https://www.wsj.com/articles/verizons-severance-offer-goes-to-about-44-000-employees-1538587179
29 replies (most recent on top)
@1gbb if you are pension eligible, unless/until they change any pension rules or the pension fund becomes insolvent, you can take your pension at any time after you leave as either an annuity or lump sum. It's paid by Vz.
I heard wireless peeps get a frozen turkey with their package.
ehz - Good point, non-union pensions were frozen in 2006, and eliminated for anyone with less than 15yrs(including 18month add-on) at that time. So now with only a few exceptions, basically everyone with less than 26 yrs (today) only has whatever is left in their old "cash-Balance" plan + their own (hopefully well funded) 401k and no retiree medical. (It is in retirement, where the Union employees have truly made out well) As to future layoffs... keep in mind Verizon had over 235,000 employees when they froze management pensions in 2006. Since then they sold off parts of the network to Frontier(twice) moving 23k employees over both sales, and then added employees from AOL, Yahoo & XO... yet still only have less than 155k (and falling) employees today. Clearly the RIF machine has been very busy the last 10yrs. And it shows little sign of slowing as technology & outsourcing replaces job after job. My advise if staying, treat it as possibly short term, and max out your 401k and personal IRA's and investments as much as you can, while you can. Take care of yourself by yourself... the Company is not going to do it for you. Personally 60weeks of pay & beni's sounds better than 35 wks (or less)... something to think about if you were considering leaving soon anyway.
PS: if you have over 26 years and "VZ" pension eligible... what will happen to that pension if the group you are working in, is sold off to another company tomorrow? Will you still get it? IF yes, will you still have a Lump Sum option from the new company, or will they only offer the monthly option? What if they go bankrupt? I have no idea what the answer to those questions are, but it its clearly something that needs to be considered. Remember how many people working in CA, TX & FL retired as soon as the Frontier deal was announced. The ones I knew, did it to guarantee they retired with their "Verizon/fGTE Pension" benefits as a VERIZON employee... and did it sans any riff package. Just one more thing to keep in mind. @0.02
Verizon can't fire... We are a self-proclaimed technology company that outsourced it's entire IT team. There are many ways to skin a wage-slave.
- Too many PowerPoints. stop
Got something to say. stop
It’s important. stop
I believe in writing in bullet-form style. stop
Like the telegrams of old. stop
...
It's pretty much every 6 months..
whos next on the cutting board.
After about 3 years ago. Just been saving money with a "gonna stay until they pay me to leave" mentality lol.
But Imo.
If they offered your position the offer.
You are up for a cut.
Either now or later.
After 10 years with Verizon.
Gonna take the package.
No pensions or anything like that for us that came in later.
So..
shrug.
But good luck to all!
@1upz, are you unfamiliar with the structure of a proper sentence?
Periods aren’t decorations, to be placed wherever you want. They serve a means of clarification, if used in the right manner.
It's pretty much every 6 months.. whos next on the cutting board. After about 3 years ago. Just been saving money with a "gonna stay until they pay me to leave" mentality lol. But Imo. If they offered your position the offer. You are up for a cut. Either now or later. After 10 years with Verizon. Gonna take the package. No pensions or anything like that for us that came in later. So.. shrug. But good luck to all!
If it's offered to you...take the money and run to the exit, if not, you will probably get RIF'd before another offer comes along.
From what we are hearing you are foolish to think you will be safe after this all plays out, if you got the offer you need to realize the company does not need you and they will RIF you if you do not leave. Take the package and move on, this is your time to move on to a new job. My advice is to start updating your resume and applying for jobs, do not wait.
I wish retail was included.
@VskfnIj-umc i have done the same and have 22 myself and the ones i spoke to say the same its great on paper and short term but long term its a big gamble.
I personally dont have a problem with the severance package as that is actually pretty generous in itself. So if you some how survive the wrath and make it until mid next year it should be a wash, however if you could have taken it and got a job right away that is a pretty good windfall.
so its all a gamble at this point, i do like to gamble but this one seems to take some more thinking/reasoning.
Keep in mind that younger management employees who also got the offer, have no pension benefits and no medical subsidy, so there isn't much incentive for them to stay, with a company that still might rift them down the road.
Statistically your polling won't reflect reality. Some groups have virtually everyone interested, others, barely any.
Through informal polling a lot of 20 plus year employees are deciding not to take the package. They feel they won’t be impacted again for a while once all the volunteers sign up. Also, on the daily call they are being told the severance package stays at max 35 weeks for involuntary separation. Thoughts?
You guys miss the point that VZ can't fire all the people who received the offer. They can take 10%, before it impacts business function. That's why they are staggering the package from Dec to June. This will allow them to include a bit more than usual, with the majority being released December.
People in their 30s and 40s might take it since they have enough time to start over somewhere else, it depends on how many years in they have and their personal situations. These are the same factors as everybody else, just viewed from a different perspective.
Is this a job where you can finish out your career and retire? I'd say if you've been given the offer then it's looking pretty dicey at this point. If you can leave and make something of it then do so.
If all 44,000 were eligible to leave, and also were all eligible for the 60 full weeks of pay (which, I know, isn’t the reality) but, wow, that’s like 50,000+ years of pay!
How many XO employees were affected?
The company should really look at international assignees, too. Verizon doesn’t have a profitable international footprint, but has plenty of people representing the company oversees that don’t really add much value. Operations in Peru? Tokyo? Paris? UK? A big waste of time and money, especially the UK presence which is a second HQ of sorts, just another cost center.
Yep, if you look at the spreadsheet and do some calculations it comes out to that number.
There are 30 somethings on there so assuming those won't take it since the time isn't enough. So the number that will actually take it comes down when you start weeding out the lower age and such.
The spreadsheet appears its be sent to practically every center, can figure out some with the job titles. All the way up to managing director.
There is also allot of folks that are close to 60 and over, so without getting illegal those are most likely targeted overall.
I cant see the 30s and low 40's taking it unless have something line up or well off.
Management is the term applied to those who have managed to avoid being a union lackey. This is not exclusive to those shouldering the title of manager.
2500 to infosys
Plus. How many were forced to go to Infocyst?
How many total "management" employees in Verizon?
To be fair we don't know how many will be denied. There is much talk about future outsourcing agreements.
Where's the a-hole who kept saying: "Buy outs will never happen"?
(Probably hunkered down in his mama's basement.)