#layoffs

They are wanted about a 30% headcount reduction without having to pay severance.

Is there other team who did not have annual reviews for 2025

https://dallasexpress.com/business-markets/dallas-express-analysis-who-are-the-top-h-1b-employers-in-north-texas/

Well how about that...?

From global consultancies to public universities, federal visa records show how H-1B hiring has quietly reshaped the workforce of North Texas’ largest cities over the past five years.

From January 1, 2020, through September 30, 2025, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services records show thousands of H-1B approvals across Dallas, Tarrant, Denton, and Collin counties, underscoring how private companies and public institutions alike are reshaping local labor markets through foreign-worker hiring.

Supporters argue the visa remains essential for competitiveness.

Former Republican Presidential contender Vivek Ramaswamy, who has drawn national attention for defending the program, has argued that it is necessary because “American culture has venerated mediocrity,” and that foreign workers better fit the demands of American businesses, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.

However, the AFL-CIO’s 2025 H-1B fact sheet suggested that employers embrace H-1B labor as a cheaper alternative compared to Americans.

“In fiscal year 2019, 60 percent of H-1B positions were paid at the lowest two levels, meaning they were paid below the median wage for the occupation and location,” read the document.

72% of H-1B visas are awarded to workers from India, with 12% going to those from China, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services data.

Universities have emerged as some of the most aggressive users.

The University of Texas at Dallas spent more than $1.1 million on H-1B sponsorship costs since 2020 and secured roughly 300 approvals over that period, according to records obtained by The Dallas Express.

Because public universities are exempt from the annual H-1B cap, they can file petitions year-round, making taxpayer-funded institutions less restricted than their private-sector counterparts, who must compete for 85,000 annual visas.

The private sector visa footprint is large in Texas.

In Dallas alone, KPMG recorded 2,572 approvals, UT Southwestern Medical Center 1,326, Dallas Independent School District 1,272, and Texas Instruments 988, according to the USCIS Data Hub.

Texas Instruments has become a flashpoint. The Dallas-based semiconductor firm received up to $1.61 billion in federal CHIPS Act incentives and then laid off American workers while continuing to hire H-1B employees, according to reporting by The Dallas Express.

Prominent activists and organizations have raised concerns about the H-1B visa program in recent federal public comment periods on reforming the visa program.

Fran Rhodes, president of the True Texas Project, wrote that the program is “riddled with fraud and abuse, and puts American workers at a disadvantage, while creating a financial advantage for the companies hiring foreign workers at a lower pay scale,” reported by DX.

However, the Association of American Universities reportedly urged DHS to avoid reforms that would disrupt the pipeline from student visas to H-1B employment, warning that abrupt changes could harm research capacity and faculty recruitment.

The Dallas Express has prepared the tables below to give Texans a sense of how the program is directly affecting their communities.

Dallas County
Dallas
Rank Employer Total Approvals
1 KPMG 2,572
2 UT Southwestern Medical Center 1,326
3 Dallas Independent School District 1,272
4 Texas Instruments 988
5 AT&T 952

Hasanna Birdsong, chief executive officer of the nonprofit, said the operation will move forward with 20 to 25 employees after cutting personnel across all its departments.

https://www.lehighvalleynews.com/local-news/lehigh-valley-public-media-cuts-nearly-half-its-staff-after-years-of-financial-losses

What's even the strategy anymore? We keep losing customers and value, but all we hear are excuses. The big transformational plan they promised has been a total failure. Instead of fixing the core issues, they just cut more people and shuffle org charts. It makes you wonder if anyone at the top has a clue how to stop the slide or if they even care.

They could completely change the vibe around here if they just handled layoffs differently. What if they actually treated people leaving with some respect, offered a good severance package, and even asked for volunteers first? It wouldn't fix everything, but it would stop morale from cratering every single time.

Elder Scrolls Online developer Zenimax Online Studios has disputed that its recent pivot to smaller "season" expansions or chapters is related to Microsoft's layoffs and a smaller team.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/elder-scrolls-onlines-pivot-to-smaller-seasons-is-is-not-in-any-way-a-response-to-microsofts-layoffs

If AI and automation can’t handle the HR load that Citi has, then forget about it being able to handle things of more complexity. Seriously, the HR paper shuffle is about as low hanging fruit as you can get when it comes to a comparison of job complexity. If you want a true low hanging fruit test bed as to the accuracy and integrity of your AI platform, make HR your first target. If AI can’t handle that with sustained measurable success, then it certainly can’t handle complex number crunching, transactions and\or tech.

After they let people go, it's always the same story. Management brings in new, cheaper folks, but they're basically in training for a solid year before they can pull real weight - if they ever do. So who picks up the slack? The people who are already stretched thin. Calling them new hires is generous when they add to your workload instead of lightening it.

Good luck! This is the verified!

Do you expect any private banker layoff in Feb/March 2026 in London?

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona has had layoffs as of early January 2026 and cut benefits to current employees.

I've read about cuts last week, is there a way to know it'll continue this week? Anything happening so far today?

Is Blake at DAVOS again? Fly the corp jet over. Blow a lot of shareholder money to make him feel smart and important. He is neither but they will layoff more by year end because the anemic growth his sales team has delivered.

Hint… mostly old white guys with kids in college … not H1Bs who do the same work !!!

one google search of forced distribution and differentiated performance gives you thousands of articles about why it doesn’t work and why it’s terrible for morale and collaboration. yet now we’re forcing people to be ranked and PIPed just to fill a quota. its nonsensical. why am i coming into the office four days a week to “collaborate” with my peers and help them outshine me? why would i bother trying to meet my goals when a percentage of my team has to be ranked low just because it’s required? if you want to let people go just let them go. why do they put us through these humiliation rituals?

No more hybrid schedules. More employees will be assigned to offices as well. 100 percent office requirement. Move or resign. A sneaky way to cut the workforce without having to pay severance.

Didn't hear about any cut in Jan and also given that had huge cut in 2025

Frontier is a very lean organization compared to us, and 70% of their base is union who entered into a 3 year contract towards the end of last year - basically ensuring a certain pay till 2028. Where on earth are they going to cut when Frontier is already so lean with little to no fat?

Arista annual sales are close to 9~10B with approx 4500 employees, while Cisco annual sales are 56B with 86000 employees. To compare it - Arista is doing 20% of Cisco sales with 5% of employees. Conclusion is simple: Cisco has too many redundant employees.

In the modern Banking and FinTech ecosystem, BNY Mellon’s CEO and Executive Committee have become unlikely pioneers — not in innovation, not in client service, but in the industrial‑scale refinement of psychological workforce reduction. They’ve perfected a system where employees don’t need to be laid off; they simply need to be worn down until they exit on their own, grateful to escape.
This is not a strategy.

This is an operating model. Nothing is wrong, according to leadership. Turn up the psychological pressure. The model is working fine... just as expected!

Quiet Cutting
The Executive Committee’s preferred method of “non‑firing.”
Quiet Cutting is the CEO’s masterstroke: a way to shrink headcount without ever admitting that’s what’s happening. Employees are reassigned to roles so stripped of meaning that even the job descriptions seem embarrassed. A technologist becomes a “transformation liaison.” A senior manager becomes “temporary process support.” A director becomes “aligned to future-state readiness,” which is corporate dialect for “we’re waiting for you to give up.”
The Executive Committee calls this “agility.”

Employees call it “career hospice.”

Constructive Dismissal
The slow, grinding erosion of stability disguised as leadership.
Constructive Dismissal is where the CEO’s cultural philosophy truly shines. It’s the systematic application of pressure, ambiguity, and contradictory expectations until the employee begins to question their own competence.
The tactics are subtle enough to be deniable but obvious enough to be felt:

• Goals that change faster than the CEO’s talking points
• Reorgs that happen so frequently HR can’t keep the SharePoint updated
• Performance reviews that read like they were written by someone who skimmed your résumé while boarding a flight

The Executive Committee insists this is “transformation.”

Employees experience it as professional destabilization.

Managing Out the Median
The statistical purge disguised as meritocracy.
Managing Out the Median is the Executive Committee’s favorite tool because it allows them to claim objectivity while engineering outcomes. The bell curve becomes a we-pon: someone must always be labeled “below expectations,” even if the entire team is performing well.
It’s not about performance.
It’s about creating a steady supply of people who can be pressured to leave voluntarily.
The CEO calls this “raising the bar.”

Employees call it “being pushed off the bar.”

Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt
The unofficial leadership framework.
BNY’s Executive Committee has mastered the psychological trifecta:

• Fear — of layoffs, of reassignments, of being the next person “realigned”
• Uncertainty — about roles, priorities, reporting lines, and the future
• Doubt — about one’s competence, value, and job security

This is not accidental.

This is the culture.

Employees are encouraged to internalize instability as personal failure. If they feel anxious, it’s framed as a “growth opportunity.” If they feel unsafe, it’s “the discomfort of transformation.” If they burn out, it’s “a chance to reflect on career alignment.”

The CEO calls this “leadership.”

Employees call it psychological attrition.

The Executive Committee’s True Innovation
Cost reduction through emotional depletion.
The brilliance of the model is its efficiency. No severance. No headlines. No accountability. Just a slow, steady drip of pressure until employees walk out on their own.

Across forums and social platforms, workers describe the same pattern:

• Confusion as a management tool
• Silence as a communication strategy
• Instability as a cost‑savings mechanism

The Executive Committee doesn’t need to fire anyone.

They simply need to make staying feel worse than leaving.

Closing Note
BNY’s CEO and Executive Committee have not reinvented leadership.
They’ve reinvented avoidance — of responsibility, of transparency, and of the basic duty to steward a workforce with integrity.

And the balance sheet?
It applauds.

Based on Jane’s recent announcement that the bar will be raised and “we will not be graded on effort”, will Citi be taking a Goldman approaching and simply cutting the lowest performers?

It’s hard to believe that memo can be released and still let go of workers with 1’s and 2’s for ratings….

Should have went for something that wasn’t going to have me stuck in a dead end contract software developer/full stack developer role in a sector that’s full of layoffs.

So when will union customer service reps for fios and techs be laid off. They make all this money but do nothing. It’s time I’m hearing half will be laid off

The date for the first quarter layoffs is set to the first Monday in February. It’s going to be a bloodbath.
Good luck everyone

Hey fellow managers in banking/tech – thinking of jumping into (or back to) Wells Fargo for that fat comp? Here's the unvarnished math from the trenches (thelayoff.com + earnings calls).

Benefits (Why You'll Go):
Top-tier pay: Base + bonus/RSUs often beat peers by 20-30% in tech/LOB roles.
​Scale exposure: Run massive legacy stacks migrating to cloud/AI (Columbus project, SOA) – resume gold for enterprise gigs.
Network: Charlotte HQ builds C-suite connections if you survive reorgs.

Costs (Why You'll Leave Burnt):
Rank-and-yank he-l: Forced curves mandate 15-20% IM/NI ratings; first-timers get "no initiative" dings despite metrics. Expect IM → PIP → term in 3-6 months, no severance.
​RTO grind: 3-4 days/8 tracked hours ki-ls flexibility; global calls "stolen" by reset clocks tank productivity/morale.
​Efficiency meat grinder: AI/offshore push (3 US → 4 offshore) + layoffs (~70k gone) means constant fear; learn toxic politics over tech.
​Net: 2-3 year stint max. Milk pay, document everything (JIRA wins ignored), pivot to AI governance roles elsewhere. Long-term? Builds grit but scars your management style – unlearn the blame-shifting. Who's hiring WF escapees?
​

Recent MBA Fit
Strong no for fresh MBAs: High pay lures, but you'll inherit unlearnable habits like subjective 360s, quota-driven firings, and "efficiency" as code for attrition. Better: Goldman or fintechs teach scalable leadership without the toxicity.
​
Skills Learned vs. Unlearned
Learn: Enterprise-scale ops, regulatory compliance, AI-augmented legacy migration – transferable to Big Tech/banks.
​
Unlearn: We-ponized subjectivity (blame-shifting, seagull management), quiet-quitting survival, offshore distrust – antithetical to healthy cultures. Nets negative for career velocity; 47% attrition risk in year 1 per forums.
​

No Layoffs: Verizon committed to not involuntarily laying off Communications Workers of America (CWA) represented employees for four years after the transaction closes.
Applies To: This protection covers current CWA employees and those hired under the deal's new hiring commitments.
Hiring Commitment: As part of the agreement, Verizon also committed to hiring at least 600 new full-time CWA-represented employees over six years.

Been doing twice the work and without support from management. Was so overwhelmed and irritated about questionable business/sales/ compliance issues I pushed back about workload and lack of support. As I predicted and most of you suggested per similar messaging on here they gave me an inconsistently meets for my performance review. Said I wasn't open to new additional work and a team player.

I already considered quitting or retiring or whatever we want to call it. I am contemplating pushing back and putting the information for leadership and HR to get involved. I know not a big threat or care to them as they will fire me in the next 12 months for something concocted.

My thought is they are sc--wing me to line their pocket or give major increases to their yes men. The group currently has a shortage of workers with too much work to go around. I already knew the stress wasn't worth it with a full raise and bonus (bonus 20 to 25% of gross pay). I do need to leave imo.

Has anyone recently (last year or year before) got an IM and then a raisebor bonus still? If so how much less than prior years?

Around 15% of the entire labour force is being made redundant. Those who joined two to four years ago are particularly affected, with no replacements being offered, and every department is impacted. The good news is that they are being slightly more generous in negotiations over the redundancy package.

Toyota never fully bought into the EV narrative. While they publicly supported emissions reductions, they:

Maintained skepticism about pure EVs: They kept investing in hybrids and hydrogen.
Made smaller, more flexible commitments: When they revised EV targets downward, they hadn't already signed massive supplier contracts
Didn't bet on regulatory permanence: They assumed political winds could change
Prioritized profitability over political favor: They were willing to be criticized for not moving fast enough on EVs.

The Fundamental Mistake
GM and Ford made massive, irreversible capital commitments based on political promises rather than market fundamentals. They:

Assumed federal policy would remain stable for a decade
Believed subsidies would be permanent
Thought consumer demand would follow regulatory mandates
Locked in supplier contracts before testing market acceptance

It's a classic case of companies mistaking political theater for business strategy. When executives stood on the White House lawn in 2021, they were making commitments that assumed the administration's policies would survive through 2030. That was a $50+ billion mistake across the industry.
The lesson: Never make billion-dollar bets assuming political conditions won't change, especially in a democracy where administrations change every four years.

Stay tuned!

Anyone know which departments? Is this all locations?

The Mission Bell Winery in Madera is preparing to lay workers off, after its distributor contract expired.

The announcement was made to employees on Tuesday. More than 200 people will be out of a job, according to a county official.

Previous employees say the announcement is shocking, adding that Mission Bell plays a significant role in the local economy.

https://kmph.com/news/local/mission-bell-winery-in-madera-to-lay-off-over-200-employees-as-contracts-with-gallo-end

I've heard rumors that most cuts will target management. Anyone know if there's any truth to that?

How many are being cut

I expect it to be worse than what we've already been through. Being under this much stress for so long doesn't help with what's coming. I truly hope that whatever happens, things work out in the end for each and every one of us. And don't forget that being laid off or kept on has nothing to do with your worth, potential, or hard work.

Yokohama Tire plans to “significantly reduce tire production” at its Salem manufacturing facility and will lay off 392 hourly and salaried employees of the plant, according to a company announcement Friday.

https://virginiabusiness.com/yokohama-tire-salem-plant-layoffs-production-cut/