Thread regarding Optum layoffs

The company appears to be cutting costs by encouraging resignations or creating performance-based grounds for termination, such as enforcing a four-day office attendance policy. Profitability challenges, particularly in the Optum business due to CMS V28 changes, are straining finances. Heavy investments in AI are unlikely to yield short-term returns, if any. Meanwhile, executive perks—luxury travel, corporate jets, security, double-digit raises, and millions in stock options—remain untouched. Instead, the company is pressuring its most vulnerable employees. This is a textbook case of mismanagement driving a company into the ground. Leadership is dominated by yes-men and yes-women, with dissenting voices pushed out. If you have alternatives, consider leaving this toxic environment. If not, make the best of your situation and be grateful to still have a job.

Glad to see people feeling the same way as me. When I found out I started having panic attacks for the first time in my life. I’m experiencing extreme anxiety. No time for myself anymore I’m just surviving. It’s such a horrible job market I feel stuck. It’s not fair I’m the only one on my team that has to drive to an office to do my job. Nobody knows anything about how it’s going to be enforced. Nobody really knows if other cities or remote employees will be affected. Is it fair that if you live within 30 minutes you get your life turned upside down but if you live 40 minutes away you can continue living normally. I feel like I can’t speak up about this. There’s nothing my manager can do. There’s nothing I can do I feel hopeless angry and scared.

I remember Andrew Witty saying the company works well remotely and that they’d never force people to return back if they didn’t want to. Clearly things have changed it’s very upsetting.

@a6 relax, this is how everyone worked up until a few years ago. Don’t worry you’ll get over it

@af no one cares

@aa the federal govt does this to get employees to quit ( even before Trump) It's not illegal This company created their own problems . Now trying to save their massive exec salaries

@c5 isn’t it disgusting that employees of a Fortune 3 company have to rely on low-income afterschool childcare and Salvation Army for clothing? While I think these are great ideas, I think it’s really sad people (especially single Moms) are having to scramble because of the abrupt change to job description.

I’m not sure this will help anyone but as a low income single mother the schools in my area offer an after school program that lasts until 5 pm. I hope your school or day care offers the same. Dress for success to help with clothes or Salvation Army or churches. Don’t have any advice on getting a second car. Mine broke down years ago and my saving grace was working remote so I think fully didn’t need one or could afford one with what they pay me. It’s bullsh-t anyone has to go through this but I do hope they reverse the decision for those who are being told to go back in.

@ak

right...because these sc-mbag ceos lockstep with each other, like lemmings off a cliff. a true free-market situation.

@ak I’ve been a remote worker for decades. I was hired for a fully remote role. Covid isn’t the issue here.

Well to be fair.. post covid all of this was normal, what you’re calling out were the norms.. if you don’t like it find a company that supports your mode of working.

@af I am absolutely am working to build skills and find something that supports my family and lifestyle, but having an opinion and feelings about a huge upheaval isn’t wrong. It’s still OK to be a human being and have an opinion on a major life decision that impacts my family - which I have no control over and didn’t sign up for. This culture of take it up the a-s and deal with it quietly is not working.

@ae You have to be stronger. I'm 50+ so I'm in jeopardy for that reason. I have a large family for which I am the sole provider. I take on as much responsibility as I can get and I provide for others. In 30 years through 10 jobs I have not been unemployed for a single day. You can do more than you think. Build your skills. Quit and get a better job. But please stop acting helpless.

Yes I’m struggling also. I feel depressed because I have to work but there’s nothing myself or my manager can do, even though I’m a top notch employee, always 4-5 on performance reviews.It’s easy to hear about changes that affect other people, but when it hits home it’s different. I’m sure the leadership making this decision will have their own day to be shafted by the company in time.

Breed a culture of manipulation and disregard and that’s the environment you end up in yourself. Karma.

@aa So if you live within 30 miles you’re punished but if you live farther out you get to stay remote? That’s pretty clear unequal treatment for people doing the same jobs. It feels unfair and borderline discriminatory.

Remote work was part of the deal when people were hired. Changing it only for certain employees seems like it could create legal risk, curious what the attorney will say, keep us posted.

It’s outrageous that a company can hire people as FT telecommuters and then years later flip the script, forcing only those within a 30-mile radius of an office to come in 4 days/wk. Even worse, they’re running badge reports to track compliance and threatening corrective action. That’s not flexibility, that’s coercion.

This is essentially punishing employees for living closer to the office. People who were hired as telecommuters made decisions about housing, family, and lifestyle based on the understanding that their roles were remote. Now, the company is penalizing them simply because they happen to fall within an arbitrary radius.

To me, this looks like a textbook example of constructive discharge—forcing conditions that drive people out without having to pay severance. There should be workforce protection laws against this kind of bait-and-switch. I’ll be talking to an attorney about it, and if those protections don’t exist, they should. This feels like the kind of practice the Department of Labor or a state Attorney General’s office would want to examine.

@OP I’m struggling so much too. I’m also waking up at 3am and my brain won’t stop thinking how this will change everything. My family also needs to buy a second car, figure out before/after care for our child in elementary school, and change routines. It just feels like such a disruption and that they don’t care at all about people’s lives. What a mess. You aren’t alone, the stress of this is overwhelming

Yeah it is time to bail. No raises or bonuses most likely given the stock and earnings are what they are.

The number of different CxOs at the different Optum subsidiaries in the last 6 months is crazy. The fact they don’t even make internal announcements to all of us says all you need to know about how long they expect people to last.

@a6 Unfortunately I don’t think leadership has any regard for employees, their work life balance, job satisfaction, or mental health. If they did, they would’ve asked for feedback on the hybrid model prior to making it a requirement. The badge reports on top of it just add insult to injury. Way to make enemies out of your workforce.

It all shows complete disregard for people and their families - and this is a healthcare company! Terrifying.

With you 100%. I was part of the first wave earlier this summer after the 4th of July and I'm not going to lie, it's a daily challenge and struggle. Esp with the massive family life/flexibility disruption. I've been a longstanding, loyal employee, always receiving a 4 or higher on my performance reviews and was thriving on my arrangements. It's been near impossible to find time to exercise, do anything for me, because of the additional juggling act it's requiring. No real advice other than to say you're not alone, the same obstacles you're trying to overcome are what a lot of us are trying to figure out as well.

I plan to be VERY direct during the EXI survey in the comments, I've submitted numberous points of feedback in the Always On listening tool, and am firm on my boundaries - no more working or responding to emails/calls after 5 pm or on weekends and firm on boundaries that my family needs based on pre-established childcare contracts, etc.

@a4 I feel for you. I’m so sorry you’re struggling with this also. It’s good to know we not alone.

@OP I am with you. This is severely disrupting my entire family’s life. This company has no regard to working families and it has been causing severe anxiety. I have cried multiple days about it and still have no idea on how I’m even considered in the radius