Thread regarding Weight Watchers International Inc. layoffs

After reading all the posts the common thread seems to be all the old timers regardless of age have been terminated. Any remnants of the old weight watchers removed ! Newer ppl seem to stay at least with guides. It seems like they want to wipe out all the weight watcher guides and keep the new Ww ppl. Not right!!

I was only employed 4 months and let go via mass zoom call. Yes, they’re paying us until May 29 but we’re not allowed to work. There WAS an option to unmute yourself by pressing # something something, it was only said once so yeah, everyone probably missed it.

I’d also like to add that it wasn’t easy to get connected to the call. The email with instructions wasn’t very clear. It was a messy way to do a mass termination of employment. Sure, it would take hours to talk to everyone individually, however, to send an email out 24 hours (or less) before a zoom call couldn’t have been any more difficult than a nicely written termination email. Besides, I think it would’ve been in all fairness to employees and members to notify the large number of those being let go that they can WORK as an employee until May 29th. That way you can prepare yourself a little bit to be unemployed and say goodbye at least. Oh and in addition to free membership, keep the employee discount.

To the person trying to defend WW. You obviously are still working for them and really have no business commenting here!!! You would sing a different song if you were fired!!!

I worked for Weight Watchers for over 20 years and believe me it wasn’t because the money was great. I loved my members and believed in the plan, at least older plans. I was a chat coach and personal coach since the beginning of those programs, almost six years and I make not one penny mor now for that job than I did 6 years ago. I also didn’t make a penny more than a chat coach hired last week. WW has never seemed to reward longevity and dedication with anything other than a cheap pin. I guess this should have tipped me off years ago. If WW doesn’t care about employees who have devoted over 2 decades of our lives to them does the member who signed up yesterday really think WW cares at all about them? No, they care about your money!! Employees make or break a company when the employees ARE the company. WW you have broken the company. #WWisbroken

I too am over 65 and I was let go. My problem is the way they did it. Not allowed to make any comments nor ask questions. A lady about 20 years younger than me, worked less than 5 months with a full time job was kept. Now where is the justice in that. There are many of these people that depended on the little bit of money we were paid to supplement their income. I hate to think where they will be now.

I was a dedicated WW employee of 15 years. I was also a personal coach and mentor. I always jumped in to cover a shift when asked. I stocked product, emptied trash and cleaned the meeting room after every workshop. I was thanked for my 15 years of dedication by listening over a phone call to a territory manager in 5 minutes tell us we were fired.
Come on WW you could done it with more class. OH NO WAIT...you don't have any class. There will other companies who will hire some of us and they will say thank you WW, you were id–ts to fire these employees.

To the person a couple of posts below, you obviously are a current employee who got to keep their job as you know the terminology of the management etc. Probably a WW corporate PR person trying to spin this as that is their modus operandi. You should be ashamed of yourself. Or maybe you are a coach who makes 20 times more than guides even though the guides do all the work in the studios. They are an awful company. Maybe not for you but for the WOMEN who keep that company going on the bottom of the totem pole. Let them terminate all the guides and see how quickly WW does go out of business. They seem to forget that the women on the lowest pay scale are the front lines of their business to paying members. Without them they have no business. Mindy tried a couple of years ago to turn WW into a tech company and promote digital only. and 2019 there were no enrollments and corporate went into panic mode. People stay for a variety of reasons...probably because they need the money or for medical benefits. I don’t think the people who were let go really give a c-ap whether WW stays in business at this point after the way they were treated. I know people who have been with the company for 20/30/35 years who were let go in a three minute phone call with no questions asked. The internal workings of the company are awful. Commenting not allowed from employees ever as corporate doesn’t want to hear anything. Workers should UNIONIZE as they’ve been putting up with c-appy pay and treatment for years. They need to be called out and shamed.

To the person who mentioned that we are getting paid until the 29th that WOULD have been our last paycheck anyway and to make up for the missing one week they are paying us they are taking an average of the 3 weeks before which will be SHORT anyway because they cut our work week short by 2 and a half days. For those of us that were full time that is 20 hours short. Don't make them out to be giving us something we didn't earn.

This MINDY was just on TV showing how she and her family were sheltering in place in her MANSION, and giving tours of her million dollar KITCHEN...and she FIRES mainly women OVER 60??? They barely pay MINIMUM WAGE!!!!! There should be a CLASS ACTION LAW SUIT against WW and the whole board, including that PHONY...OPRAH!!!!! Gee, Oprah...just how many BILLIONS do you need? S H A M E !!!!!!!

I know I will catch heat for this, but at the end of the day, they are a business that has to make business decisions. Would you all have preferred them not to do this and go out of business, and EVERYONE be without a job? When you have a company like WW where most people work remotely, there is no other way to do mass terminations other than a phone call. There is no way each TM could have called everyone individually. There would have been too big of a time gap, and people would have found out from co-workers first and would have complained about that. Being fired s—s! Everyone is also leaving out the fact that they are getting paid until May 29th. I understand being upset, but if all these people felt they were treated so horrible during their employment with WW, why did they not leave? I believe WW did what they needed to do to stay in business. Many businesses are, unfortunately, having to do mass terminations.

Getting fired from a job after 15 years of dedicated service via a 5 mins conference call was cold and cruel. Ww always talked about the service vision but what they did to their employees on Thursday was disgusting They are the worse company that I ever worked for and would never work for them again no matter how much they paid me. I am hurt, saddened and sickened by the way we were treated.

I can’t believe it. 25 years of service and all I get is a thank you and good by. I worked more then 5 groups. Meanwhile people with less experience and time in the company were kept.

As a 5 yr employee and over 60, trust me it's not your age. I was not able to be on the Thurs call, but from what I heard, because of my invite to the earlier call, I still have a job (only work 1 day a week) I could care less! The truly heartless and unprofessional way they handled this is beyond comprehension. I am also a self-employed person and have NEVER seen such a wasteful company. Every time we changed programs, paperwork was thrown away; name change..pitch anything that does not have WW on it; registration forms..oh my! no barcode! garbage can! For a company that is all about the money, they wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars. Instead of valuing the members, they brought Oprah and her ambassadors in. Another huge mistake! My heart breaks for all of you who were terminated ,but it is going to be difficult to explain your loss to members who loved you and counted on you each week for your support, encouragement and empathy. I pray that you all will be blessed with a job where you will be valued beyond measure and known for the treasure you are.

Who wants to pursue this? I think a social media blitz to publicly shame them is what’s needed. It’s disgusting how this was done. Mindy Grossman has destroyed this company. For a company run by a woman with Oprah on her board of directors, they certainly treat their employees most of whom are women like c-ap. This is a systemic issue with Weight Watchers and has been going on for years. All smoke and mirrors. Absolutely the worst company to work for and employees are threatened and mandated not to speak up with threat of losing their jobs if they do. It’s like the worst kept secret when you work for them how bad they are but the best kept secret in public as they certainly try and hide it. Mindy tries to put out this public persona that she cares about people and members but she does not at all. She’s just another corporate head piece who does not value employees one bit. I have screenshots of the threads on the internal Workplace forum of employees begging her to close the meetings to protect employees after Mindy sent a mass email to all members saying workshops / studios were being extra cleaned and sanitized to protect them and telling members studios were a safe space and the email was in fact a BLATANT LIE. Totally made up. We barely had cleaning people coming in weekly to do a regular cleaning let alone disinfecting. So many employees called her out on this and said it’s simply not true. It took two days of begging after corporate offices had already been closed and corporate employees were working from home, for them to close the studios. Then she sends an internal video saying she’s not taking a salary during pandemic and board of directors taking a 50 per cent pay cut? Oprah (a multiple billionaire) is suffering so from her 50 percent pay cut when thousands of mostly women were let go in a literal 3 min phone call. And age discrimination as has been discussed in other comments is absolutely what happened. Most of the people let go over age of 50. Most in 60’s/70’s. Just a way to clean house and blame a pandemic. It’s disgusting.

I personally do not think it was an age thing. I am in my mid-40s and my older 50s and 60s coworkers who are guides are all still on the clock. I don’t think it has to do withseniority either. Guides that were older than me and have less seniority than me are still employed. I think it was just completely random. I think at least where I live a lot of older people work for WW because it’s a part-time gig, for me it was a little extra income in addition to my full-time job which thank God I still have. But still it was so unprofessional and they don’t even give us hope that we could be hired back so I’m pretty sure I’m done. I pretty much started checking out when they fired one of my favorite coaches for no apparent reason earlier this year.

I would like to say that the title of this article is incorrect. We were not laid off, we were terminated! Laid off implies we may be called back. We were told, we are no longer employed by WW. As a Guide of 20+ years, it was done wrong! We were the heart & soul of the Workshops. We dressed professionally, smiled, and greeted everyone walking through the doors. We were a shoulder to cry on, psychologists, and listened intently to everything, and every need the member had, and always with a smile and care. We were the lowest paid, and did a lot because we cared. Kinda ironic that their lowest paid is the first to get terminated when one executive probably makes more than all of us combined. The pandemic is harsh, but this is horrible! The number of members decreased when Mindy decided to change the name to WW. Members were confused by WW and still wanted the brand name of Weight Watchers. Oprah couldn't bring in the members like they expected. Who pays??? The little people who have no say. So as they sit in their sprawling mansions, us humble Guides are sad, depressed, and not sleeping with many many tears! The way we were terminated was cold, calculated, unprofessional, and a self-esteem k–ler! This needs to be brought to the attention of the news media. We are all suffering enough through this pandemic. This was a punch to the gut like no other! This company has no heart and soul. Thanks G-d I do!

So well said all of you. Yes, I think there is a good case for a class action age discrimination lawsuit. This is so not a wellness company. Doesn’t take much tkk on treat people with respect.

So well said all of you. Yes, I think there is a good case for a class action age discrimination lawsuit. This is so not a wellness company. Doesn’t take much tkk on treat people with respect.

No class; no respect; no nothing! Most of us worked at WW because we loved helping people and wanted to be close to co-workers and members. Certainly not for the money as I never had a raise in the almost 7 years I was employed. We had 2 different phone calls. One at 3:30 PM for coaches and one at 4 PM for guides. Asked to be muted but I could hear gasps as we were told we were terminated immediately. I had a lump in my throat thinking about how many depended on the pathetic pay they received. Hopefully some news network will pick up this story and run with it. A final thought: my job description never mentioned emptying and taking out the trash even though we had weekly custodial service.

After having read all of the above comments, I can't add much more of anything new or different. I wholeheartedly agree with what everyone has posted. I worked as a "guide" for them for over nine years and I am over 70. I loved working with the members, helping them get to their goals, celebrating with them when successful or commiserating, and empathizing when not. I will miss the great camaraderie with my former co-workers. Yes, we were definitely taken advantage of because we just loved our jobs. However, I also want to stress that the company has been in bad shape for some years not just because of the pandemic. In my opinion, the leadership has been lousy for many years. Mindy has to be the worst CEO of the bunch. Changing the company into a "wellness" organization and changing the name the titles and descriptions was absolutely insane. I cannot imagine what that changeover to "WW" cost. We had to throw out anything that said "WeightWatchers" on it and got everything new. Mindy put her previous company out of business, and now she is working on the same for WW. The company will not recover by firing low-paid employees. What they need to do is increase membership. How will firing all of us increase membership? They spend way too much money on fancy endorsements and national TV advertising, when what they really needed was LOCAL advertising. Local people never really knew where we were located and when our meetings took place, unless they went to a lot of trouble and found them on their own. Sadly, I can't see this company surviving much longer without getting a LOT of new members. In my experience, we never really had any real new members, they were just recycled from previous memberships.

Typical of WW handling field staff, with Disgust!
Someone needs to trot over to the 6th Ave NYC Corporate palace, bet all those seriously over weight millennials are still there...fancy digs over there.
Above Trader Joes.
Someone from the press needs to question this firing.

Not so sure on age. I am in my thirties and was fired. My coworkers in their late 60s to late 70s even were on the earlier call, not fired. They are all coaches. Guides were cut at that ages,

I feel like I just have no idea.

Worked for 37 years in all positions, wherever needed or asked to go. Gone with a phone call.

I got the Zoom call too. 8 1/2 years with WW as a guide and Chat Coach and they didn’t have the decency to answer my one question......what were the guidelines they had to follow for choosing who got let go? I called and asked my TM and she said it was “Covid 19”. That’s it. I pressed her for more info and she said it wasn’t based on performance. The other employees in my territory were full-time, part-time, young, old... I think they just picked our names out of a hat. WW did a terrible job with the way they handled this!

I think there is a good case for age discrimination. WW does not care about any of their employees. I feel sorry for the people that still work there. The way they fired people was horrible. Who ever cam7e up with that idea is heartless. Jean must be rolling over in her grave.

I had just started working for ww a few months ago when they were desperate for more employees in our area. This was a major bummer for me and all of the other brand new hires who were just getting into a groove. I feel for all of you who have worked there for years and years.

I disagree with the people saying you shouldn't quit over this. The only way WW will be punished for the horrible way these people were fired is to feel it in their bottom line. You can follow a similar plan with ITrackBites, the pro version is about $40 per year.

And please stop calling this a layoff. That implies these employees might be "called back" but that won't happen. They were told if they want to work there again they have to find an open position and apply. So let's call a spade a spade: They were FIRED, TERMINATED. Period.

I was laid off from WW Canada after 18 years of service. At least my TM called me, but told me it was temporary then mentioned collecting my company ipad. Their public image of being a caring company sickens me. SPs provided caring service in spite of how they were treated, and the company coasted on our efforts. I will never darken their doorway again.

I feel really bad for all these people that were let go at this horrible time..And in such a way it's a shame..I will not cancel my WW because vif this because i need this program it has helped me loss 52 lbs so far and I can't imagine not having it to help me along the way..it's cruel how they have treated you all but I also can't help to think about all the members that had called and b–ched about paying every month and wanting free months I had heard slot of people say yes just call they will give u up to 3 months free ..so picture that if u get thousands of people calling and paying 44 dollars a month taking from there business that is a lot of money being taken out of WW pockets to be able to pay there employees I feel bad but at least I can say I wasn't one of them people's that called and wanted free months at least I no I wasn't the cause of someone losing there jobs..May God bless you all at this horrible time

There are more posts on the main page https://www.thelayoff.com/weight-watchers-international

or you can go to on this link /weight-watchers-international

I worked for WW for 10 years and retired last year. Our wonderful, competent TM was let go a few years into my tenure because she made the most money of the three TMs in our part of the state. We were the middle territory and they split us between the other two territories. Our new TM lived well over an hour away. She was wonderful to work with, though, so it was okay (even if we didn’t see her as frequently as we had seen our former TM). She was “let go” this week and she still had to inform the guides in the territory that they were also let go. Who told her? Was she informed in a 5 minute recorded Zoom call?
WW, as a program, is AMAZING! I was a member for 9 years before I went to work for them, and I will continue to be a member for as long as they remain in business. I believe in the program and the remaining employees. The corporate structure has never been caring towards its employees. Teenagers working in the fast food industry made a better hourly rate than I did, and there were no merit-based raises. Ever.
I worked for the company for 10 years, not for the money. I worked for WW because I loved the members and I wanted to help them get healthy, and because I loved my fellow Coaches and Guides. I made some wonderful, long-lasting friendships through my employ.
COVID-19 has caused some wonderful businesses to crash and burn. I hope WW isn’t one of them! I also hope that the powers that be at WW are reading these things and will do better in the future.
Don’ t quit WW because your favorite guide was let go, that would be punishing yourself. WW is still the best weight loss program out there! There must be a better way to let them know how unhappy you are with the lay-off decisions that they have made and how they went about it.
As far as those who are crying age discrimination, most of the Coaches that I know, who stay on as of now are over 60. It looks to me like they let go the guides and kept the coaches, regardless of age or length of employment. That was wrong, but it wasn’t any sort of discrimination.
My heart breaks for those of my former associates who have lost their jobs and their well-being and I am praying for all of you!

I canceled my membership paid an early termination fee just for this reason... God doesn’t like mean people. I know as a company you do what you have to do but this was such a good company when it was weight watchers NOT WW....

I have worked for WW for almost 10 years as a receptionist now Guide. I am in the over 55 age group as well. So I only get paid when I work a Workshop. Now someone else will get paid working my workshop. How does that save money???? I’m sick about how it happened. So cold and heartless coming from a company that is suppose to care about our well being. That’s what angers me the most. The way it was done.

Should we start a group somewhere to discuss our ages and if they are a common denominator? Age discrimination is a pretty big deal.

I, too, am wondering about the demographics. I worked for over 15 years, and would like to know how this was all decided. My TM found a new job about 2 weeks before this happened. So, the TM taking over has no idea who I am. It was such a shock in the way it was handled. I am not getting any responses from him. Just canned answers, when he does actually get back to me. Poor, poor, poor!

Sad state on how they are doing layoffs. My friend was laid off so cold and callous. Dropping the plan.

Such a heartless way for a “wellness “ company to treat its staff. Totally classless. No goodbye to members. Like we never existed. I worked 15 years for this unprofessional place.

Maybe they should have stopped paying all of the celebrities who endorse them instead of throwing those of us who needed these jobs to feed our families and pay our mortgage. I guess the celebrities, who no one has ever heard of, are more important to weight watchers then it’s long time faithful employees.

I too was one of the long time employees let go in the humiliating phone call. I also agree that the company has gone the wrong direction Since Mindy took over. We lost a lot of members when we stopped being Weight Watchers and had to be called WW and meetings had to be called workshops. Members still call them meetings for Pete’s sake. Her push for to take away the individuality of employees and make everything scripted doesn’t work. Now seeing that most of us fired are over 50, I wonder if we have a class action law suit for age discrimination?

It was horrifying to realize that video of millionaire Mindy in her fabulous New York kitchen on QVC aired just hours before she axed all those older ladies making way less than $100/week. What a smiling villain! This company has really lost its way.