I was recently laid off due to the Elevance (stupid name), RIF. I was with the company 15 years and have always gotten great feedback and reviews; in addition to working extra and late hours to meet SLAs and ridiculous deadlines. When we were first notified about the layoff, I was on a call with my manager, our Director, and an HR associate. It seemed like they were reading from a script that they were given to read to each employee that was affected… And it had nothing to do with performance. It was due to a reduction in force and elimination of our positions. However, when they supplied the documentation about the associates who are affected, and the ages, not all of the same positions were affected. I later came to realize that the employees who were affected and laid off due to the RIF’s were because they were hired as remote, and the CEO decided to change their position to a hybrid position, which meant that if they didn’t live within 50 miles of an office location, they wouldn’t be able to go into the office once a week as now “required”. I’ve worked from home for almost 10 years and they closed the office location in my city so the closest location was over two hours away… Which meant I was classified as 100% remote. Gail doesn’t want this so the employees who weren’t close enough to an office location and could not be in the office once a week (which takes away from work productivity) were terminated… i.e. laid off. So the company and Gail ruined thousands of lives because the position, previously classified and hired for as “remote” was changed to hybrid. Why is that our fault?!? Seems like this should be reported to the BBB as a type of discrimination. what the company fails to realize is that the remote positions offer a better work/home balance and forcing their workers to go into the office now it’s just going to create tension and employee animosity. Friends and colleagues who I spoke to, who are now forced to go into the office once a week are considering quitting because it has been such an inconvenience. The price of everything has gone up, in addition to gas, but yet the pay for our roles never went up to compensate for that. This company is a joke and I hope that one day the CEO who ruined so many people’s lives, experiences the same.
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This leadership team has no strategy. They make random tactical moves and knee jerk reactions, which fail. Their M&A executions are poorly planned and often backfire costing the company. Now they talk about ai. and offshoring as a means of saving the day. Keep in mind, Gail and her minions do not make any of these plans, the consultants do that for them. They have one job, and that is to question things and apply cirtical thinking. It's my belief they are clueless, these constant blunders they make cost employees their jobs. Firing people because they WFH is just another knee jerk reaction. The sad thing is, there are an abundance of good aacquisitions that would positoin this company 10 years out. Cost cutting is not a long term plan for success.
I was one of those who position was eliminated and I worked from home. I hear alot of talk they are outsourcing to oversees to cut cost
Go get ‘em Cat. NY & OH are getting hit the hardest.
Hi. I'm Cat reporter at WISHTV in Indianapolis. Cat.Sandoval@WISHTV.com. I'm working on a story about Elevance lay-offs. Are you from Indiana? Or know people from there? If so, would love to talk to you about your experience.
Thanks.
Cat
@2Mkdz+1pymzC5t Provider ops is the worst….Let’s take it offline is the comment always used and then nothing ever gets done.
I can confirm that virtual employees are not able to be promoted without significant hurdles. Significant. I can also confirm that an employee that makes $30 an hour on-shore will be lucky to get $7 off-shore - thus the move to off-shore. Elevance Health is moving to AI use and off-shore to cut costs, which makes sense in some cases. Unfortunately the risks for both far outnumber the cost benefit. The lawsuits are piling up. Provider rosters are not updating - so providers cannot see patients. Provider claims are not being paid - a huge lawsuit in TX was just settled for millions because a provider had not been paid for months (this happens all the time!) Provider Operations needs better leadership - there are so many things being done secretly it is scary. Projects happenign with no legal input.
I've been with Elevance for ten years as a remote employee and I'm one of the unlucky 100% virtual employees that lives two hours from the nearest "Pulsepoint". I'm stuck, there are no more opportunities in the company for me. My division is laying off, so if my job is eliminated my time with the company is finished. I've climbed quite a few job levels since I started with the company, and I can't go any farther now. I can't even look for another position if mine goes away. It's a slap in the face.
So I haven’t went through all the post yet, but I absolutely would agree. It is ridiculous that we were classified as hybrid and I have been that way for eight years and now all of a sudden they let me go. I found out someone else who was in management here 18 years was let go for the exact same reason. Also he was remote fully
I am in a similar situation I am local to pulse point but it is only open to certain lines of business. I thought I was lucky to not have to go to the office and now labeled as remote only in the system. However, manager casually mentioned that they are still figuring out if they are going to “ require” the one day hybrid work week. If so then I would be RIFd. I’m debating on applying to a new job within the company but under a different branch so I can use my local building. Sounds like a bunch of headache just to hit a box to say I’m hybrid for only one day a week!
For those who were RIF’d you may be the lucky ones. A former associate I keep in contact with is making more money by not working than they were while employed by Elevance… without the never ending stress of SLA’s and unreasonable production standards. They have also been interviewing and offered positions doing the same type of work but pay is 15k-25k more. In all honesty, raises at Elevance are an insult and their pay scale is way below other companies standards. The CEO gets the raises and we get 1-3% which amount to cents.
Additionally I worry on a daily that I will be RIF’d and my days are long and stressful. The company doesn’t realize the impact the RIF associates had within the departments and how much extra work has been thrown on us. But we can’t speak up…. For fear of termination.
I was a people leader there and can tell you that as a manager I had little to no power in making any decisions regarding who can be virtual or not. Every town hall or quarterly meeting would say talk to your manager if you have questions.
Every hr document said speak with your manager.
The reality is we did. It have too much control, it has to be run through director then VP.
It shows that there is not a lot of trust in leaders making decisions but yet we had to have the conversations about it, makes no sense. We were just scapegoated because not too many associates will speak their mind to higher leadership for fear of retribution.
This company used to care about associates many years ago and lots has changed since GB took over.
The racket has a name - Capitalism.
I think the POINT is that U.S. citizens in STEM professions are getting cut to bring in cheaper onshore/offshore labor because this greedy f'ing company does not want to pay for skills, YET they try to validate their need for such labor by claiming that they can't find the skills here to hire. It's a racket.
Blame my management because they are the ones spreading the misinformation about promotions and not being able to remain in remote worker status if you accept the higher-level position.
I just promoted an associate, and they are Virtual status. Stop spreading misinformation and do a better job.
Started with H1B and no taxes, then OPT and no taxes, now quoting college student rules STEM, with are akin to an internship. Again get your facts right. Employers pay taxes for internship.
"STEM OPT participants generally are not subject to Social Security and Medicare contributions (FICA withholdings) until after the first five calendar years that they hold F-1 nonimmigrant status."
Source:
https://studyinthestates.dhs.gov/stem-opt-hub/additional-resources/stem-opt-frequently-asked-questions#:~:text=STEM%20OPT%20participants%20generally%20are,hold%20F%2D1%20nonimmigrant%20status.
If you earn an income from an OPT, you will be required to pay tax. International students must also fill in a W-4 tax form with their new employer when they start work. Get your facts straight.
"Ponzi scheme from Wikipedia:
A Ponzi scheme is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays profits to earlier investors with funds from more recent investors."
Social security and medicare are Ponzi schemes and worse, they all assume jobs stay in the US.
OPT work visa has no social security and medicare taxes. OPT visa is not capped and lasts 3 years before you switch to H1B.
Offshore hires do not have US tax obligation.
H1B pay all taxes, contribute to economy, etc. H1Bs have to follow orders, can’t job hop and walk the chalk or be sent home. A workforce any manager would love.
If a company is focused on buying and then follow up with cost reductions to meet share holder expectations then cheaper labor is the tool used in 2023. It’s much easier than actually solving healthcare issues.
What isn't well communicated is that every job offshored or filled with a temporary H1B is income tax money, Medicare and SSI that is NOT collected by our federal and state government and puts more strain on all taxpayers to support Medicaid and unemployment benefits, plus hurts the economy since US workers impacted by such corporate greed can't participate. Meanwhile, offshore workers contribute to their economies, spending money in India, sending money back home to India. And Gail and team win either way. Just a scam all around that hurts our country and its citizens in the end with the exception of the 1%. I hope they all burn in h3ll.
I was laid off on 10/20 and was going into the office once a week. I think some of it had to do with age.
Company is filing Perm, H1B, and H1B extensions for thousands while local workforce is getting RIFed.
I am finding open US based positions posted without AIP included (some, not all). AIP shows 0.00%. Is that their new method to reduce the number of employees being riffed in the future, reduce the pay of those that remain by dropping AIP to zero? Any rumors floating around about AIP being eliminated as opposed to people being riffed?
@1jpq+1pymzC5t. So unlikely.
I often wonder if they laid off people who were remote AND remained unvaccinated despite their heavy vax push over the past few years. But we’ll never see those metrics.
I think layoffs are due to outsourcing all work to Carelon/India. I see entire projects and businesses being pulled from US employees and going overseas. You are better off looking for a new job/career. There is not future here.
Pay did go up for someone though, she is now making more than 20 million per year. In a company that is hard to earn a 5% raise without taking on a new role, that same person is able to get a 20% raise yearly which amounts to millions.
When I report to the office it's me and two other people on the ENTIRE floor. The two other employees don't even work in my department and have no interest in speaking with me, and vice versa. The whole time I'm in office I just think to myself "why am I here". I'm less productive when I'm in the office as well because I spend a good two hours walking around the building, ki-ling time in the bathroom, etc. The parking is good at least since there's no one ever there.
This company doesn’t care about you or anyone else . The leaders making the rules are clueless about how to run a company outside of running it straight in to the ground. They save money by not having to pay for each person to be in seat in office. They’re not smart enough to figure it out and to say we need to collaborate and go in makes no sense when we’re scatter across the US and different countries. So same collaborations happening via teams not in person . And I’d prefer not to collaborate either way. Leave me alone and let me do my job
I saw this coming two years ago unfortunately. It is like all CEO's got together and came up the same scheme for RTO.
They hired thousands of workers in India this quarter with plans to continue. I am surprised that their state and federal contracts support the offshoring of STEM jobs while laying off U.S. workers in STEM roles with the requisite degrees and certifications. There isn't a shortage of qualified talent here -- the company just doesn't want to pay market value for that talent and would instead risk its member data in offshore locations where a BAA can't be enforced. I am really over U.S. jobs being sent offshore or filled with cheaper H1Bs when we've invested our lives and support our families with these careers. And once these H1Bs get in any level of leadership position, they replace U.S. workers with more H1Bs and/or help the company offshore more roles. They refer to U.S. workers who should have first right to all roles as the "other" since we put performance over allegiance to a leader like all the H1Bs who fall in line behind them.
Forcing workers to come back to the office and eliminating the ones that can’t is a power play. Remote work allowed laborers too much control. Management wanted to remind everyone who is boss and this is the result. Don’t forget that you work for them - is the message.
If no consequences other than workers complaining on an obscure website with other workers who are laid off - then success.
They prefer foreign workers.
BBB? You must be kidding. Sorry but a company can change the rules for it's workforce anytime. That's not discrimination. Go check out what AT&T is doing by centralizing it's workforce to two main hubs. Your option is to be miserable or start looking for a job closer to home. Remote positions are hard to find post pandemic. Seems like lots of companies are pushing employees back to the office. Doesn't matter that you were remote pre-pandemic. They want the real estate utilized.
There are still some remote openings but there is heavy competition for every job. I don't know what Biden is thinking, the unemployment rate will spike if people can't find jobs and as a result, many have to foreclose their homes. It is time to prioritize local workers ovwr foreign workers in hiring.