It's become very obvious that they are trying to get rid of employees in every possible way in order to save on severance pay. Hasn't it? However, unless I get a much better offer in the meantime, I don't intend to leave without a package.
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Just remember, folks, you get what you pay for. If Anthem wants to sacrifice quality for cheaper labor costs then so be it. Get ahead of the curve and start looking for another job or preparing for retirement now so that when the axe falls you won't care. You shouldn't care. You can't care. This place is circling the drain, and by the time they're done there won't be an Anthem left because it'll have been gutted to the core. They clearly want to be known as the health care insurer with the worst possible attitude, service, systems, and people. Well, they can have it, but don't expect me to follow suit - I have INTEGRITY and MORALS.
Definitely happening over here. They want to replace us with less experienced cheaper labor.
Quiet Firing Warning Signs:
Changes related to work responsibilities:
Reassigning important job responsibilities to other employees - YES
Demoting an employee, or changing their job description - YES (job description)
Not assigning promising new opportunities - YES
Setting up unreasonable performance targets - YES
Giving an employee responsibilities that are undesirable or misaligned with their role -
Yes (undesirable)
Preventing an employee from receiving a well-deserved promotion - YES
Changes related to compensation:
Pay cuts (not yet unless you consider heavier work loads causing forced OT to be worked)
Preventing an employee from earning more by taking on extra work or overtime - YES (both)
Not providing expected yearly bonuses or raises - YES
Changes related to working conditions:
Changing work hours or regular shifts
Increasing workloads to unreasonable or unmanageable levels - YES (both)
Forcing an employee to relocate - on-going threats and chatter about it
Taking away “perks” such as an office or parking spot - YES (benefits)
Changes related to supervisor communication:
Not discussing career trajectory or providing performance feedback - YES
Evaluating an employee unfairly, providing excessively harsh feedback, or constantly criticizing their work - no, work performance too high for this, plus they know I wouldn't take it laying down....
“Ghosting,” or repeatedly cancelling meetings - YES (I think they read Quiet Firing articles to pick up tips)
Not providing critical information related to an employee’s work and responsibilities -
YES
Not giving an employee credit for their work, or even worse, giving the credit to others -
YES - taking credit for my work themselves to their managers or giving credit to others to upper management
From Harvard Business Review: To avoid the financial, psychological, and legal costs associated with forcing people out, some companies may intentionally create a hostile work environment that encourages people to leave voluntarily.
https://hbr.org/2022/11/are-you-being-quiet-fired
Reading the article I've seen most of these quiet firing tactics in action at Anthem.
Quiet Firing Warning Signs:
Changes related to work responsibilities:
Reassigning important job responsibilities to other employees
Demoting an employee, or changing their job description
Not assigning promising new opportunities
Setting up unreasonable performance targets
Giving an employee responsibilities that are undesirable or misaligned with their role
Preventing an employee from receiving a well-deserved promotion
Changes related to compensation:
Pay cuts
Preventing an employee from earning more by taking on extra work or overtime
Not providing expected yearly bonuses or raises
Changes related to working conditions:
Changing work hours or regular shifts
Increasing workloads to unreasonable or unmanageable levels
Forcing an employee to relocate
Taking away “perks” such as an office or parking spot
Changes related to supervisor communication:
Not discussing career trajectory or providing performance feedback
Evaluating an employee unfairly, providing excessively harsh feedback, or constantly criticizing their work
“Ghosting,” or repeatedly cancelling meetings
Not providing critical information related to an employee’s work and responsibilities
Not giving an employee credit for their work, or even worse, giving the credit to others
I won't leave without a package
Wow, your willingness to take a stand is admirable. This will surely help the cause! Too bad we don’t all have the will to fight like you!! This, my friends, is what real leaders are made of.
Heck, I volunteered to be laid off and I'm still here.
There are a lot of us in the exact same position with at least four months of pay to gain. You are not alone! Waiting on supplemental pay to exit.... Need time to recoup from being worked into the ground before starting fresh elsewhere.
To the best of my knowledge, in the past 20+ years, only one package has been offered. It was for 9 months of pay. So if you have been here long enough and get the max severance, 6 months, not much difference. Although, if the timing is right, that could be good enough.