Jay blew by the question on the earnings call but they are literally moving all SouthPointe teams to Houston. That’s ALL of Property Management (customer billing and landowner payments), Contract Development & Management (customer agreements- REVENUE), CM&R(renewals), Accounting, Supply Chain, Process Improvement, Project Management and a significant portion of Legal (the entire business depends on contracts. They can’t backfill 1300 positions in 10 months. Some people will relocate but Jay said 1000. They’ll be lucky to hold on to 300. Our Business Support is already under water. How does this work? I get it if there was SOMETHING in Houston but no one can do most of those jobs in Houston today. I’m a shareholder, I want to hold on until we recover but is that even possible? I feel like dumping my shares for nothing is the best option. I’m not impacted but WTF are they thinking?
And unrelated, ever since this started why is there so much infighting? These message boards are telling. Crown is coming apart at the seams.
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As someone who was part of the August layoffs and had nothing to do with Towers, I was not shocked to hear that they were disguising more layoffs with "relocations". I loved the majority of the people I worked with and supported and I am so disheartened to hear about the cr-p that is continuing to happen at Crown. The EMT has been driving Crown into the ground since Jay took over. They should be ashamed and I'm glad that Elliott's letter finally lit a fire to outst him. Next should be Laura: lord knows she she should not be in charge of the depart supposedly supporting employees...but then again that's why it's called "Business Support".
I'm glad to see that the new interim CEO will NOT be making people move. For God's sake, Crown's business is to connect people wherever they are. If the company that builds the technology can't use it to run their own business, that should tell you something!
Crown pays dividends even though it's losing money. The company is SO far in debt, they have to finance the dividends at higher and higher interest rates. As long as they pay dividends they believe people won't sell their stock. But, it's a downward spiral that can only have one ending. Sadly, my coworkers (Who've never worked anywhere else - but have accounting degrees?) have bought into this idea that this is "Crown's business model" Spending more money than you're making is NOT a business model. - It's just been a way for the execs to line their pockets. It won't matter to them if the company goes into bankruptcy because they have millions.
Given our balance sheet - no one is going to buy Crown Castle. A federal court will highly likely be the next trustee of the remaining assets.
It's doubtful that investors are really concerned about this - yet. After all, the ANNUAL expense of the employees' total compensation in Southpointe is only a fraction of one QUARTER's dividend payment to CCI stockholders. The question now is "What is the EMT planning to eliminate next quarter?"
They don't expect very many people to make the move. That is in their master plan. It's easier to "offer" an unrealistic relocation package that people won't accept than it is to lay off 800+ people. Jay is running this company into the ground on purpose. Just wait and see who buys up CC after Jay trimmed the excess expense of people.
Other than the 13th floor, Houston has some amazing and tenured talent-especially before round 1 layoffs. Houston teammates are not the bad guys. EMT in Houston are the bad guys.
Here is what I don’t get. No one will move. They won’t backfill and have you train the person that’s two salaries. So will we just lose entire departments come the end of October?
Crown Castle cannot function without the talent, experience, and history kept inside the humans in Cannonsburg. There is no AI, off-shoring, or support that will fill that gap.
Now if you said shut down Houston and relocate everyone to Cannonsburg, then you'd have a better idea.
Do you mean the towers get split off? Even then, neither old crown or who buys them will be private. Get your facts straight.
Personally I'm so excited to watch the fire get bigger. Shares will be worth a decent amount when we get bought and taken private at least.
He didn’t blow any questions. They are being intentionally misleading. This is not a relocation, it’s a layoff. They’re hoping most of us choose not to move. They will then not fill all the positions, and the ones they do will will be at a much cheaper hourly rate than what they pay people in northern states and California.
Look around you. How many of your teammates with families/commitments/etc are going to uproot for a company that is hemorrhaging money and jobs? They’re counting on very few.
Absolutely agree! My new company is fantastic. People do actually care about each other and none of the toxicity of Crown. So glad I left before the ship sank with these layoffs. Life outside of Crown is so much better, guys.
I left Crown a few months ago for a better opportunity, but I am receiving updates about this announcement from my friends still working in Southpointe.
While I understand the desire to centralize headquarters in one city, the way these abrupt changes are being handled is shocking. Hiding behind emails and pre-recorded videos is downright cowardly and unprofessional.
To my former colleagues, there are so many better opportunities out there. You deserve a to work for a company where people actually matter, and that’s certainly not the case at Crown Castle.
Most employees from SW Pennsylvania will not move to Houston. A large portion have children in amazing schools, aging parents in the area and spouses with good local jobs. In addition, people really like the location. The four seasons, comfortable cost of living and sense of committee is big. I'd be shocked if they got 200 people to move there.
Also, in another thread on here, it seems that the discussion of the relocation package is not good. I can't say if it's truth, but it read if you are under a P4, you don't qualify. For P4 and up, the amount you receive is based on your pay grade. If that's true, a sizable amount of the Southpointe office is left in the dust. They are the worker bees of the company. I really hope that's not truth and that everyone gets the same. We will see, i guess.
There has been nothing but infighting for years. Going all the way back to nextg and every integration has added on. Legacy Tower folks know EVERYTHING and are unwilling to accept advice from people with experience. Then everything ends up F'd up, the blame game starts and chaos ensues.
There are a lot of great people at southpointe but most of those in charge have no other mgmt experience, no other customer service experience, no other business experience other than Crown. Many, many of them are only there do personal connections.
Their "collaboration" is do as I say and I don't want to hear what you've learned thru experience. I had a Mgr tell me she can't even stand the word experience because the person that used it knew nothing about Crown. SMH
The fact that BS or the EMT is unaware is exactly what has them in thus position.
Rebuilding talent will be tough when the plan is to staff the restaurant with only food critics. Hard to serve food without busboys, dishwashers, waiters, or chefs.
News flash > the stock is going sub $70, below what it was when Jay took over. The death rattle will be when CCI defaults on the backend AT&T portfolio payments.
It is wild to watch Crown make the same bets as Masa Son with a fraction of the capital and intellect.
I agree with the notion that they don’t want all the employees to move. This wouldn’t have been done in such a callus manner if they did.
They do not want anyone to move, regardless of the narrative.
I'm sure the hope is no one transfers. They're working on backfilling roles now assuming you'll train your replacement.
Shareholders don’t care since it is universally known that Crown is bloated and can survive with a third of the current workforce.
Everyone should follow the Bull $hit Detector he spend time in the C-suite
Oh how the mighty have fallen.
Business Support/ Your Connection does not give a $hit about its employees. They are all LN minions!