I’ve been through it, and I’m telling you, this job will drain you. They don’t care about employees or fostering growth. All you’ll get is a toxic atmosphere that ki-ls your drive. If you can leave, do it. You’ll be better off, and you’ll thank yourself later. Don’t let it take more from you than it already has.
21 replies (most recent on top)
What’s difficult for me to watch is the amount of internal promotions from various levels of managers to higher managers to directors. And then a week later seeing my team members RIFd. And then management does this whole song and dance routine to try and sell it. We ain’t buying it. Too many incompetent cooks in the kitchen. We are doomed to keep being this top heavy organization that is delusional to front line realities. Spark can’t fix that.
@3a7+1w2SAVNy I have worked at the company for years and it has always been like what you describe. Expectation of working 9+ hours straight with no breaks and no lunch five days a week. Management schedules meetings between noon and 1 pm ET to enforce the mindset. They employ enough people that will lie on behalf of the company to get away with any lawsuits that might be filed based on state employment laws.
And please don't get me started on the unqualified and incompetent management at the company....
I agree. Not a good place to work anymore. Company does care about associates. On one hand afraid of getting RIFF but if you stay then you may deal with freezing & loud Pulse office and unproductive due to poor management styles. Managers should be held accountable to the Behaviors expected. Hiring managers outside of the company without at least 2-3 years of internal experience in a lower position is costing the company money in some areas. Also not abiding by state employment laws. Just having management experience regardless of industry is not enough to make the right decisions for the company if you don't know or understand the Anthem lines of business. Horrible experience of working with a manager who is untrained, unqualified as a people leader, and lacks experience in a health insurance company. Managers not adhering to HR time reporting and break policy. When did it become acceptable for managers NOT allowing an exempt employee to take a lunch and to hold conference calls 2-4 hours straight without a break? This manager intentionally holds consecutive meetings almost daily between 11-2 so that we can't have a lunch and has various MS Teams chats which I receive notifications almost all day long between meetings. This manager is WFH. Any associate that goes into the office we need a break from our desk mentally to recharge. While in the office we walk further to the get to the bathroom and may have to go downstairs or out for lunch to get lunch. Cannot have a WorkLife balance because after working straight hours without lunch break then working late to actually do work in order to meet my deliverables because I am on calls all day is stressful and causing health issues. These issues were address with the manager and no change. This manager uses his position of power against his own associates through work deliverables with short deadlines and frequently changes the end product so tasks are constantly being re-worked.
@2bzm+1w2SAVNy - Get a grip on reality, numbskull.
Desperate housewives? What an id--t. Typical “leader”.
@2bzm+1w2SAVNy I only watch TV when I've been so disrespected I can't bring myself to to do any work, or I've been in so many meetings that I've lost the will to live. At that point, I watch Office Space or maybe Groundhog Day. This job is just like Groundhog Day. SSDD. No improvement. People who know what the problems are and how to fix them get ignored. If someone gets ignored often enough then they stop sharing their solutions. Even when the solutions do get heard, it creates more work for the person who came up with them. Who wants that? We're already overworked and get raises lower than the rate of inflation. We don't get rewarded. Why TF would we do that to ourselves?
@2qvk+ Your post is sooo spot on! They are always delegating their work assignments to lower-level employees and then telling the VPs it is THEIR OWN work. Same thing regarding ideas. Staff VPs and Directors are very quick to ask for ideas from subordinates and then take the information up to the VP level claiming it was THEIR idea with no acknowledgement of the subordinate(s) that made the contributions. That is how they keep getting promotions and the people actually performing the work and come up with great ideas stay in the same position for years.
@2bzm+1w2SAVNy Just tuning in. Your comments about people in PJs and watching the View really show how out of touch you are. This company has major issues with its Directors and above. Many middle managers too. No where is perfect. But I can easily say that of all the companies I’ve ever worked for, no where has treated me worse than this. The number of wild goose chases I’ve been sent on just for a number on a deck that never gets presented is insane. Or that excel spreadsheet you can’t do, so I do it for you so you can present it as your own. Or that 4:40 PM request you knew about since yesterday but tell me 20 minutes before COB that you need at 8am. Life happens but this is the norm here. This constant, wasteful, inefficient boot licking that you do is so disruptive and disrespectful to us making “lower salaries”. A simple “Thank you “ or “Good job” goes a long way, just because you’re not hearing it doesn’t mean you can’t say it to us.
@2bzm actually I prefer the Today Show. :) Good luck with your future job search!
@2cja+1w2SAVNy - This is the motto of all major companies now … companies will not do different. Even if you can show where higher paid employees can give greater profits, they still won’t budge. So you have to wonder what scheme is happening behind the scenes for decision makers to ignore facts and continue to profit but not expect to give back to those they profit off of.
“December 2016 internal presentation, the firm’s chief operating officer at the time proposed a half-dozen “levers” for reducing its ratio of visa-workers, such as applying for more green cards, automating job functions and moving positions to Canada. Hiring more Americans was the last option – one that “may reduce margin,” the presentation said.”
@ 2bzm+1w2SAVNy. You sound like an a$$. Most of lower paying jobs are just as stressful. Especially now that we’re expected to do 3 times our workload due to rifd. Most of us on the margins don’t have lots of savings built because we don’t make tons of money. Plus we are dealing with toxic work environment and matrix environments where now we have to answer to multiple jag offs. Also how do you know people are trying to find new jobs? This is not a great job market right now. Maybe they don’t want to make even less money than they do now? Perfect example of how out of touch with reality you staff vp are. Thanks for proving our point
you sound jealous @2jxw+1w2SAVNy. It’s hilarious to me that the folks making lower salaries feel like they can sit up on their high horse and complain the “useless middle managers” do nothing yet don’t have the ba--s to quit and find something better. Like I said before, having to deal with the poor decisions that the executive leadership team makes does take skill as a Staff VP or Director. A lot of you would cry if you had to deal with that pressure for one day instead of sitting at your desk in your home in your PJ’s while The View or Desperate Housewives is on the background.
Don’t worry, @1kuz. You and your pals will all be RIFed soon. Enjoy your great salary while it lasts.
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2024-cognizant-h1b-visas-discriminates-us-workers/
@1kuz+1w2SAVNy I think you proved the point of many posts on recent threads. Way over compensated rule enforcers that don't perform any actual work except as a middle management town crier, and completely useless in escalation situations related to 'real' work. Not seeing any great impact if 50 percent of your positions were riffed and more employees reported to each one that remains.
I don't work one more second than required.
This place doesn't GAF, neither do I.
“spineless svps and directors act out of fear”. As someone who falls into the bucket above, know that Staff VP’s and Directors are not decision makers at this company. We enforce what comes from up above us. At the VP level and above is when it starts to be where that leader has some more pull on how to handle policy/change.
It’s weird that this company pays Staff VP’s and Directors a salary that is similar to a lot of doctors and dentists but doesnt trust the people in those roles to make meaningful decisions. We are basically paid a great salary to deal with the bad decisions the leaders above us make.
Post here when you quit.
This place is depressing and disturbing. I can't wait to leave.
It's really sad watching leaders you used to work with and respect turn into uncaring people whose only concern is their own job/bonus. This is when their true colors show.
It is me-culture and we should ALL adopt it.
It's not our fault that Gail and her cronies are terrible leaders. It's not our fault that spineless svps and directors act out of fear and also don't know how to lead. It's not our fault that the company apparently acts in ethically questionable ways.
It's not our fault and we shouldn't own the extra hours and extra work without compensation, which could easily come from their salaries and bonuses.
Me-culture. Embrace it, just like our so-called leaders have.
I was just thinking today, “I just want ONE senior VP to show they actually care”. Show you care about how the employees left working after the RIF are drowning but instead I’m piled with requests to do more with less and in a matrixed environment asked by different VPs without any of them verifying I have time or resources and only deman things be finished in unrealistic timeframes and during PTO. Care about the people you have RIFFed and the impact on their emotional, medical, and financial well being. Care about your customers and how you keep demanding providers are paid less or how your member’s claims are being denied when most people can’t afford this week’s grocery bill or don’t have the strength to deal with another hurdle in their healthcare journey. Care that our current outreach calls after someone has been inpatient are cold and just a form filling exercise instead of an actual check on the person’s care. You can send out well being emails or voice snippets that were generated and scripted by your team of lackies but what is really needed is for you to get off your thrones, come down to the people who serve you and show you care.