#vsp

Sorry that were all here again trying to figure out how these decisions are being made. Ive been here 20+ years, worked for a lot of leaders at the top (some currently still there) and without giving out too many details -- unfortunately this is far too common in the tech industry. My peers and I have survived some major ones since 2015-- (some were impacted, relo'd, VSP, Rif'd --lots of great talent that was lost in the last decade) This happens pretty routine with some being larger when we changed leaders/strategy since the days of Lowell McCadams... Anyways, I've had a couple of discussions with several groups and take this comment as an educated guess (some claim they heard this from some decision makers) and if it helps you predict your outcome so that you can decide on next steps, then great-- but also remember that at this point-- all those decisions have already been made so "try" not to let this consume you (I know much easier said than done!) but just trust that you can't change that outcome so hopefully you can make peace with whatever happens from now until Thursday. That being said here's what I've heard

1. If you were asked to work from home this week -- you may be impacted -- this makes sense as to try and not have a huge emotionally charged situation happen in office on Thursday-- it may impact you or your overall group

2. Band 5 and up were suppose to be notified today, Band 6 (ADs) notified tomorrow, and the rest on Thursday --- Seems that some people are notified today so this seems to be likely as well

3. There will be guidance on who is rif'd to prevent law suits. It wont be random or get rid of x people, it most likely will be based on the following - Anyone on a performance PIP or write up, anyone tagged as "home based" and not near an office location (may be department specific) --- Everyone knows that theres a push for minimum 3 days in the office and BAU prior to covid... so if you moved, or aren't near an office then they may offer you the choice to move but with the interest rate etc. this option may not be likely for most-- *again this make sense just based on the direction of employees being hybrid or in office preferred. Not to say no departments/jobs can work from home, but that being the norm will change to the exception --FYI this is 14,500 emps alone across the enterprise (I have the exact number but don't need more people poking around how I know that!)

4. no Brainer- redundancy will be eliminated-- And for consumer it will start with the Sales leaders hierarchy-- This is not new folks, it will mean Indirect/Retail Market leaders will be consolidated starting on the sales side (heard this went from 6 to 4 today, but I haven't confirmed and someone from CSO told me this, but haven't checked so if someone can verify here thanks)----> which means DMs/managers,reps, store closures or plans to convert those to indirect, then their support teams will be consolidated which are field ops, field enablement, training, merch, HR, talent acquisition etc) and marketing groups that got beefed up again will get consolidated **more on this on #5, but this is also not a new way to make these decisions so it overall makes sense. When Krista left and Market leaders were stood up-- they just followed suit generally to the prior markets -- but we had a larger hierarch of AREA and consolidating it from 6-4 MPs make sense to do the same task with less people and just spread the out more.

5.) this one is a little bit more specific/niche to department/job function that's tied to the consolidating of Sales MPs --- this is general educated guess so it may be completely off-- but there's always been a move to group Retail and Indirect together in one umbrella-- which started even back in the days when Kevin was here before he came back. -- SO again not a new way to "consolidate" this means that strategy and operations needs to align-- which typically means Finance supports enterprise budget/data and these are your aggregated info/data folks (some consolidation may happen here also) but generally they don't support a particularly niche but support enterprise-- so everyone uses their info since thats what the leaders get, then you get the folks below them that take their info and break it down to dashboards and data, analysis for leaders tasked with managing people's performance/KPI and metrics -- these are probably your GTS folks, developers that get a jira, data scientist, data visualization, business intelligence roles (think MeTREX, tableau dashboards etc), groups managing resources that are EDW based, GCP developers etc-- (again may get touched but depends if theres overlap and redundancies---- )
But then theres other "rouge" reporting/strategy groups that do similar roles/functions but are either niche, or specific to a group--- back in the days, this would be your region reporting folks not in a finance umbrella or reporting folks that are with non/reporting titles and are in none data groups--- Making the choice on how to consolidate this will probably entail more than general guidance-- (back then it was streamlining titles, departments, or number of employees a manager has etc.) but if you're supporting more of a niche- then it may not align with overall strategy so you may also be impacted. This is probably the most vague--- but if you think Finance is the law with the numbers, then there are groups that support that that under that umbrella-- the further you get away from finance and move into supporting data/ops specific to a leader then this is most likely unnecessary redundancy--- (formatting colors, creating specific market reports etc) <<--- again this is speculation but in the past has been pretty common way to reduce headcount. Yes, a leader may want the report to look this way, and they dont want to go to 2 dashboards to get what's being consolidated for them, but this is now a nice to have and not a necessity

6.) lastly, this might be the main/first wave ,but most likely once the dust settles there will be further refinement in 2026--- Q1 to determine what is redundant or no longer needed. This could also be when they take salary into consideration (which would be terrible since I'm at the upper end of my band) but from what I heard Salary at this point may not be the main criteria but may be used later since most likely it's not just related to "bodies" being reduced, but savings in overall cost.

That being said-- feel free to chime in if you heard similar things... Having gone through so many of these and lost countless talented coworkers (most went to FAANG companies or other major tech ones!) one thing about Verizon-- if you've been here long enough-- then you are most likely highly skilled, trained and able to transfer those skills to multiple industries so if you are impacted-- I'm hopeful that your experience will be appreciated in other industries and you will eventually land somewhere. But it doesn't get any easier-- there's some really amazing talented folks that are always impacted by this and survivors remorse is also very real. A lot of us in 2015, even though we made it, still felt a heavy burden seeing our friends/co-workers be impacted. I know this isn't saying much-- but having personally worked with Kevin (and NO I am not a Kevin stand) from what I know he is a good guy and I don't think at least for him at his level this decision is easy and I also know some of the people that work under him and the ones I do know, in the past this has weighed heavily on them. I don't have much of an opinion on Dan but whats right for the investors may not always be great for the work culture but it's something thats gotta be done and for better or worse it happens in all tech industries-- so if this is not something you want to be in year after year maybe use your severance to decide what you want for yourself career wise next time --

Good luck everyone and hopefully I will see some of you on the other side of this!

Standard severance would have been: $92K. But, I took VSP last year and I got $170K instead. VSP was the better choice me thinks.

I know many of you are kicking yourselves for not taking the VSP package but I want to share some positives of not taking it and getting RIF’d (assuming you get the max 35 weeks)

• had you taken it last year and had a last day of September, your insurance would now be running out at the end of this month. Instead, you have it through the end of this year and for another 7 months
• your severance pay will likely hit in 2026 making the tax impact much much smaller
• you don’t have a non compete and are can be rehired at Verizon. VSPers can never be employed by VZ or a subsidiary again
• instead of 60 weeks of pay, you essentially got 100 (granite you had to work for 65 of them. But that’s still more money in your packet than if you took the VSP)

Just wanted to provide a more positive outlook on this crummy situation. Best of luck to everyone.

Looking for anything on the fast team. The group has lost a few in the past year with vsp and folks moving to sp but seems to be working more and more sites even doing remote site integration.

Is it pretty much a given that you’ll be included in this RIF?

I made a mistake. I'm an id--t. That's all I wanted to say.

Anyone with past experience porting the consession phone number? A pin and acct# would be needed. I know of folks that took vsp that ported. If allowed this go around, any details on getting that done?

I continue to hear rumors about an upcoming future layoffs AND a merger. I'm hearing that the VSP and additional layoffs are being done to position us well for a merger (GuideWell???).

I know most will think I’m a troll or lying but for those looking for legit advice, here it is. I have been here over 20 years, seen so much change and been impacted multiple times involuntary. It hit me hard, I was kicked to the curb but lucky to find a new role within to stay. I know more about how all this works internally than most of you unfortunately(how we’re notified, off pay, insurance, tax, etc). I wish I didn’t. Then, the first VSP came, I didn’t even look at the offer. The second, I looked but didn’t take it. This got my butt in gear so I didn’t get caught flat footed. While I knew I was staying, I took the last few years learning a new skill, a trade so I would be ready to move on one day. I would actually like to stay here. I have a great team and a great boss. I am lucky. But this week might be that time for me, who knows. This is my advice. If you are fortunate enough to make it through this, don’t sell yourself short and think it’s done. This is the beginning. Take it as an opportunity to learn something new that you see as the future of work. You’ll only sell yourself short if you do nothing AND survive this week.

Everything is a guessing game at this point.

Customer service and store channels to get a complete overhaul with new leaders and possibly a lot less of them to flatten our business?

Pull back of vendor customer service? By how much?

Work visas to be cancelled?

200 stores will be going to indirect with less support. More to follow?

Value organization to be drastically trimmed and a single brand for all prepay? Total to be sold off?

VSP offered for anyone who wants it?

We will all know soon. Until then. Do your job well. Get your end of year performance documents ready. Stay focused.

I have noticed individuals who accepted the VSP last year now asserting that they chose to leave rather than being laid off on LinkedIn. VSP acceptance and being laid off as functionally the same, as both indicate the company was not invested in retaining those roles. Trying to reframe VSP acceptance a year later as a superior decision does not change the core reality that those positions were considered replaceable. Such a coward move to stay quiet for a year then come out talking about lay offs when it’s easy. Cowards!

I have seen posts on here mentioning that specific Senior Directors are updating their LinkedIn profiles to "open to work," but the authors are refusing to name these individuals. DONT BE A COWARD. If you have firsthand, verifiable information about specific SDs, please include their names when posting.

Question to those from IT who took vsp or got layed off recently.

How long did it take you to find a new job? I know market is bad.

As a 20 yr employee who was let go last year, I empathize with what you all are feeling this week. But, it feels really good to be on the other side of VZ and moving on with life. I thought my world collapsed when I was let go last year, but I've realized multiple times it was the best thing that could have happened, especially seeing what life is like at VZ now. Sad to see our once great company imploding. Since 2015, it has been a slippery slope down hill. First a small slope, then bigger...then bigger...and now it feels like the slop has near hit bottom. Everyone said a certain leader would run this company into the ground...seems they were right when this was said back in 2018 at the first VSP. May the odds be in your favor...rooting for you Vteam.

Some in the room have adopted the attitude “just let me survive the Thursday cut and everything will be ok.”

Dan plainly stated “cost reductions will be a way of life for us here”. This is only the first wave. Don’t get comfortable even if you survive this first round. There absolutely will be more RIFs and/or VSPs in 2026 and beyond.

Not pessimistic, just facing realities of the times.

Feeling so uneasy tonight. I just realized that tomorrow is the last day for those who received a VSP. I was lucky but it’s not lost on me that tomorrow will be some’s last paycheck. We lost a total of 4 people in our area and none of them have found new jobs.

If you’re worried, you only have yourself to blame. Don’t blame leaders. The company literally gave a huge buyout last year with VSP and arrogant bozos decided to not take it and now there’s all this turmoil. The company has been in a downward spiral for years and the writing has been on the wall. Look at all the reputable leaders that left with VSP. No lessons learned from the first VSP and countless layoffs and outsourcing since. Did you really think your job was going to be more secure AFTER VSP? You reap what you sow.

EMEA CSG layoff started this week. Already heard from 3 different coworkers. They're also saying VSP is beginning in countries where people can't be easily laid off.

Any other region impacted?

There’s been a huge uptick in troll posts the past 48 hours.

One poster uses the word “value” a whole bunch to oddly describe an unknown Verizon business segment.

Another keeps claiming huge moves, like Sampath being let go - which hasn’t been reported in any capacity.

Just remember, at this point the only thing we really know is that layoffs are coming and our new CEO seemingly pointed to the end of November (~Nov. 20th) as to when his new plan will be placed into motion. Everything else (% riffed, impacted workgroups, potential for VSP, etc.) is all hearsay.

Tread carefully, and know there are a large number of trolls running around getting a rise out of posting intentional misinformation…some of whom likely don’t even work for Verizon.

I took VSP last year. It was a good decision. If you are given an opportunity, do your math and it may work well for you as well. I know this is not for everyone as people are in different states of career or personal growth, but if you are thinking about it, I'd encourage you to take it.

My stress levels went down 90% and I was able to cut my expenses to the point that I am comfortable. I also found another job that does not pay as well but it covers my decreased expenses. Granted, I am close to retirement and the math just worked out.

Good luck!!!!!

They will be reducing the corporate retail store footprint. Some stores will be converting to indirects. With that being said they will be offering Voluntary VSP’s and then eventually layoffs with severence packages. 100% accurate info. Announcements coming November 19th/20th

I wouldn’t be eligible but my boss would be, and I’d love for him to move on. But I’m guessing there’s no way - OxyChem will probably be hiring more if anything.

Traditionally RIFd folks get 1 paycheck for every year they worked. Folks who took VSP got 3 weeks. Would be nice.

This article came out in 2018 after a VSP. It is surprisingly accurate on how things would go at Verizon.

https://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/open-letter-to-44000-verizon-employees.html

COP has very poor respect for the workforce if they don't offer a VSP. The older people deserve to be treated with respect and the VSP is a nice way to do that.

Please…I know a lot of coworkers who would take it easily!

Just came through… thoughts/details?

Yes, it's true that RIF is due later this month. However, I heard that since Dan wants to make the org extremely lean, they are also planning for a VSP in 2Q'2026. Anyone heard about that?

Wouldn't that be interesting? Trim the fat once and then trim the folks sitting on the edge again?

Let's say you didn't get RIFed, would you take the next VSP?

Why are we not seeing any WARN notifications? Is Verizon working on another VSP?

It’s the last week before the application period closes.. what are you hearing? Is it as messy as the first wave? Also been hearing some rumors about a possible third wave in 2026 have you heard anything on that side?

I see HCL let the majority of people that came over from managed services go now. Post VSP I look back and am glad I took it. Really hope those whom were part of the HCL cuts make out okay in this economy.

The first time back in Feb of ‘22…the Thursday before Super Bowl weekend. A 15 min invite dropped in my calendar at 7:30 am that Thursday…invite was sent from the Director to meet at 9 am. Was given notice of my Rif and given 30 days to find a new role or leave. Thankfully I found a new role and stayed.

The second time in July of ‘24…had moved to a different role a yr prior at the invitation of a sly director. Same sly director who asked me to join his team the year prior laid me off a year later. “Business update” dropped in my calendar around 9 am for a fifteen minute meeting at 11 am same day. I knew what it was.

But, the second time came with VSP since our group wasn’t eligible to volunteer. So, the second layoff more than doubled the severance offer given on the first layoff.

Found a role to stay, but decided it was time to get of the VZ train. Glad to have found my exit with such a nice payout and was fully employed again within six weeks.

Good luck all. If your number is up, you WILL bounce back! For everyone else, keep riding the gravy train as long as you can, but always have a backup plan.

It's officially Tuesday... is this the week? Someone must know for sure, a lot of chatter on the site. Many large meetings were canceled and almost 60 days till end of year. I really wish the company would just do a yearly VSP instead of rifs. It would be easier on everyone who wants to stay another year or leave.

VSP talks are on-going with unions in France. Some details leaked in the press.
They plan on reducing head count by 20% in France due to shift of focus on A.I.

I know someone who’d take the severance in a heartbeat. Letting them go could save the job of someone who really needs it. Makes zero sense.

I don’t even care how bad Verizon’s been doing lately or what happens next. I’m overworked, exhausted, burnt out, and I can’t stand this place anymore. After years of hard work, I have nothing much to show for it, and there’s no real path upward, nothing to make me want to stay. If they’re planning massive cuts, they should offer VSP first. I’m sure plenty of us would take it without a second thought, bad job market or not.

Exited last August via layoff with VSP. I often return to this board to see what’s happening. Hearing rumors of Oct 23 reminds me why I am so glad to be gone. 20 years in and glad for my gracious exit over a year ago. Bounced right into a new career I love and banked the entire enhanced severance. For those wishing you could go, maybe the 23rd will be the exit you don’t realize you need. Good luck everyone.

Exited last August via layoff with VSP. I often return to this board to see what’s happening. Hearing rumors of Oct 23 reminds me why I am so glad to be gone. 20 years in and glad for my gracious exit over a year ago. Bounced right into a new career I love and banked the entire enhanced severance. For those wishing you could go, maybe the 23rd will be the exit you don’t realize you need. Good luck everyone.

Does anyone else find it odd and totally insensitive that the group of people handling offboarding of VSP'd and ISP'd associates is named the "Execution Team"? Is this just an insensitive error naming the team or is it some type of twisted psychological play by one Penelope Pennington? Either way, very strange and off-putting.

Im seeing posts about this but no departments or business groups named. Im guessing no one really knows and its speculation based on past years? We can only hope for another VSP.