Lots of IT people cut in Columbus
2636 replies (most recent on top)
The funny part is that they don’t want you to quit. There I already a backlog of open roles that haven’t been filled and are clear business needs approved by Bill to be filled. You leaving would just exacerbate the issue.
What they are banking on is the tough job market for white collar workers will force you to stay and accept the changes. All the employees need is a hot job market for this to blow up in management’s face disastrously
AEP STOCK HITS RECORD HIGH! SHAREHOLDERS CELEBRATE! CUSTOMERS AND EMPLOYEES STILL MISERABLE!
- Thanks to the Board for always knowing who comes first
- Thanks to Bill for enlightening (and constantly reminding) employees how terrible they were before he arrived
- Thanks to all pay grade 10 and above "leaders" for staying in line while their stock options continue to vest
- Thanks to the rest of us for accepting whatever ICP scraps are thrown our way
I'm pretty sure the potential of people leaving before getting the ICP is pretty low unless you trust your chain of command with paying it out even if you left. I think the people who retired before getting it would most likely still get it. Those who leave for another job, not so much.
I'm with most people, I just don't trust them and would wait until the money is in the bank before leaving.
The big question will be how many will leave or retire before June. I'm of the belief most will wait until the last minute unless managers let people stay hybrid under the table but that will only happen if you have a boss that understands your situation and cares.
We had hybrid work options BEFORE the Wuhan virus hit. I worked 2 days a week at home for years, started doing it about 2010.
To the comment below this one, I think they want is for us to quit. A quiet firing. Then they don’t have to pay. Now with what I’ve been tasked to do I’m starting to think they want me to leave before they can pay the ICP. I don’t trust this company anymore at all.
The hybrid schedule was a big reason I decided to join AEP. It's something that worked for my situation.
Bill has come in and within a few months completely upended my life. I will have to make major changes because of this, including moving closer to the office, which is going to require my elderly, disabled mother to sell her home and find somewhere else to live since I currently support her.
If there was a legitimate reason for requiring us in office 5 days a week, I wouldn't be so bitter about it, but what really irks me is we all know there wasn't a reason for it. It's just a power play from a newly hired CEO who hasn't put in the time to dare tell us we have performance issues. Supposed performance issues that he still hasn't bothered to explain.
The main performance issue we have now is YOU, Bill.
I've been on the fence about retirement but I think I after this week, I just got off the fence. I'll wait until June. I'm going to have an Irish Goodbye. I took all of my personal stuff home yesterday, the only thing at the house is the laptop and mouse. I'll do my hybrid until the end of May. Friday, I'll leave the laptop and mouse with a note that I'm retired. I'll figure out what to do from home over the phone with benefits. I'm not going back in June full time, it's just not worth it at my age
It’s gonna be a sh-t show at AEP right after the ICP pays out. People that have marketable skills will leave and then that will leave everyone to hold the bag. No experienced people will be around. Just the blind will be leading the blind. Takes years to train and develop high performers but AEP is losing top talent left and right. Nobody wants to work at that sh---y place anymore. My predictions are that top talent like myself will leave right after the ICP and then the dominos will all start falling.
Let me get this straight..if the CEO and the higher ups are so concerned about safety and how AEP has had the most injuries these past few years. They need to actually stop making so many changes! All these past severance packages, cutting workers, and making us now work in an office after 5 yrs of being hybrid. As well as without giving us all heart attacks and stressing us all the he-l out about what's going to happen at work the next day or next week maybe we wouldnt be at work injuring ourselves so much! If you stress the employees of course we are going to work stressed and not thinking about safety cause we are concerned if we are going to even have a job the next day. Now all these poor hybrid employees are coming back with more concerns about where to take the kids or loved ones while away even longer. The poor supervisors who were all cut the positions and thrown in new teams now cant sleep good cause they are stressed with more responsibilities with no clue whats the next plan. Also those poor linemen that were injured probably had stressed about those severance packages the weeks they were rumored. AEP needs to look at what they are doing to us.
Here's a question to ask yourself, what would be worse for our customers and stockholders, all SVPs and up took the next week off at the same time or if all of the linemen and planet engineers took all next week off?
Who would be missed more? I know what my response would be.
This place is depressing anymore. The culture su-ks and it’s not because of the employees.
I've watched this thread from the beginning and it's a good reminder I made the right choice to leave AEP last year. I'm happy, I have work that I enjoy, the people around me are happy and I have new friends. It's like it was when I joined AEP 20 some odd years ago There are jobs out there, it just takes time to find the right fit. More jobs are coming to Columbus over the next year or so, AEP better wake up soon or they will be looking at a large number of people leaving they were expecting to stay but won't. Good luck to all.
I worked in AEP for nearly 20 years. Management did make mistake by promoting inexperienced supervisors to managers and managers to directors.
The experienced supervisors were left behind, which did not set a good example for the other engineers.
To replace an experienced engineer is not smart because 20 years of experience doesn't in a short time training an out of college fresh engineer.
Keep experienced engineers to train fresh engineers.
Or I could just quit and go find another employer that pays better and is smart enough to use Remote as a way to attract valuable talent. Oh wait, I already left.
You will respect me or you shall fear me.
The ferals built AEP's infrastructure and we keep the revenue flowing. The dandies siphon off far more profits than they are entitled to because they cunningly keep the ferals divided so their greater numbers do not prevail in their quest for shared prosperity. The dandies have overplayed their hand and it is time for the ferals to put them back in their place. The dandies fear confrontation and getting their clothes and hands dirty and we fear neither and that is why the revenue keeps flowing into the corporate coffers. The dandies have foolishly diminished their numbers which gives us a greater numerical advantage and we demand compensation for our unjust mistreatment at the hands of virtue-less, self-serving vainglorious superfluous dandies.
Cooks leadership should have no problem adapting to Bill's style. They enjoy tsking money "bonuses" away from employees. Most of the leadership there is rich, and they are mean. Failed there way to the top, never having to take a risk, because they already had a ticket to success or money to fall back on.
With the departure of Ms. Donna A. James from the AEP corporate board an opportunity to allow employees to elect a stakeholder representative to the corporate board presents itself.
It'll be interesting to see how many people leave after the payout.
The other thing I'm waiting to see is if Iron Bill will let the other shoe drop and require remote employees back in office. He might be waiting to see how many people leave next month before rolling that out. As far as I know there's no legal reason they have to let remote employees continue to be designated as remote employees.
If new hires are leaving after a short stint and that's part of the high turnover rate. Looking ahead with the long tenure folks leaving, that is not a good combination. You have knowledge leaving with no replacement that accepted the knowledge. We could be in for a number of bad years. Response times are going to go through the roof across all departments. Good luck getting a hold of someone who knows what's going on, let alone that can help. To be honest, if you have 40 or more years in with the company and your at least 56. You have 96 points for retirement, I can see staying until your 62 if you want to collect SS early but I'm not sure I would. I know there are a lot of other factors but if you're 62, have 96 pts why stay?
If there is high turnover it's because new hires aren't satisfied with their employment and seek other opportunities.
Hmmm now what is something we could offer to employees that is highly valued by them and costs the company basically nothing
I have witnessed smug supervisors and managers get what they have coming to them and it is not pretty but extremely satisfying. Most don't have what it takes to do the job and that is why they became supervisors or managers. Then they assume an air of superiority because they are no longer in the trenches taking the risks and facing the dangers of frontline employees. It is immensely satisfying to see that air of superiority vanish in an instant when reality bites them hard in their assinineness. If they are going to treat us like dogs, we might as well be wolves.
See the earlier replies about the ICP on how to calculate the amount you'll get. As for how it is calculated, search aep now for articles on it. You should find a number of articles over the years on it. The employee handbook also has it
Wow, 11 signatures on change.org. How will they ever survive this?
I’m fairly new to the company and haven’t received an ICP payout yet. Can someone explain the difference between the ICP scorecard of the past and the new one under Bill?
Stakeholders give AEP its identity. Underestimate their value at your own peril. If stakeholders feel their contributions are undervalued, AEP"s identity shall suffer. More employees shall leave and the cohesiveness of the team weakens until their is no longer a team and collaboration will be impossible. We have already witnessed the impact of stakeholder trauma in the rise in accidents and injuries in 2024. Veteran employees have stopped investing in the "next generation of AEP" because of so much turnover, trauma and occupational exhaustion. Why invest time and effort in new hires that will not last a year? When the last of the legacy employees are gone AEP's 1st Century identity will be lost. Good luck ever enjoying the dividends of that level of commitment ever again.
Change . Org, really. You honestly think Bill is going to worry about some stupid petition on there about people not wanting to go back to the office. I don't want to RTO but I get my paycheck from the company. They tell me to be in the office, I'll be in the office. I may not like it but I don't like the smell coming out of the bathroom after lunch but I put up with it
https://chng.it/ryHD2w5rjN
There were quite a few more severed yesterday within AEP Ohio. Not sure if they were performance based or what. No explanation given, managers claiming they had no idea they were even happening. Crazy, everyone’s focus is not on the task at hand and no one feels safe.
$14.33 MILLION FOR ONE OLD ANGRY MAN that is cutting anything and everything to justify his own payday and those just below him bow down and lick his boots.
Remember this when you are stuck in traffic every day only to join Teams calls all day
Remember this when you get more work to make up for people that leave with no more pay or appreciation
Remember this when you can't sleep at night and wake up in a sweat and panic
Remember this when new health issues start presenting themselves due to all the continued stress from the lack of information, or slow leak of information
Remember this if you are a customer and and customer service still falls very short of what you think it is going to be when people return to office, because the call center employees are STILL going to be at home
Remember this if you are rate-payer when your bills still keep climbing and you wonder why.
Bill Fehrman, the CEO of American Electric Power (AEP), has a base salary of $1.5 million per year, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing. In addition to his base salary, Fehrman's compensation includes:
A short-term incentive that could be up to 155% of his base salary
A long-term package that could be up to $10.5 million
$3.15 million to offset the sign-on bonus and short-term incentives he forfeited from his previous company
$4 million worth of restricted shares
Fehrman's compensation could total as much as $14.33 million.
Immense wealth derived from human sacrifices upon the altar of greed has a very distinct stench. It is like the odious smell of rotting corpses on a field of battle. The enhancement of immense wealth requires an equally immense sacrifice by someone other than the immensely wealthy. To remove the stench from your nostrils you must disperse the source. Thus requiring the re-distribution of immense wealth to diminish its immense sacrificial stench. Taxation and thievery are two very effective air fresheners just ask Teddy Roosevelt and Robin Hood.
I think they're walking a fine line with the payouts. They want the benchmark low enough for us to think it's possible that we'll get something each year but not really. Or they'll set it at a level where the payout will always be in the .2-.3 range so the amount for the average employees will be a few grand. Nothing that will break the bank but enough to say they hand out a bonus each year. I personally think this will be the last year over .5. I think from now on it will always be under .5
I just don't trust the ba----d.
Is it me or is AEP just flipping the calculations around for ICP? David Ball makes it sound like these calculations are just out of knowhere each year. Also pretty sure Bill probably wants our performance expectations higher and higher to were our ICP is impossible each year. Our companies juice is near gone . How much more they want?
The way the icp is structured it feels like a lever for management to pull to manage earnings. I can’t remember the last time AEP beat or missed eps targets.
I hate when people like Bill play games. Come out and say, we're doing away with the bonus and let the chips fall where they may. It will be another nail in the coffin but at least every one will know where they stand. For the vast majority of us, we have zero impact on the eps, we really don't. If we do our jobs and complete all of our tasks on time and on budget, 2 -3 months of cool weather or mild weather like the guy said earlier, no bonus anyway. I would be better off if they keep the medical and dental premiums.down than worrying about a bonus that I'm not going to get every year. Nothing more than bait and switch. Look you have a "chance" at a bonus but we set the bar so high, you'll never get. So in the end, if asked, I'm just going to tell people I get a salary, 401k match and a cash pension and that's it If the company does well, fine, it the company misses the eps, that's fine with me as well. I don't have control over it anyway so who gives a f..k
No point investing oneself in this type of employment. Find a side hustle you enjoy and just walk away when the income sustains you or you have the opportunity to work for an American Company instead of a Chinese hedge fund sweat shop.
Not nearly enough 'water cooler' discussion on this. Your bonus with the new formula applied would not have paid out anything for the past 2 years.
A cool summer or warm winter and you get nothing. Seems legit.
If by some miracle, TCS were to be let go and IT functions brought back in house, would that mean Therace days are numbered? Her and her cronies only have one pitch, out sourcing. They have to have TCS to blame for their ability or lack of to run an IT shop.
I just don't see Therace being able to deal with the actual effort it takes to run the shop. I think she'll be over her head.
Heck I might even come back to AEP to have a front row seat. NOT!
I love my new gig, all in house with true support from management. They actually have real feelings for people. I check this site out every now and then to see if things have improved, sad to say it doesn't look like it Sorry guys, it is better on the outside. I will say, it did take me about 4 months to get this job. If you do leave, have at least 6 months of money to carry you
Bill F showed slides last week that residential electric bills have doubled over the last five years at AEP Ohio and our other OpCos. Didn't we cause those rates to go up? Didn't we argue before the PUCs to raise those rates? Wasn't Julie Sloat fired because we didn't win big enough rate increases? So Bill wants us to lower rates while increasing profit - but our profit is mostly tied into our rates.
However I do agree with him that firing Tata and bringing IT back to America would be good for the company.
I have never heard a CEO say they need to 'reduce bureaucracy' and that rates are 'too high', and in the same breath say they want an office function 'in-house' and in office.
To train and hire in-house staff to replace that many contractors, without the whole thing costing more than twice as much, you would have to stop matching, stop pensions, flatten management down to almost nothing, and slash pay grades down to dust. The internal video statements don't match the external investor comments. The math only works on one of those.
I love how Bill put out that productivity chart last week during quarter meeting talked about the span of 5 yrs and then said I didn't look at the results the years before. (Before remote) . Like what?! This dude just wanted us back in the office for no reason did he not consider our rent, housing availability if we got to move , gas, time to commute, loved ones we watched during remote or saving whatever money we have to move back within 5 months?!!