WLS -> WLN -> RIF.
I want to say it was fun, but it wasn't. It was very miserable, and I'm 100% positive being poor is going to be better. I'll enjoy watching VZ burn while I sip my coffee, and no longer worry about it.
Good luck to those that remain. Don't be naive, it's just a matter of time before you'll be impacted. Good worker, poor worker - it doesn't matter.
Start planning for it now, so that when it happens - you won't care. You'll welcome it!
"It's coming to a point that doing your job well isn't enough."
Enough for what? You're still paid, aren't you? The company keeps you until they don't want to keep you. Since when is there some guarantee of lifetime employment in any company? Most people are hired and let go at the whim of any company. That's life. Any company does all they can to make you believe that sacrificing gets you more, but we all know that is only temporary and that at the end of the day they ditch you if they want to. Welcome to reality.
2pmt: I understand the strings that come with the severance, but it's still part of the employment package. In my new job, there isn't any severance (and the client org I work with offers its employees one week per year for the first 15 years). So just comparing to what you might get elsewhere, and you can get RIFd from anywhere.
If you don't have a real chance of winning by suing (and I think most people don't) then the severance pay is real money and the strings don't really matter...
@rvg. Your right the benefits are good but don't be fooled by the severance. The dollar amount may look good and will be a big help in the days ahead but the only reason that severance is given is to protect the company against wrongful termination lawsuits. You have to sign a waiver that you do not hold the company responsible and if any legal proceedings are persued in the future then you will have to pay the severance back.
I had to layoff almost entire team on 11/16. I got hit, my boss got it..... they kept few people. It was especially hard to layoff people when you did not participate in the decision who goes and who stays. In three years at vZ I built the team and developed engineers. On the last day I had to layoff almost all of them and got laid off myself.....
It was some experience. I have done some layoff in previous employers but I had say so on who should go based on performance and other reasons.
Post - So Many People. Gee, nice to see someone naive enough to still believe that American management believes in hard work and pays for it. Oh, in 1912 maybe but today? Hey, if I can fire someone and replace with a newly minted H1-B and base it in Bangalore? Firms saves a ton of money and benefit cost. Way to go? Forget good workers, long years, putting in the day's work for a day's pay. American management does not give a tinker's damn for that anymore.
It's coming to a point that doing your job well isn't enough. It seems the expectations are, you do your job and another half. Or, be ready to become part of bottom 10% and consequently axed.
Like the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy reference. And yes, it's apt - leaving before the place blows up.
Actually, with the right attitude VZ can be a good choice. The benefits (including severance) are very good, and the salary can be pretty good too (depending on which job). Then you do your job to whatever level you feel happy with, and be prepared to leave when things get too unpleasant or if you are RIFd.
Providing you don't view it as a job for life, or something you need to put every ounce of effort into, it's OK. Ethics don't really come into it, it's a job, not something you are doing to better humankind....
@vel - what a loser thinks VZ is a good company. Zero integrity at Verizon.
Stop drinking the Kool aid! The company doesn't care about you, and you shouldn't care about it. Good worker, poor worker means something. It means you should focus on you, and not the company.
Why kill yourself slaving away when that won't be reciprocated? The company doesn't care. They will RIF you to protect execs bonuses and dividends to stock holders. It has nothing to do with work performance. These RIFs are 100% driven by greed.
Do you think Lowell ever had to worry about this sh-- when he started working for the company?
Vel- you sound like a real D bag. I worked hard for almost 20 years at this flaming dumpster fire of a company and left on my own terms but I agree with OP. Drink some more of that big red Kool Aid.
So many people act like they're doing the company a favor by being a good worker when in reality that is the expectation here and anywhere. Being anything else than a good worker is really a question of personal integrity. If you don't have it, you bring that home with you and affect your family like a bad disease. It is sad that good workers have been affected this week along with the not so good, so you can believe this current round didn't use worker productivity as the primary driver. Regardless, someone with integrity does their job. Why? Because that is what they are paid to do.