Thread regarding Highmark Health layoffs

As a former Highmark employee who enjoyed a great career and retired voluntarily years ago, I find the latest layoffs (last year included), very upsetting. Offshore employment should be discouraged by taxing or some other method to stop the bleeding of American jobs. Especially companies, such as, Highmark that have no reason for employees to be there, other than a financial one. Replacing current positions with offshore employment is despicable. I am ashamed as a former employee who gave many years to Highmark to now see where the current management and their cronies are taking the company. CEO gets over $8 million a year to makes decisions like offshore without regards to our economy and the effect it has on loyal employees.

Things will only get worse as Senior Leadership hires their friends in. As an example, The VP of TA is a friend of Larry's (and he makes sure to let everyone know, EVERY meeting) and instead of doing the job the right way he makes sure to try to impress Larry by always suggesting cuts. I don't think he's qualified to do the actual job and works hard trying to hide his age and pretend he's something he's not. He comes across as a fraud and provides no real leadership to the TA team. The CHRO who hired him in operates in a similar way, not even caring to know the names of many of the HR directors. I'm guessing his thought process is that he doesn't need to get to know them, they'll be cut at some point anyway. There is a heavy focus as others have noted to just offshore as many functions as possible to India.

During COVID years, same senior leadership said that there so much increased in productivity working from home. Only their narrative has changed now, they want people in office so that their town halls are sold out. Holmberg, Mic definitely need to leave. Enough is enough

For anyone that is still with Highmark. Please STOP training thryve resources. Retain knowledge. We were told to provide mentorship to thryve resources and now we are laid off and they still remain. Thryve has grown in numbers all these years while Highmark is trimmed. Thryve has fancy parties for all, Highmark has none.

Does anyone know can you get unemployment along with severance

Badge swipe audit? They’re going to see how long people are there? That is so draconian. Also how would that work?

Why do they care as long as people are doing their jobs? Or do they really just want everyone to quit and be replaced with workers in India?

The whole shady Thryve cult of offshore workers is pretty much hidden in plain sight if you are a Highmark/AHN employee and know where to look. Just find one in some account history and such and plug their name into the Microsoft teams search. You can view the Thryve persons organization. These usually consist of team members with the term 'specialist', 'senior specialist', and 'trainee' (which more are being added with every layoff purge of onshore employees). The last one I found had about 40 employees, its own supervisors, managers, vice president, and CEO. All offshore Thryve people. For the past 6 months there have even been onshore workers getting kudos for training the Thryve people to 'help out'. Little did they know, they were training them to take their jobs...

Do these Thryve folks go into an office or do they work from home?
I heard the next hard push will be more people in the office.
Badge swipe audit or kiosk check ins will audit how long you are there.

I know in Pittsburgh there were analysts in the Benefit Coding department laid off as well as at least one customer service supervisor.

What are some of the positions eliminated?

Companies the size of Highmark will always be in "layoff" mode. Unfortunately, what happens is that they are constantly looking to cut costs HERE....so they can re-invest THERE. And as a result, people are always expendable. In the last 2 years they have been moving as many functions as they can to Thryve (which is WAY cheaper than US labor) so they can spend those dollars elsewhere as things change (market expansion etc.). The way it works is: Senior Leaders tell middle leaders "we need to cut by X dollars a month. Identify people on your team that you don't need or want." Your manager (in alot of cases) then submits people that they are willing to cut. As much as people want to believe it's just some random entity laying off people, it's not. Your manager is involved. I worked here and saw this firsthand. The best way to move on is just know that larger companies work this way and be as thoughtful as you can about the next place you choose to work. Smaller companies are a better bet during times like these. Highmark isn't going to change and I suspect they will continue to layoff and be shifting costs for awhile. Especially during these economic times. I will say that Highmark was one of the more stressful places I've ever worked with a higher concentration of toxic senior leaders. It's all about the buck and I never got the feeling they cared about their people as individuals. As a leader myself, I couldn't gain traction in making sure my team felt supported and it's because they don't intend for you to. All one big cog. Good luck to all who were affected this round! You haven't lost anything.

Someone needs to put this on blast with the local news about seasoned, long tenured people being replaced by offshore. Thryve is one place, I also heard Concentrix and Shear Water. It's like a takeover all to pinch a penny!

What i don't understand is how the clients don't realize things are being sent offshore and dedicated units are not dedicated anymore. Like that usually is an issue for the unions

Worked there many years. Not working there anymore, thank goodness!
The mantra of "reinventing healthcare" is preached so much it was getting annoying. That was while:

1. Work force is thinned to the point where we were so understaffed it was causing morale to decline. Very qualified staff is just cut loose.
2. Every so often a new upper management position was created and someone hired. All in the name of "better realignment".
3. Travel between U.S. offices was denied but management trips to India (where we got to see plenty of slideshows) was happening frequently.
4. Thryve results were often below standard but management turns a deaf ear/blind eye. On the reverse side of that Thryve was often lauded.

When is the U.S. going to wake up and start taxing companies, who shift jobs out of the country, at a higher rate? The only one who benefits is the company bottom line.
Bottom line is that Highmark has an inflated opinion of itself and has no clue how to run a "client service" company. Their decisions are basically "winging it".

Finally an article in the Buffalo News where they say only 15 Buffalo people were laid-off. I suppose they don't count the NY employees that were transferred to PA job titles. I'm sure the number is much higher than 15.

Maybe if they didn't pay 6,000,000 a year to have their name on a sign this would not have happened. Terrible company to work for. All the work is being sent overseas for less money and nothing is done correctly. Their process are terrible. It's their way or the highway. They do not want to hear any of your suggestions or concerns. I could go on.

Someone should call 2, 4, and 7.

It seems like the plan is to run every possible job by offshore. Funny thing is offshore do even have the luxury of bench concept for someone to even get paid when they are looking for a position most likely replacing an onshore resource. Look at offshore growth, they are almost a workforce of over 5000 employees and most of them do bare minimum with poor quality but still they keep their jobs when hardworking onshore employees let go. Capitalism at peaks and there is NO respect to loyalty or the hard work onshore resource put in. Ppl have to stop buying their insurance and the way they are outsourcing jobs needs to be advertised so that it reaches ppl at large for them to stop using any products from companies like this that only look after their profits only and doesn’t bother to outsource every single job.

How does one go about requesting a financial investigation/audit of a company like Highmark? Things are not adding up.....Holmberg made 9 MIL last year, we are building another stadium AND we just received an email telling how great the company did financially in 2023....Where has the money gone?

I have not seen a published article with any reference to all of the outsourcing and how it has pushed long time loyal workers out.

Workers who were expected to train these offshore folks to do their jobs.

Let the media, the customers and the members know. Let the big dedicated groups know. The big anchors, the employer group plans will run fast.

At the end of the day everyone will lose.
This has become a different culture of how Highmark every worked

Integrity is a buzz word

Highmark needs its non-profit status revoked. It's been nothing but for-profit and anti-worker since Holmberg arrived on the scene. Such a shame. Highmark used to be a great place to work, with great benefits and coworkers. I'm about to start calling customer service every day just to tie up their phone lines, costing the company money. No other way to boycott them, so may as well make them bleed money.

Quote from a news article: Highmark says the layoffs are part of a “transformation” which “requires that we continue the work we started in 2023 to reimagine and simplify our operations to effectively and efficiently achieve the quintuple aim -- better patient experience, clinician satisfaction, health equity and health outcomes, with lower costs.”

Seriously, better patient experience by outsourcing?! Really wish they’d get called out on it!

“Engen” defines a silo organization. No groups liked working or sharing with each other. And talk about a waste of technology. They still use Excel for tracking hours 😆😆😆 The CEO “Mic” is a laughingstock with his weekly “updates”. I’m 100% sure leadership was golfing on the company dime all summer drinking and strategizing offshoring all of IT. Used to practically die laughing after meetings due the utter ineptness of their layers of “managers”. Left after a few months last year once I’d lined up a replacement J3 for it in my overemployed portfolio. Almost feel sorry for those whose only gig was Highmark. Come on man, India was where the action is going it was so obvious to anyone with a brain. They cost 1/5th of a US FTE.

Has anyone heard if this will be happening again soon? They have done this in a way to stay off the WARN list. So if anyone has heard anything, please share.

Is everyone getting severance? If so, how much for how many years of work?

I have a feeling it’s going to happen soon in one area.

Management insisted there would be plenty of work/jobs, but when asked about those jobs now, they said, “We can’t answer that at this time.”

Let me guess, no layoffs at their offshore company Thryve India, right? This is intentional and an "under the radar" approach to moving jobs offshore. Slowly lay off the U.S. workbase and then later hire in India.
Since Highmark is Blue Cross/Blue Shield based I imagine they can't be company based in India, but is there anything that says they can't have a workbase that is mainly in India?
Amazing how the U.S. is giving away jobs so the companies can make more money. What good is it if an item on the U.S. shelf costs less if there is no one who can buy it....because all the jobs are offshore.

I was let go on Friday with no severence! The company is now very corrupt and top heavy! Took everything away from employees even stripped exempt employees of their status and demoted them to non Exempt for no reason! Very little raises for the past 10 yrs not covering cost of living! Shame on them! Not sure how they sleep at night! Corrupt!

Good Morning,

My name is Rachel Dalloo, I’m a reporter with Health Payer Specialist at the Financial Times. I am reaching out because I would like to get more information on the layoffs that happening at Highmark Health. I also would like to learn more about the specific departments that have been affected by the layoffs and would like to get a figure on exactly how many employees have been terminated so far.

You can best reach me if you are available to talk at rdalloo@money-media.com and I am available via cell at 646-392-5066.

Thank You.

That's the tactic Highmark uses, they Layoff people in smaller chunks every few months to not file WARN notices.

Based on the names that I know dozens of people were laid of in NY but keep in mind many folks have already left over the past 3 years due to how the Affiliation was going and warning signs were quite evident over that time based on behavior/treatment and more importantly due to where the data and processes were going. The Actuarial, Analytics, IT and other customer facing roles in NY are shells of their former selves, dissolved and spead out and "redundancy" purged in the name of "synergy".

How many layoffs occurred in NYS (previous BCBS of WNY employees)? My friend who worked there 22 years was one of them. Highmark must of laid off less than 250 so they didn’t have to file a WARN report with NYS. Can’t believe local media hasn’t picked up on it yet. Go Bills (sarcasm)! So nice that his company sponsored the beloved franchise and will start small RIF’s to fly under the radar.

This company is truly a disappointment for how they handled this letting go amazing supervisors. Just to have NY sups take over and not know what the the he-l they are doing . They should have fired the Ny sups instead of the 5 they did .its an absolute disaster and a joke to how they handled this ripping team apart for what?? And ripping families Apart to restart from the ground. ALOT OF the supervisors they let go knew everything been there for years but nope let’s sc--w them over and let stupid a-s NY sups in 😡😡

To the one saying “it’s all business. Move on”… this may be easy for you to say, but after dedicating years to a company and having a feeling as though you’re family and now being let go for either the overseas positions because they get paid pennies compared to us or because of whatever lame reason they may say, it’s not right. Many of those let go had seniority, loyalty, dedication that many others did not. Did they let go those with less seniority or was it based on performance? NO! It is not just business, it is heartbreaking to those they let go and those that remain. This company is all about giving Holmberg a super size salary while letting people with years and years of experience go for absolutely no f*cking reason. Skin money from Holmberg to help the people. That would never happen. Instead, he will get a raise. Much more than the 3% offered to employees that busted this a$s for a company that does not care one iota about anyone but themselves!

This organization is just ridiculous at so many levels especially with how they handled the NY "Affiliation" and how employees are treated, its a toxic environment to work in and you require a deep resiliency to survive.

The instability they are sowing by their actions with repeated layoffs and no clear vision or direction is going to cause long term damage and morale is going to be unrecoverable.

My manager was let go without warning and our unit was is being moved to another manager that is much newer and has their own full team. And has no experience in our area of work. It’s clear now why we keep getting pushed to move more of our work to offshore reps.

I can bet that next Dave Holmberg show will still be sold out.

Loyalty has been permanently BROKEN

I was thankfully not caught in this round but I’m sure there will be more. In the post-madness meetings we were told that there won’t be any more “us vs them” between ny and pa but let’s be honest with ourselves - what is going to create a bigger divide than those in NY seeing their coworkers at all levels being let go and replaced with PA staff and those in PA seeing their coworkers also being laid off to make room for NY staff that was kept? As a business person, I understand the need for a company the size of Highmark to not allow anyone to know ahead of time just due to the risk of what an upset employee could do if they knew they were going to be jobless in a week but as a person that is still wondering why I was kept instead of others it is very hard to have anything but distrust in my employer. There have been many times I have turned down positions with other companies due to my loyalty to my employer but now that I know that loyalty gets you nowhere, I am exploring my options so that I don’t come to work and give it my all just to be blindsided with a layoff. My heart breaks for everyone that was caught in this round. I hope everyone finds new employment quickly and with a company that values their employees more than the value Highmark has shown you.

To the exit strategist from yesterday....
quiet quitting and bare minimum.
I saw people left go that put their all into it.
Early day, late night and weekends.
Loyalty no longer matters. The way this was done has forever changed me. I had a supervisor that was completely blindsided with dismissal. Blunt dismissal. I am still in a shockwave.

Wonder how many of us “positions eliminated” were ones who would have still had a retirement package, as opposed to those who were hired after a certain date and would not be offered one at retirement…

I work first hand with these over the sea reps... HM WILL SURELY FAIL.

To the one who said "how did you not see this coming" – you've either got to be David Holmberg himself or one of his cronies. Talking about livelihoods here, not just numbers on a spreadsheet. Sure, folks are aware of the company's history, but that doesn’t mean anyone expects the axe to fall on them, especially after reassurances or those just biding time until retirement. There’s a stark difference between hearing about layoffs and feeling the shockwave through your own life. Maybe you need a taste of your own medicine, not out of spite, but so you might finally grasp what empathy looks like. Honestly, your comment reeks of insensitivity, almost as if it's coming straight from Holmberg or his echo chamber. Truly appalling.