I read on this board that the company will require WFH workers to relocate near hubs or these so-called collaboration zones. Now, I know for a fact that a lot of remote workers live in areas where it’s impossible to commute but live at locations where opening one new hub could cover a large portion of those workers, making them able to commute without relocating. Are they even thinking about such a move and does anybody now is there even a slight possibility that they open new hubs?
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What buildings in what states are owned vs. leased?
IT people in WI have been getting surplussed for the past 5 years based solely on location location location. “Your role has been surplussed” even though there are job postings for the role; just not in WI. IT management employees aren’t given a choice to move to a collaboration zone and keep their current position. Once HR has targeted you, that’s it. You may be given the option of finding another job within the company (and relocate at your own expense) but it’s almost impossible to find another position unless you know the hiring manager (and HR will never divulge that info). So update your resume and LinkedIn profile and start looking.
OP said
"I read on this board that the company will require WFH workers to relocate near hubs or these so-called collaboration zones"
I have been keeping up with the posts here, dont think that anyone is saying this. Highly unlikely anyone will be allowed to keep their job if they relocate.
If it is true they are determining actions going back to 2017 as criteria to let someone go it is unfortunate because many were permitted to work from home by their managers. Nobody will likely ever know the real reason why they were selected. It would be awesome if we could get some inside information from a disgruntled HR type person.
Layed off In December.
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Location/collabration zone. If in a zone, are you going into office. Also, zones can vary by business unit. There are 10 but my team is in Atlanta and Bedminster. I was NOT so I am gone.
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Salary - higher pay gets extra points toward their potential layoff score. Some folks not in Zone not hit yet. NO option to move once you are tapped.
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Ratings. A few low performers in the zones were cut.
I see a lot of threads from people worried about Monday and how they determined who will go and asking if there will be more letters in the year.
Location is the number one factor. With exceptions to those designated as customer facing, you have every reason to be concerned. Maybe not this round, but in one of the other 4 rounds this year mentioned in some of the threads.
Another factor is for those in one of the hubs, are you actually going into the office. If you work from home, you are deemed as not collaborating with others and therefore not contributing.
So yes, some people in hub areas could get surplused.
Ranking won’t matter. I know some very top rated people who are worried about getting a letter simply because of their location.
The next question is, why all of the lay-offs?
The answer is easy, the huge debt T took on with DTV and Time Warner. T made a commitment to buy down the debt by $20B by the end of 2019. T has already become more “efficient” with previous reductions and the only way to move the cost needle, is to look at the work force. Think about it, to get $20B off the books, that’s a lot of people who have to leave. Assuming an average salary of $100,000. Also assuming the company could pay that much again per year in benefits and payroll taxes (while this may not be accurate, it helps highlight my point). That’s a a $200,000 average savings per person. So with those assumptions, means 100,000 people need to go.
So how do you get rid of that many people? You start by getting rid of some people the previous year. You create an excuse that if you are not in a collaboration zone or if you are working from home, then T will look at you as part of a work force reduction. But since T won’t be able to make those numbers in just one year, they will continue into the next year until they are done.
But also remember, $20B is only about 1/8th of the overall debt.
T likely already has most of it's physical plant in place , so either you need move closer to one of the existing offices.
Perhaps in the future when they shut down their high cost of living office spaces like NJ offices, they may open offices in some southern or Southwest state. But a lot of that depends on demographics and demand.
But yeah don't expect any accommodations until T starts eating into its.massive debt load.
T is looking to eliminate employees not accommodate them. From what I gather, location is one of many factors along with previous VPN logins and ID access building swipes dating back to 2017. The layoffs sound to be significant and will continue in the unforeseen future.
I don’t think, collaboration is one of way to reduce folks.