Thread regarding Centene Corp. layoffs

Well Sarah who has a very weak background in healthcare was given that multimillion dollars job because she was a " tech strategist" , what is she doing, nothing other than patronizing people on how they should be more collaborative and living in a world of narratives as if the IT problems didn't not exist, that is what happened when you have an arrogant, insecure and grossly unqualified leader.

The company changed the policy when COVID with Neidorf and they didn't change it back, that is probably the only thing Sarah has not screwed up yet.

Sarah the poet is that strategist that Michael brought from Optum and who was put in charge of tech since early on, she was the one who claims to be a data geek that Centene is just a big start up, she has been there 4-5 years with the seniority to fix it and support to fix, what has she done, milk the cow,fly in private jets , push out some the people who knew how to fix things and become a wealthy woman talking about culture and collaboration and team building, she cant command respect, she doesn't know what she is doing and everything else trickle down from there to the rest of the organization.

"IT is a sh*t show" is fairly spot-on. The consolidation of platforms, through years of acquisitions just wasn't feasible and Michael just kept on acquiring with no concern for how it would integrate.

Is it short of manpower?

• Generally speaking, yes. Given the above, the majority of people don't know how a fits into b fits into c. If you're an SME, everyone reaches out to you, which just compounds your problems. If there is an implied probability your department may not fully fit the future strategy of the company, they ramp up by hiring a LOT of contractors, who will have a long learning curve. Guess who they reach out to? Don't become an SME.

Is the group working on cutting edge technologies?

• Yes and no. There are some legacy technologies that still need to be supported. There is some shift into newer technologies. "Cutting edge technology" is kind of a buzz phrase thrown around, as technology is always changing. What's cutting edge today will be old hat in 3 years.

Are the directors and VPs supportive of employees growth?

• No, given all of the above. I can't emphasize enough that you don't want to become an SME. My manager has told me in not so many words that irreplaceable = unpromotable.

With all of the above being said, regardless of how much everyone wants to sh** on Sarah. She's made the company remote, with minimal chance of shifting back to in-office/hybrid, as she shed most of the corporate real estate. Overall comp isn't terrible in light of the overall market being what it is right now. Other companies that are posting remote roles have lowered their salary ranges, knowing they're getting the majority of the applicants.

IT is a sh*t show. Has been for years. They’re going through major changes right now. It’s not really their fault - Michael never really cared about consolidating the myriad of platforms received through acquisitions. The burden of keeping the lights on across duplicate platforms now falls to overworked IT support teams and business operation groups.

The board screwed it really bad when they chose Sarah L for CEO, looks like they wanted a fresh image and they ended up selecting the worst possible person for the job, almost everything including IT is lacking direction with her, just like king joffrey from GOT , is Sarah to the org

IT problems appear to be large and mounting, though not a priority, more important is culture, seems to be that the vision of the CEO Sarah the poet is to build a great culture where all employees are dancing kumbaya and celebrating one CENTENE united and harmonious, once that culture is built, IT problems will disappear sort of magically and like some sort of nirvana everything will start functioning perfectly.