#employeerelations

And it never gets easier. I'm now almost hopeful about getting laid off just to put a stop to it. Almost.

g'day mates!
Cisco Earnings Call today. Layoffs will be announced (prolly)

It is not whether an LR happens today but rather the toxic culture Cisco has become. Annual goals have shrunk to half-year goals. Sales got consolidated with a paycut. partner 360 is an unpopular, overly complex disaster that was the solution to a problem that never existed.
Cisco has gone all in on AI at the expense of their core strength which has eluded them for years now. They simply forgot that it was the people, specifically the ravenous horde of engineers, that made Cisco successful. Those engineers are being replaced by upskilled sales people because the ELT believes the magical AI genie can replace a CCIE.

The sad truth is that it can and it will. Not yet but the ELT has shifted their focus from long term profitability to value extraction. They are just pulling the meat off of a dead elephant.

reminder that Cisco exists to generate profits and returns for shareholders. Thats it. Stock valuations are forward looking. The stock price is a reflection of the predicted future earnings of the company. CSCO stock did not rise because Cisco had a good quarter or year (in the past) . CSCO rose because Cisco leadership showed that they are willing to engage in permanent, ongoing labor cost reductions (in the form of frequent LRs) and drive down wages (changing roles and compensation plans) in order to generate profits and returns for shareholders. The street loves that. Fewer employees and lower wages per remaining employee leads to great short term profits and creates an enormous amount of pressure inside the workforce. AI is used to surveille and monitor employees. AI is getting better at replacing tasks and complete jobs. The coveted CCIE is now an LLM (Deep Network Model) that was trained by long term cisco employees.

The Hunger Games have begun inside Cisco. Wage reductions have started. Its a race to the bottom and the ELT will squeeze every drop of profit out of the survivors while they train their AI replacements in real-time.

.. I appreciated going out like the ending of an 80s movie .. middle fingers up and walking away. Good riddance!

The Clark County School District is providing financial assistance for students to attend schools with better academic performance. This new transportation grant program aims to ease the burden for families utilizing open enrollment. Eligible students can receive up to $1,000 to cover travel costs to higher-rated schools. The district also reported near-full staffing and no budget-related layoffs for the upcoming school year. This stability is a positive sign as the new academic term approaches.

Las Vegas, Nevada

https://mvprogress.com/2026/08/11/clark-county-superintendent-touts-transportation-grants-no-layoffs-ahead-of-school-year/

Mission Simplify: layoffs, outsourcing, and offshore hiring (through Alorica and JobHai). Employees ask: who's really benefiting?

Mission Simplify cuts jobs while offshore hiring grows. Employee trust and morale continue to erode.

As U.S. jobs disappear and offshore roles expand, many see Mission Simplify as anything but simple.

$365M in severance. Offshore hiring expands. Employees question the direction of Mission Simplify.

The bridge between leadership and employees weakens when layoffs and offshore expansion occur together.

Mission Simplify: American jobs out, offshore jobs in. Workers and members are taking notice.

Someone in India is more valuable than you right now.
Londons Bridges Falling Down!

A former senior editor has confirmed significant staff layoffs at BrooklynVegan. He stated that he and nearly all other employees were let go. Another former editor also announced her departure after a long tenure. Reports indicate layoffs may have also occurred at other music publications owned by the same parent company. These other layoffs have not yet been officially confirmed.

New York, NY

https://xpn.org/brooklynvegan-senior-editor-confirms-staff-layoffs/

Just one more opportunity to AEOI please! - Mike, ELT and HR are you listening? If most of us knew how bad it was going to be we would have put our hands up right away. Some of us need the cushion before making our next move.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/08/10/business/rapid7-layoffs/

Another 300 redundancies. Has anyone got more information on this?

I got the emails yesterday to confirm all of my personal information, emergency contacts and mailing address. I know they do this here and there, but it also seems like they have done this right before a big cut.

I have no basis for this - just my gut. I guess we'll see what happens. Either way, at least it'll be done and I can stop worrying - 15 years of this garbage and I've had enough.

It's started here, sad to share, we've received an email today, whole my team. I thought my role in sales is secure, but it been told by HR that this time is most of pre-sales and 30-40% sales will be ripped.
15 years and always overachievement means nothing. even president club award 6 years ago.

Anyone from any call center being laid off? I saw so many threads saying we “should be worried and no ones safe” yet everyone i know from the call center is still here and not laid off

My understanding is that today is the second of three days of layoffs. Did you get an ominous meeting today? What department was affected?
Also my condolences in advance. This is terrible.

Does anyone have manager-level insight into the new WPE policy? My manager gave a presentation that was clearly built with Copilot based on what they learned in manager training, and the rules seem pretty aggressive. For example, even if your kid, a dependent, or a pet is sick, you’re still required to come into the office — no exceptions carved out for that. On top of the inflexibility, we’re expected to absorb whatever extra costs come with that (childcare, pet care, etc.) on pay that’s already not great.

When we tried to ask clarifying questions, my skip-level shut it down, saying that asking questions suggests you’re trying to get around the policy rather than follow it.

I’m not looking to fight this — I want to understand it well enough to actually comply, without getting flagged as difficult just for asking how it works. Has anyone found a way to get real answers without triggering that reaction?

Just received invite for Thu Aug 27.

I can’t listen to this drivel anymore, but for those that do join please insure you are recording.

One of these days the narcissistic baldy will say something that will get him canned. God willing.

Does anyone know if anymore vertex / OIC1’s are getting laid off this week ? or was it just yesterday for them? I know of some vertexer’s who got laid off but wasn’t sure if they are doing more from this department

Just make an educated guess when asked. Who knows where anyone will be for the holidays, it feels like a long ways away.

Just wondering if they’ve all been let go yet. There was one group (investment services) that was still hanging in there as work from home but I was wondering if they still are or if they got let go?

I work for a team that manages OIM data. I reported seeing account deactivations being enqueued before the last round of layoffs and got some denial pushback from people here. Well I just wanted to say, again, I’m seeing account deactivations being enqueued in our system. I can’t share who since I’m not going to make that query in my name (I just maintain the health of the databases). But the tables are populating.

Hope everyone will be ok. I lost some friends in the last big round.

Well, I guess it was finally my turn.

On August 10th, I received a Teams invite for a “prioritized meeting.” I already knew what it was before I joined. I’ve been following these posts and paying attention to what has been happening within Centene, so I wasn’t surprised.

And strangely enough, I’m not sad. I’m not angry. I really don’t feel any type of way about it. I think that’s because I’ve seen the writing on the wall for a long time.

I’ve been with Centene for 8 years, and one thing I’ve learned is not to get too comfortable here.

For those who don’t know the history, Centene completed its acquisition of WellCare in January 2020. In 2021, Centene announced a restructuring that eliminated approximately 3,000 employees and 1,500 open positions. Then in 2023, another approximately 2,000 employees were laid off. And now here we are in 2026 going through another major restructuring.

At some point, you have to recognize the pattern.

And I want people who were impacted to understand something: this says more about the company than it does about you or your ability to do your job.

My experience with the culture at Centene has not been a positive one. There is a lot of “buddy-buddy” behavior, favoritism and bias. Sometimes the environment honestly gives mean girl/mean boy energy. The company talks about having an open-door policy, but from my experience, that door doesn't always feel very open. You can raise concerns, provide documentation and go through the appropriate channels and still walk away feeling like absolutely nothing was addressed.

I've also watched employees be expected to take on responsibilities outside of what they were originally hired to do, sometimes without the title or compensation that should come with that additional responsibility.

And I’ll say this carefully because I don't throw accusations of racism around lightly: there were situations I personally witnessed or experienced where the difference in how certain groups of employees were treated made me question whether race or other biases played a role. That's my experience and my observation.

I worked as a Business Analyst within the Florida health plan organization, and the culture within my area simply was not what Centene publicly says its culture is supposed to represent.

What I also struggle to understand about these reductions is how the company determines where the cuts are made. If membership and health-plan performance are major drivers, I would expect performance at the health-plan level to be a significant part of those decisions. Instead, employees are left trying to understand why certain positions and departments are eliminated while others remain.

And yes, companies are moving toward AI, automation and doing more with fewer people. That's reality. But companies still have a responsibility to remember that the numbers on an organizational chart represent actual people.

Even the way my notification was handled left a bad taste in my mouth. I was told I could take the remainder of the day off. Afterward, a meeting was held where my situation was discussed with others. I found that extremely tacky and unnecessary. If I wanted coworkers to know that I had been laid off, I should have been allowed to tell them myself.

But at the end of the day, it is what it is.

For everyone who was impacted: don't automatically look at this as the worst thing that could happen to you. Sometimes something that feels like a door closing is really pushing you toward something better. There are companies out here that will value your experience, compensate you fairly and treat you like a human being instead of a headcount.

And for those who survived this round: please don't get comfortable.

Eight years taught me that longevity does not equal security. Your performance does not guarantee security. Your knowledge does not guarantee security. Being loyal to a company does not mean the company will be loyal to you.

Do your job. Learn everything you can. Build your résumé. Keep your LinkedIn updated. Build relationships outside of Centene. Keep your certifications current. And always have a Plan B.

I don't know what the future holds for Centene. Maybe things will improve. I hope they do for the employees who remain.

But Centene also has to understand that repeated restructuring and employee experiences eventually become part of a company's reputation. When people start saying, “Don't apply there because you'll eventually get laid off” or “Don't work there because of the culture,” that's something leadership should pay attention to.

To everybody affected by this round: keep your head up.

This may not be the ending.

It may be your exit.

Lovelace Health System has laid off approximately 43 employees. The cuts primarily impact administrative and support positions. This represents about 1.6% of the local workforce. The company cited rising costs and a difficult policy landscape as reasons for the reductions. Lovelace stated they are supporting affected employees and remain focused on patient care.

Albuquerque, New Mexico

https://www.kob.com/news/top-news/lovelace-health-system-cuts-43-employees-amid-challenging-policy-environment/

If youre a customer service advocate or work the PCC line check in! Weve had no meetings, everyones still here on my team no updates no nothing but i see everyone else dropping like flies! Nearly everyone on my team was vsp eligible but me and one other person, but another supervisor told her team that enough people took the vsp that they didnt need to lay people off

AEs are getting all the training as part of LFG. There is an intentional lack of SE training and investment.

Hearing there are folks who accepted a move to Edmonton and had been planning for the move. Then to have Imperial pull their offers and gave them an end date.

What a slap in the face.

Anyone from NY Fidelis hear anything today?

Welp! Got my notification this morning. To say I’m surprised would be a lie. I was let go due to a personal vendetta but hey life goes on. I’m actually relieved. Centene is a sinking ship that I’m happy to be off of lol

They offered VSP. Then they turned down a fifth of people who said yes. Now they're laying folks off involuntarily. Why? Why didn't they just approve everybody who said yes?

What a weird set of circumstances. I want to leave. They pushed my VSP to 11/27. People want to stay and nope.

I am KY UM Medicaid any word. We have continued to asked and been told that there is no reason to worry we are busy. Also that vsp were not approved until September of next year. Which I did not believe.

I’m so sorry that we are all going through such an anxious time right now. I wasn’t eligible for the VSP and am almost certain to be RIF’d — so please know I understand the fear and anxiety. I hope everyone impacted ends up better than they were before.

I was wondering if anyone who has been RIF’d today can share whether or not they were offered any kind of severance?

Just heard rumors about potential layoffs in August/September in Fusion apps . It seems like the selection process might involve a review of unvested stocks not performance – anyone have any insights on what that looks like?

Managers are aware of what’s happening but they pretend they don’t. For certain leadership got to choose who stays and who goes. It doesn’t seem to amaze me coming from this toxic environment. I knew I was going to get this call today and was on top of the list. Leadership is intimidated by people who speak up and don’t brown nose. I know that I will definitely find a place where I will be appreciated and valued!

Who's hoping they are on the list?

Layoffs have started and there is no end in sight. Sad to see so many post on LinkedIn.

Checking on colleagues. All quiet in my area.

Still waiting to receive the severance pay! No response or notification from anyone. If you got paid, was it direct deposited or received a check?

Good news! Leadership has decided to offer VSP to the old people (55+) It's time to move into the future and get rid of the old people who don't do nothing.

I am hearing about folks getting meeting invites today and marked as private. RIF discussions may be starting today.....

Logged in this morning no meeting scheduled…..should i take that as a good sign im not getting cut?? I wasn’t eligible for the vsp