Thread regarding Elevance Health (Anthem) layoffs

Check you emails. More buildings getting them by end of year. Under the pretense of “to improve our ability to notify and protect associates in the event of an onsite emergency”

Yeah right. We know Big Brother what it’s really for.

@18c not true. They were installed in Maine a couple of weeks ago.

@1k8 Any idea where? Dreading this being put in place in our Pulse Point. The flexibility of being able to leave on my lunch, pick up my kid, and take us both home is one of the only reasons I have stayed here as long as I did.

Exit badge readers added to more offices this week.

@189 if you read the hybrid policy on Pulse it states they expect you to spend the full business day in the office.

@18c Do you work in LM?

@17f I feel you. This anecdote isn't about ELV, but about how these arbitrary and absurd RTOs are impacting others.

I have a friend who works in very high level government-contracted position; she took the job ten years ago because, even though it was a three hour commute to the actual office, was fully remote. FULLY remote. Maybe once or twice a year she had to go in for a training session or department shindig.

Then covid, and everyone in the company was converted remote.

In that period of time, she had two kids, lost her father, took in her ailing widowed mother. Still able to perform the tasks of her demanding job, high marks all around.

A year ago, they started demanding a slight RTO; in her case, she went from 0 times ever to once a month. Okay, fine, manageable.

But in July, the CEO announced in an all hands that everyone - EVERYONE - would be required to go into the office five days a week. Again, for my friend, that would mean three hours each way of commuting time. She pled her case to her manager, who told her his hands were tied.

She told me at this point that she feared she was going to have to make a choice between choosing unemployment, or missing every single activity her kids participated in (and forcing her husband to manage all of that), not being there if something went wrong with her mother, and even if all went well, spending the equivalent of nearly a full work week on the freeway, every single week, apart from her work hours.

Fortunately for her, she was at the last minute able to transfer to a different department that was somehow exempted from this policy, but it would've been disastrous for her otherwise - since her degree and experience are in a very niche industry with only a few companies in the entire country relevant to it.

Anyway, the point is, RTO for the sake of it is lunacy. I can see it in certain roles and industries, but in hers (and ours, for the most part), it makes no sense.

@19j interesting read, but more on the back to the office in general than on the topic of badging out. Thanks for posting anyway.

This article pretty much says it all:
https://www.fastcompany.com/91391672/remote-work-isnt-the-problem-mediocre-leadership-is-work-from-home-bad-leadersh
Just posting it here so we don’t feel like it just us.

@18r ok. It’s based on your role. I’m not hourly employee. I get it now.

@18v what industry did you move to? If you don’t mind me asking. Was it still in health insurance? Or did you completely switch? That’s what I’m grappling with right now.

Tyrannical- I feel for you guys. I was Rif'ed in 2024. I work in digital strategy for Sydney. Since I've left I am free from the office politics and stress and anxiety around layoffs RTO mandates. it is sooooo green on the other side. Not saying it didn't take my 9 months to find a new job- that kind of was a downer. But now I am so much happier making much more money and not feeling the day to day stress that this place caused me. GET OUT if you can. Leadership is pretty two faced in my experience, and I pride myself in that domain as an 05 in the Army Reserves. Just not a good place to be. Good luck.

@18r yep not to mention some of us who don’t speak with members have WorkIQ which shows when our computers are active and takes screenshots to prove we are working.

@18m no flexibility - in your seat ready to take calls at 8am - period - ask any one who talks to members and is measured by it - the exception to 8 am was when they converted all Case Managers several years ago from salary to hourly and assigned them a "new shift" where some had to work till 9pm and everyone had to work a Saturday - think that won't happen again - clueless - ask around there are still some of us who work here who clearly remember the "sc--w over days"

Someone should post the policy that says you don't need to be in the office for 8 hrs if you think it is not true. (Doesn't apply to Directors or above though - nothing does)

@18e Really? You worked at an Anthem office where they mandated what hours you could work? So every single person had to be in the office by 8am? Sounds fishy. The posters were saying it was a requirement to be in 8 hours. I find that hard to believe. This company su-ks but they have at least giving people flexibility in working hours.

@17z: I could have written this word for word. Amen sister!
@189: Thanks for putting that idea out there. Now the SLT will come up with some new mandate that all non-management level employees must spend a minimum of 7 1/2 hours (maybe they’ll give us 30 minutes to grab something from the local fast junk food eatery). A good additional item to make it more onerous would be we must badge in by 8:30 and badge out after 5:00 (my local office always had an 8 1/2 hour day pre COVID, giving us a 30 minute lunch run, and them a full 8 hours. I’d usually be gone by 4:30 to beat the traffic anyway). I’m looking forward to my retirement at the end of the year.

This is not true! The only sites that have swipe outs is DC, NYC, Indy and ATL. Why spread lies on this site!

@17z where is it written that you have to stay in the office for 8 hours? I’m curious if it is official policy you everyone is assuming that because of the badge out reader? I would think if that is the expectation then it should be in policy document. Again not trying to go against the posts here. Just want to read it for myself to confirm.

I’ve decided to approach this differently. If they require me to swipe in and out, then that’s all they’ll get. My laptop will stay in my bag, and once I’m home, I won’t check email or do extra work from my phone or computer.

When I worked from home, it was natural to be online at 7 a.m. or even past midnight. A simple 45-minute walk around the neighborhood often sparked new ideas that carried me through projects far beyond a standard workday. Putting in 55+ hours a week never felt burdensome—it was fulfilling, balanced, and genuinely productive.

Now, this rigid “8 hours in the office” rule takes away that balance. The only way to reclaim it is to give them their 8 hours, and nothing more. That means doing the bare minimum the office model allows, because that’s all the time it leaves me with.

It won’t be easy—I’m used to chasing ideas the moment they come to me. But instead, I’ll redirect that energy into my own life: cooking, coaching my kids’ basketball team, or anything else that restores balance and energizes me.

I know not everyone can share this approach and others have different constraints but for me this is what I decided.

F U Gail and your worthless minions. I used to see this job as helping people. I now see what you want from me: money and stock price. F U. You sold your soul long ago but I am reclaiming mine.

@15w you hit the nail on the head.

Let me give another real world example of how negative RTO is for some of us.
I’m going to start by saying I was hired into EH before the pandemic in a role that was in office. I went in every day until I was sent to WFH during shutdown. I later transferred to a different department into a team that the whole team was entirely remote BEFORE the pandemic. I am talking remote for years and years before the pandemic.
After changing departments into a role that has always been remote and being promised during hiring process it would remain remote, I had a child and I decided to buy a home in a town that is safer and better for my young family. My team was randomly mandated to go into office once a week. It’s less than 30 miles from the office, but my commute is horrible and takes over an hour.
I have to wake my kid up early and take my kid to daycare early as soon as they open so I can sit in traffic for over an hour in hopes I can make it in on time. I have been late a few times because of traffic issues. I can’t leave earlier because the daycare we use doesn’t open earlier and I don’t have anyone else that can watch my child and take my child to daycare for me. My spouse works insane hours and can’t do it.
I used to be able to sneak out a little early by taking a late lunch and finishing my work hours at home since they only checked badge in times to make sure I showed up at the office. I can’t do that anymore since they might be checking what time we leave, so have to leave at my mandated time, sit in traffic for over an hour, and try to make it back to my child’s daycare before they close. It’s stressful. They charge by the minute if you don’t get there by their closing time. I’ve been late a few times because traffic is horrendous!! So on top of $275+ per week for daycare we have to pay fees for every minute I am late picking up.
This has caused me to consider leaving a job I am really good at, pays decently well, a job I actually really like (I know, rare for EH), and a team I get along great with. When I WFH I am happy to put in extra hours after returning home from picking up my child, but the days I have to commute during rush hour I absolutely cannot do so. I also live in constant worry that I’ll soon have to go in more days every week and have to burden someone else to pick up my child (again, spouse works crazy hours), and we do not have a “village” of people to help us close to where we live.
It’s upturning peoples lives. It absolutely is. Some of us made huge life decisions being in jobs that were remote before the pandemic and promised to remain remote. If I were still in the old role where I was in office daily before the pandemic, we may not have moved a little further away and I’d be understanding about having to RTO. But no one in this particular team had EVER set foot in an EH office prior to the pandemic. Now the lucky few of us who happen to be less than 50 miles away have to figure it out. No one in my department works in the same office as me. Not even anyone on adjacent teams that I sometimes work with. Literally no one I interact with is in the same office as me. I go in to sit by myself all day, be on Teams calls all day, and worry about whether or not I’m going to be able to pick up my child on time. I can’t even stay a minute or two past my scheduled clock out time or else I will guaranteed be late picking up my child. I was promised fully remote permanently. That promise was broken and I fear it will be further broken.

@vr Many employees work across multiple time zones, often spanning the entire country or even globally. For those balancing east and west coast schedules, for instance, the in-office requirement creates significant challenges. On the west coast, this may mean starting meetings at 6 a.m. and either commuting before dawn to make it to the office or attempting to find time mid-morning to travel. On the east coast, it often means remaining in the office until 8 p.m. or commuting home at 5, only to log back in afterward.

These schedules are far more manageable when working from home, or when allowed flexibility to leave the office mid-afternoon and resume work later. Requiring a “full workday” in the office has a measurable negative impact on both quality of life and quality of work. Remote arrangements still deliver the necessary hours but without the additional financial, emotional, or health burdens. The current RTO policy, especially when combined with badge-out monitoring, suggests employee well-being is not a priority, and that productivity isn't actually the goal.

Employees I know in several major cities were indeed leaving offices around 2 or 3 p.m. on office days - not to avoid work, but to reduce multi-hour commutes. Most/all of these people were originally hired as remote workers, whether before COVID or during, so extended commutes were never factored into their daily lives or finances. In every case, they continued to work from home into the evening, frequently exceeding eight or even ten hours of productive time. Commuting hours are no different than other breaks built into the workday, yet the current policy disregards this reality.

The prior system, which treated employees as professionals capable of managing their own schedules, was both more efficient and more respectful. The current office environment reduces productivity due to noise, lack of privacy, constant interruptions, longer distances to basic amenities, and security concerns with personal belongings. Not to mention lugging things back and forth to "hotel," and fighting for space once you get there. (Raise your hand if you've ever reserved a workspace only to find someone camping in it upon your arrival, and given you sourpuss attitude when you ask them to move.) Commutes compound the stress and leave employees dreading the workday, and no one does good work when they're sitting there exhausted from their commute in and dreading their commute out.

Meanwhile, those setting these mandates typically enjoy private offices, secure environments, and the ability to dictate schedules aligned with their own convenience. The disconnect between decision-makers and the workforce results in reduced productivity, diminished morale, and unnecessary strain.

The outcome is not improved collaboration or performance, but the opposite.

At one time in our history, we all took for granted working in office five days a week was just how it was, and we chose our jobs based on the best commute for the best salary. Now we know it doesn't have to be like this, and when it's not like this, productivity as well as employee satisfaction and loyalty are higher. A happy workforce is a productive, loyal workforce, and Indy should know this. If those were important to Indy, at least more so than forced face time with strangers (I can count on a single hand the number of people I know across enterprise -- outside, presumably, SLT -- who office in the same location as their direct colleagues, much less their manager), and perhaps their commercial real estate investments, they would abandon this RTO thing. This is why many of us believe RTO is about forcing attrition.

@vr depending on your commute with traffic etc. it is not uncommon to not get home until 7. Leaving at 5pm does nothing for many people - it's all about timing - but wait - you get to get up at 5am to get to the office at 8. And the joy of lugging your stuff back and forth never gets old. I may not "get to leave" before 5 to beat the traffic but I am damn sure logging off at 5pm daily. No exceptions - if I was still allowed to be at home very often got 10-11 hrs a day out of me - no more

can’t leave 1-hr early to commute in between meetings if they start monitoring time in/out - and leaving at 7pm because of unhealthy workloads and meetings in multiple time zones is not feasible for most people.

@vk asks: How does swiping in at the entrances when you arrive, and swiping out at the exit when you leave impact anyones ability to do their job?

You need to think like a leader (or not think at all, depends on how you look at it). It’s obvious to all (yeah, right) that spending 8 hours in the office, for, if at all if you have a team meeting for an hour, is going to incentivize you to work furiously. Versus working from home (I get it, they’re paying for office space and want to justify their budget) or coming in for the meeting, heading back home to your quiet work space, and doing the rest of your job. I can say from a personal perspective, when working from home, I’ve many times, put in 10+ hours to get the project done. Zero is number of times I’ve stayed at the office to finish similar work. The laptop was always there the next morning.

@am How does swiping in at the entrances when you arrive, and swiping out at the exit when you leave impact anyones ability to do their job?

At least they are not keeping the doors locked so we can't get out of the building until 5pm. Or is that coming next.

So you can't go off campus for lunch?

Who cares… quit whining and focus on your job. I’ve had to badge in and out of every hospital (and other corporate) jobs I’ve had.

Management should give our employees a “Thank You!” regardless of work at home or office status. Maybe I’m just living in the past world where employees were the engine that drove business.

For those of us that were hired full time remote, I think managers should line up at the exits and shake our hands thanking us for driving into the office that day. After all, we got no compensation for the added expense related to the change to our verbal employment agreements. From what I have seen of management at this company, they have plenty of free time to shake hands and say, 'Thank you!'.

@c0 good luck with proving that - "enhanced security" will win the day -

At some point if you are salaried and they are making you essentially clock in and out, shouldn’t they have to pay you hourly and overtime? Some people would make bank!

At least they’re no longer pretending that it’s for “enhanced security”. When they installed them in the Atlanta pulse point that was the reason we were given.

As soon as this comes to TPA I’m quitting. Not sustainable with our workloads.