Thread regarding CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield layoffs

So true! All those BFP projects that started in large group were his “vision” and his ownership for continued wasting of money. $22M on AIA with no result - business kept pouring money into that - BDP sponsored. Leadership at CF really needs to look inward to see who is accountable for the bad decisions. They are still there both in IT and the business. The whole company needs to be tossed out and start over.

To refresh a few memories, the former CEO put business in charge of their own projects and they in turn mostly abandoned their roles in ensuring that they were getting what they needed. For years the former CIO stood in front of IT leadership and said "the pace of work is unsustainable but we're going to try anyway". Business did not ask the right questions and demand accountability and when all was said and done threw IT under the bus to save themselves. CF has never been very good at delivery and the former CEO approved every extra dollar spent on projects. Decision making was pushed upward. Yet, when it came time to hold folks accountable for all this poor performance everyone seems so clear about, those in 'leadership' who had been making all the bad decisions got to keep their jobs. Specifically, the new CEO had a pet project that ate up millions of dollars annually and has been a giant failure. As long as the leadership team mostly remains the same nothing will change at CF. If you're not actively updating your resume and reaching out to friends about external opportunities it's just a matter of time until it's your turn to answer for bad leadership decisions you had nothing to do with.

DK had/has a job to do, the CEO said when he was in Marketing the IT at CareFirst was bad, he has always intended to get rid of all desktop. Sad to say but we are better off not being part of it any more. I am sorry to see the mess that is left for those that are still there, and yes we missed Sandy Dilworth the first week she was gone.

Personal insults are not allowed here. Just sayin’

by far the best thread

The IT division has descended into chaos led there by DK. I think most associates understand why IT needed to change and why we were bleeding money (sorry haters but we were wasting money and condoning lousy performance for years). But DK has wasted just as much money as Harry did before him, in less time - and on things with no result (at least none most associates can see). The latest debacle is the EA program - which no one in leadership can articulate, including a DK’s peers. We have spent more on consultants in two years than I thought possible and yielded no results whatsoever.

I agree with earlier poster, when covid lifts there will be an exodus from IT.

How does a Desktop Tech person go from that position to Managing the Desktop Day 2 Day contractors with the no experience? It goes to show you about DK and the team he brought in. It’s Sad they had a good team there and the people were very good just overworked and not enough help. They should of kept what they had and brought a few more bodies to help cover D2D.

Does anyone know why IT eliminated the senior director and senior vp roles? They are not eliminated from the rest of the company. This seems like they want to send a message: "we do not value the IT team and we are not going to allow for career progression to any senior-level role for director or vp" Total b—s—. Who else was told they are now in a new role which feels like a demotion and a smaller mid salary point. Again, "we do not value you and we are trying to make you unhappy so you leave"

F— off CareFirst!

totally agree the Gartner slides are lame. Just be genuine and talk to the team like adults. we already know what is going on. stop making it worse by dodging and lying. Every town hall are more gartner slides or some speaker no one cares about. and sorry with people talking about VP's being good and honest...dont beleive it! they are mostly useless with the exception of 1 o 2 and time will tell is they walk out.

Sorry but one of DKs top VPs just up and disappeared with no mention tells the story. When trusted VPs walk away or are asked to leave or whatever the dissappearance is with no mention that says there was bad blood. Nothing mentioned on the CIO call and glazed over. What is happening?

The org change was a sham! I heard there were going to be layoffs and because of COVID, they decided it was not good for the corporate image to do so during a pandemic. They are coming, bet your a–, but when nobody really knows for certain. Honestly, it's easy to blame IT leadership, but it's not the right place to hit all the blame. CareFirst is trying to reduce cost by 20%. DK was hired to do that and since he took over IT has cut out like $30 million and gone from like 800 people (not including contractors) to less than 600 people - people leave and nothing is backfilled or rehired. The new HR officer Angela is here to cut jobs too. Career Framework is meant to reduce roles and titles and have them new ones priced on market which means your skills are not worth that you are paid now and you should expect a salary reduction. Leadership should at least be honest about what is happening.

I echo these sentiments. That call was a huge morale k–ler, completely confusing and I felt the CIO’s tone was really defensive during at least half of it. I was glad I didn’t have to
Sit through it in person and hide my facial expressions of horror and/or disgust.

Do you Miss Sandy Dilworth YET?!!?? Lol

Hard to stand by change when the person responsible can’t even walk through an organizational chart. My VP did a solid job of explaining it to me prior, so basically this meeting just confused me and made me trust the VP more than the leader. Heck of a way to have a Friday. Ugh.

Agree 1,000,000% - I was on the call too. Hard to know what’s worse the recycled Gartner generic garbage, or him sounding p-ss-d off all the time. It is clear to me (and judging from the Skype activity going on with everyone) that this guy doesn’t give a cr$p about his employees. He can’t even pretend he does. I have worked for this company for 15 years, I have weathered changes but this is one of the worst they have had. Who knew we would miss Harry’s boring meetings?