Thread regarding Northwestern Mutual layoffs

@Cmhj+1oFWQM4M Yes, they were given a month.

Are they still giving people a month to find a new job?

@Csfr+1oFWQM4M ESD. They are a few on product and one or two on engineering for my team.

Large team with both contractors and NM. Of the 14 NM employees, 5 let go and about 4 had demotions.

What division? A few people cut here and there isn’t terrible (except for the individuals involved of course). We were hearing rumors of 10% company-wide a month ago but lately it’s been quiet. Are our jobs relatively stable for the foreseeable future?

A couple people in my division are being cut effective next week.

Any new cut announcement in CXD?

@gzvf+1oFWQM4M There's a standard severance plan, you can pull it up by searching "severance" in the DC.

Any word on what the severance package is this time around?

Another round went out yesterday and today. HR and Talent Acquisition primarily. They also are being given until November to find new work and transition.

More cuts came today. Mostly Digital Product higher-ups from what I can tell. Looks like they all get a full month to transition their duties? Ain't that nice.

72% approval rating is excellent against a backdrop of a tough economic climate.

72% approval rating? The number is likely very MUCH lower. With all of the retaliation that happens at this company people are probably putting higher ratings just to avoid the wrath of DR and others. The true number is probably more like 40% approval if that.

JES has turned this place into Shawshank Mutual. Sad.

Schlifske wouldn't know what a successful business is if it hit him in the face. Let's not forget his tenure:

1. ) First layoffs in a 160 year company history.
2. ) LearnVest failure ($500M+ and still losing)
3. ) Dividends at an all-time low (look at per policy percentages not his marketing folks)
4. ) NM drops from the Fortune 100
5. ) 10+ SLT members are fired or quit.
6. ) Employee satisfaction falls to 72% (likely much lower but people are afraid to answer truthfully)
7. ) Failed DEI & SARE initiatives. Another money pit that produced nothing.
8. ) Failed tenure on the Kohl's board. KSS stock falls to all-time low and activist investors want to oust JES and others.
9. ) NM continues to bleed cash so much so that they have to cease all 401k matches, retiree healthcare, freeze wages, cease tuition reimbursement, and freeze hiring.
10. ) NM removes themselves from the "Best Places to Work in America" after seeing employee responses.

Do we need to keep going?

Don't believe these uninformed "rumors." Yes, NM is and will always be looking for ways to work smarter, be more productive and get lean where possible. Best thing you can do is to produce tangible results, constantly be looking for ways to expand your skill set and therefore value you bring to the table, and demonstrate a good work ethic. For the majority of NM people this isn't a problem in the least bit. But for others it is. And those will be the folks who find it increasingly harder if not impossible to maintain career employment at NM.

The "work ethic" of many in the downtown Milwaukee office is a joke. Hence why Schlifske and co. are smartly making strategic hires from the outside and installing a true meritocracy which is LONG overdue at NM. Set expectations...delegate...hold people accountable. And those who aren't willing to put in the work or can't adapt will find themselves on the chopping block. New paradigm is that if you work at NM then you have to provide demonstrable value and contribute tangible results.

Most employees are working extra hours? Park yourself in front of Starbucks at 3pm and watch the steady stream of people leaving for the day. Sorry, not buying it.

@2fmt+1oFWQM4M We have to say “a director”, if you use their name the post will be deleted.

yelling

Which channel in slack?

Meanwhile most employees are working extra hours because they have so much to do and fearing layoffs, employees of the Technology Service Center decide to dress up as dinosaurs and walk around the parking ramp in Franklin today and act like a bunch of a-holes. See Slack for the full story.

@2fmt+1oFWQM4M I used to believe the same at first, then stuff did start happening.

When people post things like “a director” said something vague that portends bad things, I can’t help but think the poster doesn’t actually work at NM.

A director told a few of us the next few months will be like 2017 all over again.

Overall employee experience here is a silent torture 😔

20%?? Yikes! It sounds like 2017 all over again. A common factor with 2017 layoffs and today is SLT’s complete lack of transparency. Is it mostly impacting IT? I’m not in IT, I asked my manager what’s going on and she said she heard “a few terminations due to reorgs”. She made it sound like it’s not a lot of layoffs but maybe she’s in the dark (like me).

I'm fairly certain that JS and DR fall into that bottom 10% category.

Has anyone heard a timeframe for the cuts?

I was told today by my Director that I need to start watching my hours more closely and be sure I'm contributing a decent amount to recordable work like JIRA tasks. I asked if it was because of scrutiny or cuts and he hesitated before saying no.

20% is the number going around.

Cutting the bottom 10% is fairly easy. Everyone knows who they are. Cutting 20% is much more difficult.