#policy

Email received today:

Need to Know:

• An in-office day is considered 8 hours in the office
• New reporting will show how long employees are in the office each day
• Employees are expected to be in the office 3 "full' days a week

Wexford is ignoring your instructions.

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2025/09/04/paramount-5-day-a-week-mandate.html

Has anyone heard details on how much of a decrease we will hear about in pto on benefit changes that will be announced on sept 10?

Fresh off my Care Giver time off helping my Grandmother, I came back somewhat refreshed with a positive attitude thinking AT&T might have their Sh!+ together. Unfortunately, that is not the case. It was an interesting report -- every day was low, and 2 days robbed me of more than 4 hours alone. Total understatement was around 7 hours. The only thing really worse than the presence report is our ability to secure the network.

Any truth to the Compliance department being told they need to be in the office 4 days a week starting Jan 1st?

Just curious, how your teams and coworkers reacted? For sites that aren't core hubs - did they share more details what will happen?
Are there enough spaces on sites to manage the required capacity?

I feel like there's been a lot of rumors going on here and within the office about what is going on right now. Although this is a failure on HR, lets look at the facts:

Year 1: HR flagged people who were coming in less than one day a week (swipe only)
Year 2: HR flagged people who were coming in less than two days a week (swipe only)

We are on Year 3. This report seems to be coming out yearly. These people got warnings from their managers, nothing more nothing less and next strike would've been HR. So lets dive into the two main questions:

1) Is it possible to track where someone is working from? Yes, but HCSC is usually slow to implement and I doubt HR is too technically savvy (so they'd need consultants/IT). This is possible, but there is no confirmation this is happening yet. Wouldn't be surprised though if they are looking into this/have a plan to implement but again just speculation at this point.

2) Do you need to come in 3 days a week or else HR will flag you right away? This one I am more skeptical on. Don't get me wrong they could bump it up on next years report to 3 days to flag, but as mentioned on here, PTO, people getting sick, etc. You really think HR/Executives aren't working from home when they're sick or are making up days in office? Also they'd be calling in so many people if they were looking at this weekly. They'd call people in for long PTOS (I Just took 2 weeks so there's no way I could make it up in one month anyways). My best guess if anything they'd bump it to 2.5 days next report, but who knows maybe they actually do 3 and half the company gets a warning (which would be id--tic).

Don't get me wrong, they do seem to be getting stricter. but countless rumors do not help with people's anxiety about the situation. Also if anyone in HR is looking at this, please do better :) Why not have a townhall specifically on this topic and we can finally put this behind us. Let the people speak directly and ask questions, we can collaborate and make this work for all of us.

Will we be fired for not going in enough? I know they are tracking badge scans. 31s and above are mandatory back to office including telecommuters. I am sure it is only a matter of time where everyone else goes back at this point.

This is ask for all Directors and Executives who got impacted by Layoff.
I've been working in Oracle for 10+ years now and I am impacted by layoff. I don't regret the layoff. One question which was lingering in my mind was despite my honest day and night contributions to the project, I was not even considered for promotion or growth.
I had been exceeding expectations of my managers/executives and each time I raised my bar level and was able to meet it. At the end of focal cycle all I got was a 2% or 5% hike to maximum which was almost equivalent to lowest performer in my team.
I even attempted to jump to another project offering a senior role but was cut down by internal recruiters saying I can't move up in lateral jumps. The project seemed like a dead-end for me and I wasn't even allowed to move to another project which looks promising technology atleast but in vain.
What was the Ego which prevented you guys from helping your employees grow. Is it typical asian mindset ? to slave one person and extract everything ?
All I noticed was some monkey executive coming from external company (Infact he was less experienced than I was) and started controlling us. He doesn't even know half of the architecture I know about org. Is this the fate ?

https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/04/ibm_cloud_basic_support_changes/

Shift to self-service will apparently improve support, presumably Big Blue's bottom line too

Thu 4 Sep 2025 // 03:32 UTC
IBM Cloud will update the services it provides under its Basic Support tier, which will move to a self-service model in January 2026.

The Basic Support tier is free to all IBM Cloud customers. Big Blue describes it as “Basic business protection that is included with your IBM Cloud Pay-As-You-Go or Subscription account.” The service is well-named as it includes the ability to raise cases with IBM’s support team 24x7, but doesn’t include a guaranteed initial response time or a dedicated account manager.

In an email sent to customers, IBM advises the changes coming next year mean Basic Support users will lose the opportunity to “open or escalate technical support cases through the portal or APIs” but can “self-report service issues (e.g., hardware or backup failures) via the Cloud Console” and “open Billing and Account cases in the IBM Cloud Support Portal.”

The email advises customers that wish to stay on the Basic Support tier that they can continue using the watsonx-powered IBM Cloud AI Assistant that Big Blue upgraded earlier this year. The ancient IT company also promises that, come January 2026, it will launch a tool called “Report an Issue” that offers “faster issue routing”, and that an expanded library of support documentation will “provide deeper self-help content.”

The missive also suggests “If your organization needs technical support, faster response times, or severity-level control, we recommend upgrading to a paid support plan.” Prices start at $200/month.

IBM opens its email by stating “This no-cost support level will shift to a self-service model to align with industry standards and improve your support experience.”

We leave it to IBM customers to judge the veracity of the second assertion, but IBM isn’t remiss with the claim that its future low-end support offering is close to industry standards. The basic support tier offered by AWS and Google Cloud includes access to community forums, online docs, and help with billing. Microsoft’s basic tier adds an “Azure Advisor” that suggests ways to optimize use of its cloud based on consumption patterns.

The big difference here is that AWS, Azure, and Google are the world’s three leading hyperscale clouds, with 30 percent, 20 percent, and 13 percent market share respectively according to recent data from Synergy Research Group. IBM Cloud has two-to-four percent market share, a position that could mean it needs to cut costs by reducing free services, or that it’s just not interested in serving the kind of users that want free support.

If Big Blue has decided to ditch small cloudy customers, it’s not alone: China’s Tencent chose to stop working with customers who only use basic cloud services because they weren't profitable.

The vast majority in my union that I ask says they voted no, but our contract was supposedly ratified 54% yes. I do not understand why did so many union members ‘supposedly’ vote yes to contracts that did not at least equal the previous one? What happened to the determination and the will everyone had just a couple years ago to strike? Is over 50% of union members happier now than they were a couple years ago? Has anyones work conditions improved enough (or at all?) since the last contract that you accepted smaller pay increases?

Would love to know if any REAL managers have insight as to how/why employees are let go versus others.

This is MY opinion so take that as you will. It's worked out for me in every job I've had and, Dell being a company that is on a 24/7/365 layoff frenzy, I'm still sitting pretty good.

If you don't want to be laid off then just be a middle ground employee. Try to border the "top performing" employees area but don't go much further than that. Be easy going, easy to get along with everyone and don't start arguments/conflicts; and don't voice any strong opinions or cause controversy. Basically, just stay as neutral as possible because the more you are "known" - for good or bad - the bigger the target is on your back during layoffs.

Managers always say "they had no choice in who to let go" - That is 100% BS unless HR/execs are simply wanting to get rid of high earners to save money. HR and execs have NO idea who you are, what you do and how well you do your job. Your direct manager does, though.

It's more beneficial to get rid of 5 people making 150-200k/year versus letting go 10 people making 50-70k/year. The math doesn't math up but you get my point I hope.

Strategically speaking, you get rid of the highest salaried low performers first, then the bottom performers overall, then if necessary, low performers in between.

Managers/directors have a checklist for layoffs that determine who they have to let go/who stays. It's more of a 1-10 type of check box but to keep it simple... Kinda how Tell Dell surveys work.

Does he perform well in his job? yes/no (1-10)
Is he easy to work with? yes/no (1-10)
Is he liked by his coworkers/others? yes/no (1-10)
Does he go above and beyond? yes/no (1-10)
Does he call in sick often? yes/no (1-10)
Does or has he had complaints against him? yes/no (1-10)
Do they volunteer to take on tasks/projects? yes/no (1-10)
Are they habitually late? yes/no (1-10)
Are they reliable? yes/no (1-10)
Have they had any write ups/coaching plans/PIPS?: yes/no - this will do it right here if you have and many/most of the answers are "no/indifferent" in the above questions.
Any HR tickets filed against them? yes/no (1-10)
Have they willfully broken any company policy? yes/no (1-10)
Have they attempted to steal confidential information? yes/no (1-10)

I made all of this up as I have NO clue but these are my guesses as to what some of the criteria would be. My dad was a sr. manager at Motorolla, Freescale and AMD for 20 years and he told me that when he did have to do layoffs, he had a "matrix" type sheet in which he'd rate employees on based on a bunch of questions; similar to the above. I'm sure Dell does it similarly.

I don't think most people are laid off at random though.

Does anyone know if there are implications of quitting immediately after your parental leave ends?

I am a former employee of Lowe’s and I can tell anyone who reads this that Lowe’s will be bankrupt in 5 years. I bought a $1300 fridge nothing fancy because of space constraints. The fridge side feels like it doesn’t have a good magnetic seal. Lowes use to swap doors, told me I had to bring whole fridge back. If I bring it back I’m returning it! All for a door swap! Pass any issue off to the customer by changing their operations. Lowes is really going down the cr-pper on customer service side of things. What an unamerican corporate clown show. Never again shopping at Lowe’s ever again unless it’s a part the HD store don’t have. Lowe’s is going to loose a lot of customers by treating customers like this. Over a stupid door.

How come some people get warnings for not being in the office for 3 days but some managers work from Amsterdam with a Germany contract? This is illegal.

SVB invited HR to provide an "update". 4 days in office coming?

Starting January 2026. Is it across the board? Is it per Derek’s directs? Anyone know?

https://www.wionews.com/world/-big-change-in-h1b-green-card-soon-says-lutnick-indians-to-be-affected-1756292537996

Companies have to be competitive by relying on cheap indentured labor or outsourcing work to sweatshops. If NM don't, fall behind in the market. To see real change, elect politicians who will protect American jobs by banning H-1B visas, reducing immigration, and placing tariffs on outsourced services from cheaper countries.

A company is competitive by taking advantage of cheap indentured labor importation and outsourcing work to sweatshops. If you need to see change then elect politicians that will change laws to protect American jobs by banning H1B, reducing immigration and tariff services from India

Don't forget, if a holiday falls on one of your three office days, you're required to make that day up on another day during the week. They're watching (per my manager).

https://www.financialexpress.com/business/investing-abroad-h-1b-to-green-card-hurdle-labor-market-test-fails-applicant-struggle-for-perm-approval-3955644/

For the folks that have been in a PDC previously, are degrees/formal education required after a certain PSG level?

Social media has many stories of patients being denied medications or treatments. Doctors post about having to fight insurances for tests, procedures, or medications.

Most of the people working for these insurances want to do good jobs. We want to get claims processed correctly. We’re just cogs. We don’t make these policies that stress and frustrate members and providers.

There has to be a better way.

Heads are on the line if departments do not meet their "volunteering" hours. Every other day senior leadership in my department is sending emails telling us of opportunities to "volunteer" to meet our quota. On every video conference call it is the lead in and closing point. I wonder who would lose their job if that line of business wouldn't meet the goal? Imagine being laid off because you didn't "volunteer" enough.

Quick question for folks across departments—curious about your current RTO setup.
Our team has known for a while that starting in September, we’ll be required to be in the office for a full 8-hour stretch each day. As it gets closer, though, I’ve been hearing that other departments may still have more flexibility—like being able to finish the day remotely if they’ve spent most of it in the office.

Just trying to get a clearer picture:
Is your team expected to be in the office for a full 8 hours straight, or do you have a hybrid option that helps with traffic and overall balance?

Appreciate any insight—just hoping to understand how consistent this is across the org.

Come on admit it who thought up this idea of everyone having to book their desks? Forcing everyone into 4 days a week now coming up with yet another way to sc--w us all over. Can you believe there is other places to work where you can just go into an office and sit down at will. Madness.

I sympathize with leaders and associates that have been hit with demotions.

As a part of ER, does demotion mean lower title, lower salary grade or reduction in current salary?

How does WF track how many hours you are in office? You don’t need to swipe badge out in some buildings

If management had to spend even a single week working under the same strict rules they’re pushing on us, they’d see how unrealistic and counterproductive they are. It’s easy to make policies from an office far away, but when you’re the one dealing with constant pressure and impossible targets, those rules just don’t hold up. Maybe if the people making these decisions actually experienced them firsthand, they’d think twice before rolling them out.

A bad sign?

From an article in Medium:
“ Changing Severance Packages

Employee forums have been buzzing about AT&T’s plans to revamp severance packages for management employees in Q1 2025. The proposed shift from a standard six-month severance to a role-based tiered system could significantly impact lower-level managers’ benefits.
New tiered system:
Level 1 managers: One month salary
Additional month per management level
Standard benefits include PTO payout and career transition support”

We are well beyond 1q 2025. Maybe he is thinking 1Q 2026?

https://www.newsweek.com/florida-h1b-visa-ron-desantis-2119998

Hearing rumors that leadership may revert back to making it mandatory that people be in the office 3 days a week. Anyone else hear this?

If so, I wish they would make up their minds and stick with it, rather than change the policy every 6-12 months.

Not a good look. Its getting a lot of bad mentions on social media. This is probably why they wanted employees to be social media "advocates". (Cue eye roll.)

You want regulators and Congress after you, DC? This is the way.

Has anyone heard how ELV plans to handle the new CMS regulation on TAT from 14 days to 5 days for acute UM?

• The layoffs primarily affect employees still in their probationary period, making them easier to dismiss, while public safety positions, including wildland firefighters, remain intact.
• The cuts coincide with the end of the “Fork in the Road” program, which offered employees to opportunity to resign while staying on the payroll through September.
• Other federal agencies, including the Department of Energy and Small Business Administration, are planning similar workforce reductions.

https://www.ehn.org/forest-service-layoffs-cut-10-of-agencys-workforce