Thread regarding Verizon Communications Inc. layoffs

When senior leaders stay quiet

Leadership isn’t about staying quiet when things get hard. It’s about having difficult conversations especially when their employees are struggling.

What’s disappointing is watching so many of them stay silent while the mental strain on employees keeps growing. Ever since Dan became CEO, the focus has been nonstop customer obsession and AI obsession while the human side of the company feels ignored.

Employees are exhausted. Morale is down. People are anxious about their future while incredible talent is being pushed aside in the name of efficiency.

Let’s hope state and federal governments begin putting real guardrails around employment as AI rapidly changes the workforce. Companies should not be able to aggressively cut human talent in pursuit of automation without accountability or protections for workers and environment.

At some point, companies need to ask themselves: what happens when we automate away stability for millions of people? Will all of this still feel worth it when unemployment rises and people can no longer support themselves? What’s most disappointing is not just the decisions being made but the silence of the leaders who see the damage being done and still choose not to speak up.

Technology should support humanity not replace it at any cost.


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| 15 views | | 19 replies (last May 9) | Reply
Post ID: @OP+1kr3jr1wf

19 replies (most recent on top)

@b2 No, it is definitely NOT a shame.

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Post ID: @ek+1kr3jr1wf

They make those ‘Leaders’ sign Non-Disclosure Agreements’. That’s why they stay silent.

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Post ID: @d8+1kr3jr1wf

@aj You are going to get none of that though. This isn't how corporations are run anymore. They answer to the shareholders and no one else. The sooner you accept that the better off you will be. You are 100% right, they are not leaders, they ARE administrators. They ARE getting paid to make the company money and to increase its share price not to make you, me, or anyone else that work for them feel "good". That is it. If that means cutting 13k+ people then so be it. Su-ks for the employees but everything these days su-ks, its the direction we have been heading for over the last several decades if not longer.

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Post ID: @ba+1kr3jr1wf

Start presenting the tough questions at the all hands and force leadership to
Respond in a public setting. If enough people ask about it they can’t ignore

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Post ID: @b9+1kr3jr1wf

@b0 Dan the hatchet man says full AGI in 2-5 years and 30% unemployment with blue collar jobs being done by robots in within 5 years. Where do we get the good stuff that Dan-O is sniffing up his nose everyday? This guy is completely unplugged from reality. Maybe a robot will take his job!

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Post ID: @b3+1kr3jr1wf

@ac shame we aren’t in China.

https://amp.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3352327/ai-cost-cutting-not-legal-excuse-fire-workers-chinese-court-says

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Post ID: @b2+1kr3jr1wf

@b0 foremost need to reorganize the Verizon leadership by making the entire organizational structure FLAT. And streamline all the back office operations into one for all lines of businesses.

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Post ID: @b1+1kr3jr1wf

Wake up. Dan has been 100% transparent. He intends to automate anything he can, cut heads along the way and/or out source. He just has said exactly to WHOM or WHEN there will be impacts.

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Post ID: @b0+1kr3jr1wf

Leaders are communicating. The value team had multiple leaders post day of layoff about their business trip.

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Post ID: @av+1kr3jr1wf

You have to understand that leadership rolls at Verizon are often essentially glorified IC positions. It’s a remnant of all the mergers and acquisitions that formed Verizon. There is not enough pay growth in actual IC positions here. There are not enough band 5 level IC positions. So IC’s take manager rolls simply because there are more of them. Then they get those rolls because of their performance or relationship’s established while being a decent IC. So the lack of quality people leaders is to be expected. The reality is you could collapse Senior Manager, Associate Director into one roll across the company and not miss a beat. I suspect you could even collapse Director into that single roll with little impact depending on the business unit.

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Post ID: @aq+1kr3jr1wf

There’s not a single senior leader prepared to acknowledge the situation. They are not leaders.

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Post ID: @am+1kr3jr1wf

It’s not about wanting “coddling” or motivational speeches.

Leadership isn’t just transactional management of labor. It’s accountability for the decisions that shape people’s livelihoods, workload, and future stability.

No one is asking for pizza parties. What people are asking for is responsible decision-making, transparency, and the willingness to acknowledge impact when strategy affects human beings at scale.

If leadership is purely transactional, then it stops being leadership and becomes administrators.

If they took on the task of leadership then this comes with the territory. They are getting paid the big bucks to handle such responsibilities.

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Post ID: @aj+1kr3jr1wf

But ask yourself, what do you want them to say?

"It'll be ok, here have a pizza party".
"Don't worry, we will be stronger when this is all over".
"We are a family and sometimes we have to do things for the betterment of the family"

Seriously if they say anything you all will whine about the message, when they say nothing you whine about the silence. Exec's aren't here to coddle the emotionally fragile. Get up in the morning, do your job, then clock out at the end of the day, collect your pay. That is it. They don't owe you anything just like you don't owe them anything. This whole thing is transactional. People come and go, that's the nature of "work".

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Post ID: @ag+1kr3jr1wf

@ac makes a good point. Many have already compromised their principles. There may still be a few willing to push back. In Florida, DeSantis signed legislation aimed at restricting the development of data centers in the state.

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Post ID: @ae+1kr3jr1wf

"Let’s hope state and federal governments begin putting real guardrails around employment as AI rapidly changes the workforce. Companies should not be able to aggressively cut human talent in pursuit of automation without accountability or protections for workers and environment."
Maybe in some other country you might see this, but not here! 100% of the Republican party politicians and probably half of the Democratic party politicians have been captured by multi billionaire and big corporate interests. The average working stiff is like an orange to be squeezed for every ounce of juice and then discarded. The few politicians left that are actually on your side get labelled "co-mies" by the big media (which is also owned by these same multi billionaires) Divide and conquer has worked quite well on us.

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Post ID: @ac+1kr3jr1wf

Couldn’t agree more OP. Our Sr Leaders went radio silent for the last 2.5 months of 2025. We lost nearly 40% of our team in November. The silence was very telling of their ability to lead.

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Post ID: @aa+1kr3jr1wf

Totally agree, but let me add what corporate America is doing. Reducing jobs in one country, outsourcing it, and then moving those roles in another country.
There are people who are working 8am to 8pm, still being let go, but the work never finishes. Many folks, managers are burnt out.
The issue is definitely with the law makers, Senators, Congressman, Government officials staying quite and putting in no guardrails.

The stock market should not incentivize layoffs, global restructuring .. once this happens, change will start to come

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Post ID: @a8+1kr3jr1wf

The only thing I disagree with is customer obsession . Customers support GOOD human interaction with GOOD employees to handle customer needs. This company hasn’t done that for a decade . They are focused on metrics like how long you take . This company has sh-t to bed and it’s getting ready to get flushed

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Post ID: @a4+1kr3jr1wf

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