Thread regarding Optum layoffs

@vn That will be a potential of $10billion one time restructuring charge. Stock will go up.

25% cut ~ 100k souls. Wow!!

@qq what does a holiday have to do with changing a date for layoffs? I’m tired of waiting.

@qq You seem to have some knowledge about things, is there any more clues you can give us as to what department?

There’s clearly a lot of confusion on here. Yes some people already know who are being laid off. But they cannot say anything until next Friday. Decisions were not made by any directors or down including management. So in other words, no pay grades 31 or down got to make any decisions. It was 32 end up that made the decisions. It will be every division and every part of United health group coming in waves through the first quarter. Some people already know who is going to be hit on Friday and which department it is. You will know on Friday because it’s a pretty large department. People on the UHC side, UHN, and UHG are not immune to these cuts. Use your heads – Medicaid is bid by UHC and Medicaid has stopped growing for 2026 and has pulled out of a couple of markets so that should tell you UHC will be impacted. So will Optum. It also doesn’t take a brain surgeon to understand that we are staffed by the number of members we have. If we don’t have Medicaid members because we’ve pulled out in a few markets and we’re not growing our Medicaid markets, and we’ve lost 1 million Medicare members, then we don’t need as many staff.

@k7 Drawing from straightforward observations combined with critical thinking, the criteria are determined by age and salary/grade level. Optum has lost both its most intelligent and knowledgeable employees as a result. It's surprising that no one has pursued legal action for age discrimination.

I’m so ready working for this Ponzi scheme unethical offshoring, care denying company that is being sued for fraud that causes ptsd to its employees. There’s not one person who wouldn’t leave if they could find something comparable in pay elsewhere. They are auditing every department by an outside agency to find deficiencies in work flows to take your scores down to justify your exit. Yes many of us have reasons we stay here money to pay bills, healthcare or just got to dam comfortable. If they don’t get you this time it’s only a matter of time before they do. LETS GO

It’s not just Optum. UHG as a WHOLE will start layoff next Friday the 23rd. 25% across the whole org. Optum first. It was going to be the first round on the 22nd but due to the Monday holiday, it’s now the 23rd. The schedule posted on this site by someone is correct-with the rest of 2026 being other divisions of UHG including UHC. Directors have no idea until the day before. How do they do it? This time no one has a say. It’s HR and based on your yearly merit. The lower your 2025 score? The chances are you’ll be RIF,d. That’s why leadership had to have your scores in early this year. Let’s be honest-if you are underperforming do you think you should have your job?

@db no. It’s based on salary and job title/grade. Going in every day doesn’t matter.

Any idea on what departments within Optum? Will ECS be impacted?

Was in office attendance used to determine who was let go?

@d5 praying for you

I used to be a manager and no we had no clue beforehand. The information would be given to us just moments before and there was no list that was sent beforehand

@d1 I’ve been locked out of my outlook/teams since early this morning, but everything else has been working. No word from a manager or anyone else.

If UHG eliminated the position, then it’s perfectly legal to lay off that person on FMLA or even military leave. You can’t escape while on medical leave. This company wrote the playbook on how to downsize without liability noise.

Is this happening today?

@ak I used to work in FMLA. You can absolutely be laid off while on FMLA, it just can’t be for that reason.

FMLA means they have to hold your job for you and can’t replace you while you’re out. They can still eliminate the position entirely

@c9 lol wut? Yes they do. But this time list was made at Vp and svp level. So directors , managers , senior directors were not involved in who would be impacted. And the vp and svp were sworn to secrecy so they couldn’t even share with their directs who manage the people

Any update on this?

@c9 Sadly not BS. We know of layoffs this year already - mostly to India.

This is TOTAL BS - your manager or director and most times even your vp does not have a list prior to large scaled layoffs. That would open up too many potential legal issues if it was like that.

Sometimes the manager don’t know until the day of. I think the managers send the ranking list to HR, and HR or the Director makes the decision of who’s laid off.

@ak FMLA only holds your job, it doesn’t protect it.

@ad because the hammer is going to drop. This is going to be brutal.

@a8 How is it legal to lay someone off when they are on FMLA? Talk to an attorney about that one.

@a3 the irony is if the manager themselves is on the list they won’t know tomorrow. They will find out the day their impacted employees will be told. Just a horrible situation all around.

@af The work often breaks as people are let go with unique skills. There is little to no business continuity when they let people go.

But direct supervisor is the one who knows if there is dependency on someone for work ?

Why was the date moved to the 23rd?

Please share the areas affected if known.

Do we know what areas?

Which departments will be impacted?

My boss was let go on FMLA in November. This place DOES NOT CARE. You are a cog in a machine and the SLT/ELT person smiling and saying hi to you in the hall will smile and say hello to the next cog.

@OP what’s really disgusting is they’re going to sit with people and go over raises and bonuses to throw them off. Meanwhile, they’re on a list to be laid off. So mentally abusive it’s not even funny!!

Considering constant stress and anxiety, maybe it’s not so bad after all.

@a3 generally speaking your direct supervisor doesn’t make the decision to lay you off. That’s decided by their manager or higher

So aren’t the managers who provide the list ? Managers will get the list ?