Lots of IT people cut in Columbus
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Many people in my department are looking for new jobs. It might not be by June 2nd but plenty of people will find new work and leave.
Lol I left in January after a decade at AEP. First headhunter I talked to. For more money and I am sitting at home working. Go back if you need to, else vote with your feet. AEP is not the only employer out there.
You guys talk a big game online but you have bills just like everyone else. June 2nd you'll be in your cube 8 AM.
This won’t be anywhere near solved on June 2nd. Many employees will not return to the office but will continue to work from home, and just wait to see what happens. Some will try “coffee badging” or barely coming in, and There will be a flood of new doctor’s notes looking for medical exemptions.
This will put the onus on managers, who after all of the recent flattening are quite stretched thin (and many of them don’t agree with the RTO plans), to not only call out these employees, but eventually hold them accountable. This will drag on for months, and will be further complicated by calling IT employees back full time by the end of the year.
I am not dreaming this up. Ask the HR people at the State of Ohio how their RTO is going, and they will tell you all of this and more. Is HR staffed to handle this many individual situations? Not even close.
@242h+1qB6FXi3 - What is your leadership telling you?
My leadership has given direction on the RTO flexibility. My leadership has kept us well informed. Which OPCO isn't preparing its employees....because its not all of them.
People are still leaving. I know of at least two people that are getting ready to put their two weeks in. The June 2nd date isn’t a hard line in the sand to gauge how many people decided to stay. Lots of folks are actively looking. I believe that some might give RTO a shot and leave after they see how miserable it’s going to be.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
241a+1qB6FXi3 I think there will be a mass exit for retirement age folks who have been waiting to hear what the "flexibility" promised means. There hasn't been any real transparency or guidelines for managers to share with their teams. Any eligible to leave are just waiting to give their 2 weeks notice. The exodus is far from over.
I think most of the people who decided to leave will have left by now. It's hard to get a job in this economy, can't imagine June 2nd is going to be some doomsday scenario where everyone just suddenly quits.
I am just wondering how many key people we are going to lose now. When you think about everything we are losing.. Miles on Vehicle, Fuel Every day (And environmental impact), Work Clothes, wasting 5-10 hours a week in a car, road rage, and for the benefit of that, we get to pay 3.5% city tax to Columbus.. I haven't taken a sick day on years. I have a feeling that will change dramatically.
The reason they won't publish the rules is because there are none. They don't want to be held to anything. It's a rules for thee but not for me situation.
Bill has really botched this. They put on a brave face but this is a disaster. What makes it even more incredible is we only found out when we did because the leak forced Bill to make the announcement prematurely. Makes you wonder how much notice he originally intended on providing.
I’m not here to argue—everyone is entitled to their opinion. I don’t expect line workers to be compensated the same as administrators; however, I do believe there should be a clear and consistent pay range for each role.
If you’re mandating that the 40% of your workforce (the portion that was remote or hybrid) return to the office, there should also be clear guidelines on what flexibility looks like—and doesn’t look like—for that portion of the workforce. This mandate never applied to field workers in the first place, so that comparison isn’t relevant.
I’m not naive enough to think that rules are always applied equally, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t strive for fairness. Of course, there will always be exceptions—but when rules are inconsistently applied, resentment is inevitable.
You people are not naive enough to think that the rules get applied evenly? I guess you also think everyone will get a good ICP next March too?
"Standards" are not the same thing as schedules. You wouldn't ask a line worker to be paid the same, or work the same schedule as their admin. They have diff jobs. The IT people were often remote before Covid ever happened. I can't climb a pole without dying, so I don't have that job. I'm also divorced and work around a child's schedule, and maybe someone else has a different set of timing. Stop with the resentment on flexibility.
The "flexibility" seems based on whether losing you would be a headache for management or not.
What’s baffling is how leadership confidently mandates RTO but avoids defining what “flexible” actually means. Without clear guidelines, this ambiguity is a breeding ground for inconsistency—and perceived or real unfairness.
If people are already frustrated with RTO, just wait until they see colleagues with vastly different arrangements —then you’re really see resentment.
Standards exist for a reason: to ensure fairness and consistency. Yet I’m already hearing about exceptions—and things haven’t even ramped up fully.
Fairness and consistency is business 101. This leadership is either completely out of touch, just doesn’t get it—or doesn’t care.
I find it interesting how many employees I’ve heard of receiving remote work exceptions—outside of field, IT, or call center roles. There don’t appear to be any clear guidelines on what qualifies someone for an exception or what the process entails.
Thinking about getting our 6 core principles tattooed on my chest.
The Fed Confirms Crisis as Hedge Fund Bailout Begins. Hedge Fund Bill and Carl Icahn willfully, unjustly and fraudulently seized control of AEP and now we as taxpayers, employees and customers are asked to bail them out. Let them enjoy the poverty they fraudulently and unjustly imposed upon their fellow Americans to enrich themselves. NO TAXPAYER funded handouts. Tell your elected representatives, "HE-L NO!"
I’m so tired of all these lies that the engineering directors are telling. They are def part of the good ol boys club! Cannot wait to retire!
Employees with strong work ethics that actually show up to work can name their own wages in this economy. So many jobs going unfilled and so many rich people watching their wealth diminish because of low staffing and business opportunities missed, the sky is the limit. AEP has fallen behind in worker wages, benefits and working conditions. No one wants to work for a Chinese Communist Sweat Shop or an American Conservative one.
It is hard to turn a profit when all your employees are fed up and choose to stay home. Mental health and physical well-being are more important than any job.
I had an interview last week that went very well and judging by the way it ended, they will be sending me an offer that I will likely accept. While I'm excited about the new opportunity and increased pay, I'm a little sad that things have come to this. I had no intention to leave after working at AEP for almost 10 years, but the last 6 months have completely changed my mind. My particular group is already understaffed and recently lost a couple more folks. I feel bad as this will further strain the group but I have to do what's best for me. I'll miss those who are still left that I enjoy working with, but the party is over and it's time to leave.
Its time for workers to flip the narrative and force employers to bend to our will or go broke. When offices, call centers and service centers boycott work to secure more favorable working conditions, corporate can compromise or watch their offices, call centers and service centers sit empty while employees enjoy sticking it to the hedge fund hogs.
The term “resource” is often used to strip employees of their humanity. It’s far easier to eliminate “two full-time resources” than it is to lay off Johnny Jones and Susan Smith.
As for AEP reconsidering remote (or hybrid) work—don’t hold your breath. It would require a seismic shift in how boomer leaders think and operate. That generation of leaders seems to find it hard to change course if it means admitting they may have been wrong.
Many companies had already embraced hybrid or remote work before the pandemic; they represent the future of work. But do they offer enough jobs for everyone who wants that model? Unfortunately, no.
Still, when a critical mass of skilled workers decides they won’t accept the traditional five-day office grind, the old-guard companies will be forced to adapt.
The everyday worker has more power than they think. By adjusting our lifestyles, we can unlock new opportunities—and pull levers that companies can’t ignore.
Do you all think AEP will ever reconsider remote or hybrid again?
Who in HR was let go?
Resources have no rights and de-humanizing people is the first step in reducing them to chattel. Americans must realize the un-American agenda of Hedge Funds and how they amass immense wealth by exploiting and subjugating human beings to the will of the immensely wealthy al la East India Company, the British Empire precursor to globalism. We are Americans and globalists swear allegiance to no nation. Their only allegiance is to themselves and their insatiable greed. Ask yourself why you feel personally threatened by Hedge Fund Bill and why he provokes a visceral response? It is the same response Colonial Americans had to the British Monarchy's taxation without representation policy.
@callmepetty we’re anxiously waiting more deets. Do tell more. 🍿
Why is leadership obsessed with referring to employees as "resources."
It's very eerie. A resource is something that you consume.
@callmepetty can you elaborate. Some of us are out of the loop. Please spill all the tea, not just a sip.
Ok but I’m genuinely curious what happened and why she was let go? Everyone is tight lipped and it happened so fast!!
Instead of giving money to the AEP PAC that oppresses and exploits us, support the Union that empowers us to collectively oppose Hedge Fund Bill, his Corporate Regime and their shareholder freeloaders. Corporate is not your advocate as they have so boldly and blatantly demonstrated. The Union allows us to take back what they have stolen from us and our families. Reclaim our valor that Hedge Fund Bill denies us by rejecting our Legacy AEP achievements. We deserve 100% ICPs and they steal them from us because unopposed corporate corruption empowers them to do so with impunity. Its time to drive the hedge fund hogs from the trough of immoral and unethical corporate indulgent extravagant self-gratification.
Nobody is going to shed a tear for anyone in HR being let go. HR is not here to protect the employee from the company, but the other way around. HR is a dozen steps down from corporate counsel and not as remotely effective as a union.
Petty,
Tell us the info we can’t see!
A big relief among many in HR this week We can breathe again and not be pushed aside by a self-serving leader who was a joke and a disappointment and got by with sounding and looking good but never actually doing anything or trusting us. I have some renewed hope. There’s more of the HR closet to clean, but this was a big start. Maybe now I can actually get some clear answers on budgets, priorities and have conversations without being micromanaged or censored? Keep listening to us down here! We can tell you things you’ll never see in a survey. Just ask.
L - If you are reading this please be sure to complete your exit interview and leave a Glassdoor review for us! Your input is valuable because it will allow us to post a fake, dismissive and out of touch response to it.
The PAC emails are absolutely ludacris. They are sent out from a different executive about every two weeks. Read the room…these emails will make most of us NEVER donate.
Employees are not feeling appreciated by the Hedge Fund regime and do not want to invest in their parasitic politics, economics or further politically empower them to be themselves.
AEP PAC must be taking a huge hit this year because I've never seen them send 3 emails in 1 months begging for donations.