Thread regarding Optum layoffs

You have to report to Ethics and definitely keep a paper trail on these folks! Then if they retaliate they will face a lawsuit. They try and intimidate people! Stand your ground! Smile in their faces and ignore or play dumb

Bully svp mentioned above is Susan Worthy

Can I ask where people are finding new jobs, specifically in the Twin Cities? I was RIF’d a few months ago from a high performing team (got a good review as well) and I have yet to land on my feet at another company in MSP.

This thread is all true. Corrupt, incompetent, abuse of authority management who are being self-preservationists to keep their job. Threatened by credible competence.
You can be highly professional and live by values but they’ll make stuff up.

How can a high performer have low values? Values drive behavior and having them is what delivers results. They lie because they’re threatened

BULLYING BY A CERTAIN SVP HAS PROGRESSED. SHE IS THE WORST LEADER I HAVE EVER WORKED WITH.

I was bullied the entire time I worked there by the same narcissistic sociopaths that continue to thrive in upper management to this day. The bullying was kinder and gentler early on as I was a consistent 5 star performer. Once they decided I was too expensive (and not a reliable partner in their attempts to make employees feel worthless) the bullying became more direct. They took my team, assigned me to a development role after 12 years as a director, held back my bonus for the first time in 12 years and basically turned on the "you're incompetent" routine for over a year to force me out. I s—ed it up and didn't leave until they showed me the money. On the outside, things are good. I found a better job working for people who appreciate me at a better salary. On a side note, HR in this company is despicable. I'm sure you all went to college hoping to find a job where you find ways to document lies about the people working in your organization so you could "justifiably" lay them off. If I was doing layoffs, I'd start at the top.

Hasn't anyone who's ever work for Optum/UHG been bullied in some way shape or form?

Sadly ...you’re right.

I was bullied by an angry, jealous and incompetent Director, but her goal was not to make me leave - she was afraid that I wanted her job. After decades of 4’s and 5’s, with my bonuses exceeding the normal percentage every year, she suddenly was trying to paint me as a behavior problem, in order to withhold the bonus and drop my performance score. Her goal was to scare me into taking on even more impossible challenges than before. She thought people would credit her with the success of my work, while treating me like a slave so I would lack the confidence to push back or speak up.

She was - and still is - simply a horrible manager and a despicable person. The difference between the last couple years and the way things USED to be in this company is that we actually used to live up to those core Culture values we spent millions talking about and pushing. 5 years ago, that Director was the same person she is today, but she hid it because she knew she would not get away with her behavior. That changed.

Today, her behavior is open, her nature encouraged because she now represents the true UHG Culture; all talk, no accountability or competence, and lacking even a basic understanding of the business. Her value is that she can bully employees and clients alike with her abrasive and aggressive attitude, to keep contract dollars going while blaming staff for failures in delivery - allowing her to cut costs as she runs off the experience and competence needed for the long run but too expensive in the short term.

Nothing was more satisfying than choosing to walk away, to refuse to engage in her game. That was the best thing I
ever did and I found so many better opportunities, both financially and for the kind of work that feeds my soul. Until I escaped, I had no idea how much of me was being s—ed up by this emotional vampire and the attitude of “what have you done for me lately “ that turns success into a whip to beat you with going forward.

Those ghouls who artificially protect the corporate bottom line by pushing short term profits while putting employees and clients at risk are the reality today throughout so many Optum and UHG lines of business, as the priority is the increase of the price per share. That stock price is the measure of the fundamental failure of this company and degradation of service. In our industry, the unprecedented profit, and constant chase for more, is a red flag that services are not being delivered. That stunning increase over time is not sustainable in an ethical and morally responsible corporation. UHG Culture is a front now, to manipulate perception, but it is no longer practiced.

I don’t think UHG formally condones bullying as a cost saving measure, but the UHG priorities and real culture naturally foster those types of managers who lean toward bullying as a management style in place of competence.

There are good and bad managers. Unfortunately, it seems UHG rewards the lousy ones and eliminates the decent ones.

I've seen so many managers try to make themselves feel better about themselves by looking for ways to drag down someone they know is on a RIF list. I've been a Director a long time, we all know that layoffs happen, but there are respectful ways to handle it. Nowadays, UHG has lost almost all respect for their people.

Suddenly not being invited to important meetings that impact your team or process? Is your management going directly to members of your staff rather than to you? Have you been cut out of important communication? All tactics used to encourage people to get fed up and leave rather than be downsized.

@2zlp+13SB98eE - Stick it out and get what you deserve in terms of severance. Continue to look for a new job outside the company. There are many opportunities out there and they are paying a lot more than uhc and optum.

Yes, I agree with sticking it out and getting the severance or benefits we deserve for those of us who have put in several years and much sacrifice to only be treated now like we are dirt. Screw corporations.

The more they bully me the more I rate the surveys ALL zeros!

Don’t let them win. Stay the course. If you leave for a higher salary it sounds good but you lose vacation time. Best to stay put and if the stress gets to you talk with PCP to advise on burnout. Have the company pay disability for work environment they created for you or let them pay unemployment while you seek another place. They will be ushering over 7-10 year folks out the door soon anyway so if you are tenured stay the course. People posting here sound like they are doing better to leave but not all are and if you leave on your own you lose chance of unemployment.

Really? You've contributed "several billion in ideas." What exactly does that mean? Are you trying to say you are responsible for ideas that have generated billions in revenue? And these ideas were your's alone and that without you the company would lose out on billions of dollars?

You know how much a billion is right?

I am looking at other job opportunities and ironically I'm finding most everyone else pays significantly more than UHC.

I hope you're looking for a new job while this is going on. It's such a good feeling to have a new job lined up and then quit on the spot. Make sure to use up your PTO too.

YES! I’ve been bullied as well and I agree in hopes I will just leave verses get laid off. I think the tactics to just not give bonuses and change how they rank employees, WITHOUT WRITTEN NOTICE, says bully. I have been a super star one day and the absolute worst the next and an inch away from a CAP. It’s mentally draining, and emotionally unbalanced.