Thread regarding Comcast layoffs

@j5 I think you hit on something.

If information does not make it to the top levels, then yes, they can't act on it. And granted, the higher a person is in the company, the less bandwidth they have: they need people below them they trust to raise issues they need to deal with.

But what happens when you get executives who deliberately choke off that information, in self-interest, to ensure that all the easy goals they set for themselves are met, that they get their bonuses and stock options? That's what happened. FS in particular was well known for that.

Such execs are not doing their jobs. But the leaders above them are not doing their jobs, either. They knew damn well CSAT su-ks, connects are down, churn is up, and we seem incapable of actually doing anything. Yet. It persisted. The buck stops with Brian and his former leaders, but seriously, the other c-level execs and presidents knew what was happening. And let it happen. It was their job to demand to hear the tough info, engage with it, act on it. And they chose not to. This is the difference between companies that adapt and survive, and those that don't. Now we are hitting bottom, and the SC / JA approach rationally is to just tear it all down and put new people in who aren't infected with the Comcast do-nothing virus, move as many jobs as possible to CIEC, and find something new to build, the rumored new McKinsey-recommended vertical no one is sharing details about but is likely an AI infrastructure play that employees in the company were trying to get the company to engage with for the past 18 months, and those same leaders did not want to engage with.

I'm still processing getting laid off, so all this might be a bit of me lashing out. But I think the facts stand. The current situation was entirely predictable. Once our monopoly was broken, all the customers who passionately hated us left the moment they could. I cannot conceive that any exec at Comcast was not aware of these problems that crippled our ability to attract and retain customers. It's not that they didn't know. It's that they didn't want to hear about them. Probably because they were hard and expensive problems to solve, and they found it better to do nothing and cash checks rather that actually suggest and try to execute actual expensive improvements and fixes that might fail... and get held accoubtable... and get fired. Especially with the crazy tech debt we have across every single system. So, maybe, as i step down from my soap box, a conciliatory point... this end state was the rational end, these execs' actions were rational, and it's just the lifecycle of corporations. But not my problem anymore. I'm still saying "we" after all the years I gave the company, but I guess at some point I'll get over that.

Good luck to all of you who remain. I do wish all the good people still there well, and there are many.

@j5 naive af

Fair enough. I didn’t include my name, but I’m certainly not hiding behind an anonymous post because I’m afraid to stand behind what I said. I’d genuinely love for someone to reach out. Drop a phone number or email address here, and I’ll gladly make the call. I’m serious about that. But I want to take this conversation a little further because I think some of the responses actually reinforce the very problem I’m talking about.
I keep hearing, “They know. They just don’t care.” And I have to ask, how do you know they know? Have you ever stopped to consider that the information making its way to the executive level may not accurately reflect what’s happening throughout this business?
I can tell you from firsthand experience that it doesn’t always.

I’m asked regularly to share the numbers that make us look good. Think about that for a minute. If we’re only showcasing the wins, highlighting the positive metrics and carefully packaging the story before it reaches the next level, what exactly do we expect executives to see? The reality? Or the version of reality we’ve decided they’re allowed to see?

There is an enormous difference.

Local leadership has a responsibility to communicate the truth, not just the numbers that support a narrative. When bad news gets softened, operational failures get minimized, and uncomfortable conversations never make it beyond a certain level, executives are making decisions based on incomplete information. And the higher you go, the further removed you can become from the people and customers experiencing the consequences of those decisions.

That’s not necessarily because every executive is a bad person or doesn’t care. Sometimes it’s because the people between them and the front line have created a filter. And sometimes those people are so invested in protecting their own departments, decisions or reputations that they don’t recognize how much damage that filter is causing.

I also think there’s a difference between being intellectually intelligent and being emotionally intelligent. We have some incredibly smart business people in this organization. But being educated, understanding financial statements and knowing how to run a business doesn’t automatically give someone common sense, perspective, empathy or the ability to recognize what’s happening right in front of them. Leadership requires both.

And here’s something else I want people to consider. Just because someone is making a tremendous amount of money doesn’t mean they are automatically comfortable with how that money is being made or indifferent to the consequences. I’ve grown up around considerable wealth and successful business people. I can tell you that money doesn’t mean everyone loses their conscience. There are people who genuinely care about how they build something, how they treat people and what kind of organization they’re leaving behind.

I’m not suggesting every executive thinks that way. I’m suggesting we stop assuming they all think the same way.

What I find particularly discouraging is how quickly people dismiss even the possibility of trying. If you genuinely believe this company is beyond saving, that every person at the top is self-serving, that nobody cares, and that absolutely nothing can be done, then why stay? There are plenty of companies that pay comparable salaries, and some that pay more. If you truly believe there’s no future here, perhaps moving on is the right decision for you. Nobody is forcing anyone to stay.

But not everyone has given up. Some of us have decades invested in this company. We’ve seen what it was, what it became, and what it still has the potential to be. We have experience, knowledge and ideas that shouldn’t be dismissed simply because we’re frustrated with the current state of the business.

And honestly, I think we’ve reached a point where negativity has become almost a badge of honor. The more cynical you are, the more realistic people assume you are. Anyone who expresses hope or suggests change is immediately labeled naive.

I disagree with that.

Being realistic doesn’t mean being defeated. Being angry doesn’t mean you have to stop looking for solutions. And having faith in people doesn’t mean you don’t understand business, money or corporate politics.

I’m angry, too. I’m frustrated with what I’ve watched happen to a company I genuinely loved working for. I’m not blind to the financial motivations, the decisions that have hurt employees or the possibility that I could eventually be impacted by layoffs myself. I understand all of that.

But I’m not ready to throw my hands up and declare that the people running this company are incapable of listening, learning or changing.

Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe nobody will ever reach out. Maybe the people at the top really have heard everything and have no interest in doing anything differently.

But what if we’re wrong about them? What if the story reaching them isn’t the whole story? What if there are executives who would actually want to know that employees are being asked to present a version of the business that doesn’t reflect reality? What if someone at the top would appreciate hearing from people who understand the business beyond a spreadsheet or a quarterly report?

Why wouldn’t we at least give that possibility a chance?

I’m not looking for sympathy, and I’m certainly not looking to convince anyone to love Comcast. I’m asking people not to confuse giving up with being realistic.

I want to be part of the conversation that focuses on what we can do differently, not another conversation about why nothing can ever get better.

There are still people here who care. There are still people with tremendous experience and valuable ideas. Give those people a seat at the table.

And if someone from Brian’s team is reading this, my offer stands. I’m happy to have that conversation. No politics, no rehearsed talking points, no polished presentation. Just an honest conversation about what’s happening, what isn’t working and what I believe we can do better.

Hope isn't the absence of reality. It's the belief that reality doesn't have to remain the same.

This is such a naive post. The executives know about the operational issues but they don’t care because fixing them and
making the employee’s lives easier will not lead to higher subs or revenue. No matter what BS HR may have sold you there’s little to no connection between happy employees and more subscribers/revenue.

You want to know what does get us more subs and revenue? Cheaper services and products. How do we get cheaper services and products? We decrease operating expenses by cutting headcount.

@h1

You're not wrong. I do continue to believe that "if they really only knew, understood, they would do something about it." If they experienced the endless pain of our customers, they would be shocked into action. But da---t, you're right. They know. They just don't care. They've known for decades, and have seen endless negative customer feedback and chose the wisest self-interested course: they mostly stopped social listening and customer feedback reports. Yeah, those things technically exist, but have we ever seen improvement metrics set as company goals? Nope. So yeah.

@gt Come on, don’t be so naive. They don’t give a flying rat’s arm about the stores. If selling the real estate makes financial sense, they’ll sell it and call it a strategic transformation. You keep watching Succession and expecting The Pursuit of Happyness.

Remember it’s a game: money, power, self-preservation, and making sure someone else pays the price. Making as much money as possible in the shortest amount of time is the objective. They get golden parachutes. Everyone else gets a meeting invite and a fact sheet.

Anything that looks remotely decent is theater. The speeches, the concern, the grand gestures, it’s all there to protect their reputation while they protect their payout. Stop confusing titles with character and polished statements with integrity. Your idealized version of leadership is doing more work defending them than they’ve ever done earning it.

If hope helps you sleep at night, so be it. But hope won’t protect you when they decide you’re expendable. Seeing the game for what it is and acting accordingly is how you survive. C.R.E.A.M.

@c7 Amen.

I would suggest --seriously-- that every executive at the Director level up, all the way to Brian Roberts, be required to work one day a week in an Xfinity store, on the tiny sliver that's left of human-manned customer service lines, on install and issue truck rolls, and any other customer-facing hourly or regular worker role.

We all know they will never do this. But imagine if they did.

Commcast exec leadership is like most others in corporate America. They are under the delusion that they are the smartest kids in the room and you can’t tell them anything because they already know it all. I have been out of the game for only a little while, but the corporate leadership we see today I would not hire to run a snow cone stand. They simply have no leadership skills and no critical thinking skills. Ignorance and arrogance is a bad combination. And these people have it in spades.

Too bad you didn't add your name to this so if they had the ba--s to they could take you upon the offer.

@c7 This. Reality is execs use a company to fill their personal pockets. The bad customer service makes it harder for customers to get courtesy discounts, cancel services, and prevent Comcast from having to put out money to fix costly configurations. Yeah, we end up hated as a company but profits hit bc of those consumer practices. Yeah, there are customer losses but the money we kept by these bad and forced practices goes to $70M senior exec incomes. And when it becomes bad due to customer losses? These execs jump ship to the next multimillion dollar executive job. Not all businesses work like this because they have a board that prevents it but many do, and especially Comcast. Look at our president. People voted for him bc he “knows how to run a successful business.” And he did just that with running America like a business: take from the lower and middle class (like ground workers and consumers) while using the American system to enrich himself by $3B (like sr. execs). Thats literally how these folks run a business and for that, he kept his promise. Understand that the detriment of a business to the majority actually profits the top people. They’re not changing bc it would bring THEM less income.

STOP romanticizing corporate leadership. They’re not going to risk their golden parachutes to protect employees, especially knowing how brutal the job market is at their stage of their careers. Most didn’t climb the corporate ladder through empathy or compassion. It’s about power, politics, and self-preservation. If meaningful change happens, it’ll come from the very top, not the leadership ranks protecting their own interests. Stop confusing what leadership should be with how corporate America actually operates.

@c1 I have always said, if I was magically put in charge of everything I'd get rid of courtesy services (or whatever it's called now) on day 1. What's the old saying? Eat your own dog food?

Much simpler. Just have each executive have a basic package at their home. Have them navigate our services, streaming services, have them experience an outage and instead of calling in a Lead somewhere, try to navigate through our repair process. Just live the life of our customers for one day. I guarantee it changes

You speak in naivety and in vain. They know. THEY DONT CARE.

(1) its way too late
(2) they think are smarter than us lowly workers
(3) accept reality and get yourself out if you can

Yes!