Thread regarding Optum layoffs

I have been RIF’d 3 times. Each time it has been internal networking that landed me in a new place right before my cut off date. Stay in touch with others who directly know you and your work. Have contact outside the work email system (personal email, phone numbers, linked in , etc.) stay in touch and see what opens up. But just know it will happen again and again. My RIFs were never part of a specific team, area, or acquisition. Just as the pattern mentioned above, they cycle through those five steps over and over again. If you want to stay in this company, you have to be comfortable with constantly fighting to stay, and jumping into new positions every 2-3 years at a minimum.

: @1orp+1t9mhQgr- you hit it right on the nail. But … regarding staffing firms- this org. Has had contractual agreement to notify them should they decide to source “offshore” or aka “wipr$” with advanced notice. This org went behind several staffing firm against the. Contractual agreements. Yeah, unethical conduct is the norm.

Take a look at how many offshore REQs are currently on the careers site vs onshore. That’ll tell you all you need to know. It’s pretty obvious that they’re hiring as much as they possibly can offshore after the RIF. Keep in mind this is in addition to the staff they get from staffing firms.

......or you can accept life on its own terms and realize that moving forward is the way to go.

@bis+1t9mhQgr- agreed a temporary income might be the only option for some when asked to come back. One needs to be mindful of losing severance and EDD pay.

Each have their own. Market is not so great a temporary financial relief might be good for some but not for all. I have witnessed RIF/rehire/RIF again.. This org is best at squeezing every ounce of your hardwork just to hand it to offshore on a silver platter. Why? They can pay those folks peanuts ! No jokes!

@zsu+1t9mhQgr

Dude is correct though, the decision to eliminate a role/team is being made far above the managers/directors that are responsible for the teams getting the work done. The cuts being made give the managers more wiggle room to rehire specialist roles, even if only temporarily.

Also, since last year they have been cutting on ~2 weeks notice with nearly zero prep work for transitioning the work. Some of the people getting laid off have gotten asked to come back almost immediately, due to being the sole holder of some critical piece of institutional knowledge. They already cut you once, any rehire should be treated as temporary whether it's a contractor role or not. You would have to be a fool to comeback without additional compensation being agreed to.

Most of the people reading this aren't in a position where it makes sense to say "no" to making 30-80% more money, even if it's only for the next 8-16 weeks. That's a lot of breathing room to find something better, use the additional funds to start a business, whatever.

This org leadership is management by the seat of their pants.
Step1- brought in consultants to augment FTE I hope to leverage “skilled” consultants “tempirarily”
Step 2 - Consultants cost too much
Step 3 - rid off the consultants
Step 4 - offshore/outsource
Step 5 - RIFs the FTE

Result - artificially bumping the shares value. Zero sustainability ..
Repeat Step 1 through 5. Zero accountability at the leadership level.

“politely highlight the difficulty the org is going to have offloading/documenting your work and then make it known (POLITELY) that you are willing to help them solve that problem if requested”…

Really? Document your work so it can be used for offshore or low cost replacement. Classic example of HR talk. Wait until after you rid off the critical mass then ask for documentation?

If you are someone who was a major asset to your area and not just punching the clock (as a LOT of people are in ANY large org) make sure you stay in contact with your managers and manager's manager. Especially if you were working a complicated process/product/platform that was really only understood by a few people.

I know people who got caught in some of the large cuts where 90-100% of their area got axed, but UHG/Optum tried to keep the business they were doing by unsuccessfully offloading the work to another team/AI/Automation/etc. These people were eventually headhunted back in because they were were on the leader's radar as literally the only potential candidate that could troubleshoot/train/update the new process without the multi-month runway involved with bringing in an expensive consultant.

If you get The Meeting and you actually want to rejoin the org, I would take that tact. Be understanding of the manager's situation, politely highlight the difficulty the org is going to have offloading/documenting your work and then make it known (POLITELY) that you are willing to help them solve that problem if requested.

Give them a window, say you have personal plans for a few days immediately following your separation date, but will probably be available for a few weeks before starting a new role.

IF they ask you to expand on that or reach out about rejoining as a contractor, keep these in mind:

• You don't trust them not to cut you a on a whim of and MBA in Finance.

• If it's a contractor role doing process updates/integration/whatever, that would look FANTASTIC on your resume.

• You are going to need more money than you were making before, because you don't trust them not to cut you.

• If offered a full-time position, I'd want >30% minimum over what I was making before.

• Calculate your compensations expectations "per week" if a contract role is floated.
• If making 70k w/ benefits currently, UHG calculates your total compensation as ~120K.
• assuming that $70k, If asked to do basically your old job on contract, w/o benefits, tell them you want $1.8 - 2k week. If they balk, note that contracting indicates a short term role and if they want that budget flexibility AND your expertise, they can certainly cough up 80-90% of what they were paying for you before.

• If you DO rejoin the org either way, do so with your eyes open and expect to be viewed as as disposable by some MBA w/ a P&I sheet.

Good luck, don't get down on yourself and keep building those skills!

Why would you wanna punch your ticket to join the circus again? If you don’t have legit vested years in the company it’s not worth all the effort, and stress of which UHG thrives in it daily business operations