Thread regarding Comcast layoffs

Comcast Business is actively engaging in, what I've been told is, an "organizational collapse." They are examining the Project Manager Hierarchy and looking to collapse the delineation between their levels of project manager. Ex: PM1/PM2/PM3/ECPM1,2,3, etc.

The writing is on the wall. Comcast paints this picture of them being hard-up for positive free cash-flow despite quarterly earnings reports showing them making more each quarter. It's disgusting how far CB is willing to go in order to keep their shareholder's pockets lined with gold thread.

There is a meeting happening on the day of this post with 302 attendees labled, "Team Rose Roth-PMO Town Hall" set for 30 minutes. These town halls are typically an hour and are focused around strategy and future initiatives. This one is abnormal in more ways than 1 and will very likely be the confirmation of my above assessment.

Rose Roth is our newly appointed "gift from god" VP btw. She's as big of a mo--n as every other C-suite & exec who have no idea what the day to day work looks like for the very teams she's responsible/accountable for. She continues to roll out "fixes" for broken processes with zero regard for end-user sentiment of how we should actually go about remedying serious customer-facing issues. But I guess it's hard to have good vision when your head's up your A-s.

Not sure if I can edit these comments, but I'll be back with a verbatim update of what goes down.

Comcast let go of 9 video engineers in February at divisional level. Older members people with 35 years in the company, likely salary based

re @Bhms+1pzeaTLb

Wow, I'm really sorry to hear that CMCSA pulled such a douchey move on you by making you train your replacements. It's unconscionable that they could be so uncaring, never mind that it happened around the holidays.

I retired a few years ago and saw the AOL crowd come in and push teams out but nothing like you experienced. But what doesn't ki-l you will make you stronger.

I was part of the CB layoff. Two entire engineering teams were let go in favor of a new offshore vendor called TCS. We were all notified via a Teams call about the reorganization. We received that news on 20 November and our last day would be 15 December.

Here is the real gut punch, our teams were supposed to then continue working and would need to train our replacements to take over and that felt like the biggest slap in the face ever. I found it very disheartening and shocking that they had so many talented engineers with varying skill sets, there was even an engineer with extensive Palo Alto experience that was never utilized. My heart hurts for those impacted and all to save a buck.

Comcast is going to feel this because these replacements will be conducting face to face technical interviews for SD WAN and Router as well as provisioning the equipment and then bring in the call for install and acceptance. There is a huge language barrier in play and the customers are none the wiser until 18 December rolls around and all the engineers were let go.

All to save a buck or two and then to raise everyone’s cable bills is just an added slap in the face.

Shame on you Comcast

In response to Post ID "@iwrq+1pzeaTLb": At this point, there is no indication that any of the affected positions will be back-filled (whether by new hires or contractors), and such chances are presently very low given the end of the calendar year is approaching and leadership is looking to close the proverbial books on 2023.

Even in 2024, there are very low chances of the vast majority of those positions being reposted due to the associated significant hiring costs (e.g. PTO, healthcare/401k benefits, etc.) counteracting any of the cost savings reaped from the mid-November lay-offs.

However, there is every indication from top leadership that outsourcing to offshore/vendor firms will be at least a part of the go-forward strategy for 2024 and beyond, as it enables greater global reach while keeping costs down (e.g. no above-PTO/benefits for contractors) and staffing flexible (e.g. 24-hour staffing across a network of offshore centers).

To your other inquiry, no comment or movement yet regarding any divisional consolidation. That is very likely due to the above-layoffs and the associated aftermath being viewed as a enough of a change by top leadership as the calendar year draws to a conclusion (who knows what 2024 will bring).

To your final sentiment: Yes, the lay-offs absolutely su-ked, and absolutely su-ked out any of the remaining motivation to "finish out the year strong." The lay-offs have gutted employee morale across the organization.

And I mean gutted - there are employees and teams who, previously well-known for their professionalism and composure, have loudly cursed out management in the middle of the HQ floors and are vocally refusing to do anything more than the bare minimum for the rest of 2023.

And many more resources beyond that are actively updating their resumes and looking and interviewing for other positions

That spiteful dynamic never, ever happened during previous lay-offs.

Oh, and top leadership then has the stupendously tone-deaf gall and audacity to require all staff to show up in-person for "fun festivities" and "leadership pep talks" later this week.

Nothing like a Friday forced march to the office with required holiday celebrations with the memory of the lay-offs still looming large in everyone's mind. Top leadership must be operating under the brazenly boneheaded assumption that the intelligent resources they hired were born yesterday.

The bottom line is that Comcast as a company has never been on more unstable ground, as many of those who directly contributed to the company's earnings will very likely no longer be with the company by choice in 2024.

That will weaken the company, weaken future performance, further gut employee morale, and further worsen the overall situation.

It is truly shameful that Comcast top leadership did not more carefully and considerately plan ahead before taking a massive machete to staff and morale, and put the company's future in jeopardy.

Rumors are swirling that layoffs are going to continue in another batch. Severance packages are also historically lower by about half than with previous layoffs. Some of the best and brightest people in the company being laid off. Remaining managers will be getting bonuses.

Was fortunate enough to retire a few years ago but do have a question.

Have they replaced some of the laid off employees with younger, and cheaper, employees? Or are the majority of the positions moving to India?

Lastly, any movement on the long rumored consolidation of divisions?

Layoffs su-k. Especially at this time of the year.

There was more then 300 People- much more. I will share a glimpse with you. In Sept 2023 they let go off 30-50 in TPX, Residential techs. Oct 2023 comcast business 50-60 and an early retirement push with 1000+ included. Nov 2023 another mix bag of organizations with 300 laid off- very poorly handled for HQ and in Central Market 30+. There was no logic to who was being selected; many were the cream of the crop -good workers willing to go the distance for the company, loyal employees w/ historical knowledge all thrown away like trash. Instead replaced with extensive offshore teams to be yes men. Many leaders received no notice and those that remained did not have strategic plans to transition teams or information through the reorganizations.

Comcast is moving from an entrepreneurial mindset to an industrial machine. What Comcast has lost with be hard to recoup in the current market and has taught loyal employees that - loyalty should only be to oneself.

I’m not surprised!
Last year about 500 of us were terminated in December- Merry Christmas to us!

C O V I D -this was just part of the plan to make it happen. It’s not just Comcast.

Was with Comcast for almost 20 years in an engineering role (non-management). Got an email from random HR lady on the morning of Nov 13th for a Teams invite titled something like "Mandatory Organizational Update". Quickly realized I was the only attendee which is never a good sign lol.

Made it through around 10 other previous layoff cycles throughout all the years but my number was finally up this time around. Most of my teammates, my manager, his manager and other folks I've worked with for almost 20 years - and some I became really good friends with - were also let go.

I'll miss working with good people and I feel bad for everyone affected but honestly it was good timing for me as I've been done with the corporate America bullsh-t for a while and now have some time to focus on a small business.

Thanks Comcast for the good ride and severance but also gfy haha. Hopefully Brian Roberts will be able to scrounge up a few bucks to buy another yacht with all the budget cuts (dude literally collects yachts).

A mix of more than 300 employees, managers, and directors predominantly from Comcast HQ in Philadelphia were laid off between Nov 13-14.

And let's be clear: The lay-offs were not at all due to employee or manager performance. They were due to Comcast sharing that subscription targets were missed in Q3 2023 on an October earnings call with investors, and Comcast shares subsequently taking a beating on Wall Street.

Expected severance charges totaling $700 million across Q3-Q4 2023 were also disclosed to investors/Wall Street, so the November lay-offs were indeed expected.

That said, the laid-off employees/managers, their teams, and their management/stakeholders were given zero advanced notice to ensure smooth transition of knowledge, responsibilities, or endeavors requiring cross-team collaboration.

The initial Nov 13-14 communications from top management (e.g. Comcast Business President) also were unbelievably botched, and most teams did not receive revised org charts (e.g. illustrating updated team reporting hierarchies) until Nov 17.

That resulted in 3-4 days of not knowing how broader teams within your org were impacted, which resulted in significant lost productivity due to the confusion as well as a major additional hit to employee/management morale (which, if you read the Comcast eNPS surveys, was already hovering between the proverbial commode and gutter).

Even the interim Nov 14-15 calls hosted by the SVPs and VPs came off as vague, ambiguous, and (whether intentionally or not) tonally conveying the cold sentiment of, "finish us strong for 2023, and be prepared to make us even more money in 2024."

To be crystal clear: Each of those 300+ laid-off employees and managers could have been retrained/recalibrated/reallocated to ensure Comcast achieved all future objectives. They each more than possessed the knowledge, skills, networks, and relationships to ensure success.

Them being let go by the creatively/strategically bankrupt and short-sighted Comcast leadership team will resonate for a long time with those who survived the November layoffs, and will almost certainly cost the company more in the long-run than what's currently anticipated.

Shame on Comcast leadership for totally and utterly failing at their core purpose:

Failing to lead by example, and instead showcasing total managerial ineptitude instead of careful, long-term planning.

I can speak with certainty that anyone saying it was less than 300 people have no idea what they are talking about. There was an email invite that included 125 people for a meeting which was a mass layoff. If addition to this email which was only within one org of Comcast Business, people being terminated day of and not given notice like the ones called into the mass meeting, had individual meetings with HR. These occurred

I can speak for certainty its less than 150 employees across multiple orgs and divisions almost no impact will be felt and most positions are being re posted to bring in newer minded people and clear out the older mindest population

My favorite line when they laid off managers and above was...
"they will be looking at opportunities outside of comcast".

YEAH... YOU FIRED ME !!

I worked for Comcast for 17 years and I'm so glad I'm no longer with them... I guarantee this will wind up costing money, one way or another.

" We made some tough changes today to ensure our.... blah, blah, blah"... swinging their "business acumen" around at the expense of customers and dedicated employees.

We see you...

I’m not management, my whole group got axed. We will be replaced by a large Indian off-shore team

It's a bloodbath. This wasn't just a management reorganization. This appears to been across the entire organization with a significant amount of rank and file being let go.

More like Director and above.

Apparently CDV, or whatever it is called these days, was also hit.

Sorry for those impacted especially right before the holiday season. Typical CMCSA

In typical fashion, they kept some of the most toxic people who also happen to be the complete opposite type of leader than what Comcast claims they value - letting many of actual merit go.
Nothing like a telco who can’t make a live call work correctly. While everyone sits on the bridge for 10+ minutes in the CB community, imagine every dollar wasted of employee this company time. All whilst the attendees wait to hear who of their peers and colleagues have been let go. Disgraceful.

I was told the number was 116 laid off. I feel really bad for the people let go.

Today was a sh*t show and an absolute disgrace. I am sorry for those of you who lost your jobs. It was def at least 300 and consisted mostly of manager positions but there were other positions as well. Some people were pulled in individually and some in a larger meeting.

It is not only management, and far more than 300.

I was part of ~80 people management and below that were given notice. Based on how it was done I can assume it was based on salary and not performance or experience. Not to mention the lack of professionalism that took place on the meeting. Very disappointed.

It's def more and not just managers

I heard it’s more than the 300 you state.