed. Hope the rest of you do just as well! Also, FYI - STOP SAYING CONTENT IS KING. IF IT WAS, YOUR COMPANY NAME WOULD BE NETFLIX, AMAZON, HULU, DISNEY, F—, EVEN WARNER! #F—VIACOMCBS

I'll go tally the votes

Any truth to meetings with HR being held at Viacom in NYC today?

I was told, on the CBS side, that they will be laying people off throughout january, february and march.

It's so obvious that they're stretching it out and doing it slowly to avoid bad press and I am so tired of this. This company is such a piece of sh–. And none of the news articles about ViacomCBS have addressed the layoffs since like December. Its flying under everyones f—ing radar.

I did hear todayof a small department getting notice of being Laid off at CBS. Assuming more to come by end of week.

It's been very quiet, I suspect it's going to be a dragged out process. Combined company very concerned about public perception and stock drops when large layoffs are announced. On the Viacom side- weeks ago, many managers were asked to decide who on their team to keep....stayed tuned....

Stay tuned for scenes from our next episode!

How many were purged from the international reorg? Hearing US layoffs coming soon...

You bet your ass

Haven’t heard of any meetings. Probably not a good sign.