#culture

Centene paid $17.3 BILLION for a Medicare growth engine. Seven years later, the goal is break even.

WellCare was sold as a “leading Medicare platform” for growth. As recently as 2023, Medicare Advantage was still a “critical area of future growth.”

Fast-forward to 2027. Nearly one-third of MA plans are being cut and standard MA is exiting 344 counties. What remains is increasingly being refocused around D-SNPs and dual-eligible members — essentially using Centene’s Medicaid footprint as the feeder into Medicare instead of competing broadly in MA. And for 2026, just 6% of Centene’s MA members were in plans receiving Medicare quality bonus payments, versus 68% industrywide.

Sarah London inherited this one. Drew Asher didn’t. He was WellCare’s CFO when Centene bought it, and he’s Centene’s CFO today. Seven years later, the “growth platform” is smaller, being rebuilt around a very different strategy, and trying to get back to zero.

Members lose plans, employees lose jobs, and shareholders absorb the value destruction. Executives who leave can walk away with very nice parting gifts. And one of the few executives with a front-row seat on both sides of the original $17.3B deal is still sitting in the CFO chair. He’s even hanging around for ANOTHER YEAR.

So where exactly is the executive accountability? cough Sarah cough

Because cutting plans, markets, and employees isn’t executive accountability. It’s executive accountability outsourced to everyone but the executives. (Yeah, I used “outsourced” intentionally.) 😂

Personally, I think Ford lost its way beginning with hiring Jim Hackett as CEO.

I think it’s time we start being honest about the current state of the new ODW CSG tool.

There are widespread reports from multiple sales teams that the tool simply isn’t working as expected. What’s even more frustrating is the almost dismissive attitude we’re receiving from some support teams when these issues are raised.

The problems are continuing to pile up.

Pricing is significantly different from what the previous tool provided, in some cases making quotes completely uncompetitive or nearly impossible to explain to customers.

Alignment simply isn’t there.

Issues are met with, “Raise a ticket.”

Those tickets can then sit for days before being addressed, only to be rejected for multiple reasons rather than actually resolving the underlying issue.

Work is now building up to two weeks old because we can’t quote. Projects haven’t been transferred over properly, creating even more disruption.

Front-line sales teams are being left to professionally explain delays, system issues, and unexpected price increases to customers, while often not having a clear explanation ourselves.

And this isn’t just an operational issue anymore.

People are genuinely struggling with the stress and frustration. I’ve personally seen people becoming extremely upset by the situation, and I can say that this is now affecting my own mental health as well. I’m certain I’m not the only person feeling this way.

My question is: is there an appropriate channel to formally report this, such as Ethics or another independent escalation route?

If multiple people independently document and report the same issues, at least there would be a formal paper trail demonstrating the scale and impact of what is happening.

Wouldn’t the logical approach be to pause the rollout, fix the underlying issues, properly migrate the outstanding projects, validate the pricing and alignment, and then release the tool once it is actually ready for production?

Right now, it feels like the front line is being asked to absorb the consequences of a tool that simply wasn’t ready.

M7 MBA here. You do short term cost reductions on a company that isn't profitable. Nike IS profitable.

We have this constant pressure for growth, as any publicly traded company has. The economy isn't at its best years, sure. Nike can and will improve its supply chain. Makes sense.

But they are missing the core problem: (1) how to make professional athletes inspire the new generation of sports apparel user (2) what products are relevant to these geographies we want to grow

Number three would be how to make the WANTED products are available on the right places. Then I agree with the supply chain improvement narrative. But fix the first two product problems first.

We're still doubling down on iconic personalities like Michael Jordan, Cristiano Ronaldo . These are relevant and crucial to our past growth, but they will be less and less relevant , especially worldwide.

Top chasing the tail. We need ki-ler products and personalities to inspire consumers

If you were let go from Apache, for you would you say best thing that ever happened or you wish you were still with them?

Layoffs, bad execution, bad people managers, no congruent operating procedures or plans. Not even my dog thinks TMO is running right 😂

I wish I was joking. what an embarrassment.

I've been here a long time. I've defended this company to my family, my friends, recruiters who called. I've pushed our products at backyard barbecues when it wasn't easy to. And for years a lot of us have been saying the same thing in every employee survey, fix the customer experience. We said it over and over. Nobody listened.

Look at where we are now. We lost 654K broadband subs last year and another 232K so far this year. KeyBanc thinks we lose 558K more this year and 665K next year, and they just downgraded us with an $18 target. Fiber is overbuilding our footprint about twice as fast as it was a couple years ago and competitors are selling gig for $30 to $40 a month. The buyback is paused. The stock fell 6% the day they announced the transformation. Wall Street has a name for companies like this, a melting ice cube. And our leadership's plan is to make sure we're all in the building to watch it melt.

Most of us heard about the biggest cost transformation in company history from Wall Street, same as everyone else. No town hall, no memo, not even a heads up. But the RTO change? Every SVP, VP, director and manager had that message and delivered it in what felt like a day. Impressive honestly. So this company knows exactly how to cascade information when it wants to. They just decided what we get to hear.

And good luck finding the actual RTO policy. It isn't in the handbook. There's no written requirement ANYWHERE. It's all verbal and it changes depending on your leader, your org, honestly depending on who you are that week. Calling that a policy is generous, it's pressure. If you work here, email your manager and ask them to point you to the written policy so you know you're meeting it. If they can't, you have your answer.

Wall Street doesn't give a sh-t how many days we're in the building. Nobody has ever upgraded a stock because badge swipes went up. What the market wants is a new direction, pricing customers will actually stay for, and real retention. And if this team can't deliver that, they want NEW LEADERSHIP. You can't badge your way back to Wall Street.

When a stock hits a 13 year low somebody isn't doing their job. And let's stop pretending we don't know who. The problem was never the people in the building. It's the people LEADING the building. We didn't set the pricing. We didn't ignore years of feedback about the customer experience. We didn't let fiber walk into our footprint. We didn't tell Wall Street about a transformation before telling our own people. LEADERSHIP did. You run this company, you made these calls, and the stock is your scorecard. Dragging us in another day doesn't change who's responsible for where we are.

So here's an RTO mandate I'd actually support. Every executive in the office five days a week, plus weekends as needed, until the stock is back up. Spend that time with customers, fix pricing, figure out how to stop losing subs. I'll even save you a parking spot. The job was always yours. Do it.

And to the board. This happened on your watch too. You approved this direction, you signed off on these leaders, and you've watched the stock slide for months. Thinking more badge swipes will fix a company in decline is honestly SHAMEFUL, and if nobody in that boardroom is saying it out loud, then consider this your wake up call. The market is telling you it wants a different direction. Maybe it's time to listen and find the people who can lead it.

Leadership, stop managing our desks. DO YOUR JOB.

United Way is part of the VLO cult. Doesn’t impact earnings or stock price. But an attempt to influence communities and the company image. Especially around refineries, for when there is an explosion / fire / release of material. You will be required to contribute and told the amount.

After you leave VLO, they will tell United Way, and in a few weeks you will receive a letter from United Way suggesting that you continue your contributions. If you don’t contribute to United Way directly, they will tell VLO, and you will be contacted by VLO with “encouragement” to contribute to United Way.

The cult is like the Hotel California, you can check out, but you can never leave.

Union could fix Nikes problems. We can walk off

why I see workers in their offices staring at work computers, lights off from 8-5 (long hours) What are they working on? Anyone know?

Still can’t believe these bozos never withheld their bonuses, raises, or did anything of material significance to show they are in the trenches. A lot of talk about sports leadership but none of the values demonstrated.

VA and his lunatic crew need to go first, with EH right behind them. EH has been letting more people go than JD ever did. At this rate, VA will soon take over completely and water the brand down to something barely recognizable.

How is it fair that everyone is required to return to office 3 days when some are still eligible to work remotely. It should be the same across the board. There is a manager in TA who is remote and her employees are in office. Lots of favoritism. There is no way someone in a manager role should be remote.

EH is a pathetic leader.
The board is a disaster.
PK is fading.
JD was also a disaster.
SKIMs. What can I say. DISASTER.

They never trusted the people close to the work and close to the customers to inform decisions. Old guard = fatal decision-making.

resigned today. Best. Feeling. Ever. to be out of this absolute mess. Out of textbooks. No more professors and stupid bookstores and tech that doesn’t work.

It’s so wrong to treat employees this way ! It’s a totally messy scenario! They are wanting to pay less so no calls lowers ranks they think they are smart but they are not it’s all being documented

Only took Frank 5 years to destroy a company and culture that had existed for 40 years. That's an incredible testament to his skills. That Bankster and his team could turn anything into a tu-d.

Truist is not a democracy! If your not in a position of effect change or a major voting shareholder, you are wasting you time writing/complaining to Santa Clause on this website. Only you are in charge of your career. If you are unhappy or your boss/leadership puts themselves first, you need to do the same and move on and look for something better. Waiting around for things to get better or the next layoff is a fools game.

I have followed this advise and rest assured, your job will be posted within a few weeks for the next su---r to come along. Your replacement will figure things out and the cycle will continue.

You know what to do. Over and out.

I appreciate that EH is claiming there is "a" long term plan. But that is not enough.

It will help make the numbers look good with a smaller footprint, maybe a more efficient supply chain. A different geography organization... fine.

But that's not enough.

Nike is built on athlete stories, high performing products. Products that people want and are proud to use. I mean gosh, I grew up watching Serena Williams and LeBron James making history... but the newer generation doesn't 100% relate to them, especially in the international markets. We need more.

The economy isn't great. It actually is really bad... but it won't be bad forever.

When it does improve, will we be ready? Will we have the hot new products that the market wants to buy? Stop reacting to short term measures... show some resilience.

The writing is on the wall. Project team leadership being stacked with downstreamers who know nothing about the upstream. Get ready for a wave of projects to fail. Not everything is as easy as Guyana and UNCON.

If you accept that you are disrespecting you self what a joke!!

Just sell the company in pieces and get it over with lest stop kidding out selfs we all know is over!!

Here comes to toxic positivity, all the id--ts who drink the kool aid will tom tom about how they are lucky to work for such a great brand and then have learnt so much and of course the people!
Either they are true id--ts or they trying to su-k up the the VPs hoping they will get to keep their jobs with this toxic sh-t! Happens every time.

Honestly, I’m really disappointed by what’s been happening at Digital Surgery.

It’s hard to watch good people, especially good engineers, leave one after another over the past year. These are people who worked hard, cared about what they were building, and actually wanted the company to succeed.

At the same time, it feels like the people who make the most noise, talk the most sh-t, and play the politics game are the ones getting rewarded and promoted.

That’s incredibly frustrating.

No one should have to shout the loudest, put other people down, or play games just to be recognised. Good work should matter. Being decent to your colleagues should matter. Being professional should matter.

And when people are being gaslighted or treated unprofessionally, eventually they stop fighting it and they leave.

That’s the part that really hurts. Watching talented people walk away while the behaviour that pushed them out seems to continue.

There is something seriously wrong when losing good engineers becomes normal and nobody seems to stop and ask why.

Can’t believed I’ve been here long enough to see the running joke of new GEOs and disbanding APLA becoming a reality.

What else did we missed?

I would never have believed I would say this 10 years ago, but I miss the days when executives would just come out and say the word layoff. All this bullsh-t about transformation or transforming the way we do business is ridiculous. We all know at the end of a transformation there will be less people in the team.

They want more layers. Common sense does not work for this company. NOT aLL, but Most current, designers are useless and design worthless cr-p too.

Zero opportunities for growth and there was so many pricks up in personal business who cared about being a desk slave in the office and physical optics more than the work you do and help your team with!! Bunch of pathetic leaders who cannot lead and focus on all the wrong things

Looks like there are talks about being required to be in the office of YOUR assigned BOA location as it shows in Corporate Directory. If you must go to another building that you are NOT assigned to you may have to start signing up as a "Visitor" and no longer may have permanent access to multiple locations for which your LOB is paying for assigned building for each employee. Thanks to those who have been abusing and finding away around the misuse of drop in spaces at Ballantyne. I hope this doesn't occur because I don't want to have to pay $150-$200 a month for parking uptown Charlotte. Anyone heard anything about this possibly rolling out across the bank?

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
This is the umpteenth round of layoffs and every time they sell us a story that this time it will be different. This is like a cheating spouse tell their partner they won’t cheat the next time.
When will they learn that the issue is not the employees but the leaders who make the decisions and put us in this spot.
Can’t even quit cos the stock is in the toilet and all the last few years stock options isn’t worth jack!
How…just how??

How can you move to PACE when it’s so obvious everyone will turn that into “you need a PACEMAKER”? Bad PR move.

I realize that there was never going to be a great name with all of the various pieces, but no one I know knows what Skydance is. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the narcissist nepo baby went with the name of his company but I'm surprised that there aren't more adults in the room to talk him out of doing a d-mb.

So much pageantry. So much suspense. All for a game of thrones style underwhelming finale.

Four or five months heads up that "we'll be making adjustments throughout fy27 and we don't know who will be impacted" isn't compassion or clarity. Its chemotherapy for terminal cancer.

Just take me out back on a friday and give me the ol' yeller treatment. Or to HR and give me a box to put my stuff in. We dont need to do this elaborate charade.

Women’s bball shoes are not going to get teens wearing our products again
Shipping jobs to India are not going to get teens wearing our products again
Running shoes are not going to get teens wearing our products again
Skims are not going to get teens wearing our products again
Acg is not going to get teens wearing our products again
Hiring million dollar vp’s is not going to get teens wearing our products again

Grab a spot at JBS to witness the first ever lap around the lake in the buff. I am all set ....

I'm convinced that the top executives get some kind of curated list of the feedback that is written here.

I saw several complaints in this site that "there is no long-term plan". Maybe there is, maybe there isn't... but now EH is claiming there is one. He specifically quoted we "are not reacting quarter to quarter". It's the first time in a while I see a narrative like this.

Time to write something constructive. Don't say "fire department X"... now is not the time to point fingers at colleagues. They are still probably figuring out what to actually do, what will turn the ship.

I just wish we got one that makes a bit more sense than this mess.

Who else is excited to hear the emperor with no clothes sell us a full assortment during the all hands that is about to start?

Wait three years to drop a signature shoe for possibly your highest potential signature athlete in your stable.

When you finally drop it, you drop it on the day that she gets eliminated from the playoffs

And even worse, the headlines for your company are dominated by your incompetence so guess what no one is talking about.. hint… rhymes with Baitlin Bark Boos

This team can’t win now, later or ever.