Thread regarding USAA layoffs

The 60 miles from the office thing was told to many by the CPO. But it is on hold pending “Enterprise” decision. Hopefully will know a definite direction soon.

"I heard that..." is exactly how baseless rumors get started.

Heard from whom? Someone who heard from someone who heard from someone?

Someone is going take your comment and say "I read online that..." and the rumor spreads like wildfire.

It may or may not be accurate in the end, but at least at the Director level, there is no RTO update.

I heard non contact remote workers get to stay remote if they live over 60 miles from an office. If you live closer, the expectation is that you need to be in the office 3 days a week in September and 4 days a week in January. I hope there is an official announcement soon.

Everybody clearly heard the CEO's response to the question about remote workers at the TH 2 weeks ago. He said he'll have the answer ready in 2 weeks. Time is up, what's the answer. NADA. Meanwhile, my other colleagues near the office have been asked to report at least 3 days a week. And everybody, I mean EVERYBODY including my manager is directionless.

Look for something else, as you cannot trust anyone in leadership at USAA. They need to change back to hiring former military in both operational and leadership positions. Otherwise, things will continue to go sideways...

I’m fully remote and I legit get threaten on the daily that I’ll have to return to office due to the “Constant system issues”.. I’m in P&C..

It is a real shame to join a company as a remote employee to support "the mission" and because the company claims to have a heart only to seemingly have them jerk the rug out from under you at their whim. Remote staff were certainly convenient for the company during the pandemic, but now that we are past it we are no longer useful. Sickening.

Hoping our fearless leaders make their firm decision by next week. I have been delaying my interviews with other companies because I still love my job at USAA. I am expecting a pay cut if I jump ship right now. Also wondering if I should count on severance in the event of the dreaded layoff.

I haven't heard anything personally, but forced RTO is going to become more common across the board. Companies are taking advantage of the slower job market by making unpopular decisions because employees have fewer options than they did a year ago. It honestly feels like a punitive measure for the "great resignation." Sooo many employees jumped ship because for the first time in decades, employees had greater leverage than employers. That was short lived.

They can say it's "for the culture," "for those hallway conversations," or whatever other PR-approved phrases they want to use, but in reality they need to justify what they're spending on keeping up those buildings, especially the home office. They need to justify Sodexo, the HVAC maintenance, custodial staff, you name it. Those were still chugging along all throughout COVID despite the offices being nearly empty.

In terms of who will be forced into the office: I predict it will be leadership (EMG down to individual managers; we're already seeing this), followed by lower level individual contributors (IIIs and IIs) who were designated hybrid, followed by those more senior employees who have fewer options in external employment (e.g., those who are only skilled at something unique to USAA). Someone who hasn't touched anything technically relevant in 15 years but is really good at their team's niche application isn't going to have much leverage in demanding to stay remote.

As far as those who were hired remote, Wayne said in the employee meeting that we should have guidance soon (probably next week) on "how we deal with that." Terrible choice of words. I want to believe that they wouldn't renege, but you never know. I have documentation stating and clarifying that my job is fully remote (I have the original job posting stating remote saved as a PDF and an email from the recruiter and hiring manager confirming that the job is fully remote), but ultimately most if not all of us are at-will employees, so they could make us wear clown costumes every day if they wanted and we would either have to comply or leave.

In this employment market and economy, if you aren't on a mission-critical team and live within 60 miles of an office, I'm betting you can expect to be in the office at least three days per week six months from now. There are probably only a handful of teams and a few dozen individual employees at USAA who are critical, and they've probably got retention bonuses out the a-s keeping them here.

I have been fully remote for about 10 years, and stated it plainly: double my salary and I will gladly return to the office. I doubt they will force me to return to the office, or pay me more. I figure I will be forced into stagnation rather than can me outright.

Do they have enough seats for everyone? I don't think so. Bringing everyone in office may be a herculean task. So let's wait and watch.

Should hear something within the next week.

Your only saving grace could be the work you are doing and how critical it is for right now. USAA will (used to) protect its favorites so if you're outside of the circle, don't lie to yourself that you can weather the storm. EXE is going to gut remote in any was possible, which is why I'm applying out vs waiting on them to announce their "plan" (forced attrition).

Also remote, waiting to hear something. I started applying more aggressively this week given the ominous response from Wayne last meeting. Despite exceeding expectations every year, they are pushing this RTO thing hard. I don’t think performance will matter. At the very least, update your resume.

OP, I am in the same boat as you. I have been in panick mode for the past weeks, anxiously waiting for what's next. But recently, I just decided to care less, to look for another job if the decision is to axe me. As we have seen recently, there were a bunch of smart and talented engineers that were laid off with no obvious reasons. I guess they just got the short end of the stick and who knows who's going to go next. Could be you or me.