Has anyone heard of more layoffs today? I heard of one NYer (long-time IT) - and where there's smoke, there's fire.
Let's hear it!
12 replies (most recent on top)
rzh+1sFzMoUt - 100% agree! I was once proud to say that I work for Highmark, now I'm just ashamed to tell anyone! They no longer care about their employees in the states who have the right talent and knowledge in the health care business! So glad I'm close to retiring!
Funny isn’t it how all were from East side once again and 0 from the West.
Per the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
"Layoffs continued Thursday at health insurance and hospital network Highmark Health, with 98 jobs lost — all but three at enGen, an information technology subsidiary, company officials confirmed."
No way is this over.
Highmark and any other companies outsourcing jobs to other countries should have to pay more taxes and/or penalties. Then maybe this madness would stop!
Looks like the news is out, in the business journal article. Cannot believe the level of BS excuse that they were quoting. How exactly is this not for profit still operating in the way it’s operating. They’re profitable, but yet they are actively cutting.‘it’s one thing to cut low performers, but a 2 week non working period isn’t enough time to figure out the next steps. Anyways, this company has gone down hill and talks a big game
There were a significant number of friends let go in IT earlier today (engen). The direction for engen when their leader took over 5 years ago is a contrast from today. Its basically turned into and has brought out some seriously bad corporate habits. They’ve sunk an asinine amount of money into the guy’s former vendor while slicing up the rest of the company, where there’s actual value and outcomes. I have no idea why the board or parent company is still putting up with this mismanagement. They got rid of some really good talent today and the ones that are left are pretty frustrated…and will leave at some point. I think the city/state needs to rethink their tax breaks for a company that is beyond profitable.
I’ve also heard 95 (05.23.24) and more coming in June & July. The SVP was asked directly if more were coming in June….” I can tell you that there is nothing set in stone but there are no plans at this time”. Really?
@rzh+1sFzMoUt —. So perfectly written.
Got the ax earlier today. At least it was online. Severance is 2 weeks per year of service plus a few other things. I was looking to switch to another group and had just started that process, then this happened. Surprised this hasn’t happened sooner. The company has gone downhill in the decade I was there. They get a lot of tax breaks and are all about profits in the end. I was on the tech side, and they just threw a big conference earlier this month in Nashville. Happy for my time and colleagues I met over the past decade. But don’t beholden yourself to any company. Your just a number and when it comes down to you vs the decider, they will always cut you first.
In the glittering halls of Highmark, where wellness slogans echo like hollow mantras and innovation posters boast cutting-edge clip art, the company proudly declares itself the ultimate beacon of community, proactive care, and holistic mental health. Yet, beneath this glossy, Instagram-worthy facade lies a festering swamp of avarice and decay, where the true corporate motto seems to be "Profit Above All."
Employees who once felt valued now find themselves as mere numbers in a quarterly report, shuffled out the door faster than a drunk uncle at a wedding. "We're committed to wellness," Holmberg chirps, just as another batch of dedicated workers is sent packing, their jobs outsourced to distant lands where wages are measured in peanuts, if not shells. Meanwhile, the HR department dutifully sends out weekly emails about mindfulness, yoga, and healthy recipes, perhaps hoping that deep breathing and kale fritters will somehow soothe the sting of impending unemployment.
As service quality plummets to depths previously uncharted even by subterranean rodents, members and partners alike are left wondering if their "proactive care" includes being put on hold for hours or having your claim denied because it isn’t on the list of “profitable conditions”. Yet, through some twisted miracle of corporate doublespeak, Highmark continues to trumpet its "commitment to quality and transformative healthcare," as if the worsening conditions and rampant layoffs are but a mirage in the desert of reality.
The tragedy of it all would be almost poetic if it weren't so laughably absurd. In a recent town hall, the COO extolled the virtues of "holistic care," standing beneath a banner that ironically read, "People First." Little did the audience know, the banner itself was recycled from a previous slogan campaign: "Profits First, People Eventually." The mental health initiatives touted so fervently? Mostly an elaborate scheme to distract employees from the toxic work environment, with monthly "Wellness Wednesdays" where therapy is replaced by mandatory jazzercise sessions led by the out-of-work CFO.
Yes, Highmark is a tragicomedy of epic proportions, a living, breathing farce where the gap between image and reality is wider than the Grand Canyon. They lay off dedicated workers with all the subtlety of a bull in a china shop and replace them with outsourced labor so cheaply paid that even Jeff Bezos would cringe. But in their boardrooms, they raise their champagne flutes high, toasting to another successful quarter of maximizing profits at the expense of the very soul of their company. And as they do, one can't help but laugh through the tears at the sheer, surreal absurdity of it all.
Hearing 95 today - 5.23.24
Heard a few from IT. Not sure where else in the company. Happened today 5/23. Smh. This is probably it for the month. More to come in June about hmmmm the same time.