Many have listed their opinions on the layoffs and why they have occurred. I'm curious as to how many people questioned the reasons and what they were told. For example, during the layoff announcement did you ask why you were selected? If so what was your leaders response?
16 replies (most recent on top)
If you work at the Verizon Piscataway NJ office and you're not Indian...you better look for a new job at all times. I swear they should stop kidding themselves and just serve Indian food every day there in the cafeteria.
I DID ask and the response, "budget reductions", straight from the notice paper!
Have the lawyers look at the 2015 Nov RIF. I bet that was even more age related.
Keep ur Eye on the board. Lawyers looking right now if Verizon did target specific groups to RIF, thats a no-no. So far, many many 50+ and heavy users of company benifits i.e. insurance.
Gave up my severance to fimd this out pluse 50k of my own money time for myself to poke the bear.
"It's the dunning-kruger effect"
For many of my years at GTE and then Verizon, when there were small layoffs, I did notice this effect: those of the RIFd that I knew were pretty much the ones I would have RIFd, and most of them were very surprised, stating what a great job they had done when most of the group regarded them as the weakest performers. Later on, with big RIFs, it was much less clear, and seemed more driven by budget.
And of course when I was RIF'd, that was purely age and salary, nothing to do with competence!
(Actually, given that someone had to go from my immediate team, I would have chosen me as well).
It has nothing to do with performance in most cases. Don’t kid yourself that you will avoid getting hit because you are a top performer.
I was way more productive than my colleague who does the same job, but I was paid more, was over 50 and didn’t have as close a relationship with the manager.
I am of the '15 crop. In my department they went straight by age.
Laid off in IT on the 16th. Names too short.
What if they could answer:
It was because you were the slowest buffalo.
It's the dunning-kruger effect, you wouldn't understand.
It's because you are the hardest worker and make the rest look bad.
The answer you're looking for is the one that validates your feelings? F--- validation - move the f--- on. Take what you've learned and apply it to the path forward and let this dinosaur with it's toxic culture calcify beneath the sands of time.
Constant RIF cycles are the new norm for Wireless. Better get used to it.
Right now they are RIFfing underperformers, volunteers and others deemed “difficult to manage”. After that, Mgt starts looking for excuses to place you on the RIF list and the workplace becomes more toxic than ever as the siloing, backstabbing and throwing your peers under the bus to avoid the RIF increases. It becomes a matter of survival vs performance. Verizon is one of the only large companies to still use stack ranking. Most other companies gave up on it years ago for the above reasons.
Do your jobs, document EVERYTHING, CYA and buckle up!
RIFs will be happening EVERY YEAR , so do not get comfortable in your position. Keep your resume updated and have a box for your personal items under your desk , ready to go.
Take a personal day and go on a job interviews / job fairs to see how much you are worth on the open market. You will be surprised and maybe NOT pleasantly.
@qsv, I wish there were a means of giving your comment a thumbs up!
the selection process, in conjunction with private one-on-ones with the supervisors and the senior managers, will focus on productivity as well as any challenges the supervisor feels he has with a particular employee. budgetary limits are also reviewed. although federal and state law give the specifics of employee termination, the chances of a company being cited are slim unless an aggregate works with an outside attorney who specializes in employments law, by state, in order to connect the dots. power in numbers is the only way to rectify the underhanded nature of VZ RIF processes.
I'm trying to understand how anyone that has worked for this company 20+ years could be shocked about anything!
Verizon HR would just lie anyway....
At the point they hand you your RIF paperwork the average person is too shocked to think of questions especially if they were blindsided like I was with no warning and 20+ years with the company. Your RIF paperwork has your severance amounts etc. Then they have a chance to participate in a conference call to explain the 'package' and answer questions. That is held by the HR dept.