Thread regarding Northwestern Mutual layoffs

I have also seen a bunch of the plans and none of them included a hot tub.

This is hysterical though thanks.

Those posting insulting comments about the home office NM employees should reconsider.

“That 'institutional knowledge" excuse for not dumping Milwaukee employees is a crock of c-ap.”

There are many employees who have let go that have decades of relevant experience. In some cases, NM has reached out to try to hire them back as consultants. In other cases, new employees have been left to fend for themselves.

“Bitterness toward a hot tub in NYC is the least of your pathetic worries.”

While I agree that a hot tub in the NY office may not rise to the level of shame as some other perquisites, it does demonstrate a lack of sensitivity towards those who lost their jobs. Just as building an office tower with Italian marble quarried from the same quarry as the marble in the south building. Just as purchasing two corporate jets when technology should eliminate the need for most corporate travel.

The average employee is being told that there will be no matching in their 401(k) because of the need to tighten the corporate belt. There is nothing “pathetic” about wondering why NY employees get a hot tub while an average home office employee is losing another benefit.

“Your self-entitled lazy dinosaurs that no company is going to hire.”

If you are going to be an insulting jerk to people, at least use proper grammar. It is “you’re,” not “your.”

Some of these comments are useless and show the lack of respect people have for one another. There’s nothing wrong with the work ethic at the home office. This simply boils down to another greedy company trying to save money, reduce benefits to employees, and pay executives more. It’s disappointing that saying every other company is doing it becomes an acceptable justification.

'NM trying to pull itself out of a nosedive' is exactly the fault of NM leadership. Pensions are a thing of the past and should have gone by the wayside years ago. The legacy/dinosaur systems do need some people to remain who have this knowledge and leadership does not (it's the grunt workers). However, a presence in NYC is NOT the solution. Move to the tech hub in Milwaukee. LearnVest is dead and it's leader long gone sold you out.
As for the free lunch - read the history of how this benefit started; it continued as a way to hold employee's hostage on campus (yes, at one time you had to get special permission to leave for lunch); and, the free work NM got out of their employees over endless working lunches was ridiculous.
As for the ability of former employee's to find a job elsewhere....I am one of those...had an interview the day I posted my resume and went back to work immediately.

I have zero sympathy for the average Milwaukee HQ employee. You were able to milk the system for years and now accountability and actual production in job roles is the name of the game. That 'institutional knowledge" excuse for not dumping Milwaukee employees is a crock of c-ap. NM is trying to pull itself out of a nosedive that was facilitated by a lousy culture present in Milwaukee for decades. The company needs to make seismic changes. Bitterness toward a hot tub in NYC is the least of your pathetic worries. Get busy building your skills and working harder. Otherwise pack up and get kicked to the curb. You've sponged off the company long enough. And your pension? It's a relic that 99% of American companies did away with years ago so stop your whining. Many of you are going to be in for very rude awakenings when you try and find a job outside of NM. Your self-entitled lazy dinosaurs that no company is going to hire.

You have no idea what you are talking about! It is that simple. The cafeteria has always been for the benefit of the company. That way employees stay in the building and lunch break is very limited. View of the lake? Yes, the company chose to build on the lakefront. A fitness center? Yes, to promote health (at least that is what senior leaders said). Salaries at the home office were always below market - because we had a pension. That pension benefit was considered part of your overall compensation. Take away the pension and the salaries are still under market value. A lot of employees worked very hard, not all employees, but a great many of them. To generalize like you did is to show you really don't have the facts.

The cheesehead dullards in Milwaukee are blessed with a free cafeteria, gym and office views that overlook Lake Michigan. Here’s a concept. Worry about yourselves. Maybe try actually working harder instead of sponging off the company for years. Most people at headquarters don’t work very hard. You roll in at 8:30, go to endless meetings where you contribute little, stuff your face with free lunch and run out the door for home at 4:30. Meanwhile you actually have the audacity to complain that the company is doing away with a pension program that the rest of corporate America ended 30 years ago. It is the dull witted and lazy culture of the Milwaukee office that largely contributed to the malaise NM has found itself in the last several years. Fact is massive layoffs and cutbacks should have been enacted years ago. So do the rest of us a favor and shut up.

Confirmed on the hot tub plans, it’s insane. Apparently it “came from the top.” My bet is this is a play by senior male leadership in Milwaukee to have somewhere to take their mistresses when away on “business trips.” This company just gets worse and worse.

"Whiny dinosaur cheeseheads jealous that the future of the company is highly educated, diverse and talented young people."

Really? Certainly, there is nothing wrong with new employees and fresh ideas. But to imply that the older, loyal employees are not educated or talented is incorrect. And insulting.

Many of the employees lost to the downsizing took with them a vast knowledgebase and decades of relevant experience. In their place are often inexperienced newbies that believe that all change is good change without considering if change is necessary.

While I agree that there were some longtime employees who were employed by NM longer than they should have been, claiming that the long-term employees were "dull lazy older Milwaukee employees sponging off of the company until they were ready to retire" is wrong.

NM is already missing the expertise of many of them.

Whiny dinosaur cheeseheads jealous that the future of the company is highly educated, diverse and talented young people. Pensions? Those went extinct across American industry decades ago. Be grateful that NM kept their’s for as long as they did. Gone are the days of dull lazy older Milwaukee employees sponging off the company until they were ready to retire.

Alexis wasn't really very good looking.
Why are they keeping any real estate in NY when NM touts Milwaukee as a Tech Hub?