I want to start this post by saying I am not trying to troll the site or stir anyone up. I simply want to share my insight as a former 24-year PepsiCo employee. I still have friends in the company, and I sometimes read the posts here to keep up with what’s happening.
My first major layoff experience at PepsiCo was in 2016 — the “Saint Valentine’s Massacre.” Everyone around my cubicle was laid off, including my director and senior director. I was convinced I was next, but somehow I wasn’t. I remember telling myself: Work harder. Learn more. Make yourself valuable. And for a while, the layoffs that followed in the next few years didn’t touch me.
Things changed after COVID.
Leadership Issues & Retaliation
In 2019, my director — my manager at the time — did some extremely shady things before leaving the team. I won’t get into details, but it got bad enough that I had to go to his boss and tell him exactly what was going on. The following year, the senior director retired… and that same manager became my new senior director.
He clearly had an axe to grind.
He stopped responding to my emails and instant messages. He would go to other people for updates on the work I was doing instead of talking to me directly. Why is this relevant? Because in 2022, while I was on medical leave, this man tried to lay me off.
You cannot legally lay someone off while they’re on protected medical leave.
I had just come out of surgery, and he told me to come into the office to be terminated. I refused — but I agreed to a phone call with him and HR. On that call, the very first thing he said was:
“This isn’t really about the layoffs. It’s about your performance.”
I was stunned.
I had never been written up.
Never put on a PIP.
Consistently earned 3/3 reviews or higher.
This was retaliation — plain and simple.
And this same individual is now a VP at PepsiCo.
HR’s only response during that conversation was:
“When can you come in to sign the paperwork?”
That was the end of my 24 years of service.
Would You Stay on the Titanic?
Before all this, I would have said yes — I would have stayed. I believed in the “good old days” of PepsiCo: job security, employee morale, integrity. But in the last few years, PepsiCo has made it very clear what truly matters: stakeholders and bonuses.
If I had known 10 years ago what I know now, I absolutely would have left sooner.
Being overworked, stressed, away from family, and not being paid on merit is not worth it.
Advice for Anyone Impacted Now
If you’ve been laid off — or if you’re thinking about leaving — here is the advice I can give based on my own experience:
Update your résumé. Paste it into an AI tool and optimize it for keyword matching.
Get on LinkedIn. Use a clean, professional photo and pay for LinkedIn Premium — it’s worth it.
When you find a job posting, look for the person who posted it and message them directly.
Apply both on LinkedIn and on the company’s official website.
Learn how to use AI tools. Companies say they are downsizing because of AI — that’s not true.
What AI actually does is allow employees to do their jobs faster with the right parameters.
Corporations are shifting to “lean” workforces, which really means:
do more with fewer people.
Anyone who was laid off this week will be in my prayers. I genuinely wish you the best.
For those who remain — think long and hard about whether this company can still give you the security you and your loved ones deserve. PepsiCo’s plan is clear: offshore as many jobs as possible, keep stakeholders happy, and enrich people like my former manager.
God Bless.