Thread regarding Southwestern Energy Co. layoffs

1. You people that say SWN is doing fine are delusional.

2. You people that say that SWN is only cutting the people that deserve to be cut, I hope you work for SWN, have kids, a mortgage and are promptly shown the exit. What a crappy thing to say, especially when you learn of the number of folks that will be cut.

3. Whoever approved of the deal with CHK in WV should be first on the list of those cut. The company will not survive that acquisition and won't be able to sell it to a greater fool. It is a mess as with anything that CHK touches.

My fellow tea party guests, those of you who have seats at the table know who you are. The rest will be joining Alice thru the looking glass. I wish all those leaving in the coming days and weeks good luck. They will need it in today's job hunt. We will lose a lot of very good friends and colleagues. No one deserves to leave the party before it is over. For some, like the White Rabbit, it is too late. For those of you saying people deserve to be let go, because they are worthless employees or contractors...a little surprise from the Mad Hatter. I was able to determine who you are. Perhaps an apology from you will stop me from sending your information to the Red Queen, maybe your name will not be added to her list, or maybe it is already on it.

Toast

Definitely layoffs tomorrow. Not a rumor. My boss told me.

Layoffs tmw.

Layoffs are coming. People that are saying they're not are either; lying, stupid or living with obama in his make believe socialist world!

Hang on and ride it out is all I can advise.

Upper management needs to man-up and fall on their swords for the poor management decisions. Everyone under them have done their jobs and contributed to being the right people doing the right thing. Upper management have failed the company and taken us into debt. That's what you get when you hire execs from other failed companies. Old SWN culture has been replaced with the failed cultures from other failed companies.

Everyone please quit. Give up any severance package you may be getting any bonus you may be getting and all of your unvested stock. It will also save the jobs of those who may be laid off that shouldn't be. Some of you are so stupid I hope you are laid off.

There will be no layoffs until after the board meetings those are at the end of the quarters, so late February. Except they have a special meeting next week.

there will be NO SWN employee layoffs. they are just going to stop using contractors.

Yeah, just go ahead and quit, give them exactly what they want!? Stupid!

Everyone should just quit SWN. That would show them

The WARN Act is not activated when a covered employer:

closes a temporary facility or completes a temporary project, and the employees working in the facility or temporary project were hired with the clear understanding that their employment would end with the closing of the work facility or the completion of the project; or closes a facility or operating unit because of a strike or a worker lock-out, and the closing is not intended to evade the purposes of the WARN Act.

The WARN Act also is not activated when the following coverage thresholds are unmet:

1) If a plant closing or a mass layoff results in fewer than 50 workers losing their jobs at a single employment site

2) If 50 to 499 workers lose their jobs and that number is less than 33 percent of the employer’s total, active workforce at a single employment site

3) If a layoff is for 6 months or less; or If work hours are not reduced 50 percent in each month of any 6-month period.

There are three exceptions to the full 60-day notice requirement; however, the notice must be provided as soon as practicable, even when these exceptions apply, and the employer must provide a statement of the reason for shortening the notice requirement in addition to fulfilling other notice information requirements. These three exceptions are:

1) Faltering company: When, before a plant closing, a company is actively seeking capital or business and reasonably, in good faith, believes that advance notice would preclude its ability to obtain such capital or business, and this new capital or business would allow the employer to avoid or postpone the shutdown for a reasonable period;

2) Unforeseeable business circumstances: When the closing or mass layoff is caused by business circumstances that were not reasonably foreseeable at the time that the 60-day notice would have been required (i.e., a business circumstance caused by some sudden, dramatic, and unexpected action(s) or condition(s) beyond the employer's control, such as a major order's unexpected cancellation); or

3) Natural disaster: When a plant closing or mass layoff is the direct result of a natural disaster such as a flood, an earthquake, a drought, a storm, a tidal wave, or the similar effects of nature. In such cases, notice may be given after the event.

A lot of people wasting time around the office. I hope I get invited to the weddings that are being planned by people that need to be let go

Good luck on 60-days of pay. Paid through Jan is more likely.

@FuYSAvG-2udy if they don't comply with WARN I think they have to give 60 days of pay

Anybody know what the severance package was like for the last round?

I get that.

None of us know what will happen or when. We need to prepare for the worst and focus on our future. The lack of communication from management speaks volumes. Perhaps people would "SHUT UP" if they didn't have to read between the unspoken lines and distant management. Not sure who is in charge of SWN anymore, nothing from Way, nothing from the BOD, and our management and employees are left in a cold, dark place.

There are NO layoff going on. Everyone SHUT YOUR MOUTH AND DO YOUR JOBS.

We are toast!

"Hurry up" means if their are layoffs that someone loses their job. Sitting uncomfortably waiting means everyone is still "earning" a paycheck. Unless you are only thinking of the company's endgame, be uncomfortable. Nobody wants to be the person laid off.

If SWN got rid of the "useless" employees, then why are there so many managers still there?

@FuYSAvG-1sjy why so mean? Apparently SWN hired people they thought were useful. Though some may be laid off this doesn't mean they are "useles" workers. Praying for all the SWN employees, and that @FuYSAvG-1sjys begins to feel some compassion for people.

next week SWN will get rid of half its work force.

they will only get rid of useless workers.

I don't know what to think but if productivity is down it could happen soon.

Who thinks this is happening next week?

True, you guys have already suffered at least a month.

Drawing this out longer sucks...they just need to hurry up and announce layoffs now so we all can move on with our lives

There is a lot of speculating based on minimal information. What is known is that mid-December during an investor call Mueller stated that the rigs would be laid down in the Fayetteville. This has happened and the last well fracked, and based on the rig reports there is minimal activity in the Marcellus and WV. SWN now has a new CEO and SWN's 4th quarter financial reports and 2016 budget should be available to the public in a few more weeks.

Devon, Chesapeake, Weatherford, Baker Hughes, NOV, BP, Chevron, SandRidge and many other E & P Operators are laying off staff that are not needed to maintain wells during the next 18 months. Over the next 18 months most operators will be getting by on thin margins while trying to manage overleveraged balance sheets. Several of these operators have provided advanced notice of the layoffs to the employees and public, state, and federal officials to comply with the WARN act. I hope for the sake of the SWN employees that they are given at least 60 days notice to come to terms with the likelihood of being swept up into this storm of layoffs throughout the industry. If they are not given notice, they need to be given a fair severance, they and their families shouldn't have to pay for SWN's poor management. Decisions were made well beyond the control of these people.

massive layoffs are about to happen. They just aren't sure how to deal with it. If it were only a couple of hundred, they would have happened a week ago. They are simply trying to work out how to deal with 800+ layoffs at once.

What idiot believes that only bad employees get laid off? You don't know what you are talking about. Are you an Engineer? Accountant? Manager? Expert in Human Resources? Of course not.

I would like to say a word of encouragment on all of this. First, every since this new fear of layoffs has come around, the for sure date put forward was wrong. This is likely due to the fact that no one, including senior manegment are ceratain about if and when such layoffs need to take place.

Second, the company has not already had the giant round of layoffs. It is my impression that they are actively trying to figure out a balance between the various basin demands, production goals, cash flow, and other market drivers that makes this a pretty challenging environment. Other than a few companies that were forced to hedge due to previous poor financial performance, almost no major E&P have an official budget. It is not SWN specific, it is a market issue.

Last, the company has cashflow currently and can meet its obligations. SWN is not going bankrupt and that takes only a few seconds looking at SEC filings to get that picture. There are other's such as PennVirginia, SandRidge, and Goodrich that likely are about to. So the concept of SWN going bankrupt in the near term simply is unfounded.

Now the bad news. Based on the market and the current asset base, there is a likelyhood that personal may need to be moved, or let go as the company needs to look at the highest return assets to invest a likely smaller budget. The highest return basin by almost all metrics is the Marcellus as far as areas SWN operates in. I doubt that means that is the only one they willl continue to operate in, but it does seem reasonalbe to focus on it. This is the nature of the oil patch. If you spend enough time in it you will see that unless an area has multiple targets, such as the Permian, there will be growth periods while the field devolops and then declines as the final wells are drilled. That is likely why they purchased WV as it is a rarity like the Permian in that it has multiple target. That therefore gives a window for longer growth and that utimatley it what drives all companies.

Now I am sure that people will continue to post every rumor on this sight and occasionally a grain of truth will sneak in. I would encourage people to not waste much time on here until there are actual layoffs. Or, for fun look at what every other E&P companies comments are on upcoming layoffs. They pretty much all have them and some have way more negative and personal issues than this thread.

It is a shame that this company went down the drain.

The SWN folks getting laid off deserve it. They are only cutting people that don't do a good job. If you add value your not going anywhere!!!

It is a shame that layoffs will occur. This was a great company. They need to get rid of some SVPs and VP. Why do you need two VPs in Land? The controller is useless why not get rid of him? What the heck is the SVP of all this V+ crap? Seems like that V+ is a complete failure. They don't follow the formula anyway. And why is there a EVP and SVP over new ventures. Cut one out and save some money!

They are not acting in the best interest of shareholders. Rather, this company is protecting the execs at the top who are trying to hold out to get their golden parachute. The only reason that Mueller "retired" is that he would face a reelection battle on the board. So he "retired" to give the appearance that the company is changing direction. If shareholders are smart they won't vote for Bill Way since he is obviously too close to the old regime.

why are you people making these rumors that there will be a BIG layoff next week. if you know your being laid off next week then you already know your not a good employee. if your that bad with SWN I am sure your will be a great employee for another company lol. People like you ruined the company. Looks like SWN made the mistake of hiring the wrong people for the job and now they are getting rid of those people.

I will be one of the people gone. It's not a rumor or someone trying to scare someone. They are trying to prepare some people that haven't come to terms with reality. The 1000 number might be close but it will be company wide. A handful will remain.

Yupperrr!!

Next Thursday SWN will layoff over 1000 employees