Thread regarding Thomson Reuters layoffs

@74v it can be proven as illegal if:

1) Unfair dismissal:
No prior warnings before the PIP were given (no documentation of issues prior putting employee on PIP)

Unrealistic targets or very short timelines during PIP

No meaningful support or training during PIP

1. Discrimination
   if the PIP is linked to:

• Age, s-x, race, disability, religion, etc.

Example: putting only older employees on PIPs for similar performance.

1. Failure to make reasonable adjustments

If the employee has a disability, employers must adjust expectations or support. A rigid PIP without adjustments can be discriminatory.

1. Retaliation (victimisation)

If the PIP follows a complaint (e.g., harassment), it may be unlawful victimisation.

The more of these apply to you the better your case. There are some slight variations across jurisdictions but the themes are mostly the same.

@739 what specifically is illegally about what they are doing? I do agree with you, but just trying to use it for my own defense against them. Happening to many people.

@70v I realize this kind of organizing would be really hard to do, but I wonder if a collective lawsuit would be more damaging for TR than individual employees fighting for themselves - gathering evidence, threatening TR with a lawsuit etc.

What they are doing is illegal but they are counting on you not knowing that and being too stressed to research this and fight back.

@708

Not trying to start a flame war of UK better than US. Just saying I think labor protections are a good thing.
The official unemployment rates, trust them or not, are 4.3% US and 4.9% UK.

@6z8 The UK also has 5% unemployment rate, among many other problems, so probably not the best example, "mate"

What is being described in these posts would be illegal in UK law. TR can try to force people out via intimidation of putting people on improvement plans but employees of two years or more have statutory rights and tribunals would be alert to companies trying to avoid paying employees off through fraudulent incompetence accusations.

If I’m put on PIP my plan would be to print out every past review and feedback. Too much at stake not to fight back. I realise this advice may not work for my US brothers and sisters in arms.

The TR plan must just be to hope people will jump ship. But it’s disgusting, corrosive, and evil.

I would also urge everyone to look for other more fulfilling roles at better companies.

@4bp I’m not in North America so I doubt the name would help. He was specialized in labor law - anyone with this specialization should do. I don’t think you need an attorney for the whole process (I only got a lawyer to review the final agreement) but I can understand why you would want one.

I would suggest for your husband to save all former performance reviews, feedback from colleagues (which is supposed to inform performance reviews), and think about any meeting recordings, teams chats, emails etc he could also save - any written communications suggesting his performance was actually good and he did what he was told by his manager. Make sure it is saved to personal drive as well not just company laptop. This is key.

@3xf which attorney did you go with? My spouse was just placed on a PIP after years positive performance reviews. This is all so stressful.

My team were told most of us were at the top of our band, so no pay raises for us. Genuinely no idea why they think that’s a good move on their part - all remaining motivation is now gone, all goodwill finished.

@41e all I signed is that if I in the end after all decide to raise legal claims against the company I will have to pay back the money. Which is not worth the trouble. The standard NDA in terms of competition still applies but I ended up taking a (much more interesting and better job in every way) in a different industry.

@3xf I'm surprised they didn't ask you to sign an NDA

@3sk No. They put me on PIP and at first HR said they would look into it because all the points to start it were mostly manufactured - eg manager said I did or said X and I could point to in writing that this is a lie. Pro tip - get as much of comms in writing as possible and/or have recordings. Otherwise it is your word against managers. And in the current climate by the sounds of it you need it for your safety. Then there was radio silence from HR but my manager suddenly became really nice to me and told me all issues are “fixed” and I’m no longer on PIP because of this (so I was off PIP after literally just 3 weeks). I then submitted my manager for HR ethics investigation because I felt that the PIP was started in response to me asking questions. Then they did nothing for months - I used this time to job hunt as soon as I had another job offer I started pushing HR on why they are not doing anything about the investigation saying I don’t feel safe at work. I asked them to transfer me to another team. They didn’t and instead promised me money if I resigned but refused to put this offer in writing. I refused and finally they gave me an offer in writing which I then reviewed with the lawyer. So in the end they paid me to leave the company even though I had another offer lined up which they didn’t know about. It was a tough period but in the end I wiped the floor with them and I am still proud of that today.

@13w I’m going through the same. What attorney did you work with? Did you actually get fired?

@3b4 @3b4 Make sure you get your resume updated and start applying elsewhere. That's my current game and I am the fed-up TR employee who got jacked on my pay raise and started this 0% pay raise thread. I'm sick of the RTO mandates with zero collaboration, sick of working my butt off and putting in extra hours for what, I didn't get a raise this year, my bonus was cut and inflation and gas prices are not helping the situation.

If you see any interesting job postings, send over a resume. Just know that there's a lot of competition out there right now and without the right keywords in your resume, algorithms can very quickly amount to a "Thank you for applying but..." email in your inbox. Find a recruiter or more than one and work with them as well. Network network network. As the other poster said, mentally prepare for the worst, but maybe leaving the company will actually be the best thing. I know that's my hope. Good luck to you!

@3b4 sounds like grounds for a lawsuit lol

@3b4 this su-ks. I’m am telling you as someone who went through this process you need to get your ducks in a row now and be prepared to get fired. They have targets and people to cut and the PIP is the mark of death.

This is how they build a paper trail and a narrative you’re a bad performer and subsequently fire you instead of laying you off so they save money on severance payouts.

What they might do is make the PIP extremely difficult to pass. No matter what obviously try to pass the PIP but if they want you gone you will be gone they will find things to nitpick. I suggest now putting in effort to apply for jobs and mentally prepare yourself.

I’m sorry you’re going through that and just know you’re not alone.

Wow. I thought it was just me!

Last year, my lead, the only other member of my team, was reposted to a different team, and I only found out about it after it was complete. No transition, no knowledge transfer, no guidance, just, “it’s your ship now”.

At midyear, I was also told that leadership “had no visibility into the work I was doing”; in spite of always keeping my leads informed, always responding to the team’s requirements as they adjusted, and being very verbose in the review documents.

I took the “coaching“ to heart and upped my reporting game to the point where my manager said I was giving too much info with the 8-12 bullet items and that leadership “will never take the time to read that.” My manager said things were looking good, I was doing what he had asked/suggested. He even wrote that down in the end-of-year.
I too received 0% merit increase because I was told I did not meet expectations by completing all of the goals that were assigned at the beginning of the year to a two person team.
I put even more effort into my work, continually checked in and realigned with my Manager, and was always informed that what I was doing was meeting expectations.

Yesterday, I was given a PIP because I “failed to make improvements in my performance after receiving coaching“; contradicting the feedback I was getting. the plan requires me to meet end-of-q3 team roadmap goals in the next 30-90 days.

I was naive to stay this long.

@1bx I'm also US

@1cz I think I topped at 5% with an exceeded AND a promotion. Comical.
2% this year with a met.

@1bw same but with achieved. I was shocked.

@1c4 wow, I have been with TR for 20+ years and had several exceeded.. never got 8%! You must be highly skilled!

@1bp I think the only highly paid people at TR are those at the top. I always understood that TR underpaid their employees, but made up for that with other "perks" - things like summer hours or heading to the game room for some ping pong or just a low-key laid back culture where we delivered at a slower pace. Up until the last big culture shift, TR also was a company where you'd have to do something really wrong in order to get fired. Today, that culture appears to have made a huge shift. We see people leave the company and positions aren't backfilled. The pay still su-ks and we're being asked to increase our workloads with little reward. And the RTO mandates are meaningless for those of us who never collaborate because over half our team being overseas or spread across the US and everything we need can be done on teams or via a quick phone call. So to answer your question, no, not highly paid. Just highly fed up and putting in the effort to look elsewhere.

@1bx USA - full time employee

@1bw which location/region you are employed to?

I got 8% but did get an exceeded this year

@14g Hopefully this is because you are highly paid (at least, according to the band you are in).

@18w on the contrary, there's no better time to be awarded stock. Sorry you didn't get any. It's actually much better than the L called EPP. How did that work for y'all, lol

Some people are getting long-term incentive payments where they credit you with their worthless stock, but it is subject to vesting over a three year period. Not worth it. Get out.

@175

1. Yes. They force leaders to put a certain percentage of the team(s) below achieved.
2. Yes. They attempt to force leaders to start PIPs on all below achieved.
3. Yes. Regardless of rating, there is a good chance an individual would get 1% or less raise.
4. Yes. Leaders could push back on HR to avoid PIP. (Generally without luck).
5. Yes. If someone is PIP'd and is released, there are no backfills. (exceptions rarely possible)
6. Complaining, threatening to leave, or justification is not going to get you what you 'deserve'.
7. Yes. the 'improved' performance of the company is largely due to decreased employee overhead.
8. Yes. AI is actively being pursued as your replacement in all roles.

@14g I hope you are not joking?

I got partial meets and got almost 1%.

I actually got an exceeded for 2025 and a zero merit increase 😥

They are 100% doing PIPs to push people out. They did it to me. But I had evidence that it was bs and used it so they had to pay me off to avoid a lawsuit. Do the same!!

If you’ve had good record all the years and positive reviews etc it’s worth a shot at least because yes what they are doing is not legal

@132 everything that is going on makes sense the minute you realize the senior leadership would rather not have (well compensated) employees in the US of A

This is nearly exactly my experience. I received a partial, the first ever in over a decade at TR with no warning, because my manager had no say in it and was from HR. I also avoided a PIP. My manager explained HR asked if a PIP is required and the manager can say no. But I got the impression there was some pressure from HR.

I also received zero percent pay rise and a reduced bonus.

It seem: a) an attempt to drive people out and reduce costs (possible, considering the share price and also with the mandatory attendance acting to do the same etc) b) the leadership are d-mb consultant robots and do not understand the relationship between pay and motivation like a start-up would, or c) HR and some senior leaders are sadists and take pleasure in our misery. It could honestly be any of those options.

If people getting achieved are on 1.75% etc then I don't see any motivation to put in extra hours.

And if people really are being driven out by PIPs so TR can avoid statutory payments, some legal action should be taken against TR because this is a breach of labor laws, at least in some countries, and it will at least create a legal record TR is actively doing this in large scale. I have only seen those PIP rumours on this forum: head count reductions I have known at TR do involve stack ranking but it's done at the time of the consultancy and is legal, just sh---y.

My own plan is to have an exit strategy for inside the next 12 months but it's a shame.

It honestly feels like they’re trying to push people out.

They are.

Which offices do NOT currently have an RTO exemption other than Ann Arbor?

I received an "Achieved" review and my raise was 1.75%. Absolute joke.

You guys have already discussed bonuses and increases? My boss hasn't even called me with any news about the money I've already earned for 2025! It's now mid March

@ey seems like they’re all over the board this year. I’ve heard that some areas are no to minimal increase and others got decent. I was pleasantly surprised by mine with achieves and actually got more than I’ve received with in-band promotions (and I’m not labs or AI).