Lots of IT people cut in Columbus
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Doesn’t matter, none of Bill’s direct reports will stand up to him. When masses leave after ICP will be wake up call, but not even sure that will matter
The negative perception of AEP/Bill goes way beyond RTO. Had a candidate for a vacancy ask me about the culture, and say they’d seen some really negative things on Glassdoor. I went to check it out and Bill’s approval rating is 36%. AEP also has a terrible score as a company. For the sake of comparison, Akins was at 75%.
A friend of mine does HR consulting and said the two scores combined would put AEP in the bottom 10% of all Fortune 500 companies on Glassdoor and that the CEO score is one of the worst they’ve ever seen at a large company. Does leadership have any idea how bad things are right now?? We have no shot at attracting or retaining talent.
But where will we go? News alert Bill, there are companies hiring and that care about employees. Just hang on until ICP payout in March
I've been at AEP (Indiana Michigan Power) for over 25 years working at DC Cook Nuclear Plant. The morale here is already very bad. RTO is just making it worse! They don't care about what we think or feel. Management here has absolutely no empathy. Our station management has not even addressed the RTO mandate. Employees and supervisors have been stating concerns but nobody is listening. They really don't care if employees walk.
Don't waste time on it. I don't care how many people sign that f---ing petition," Dimon said when asked about the in-person work policy during a town hall meeting Wednesday
Same mindset as Bill.
Everyone is bringing up what happens when the talent who can leave actually do. The bigger damage will be people who can't do that. You're going to drag a whole lot of latent rage into those offices. That should be a fun culture experiment.
Uhhh did anyone else notice that if AEP grows at the same pace it did this year or less, there will be no ICP next year?? Think about that. Bill says all factors matter equally moving forward. But, we could have zero safety incidents, no phishing fails and groundbreaking reliability and still get no ICP if weather and inflation don’t cooperate. Hmm.
So for the record, you’re being asked to see less of your family, spend more on extraneous things (Gas, food, childcare etc.) give up any hope of upward mobility due to org flattening, do more work than ever because your colleagues that have left still aren’t being replaced…for less take home pay than you’ve likely seen in years and potentially no bonus if we have average growth.
HUH?!!? Why would anyone with options stay here??
There will be an exception process for some to remain remote. Your manager will have to submit it for you, and it goes up pretty high to determine if it will be accepted.
I saw a study that showed companies that implement 5 day in office policies see anywhere from 20-40% attrition within one year of implementing the policy. Similarly several recruiters have gathered data on hiring trends. As for hiring, the average time to fill a remote position is 18-35 days. A hybrid position is 25-42 days, and on site 5 days in office a whopping 8-12 months. How does Bill think he is going to reduce contract work and hire in house with numbers like these? He is so far disconnected from reality. Whatever talent is left at AEP will be long gone by this summer and all those metrics he discussed on the employee webcast today I can guarantee will get way worse.
Ohio customers paying 55% more for electricity than they were in 2019 is absolutely ridiculous. It seems to me that average consumers are footing the bill for the explosive commercial load growth in central Ohio.
If this guy on the employee webcast thinks every job matters why are they so bent on full time RTO? There’s going to be a massive loss of talent and there can’t be a 54B plan being executed when the engineers don’t exist…
For Phish test, make sure you create a rule to send all external emails to an external folder. At least that way you you'll have an idea or not if the email MAY contain a phishing attempt. OR BETTER YET, on all external emails, send them to Security to have them check them out. I'll bet that'll get someone's attention. I'll bet Security is not set up to handle a few 1000 email checks.
What is it with the same 3 people down voting anything that is negative towards Therace? She did a terrible job at JCPENNEY, Target and Country Financial. Her main MO is to come in, outsource IT services because she doesn't know how to run them. It's easier for her to blame the contractor (TCS) and the old staff for not making it work. After she fu--s up so bad, she leaves for another company to do the same thing. She's like a parasite.
In our case, we're the latest host. Just wondering if the host will survive? What a cu-t.
The Phish tests are being used as a way to terminate for cause. Security didnt ask for that sh-t to be done like that and they are being hit with retaliation by people who dont understand they are just being used to thin the herd even more.
That “Ask Bill” article borders on propaganda. There is no possible way Bill didn’t get a deluge of RTO questions and feedback from employees. To ignore RTO completely in that article discredits the entire premise of transparency around “Ask Bill.” Incredibly odd choice.
With a dozen colleges and a major university in the local area, there is plenty of IT talent available in Columbus. We do not need to go looking in other states unless that person wants to move back to Columbus.
You can not tell me that having half of IT outsourced to India was because of a lack of talent. It was all about money and the best part, it never saved any money, if it did, we would not have had to get rid of a number of people last Jan. That bi--h Therace had to restrict IT from taking the buy out otherwise there would have been a huge number would have taken it and IT would have been sc--wed. She also knew TCS could not take on the extra load because they DIDN'T have the talent.
So in the end IT is worse off since Therace took over and it's not getting better.
New episode of ASK BILL came out today.
Questions about RTO were conspicuously absent.
I guess employees just have nothing to say about it!
We are a big, bad Fortune 500 company. You should feel lucky to even be allowed in the building.
It is proven fact that T-Engineering will absolutely let talent walk out the door. You can spend most of the day on teams, helping others across the footprint. However you damn well better show up at the office for your three days a week to make those teams calls. Better make sure you scan that badge when you come in too. The bean counters are watching.
It is a shame what AEP has become. Not sure how the ship gets righted at this point.
I'm not sure what IT groups your talking about being top tier here at AEP lol. In the jobs we have had posted we've been lucky to get a warm body to apply let alone highly skilled. Our pay is out of line, our culture is toxic (even at a corp level now not just in IT) and we don't even allow candidates to interview with the people they are going to work with as a team. Who the he-l wants to come to a job never meeting anyone you are going to work with??? I'll tell you who, no one with a marketable skill set who cares about their work and their life in general. The hiring process is not transparent, you get gaslit for months (on average 9 mos for every job openings we have had) and you end up with whoever is the bottom of the barrel that applies.
What do you mean the "highly specialized nature of IT roles?"
This is not some occult knowledge, in India everyone and their mom is an IT expert.
Are you saying IT somehow requires a greater expertise than engineering? You realize you work at a company with a lot of engineers right? What do you even need to get started in IT, an associate's degree from the community college and experience connecting your mom's computer to the printer?
@1qjx+1qB6FXi3 That sounds great but it probably has more to do with CITO leadership all living in other states. I don't think they want IT going back into the office because that would mean they would need to move to Ohio. I wouldn't mind going back into the office, I enjoyed my co-workers. They were super smart and dedicated to delivering quality solutions. We weren't perfect but everyone was committed to keeping our customers happy.
IT remains remote because our talent strategy is focused on securing the best professionals, regardless of location. Given the highly specialized nature of IT roles, having a national and global reach allows us to attract top-tier talent that we might not have access to if we were limited to a single geographic area (Columbus). This approach also enables us to remain competitive in the industry while ensuring we have the right expertise to support the business effectively.
ICP closer to a 0.6- 0.70 then 0.88
Because the Witch of the West live in Columbus and has no desire to live anywhere near Ohio. She also outsourced most of IT to India. She would have done 95% of it given the chance but little things like Cook, NERC, FERC and FBI background checks stopped the bi--h in her tracks. She had to keep a good portion of it in the US. Her problem, she and her minions had no clue how to run an IT shop for a utility. The d-mb cu-t ran head first into Federal regulations that she couldn't skirt around with outsourcing. Lucky for her someone on the board like the le----n and kept her protected.
Ask me if I'm a bitter ex-employee, I'm not, I'm still here waiting for her a-s to leave and to take her minions with her. Since the fired a lot of my friends,, I'm sticking around just to do enough not to get fired but not enough to make the Indians look good.
Why does IT get to work remote still?
Even new hires, lots of job ads going up right now on the site for IT that are advertised as remote.
If he mentions phishing tests for the 79th time I’m gonna scream in the Q&A chat.
I log into them on one screen, ki-l the sound and minimize the window. Open my other apps and keep working on stuff that matters. I don't listen to the cr-p because it means nothing to me.
Our manager will give a recap at our next huddle and ask if there are any question . I'll get the recap from the team then.
Unless you're telling me I'm fired, nothing that comes up in these meetings mean zero to me. It would be funny if nobody showed up but the managers.
Just a waste of man hours imo.
Show me webcast that actually made a difference in everyone's day?
Sacrifice the CEO upon the altar greed and we shall all have a bountiful ICP. Crony capitalism loves human sacrifices. It might as well be them instead of us for a change. Remember our severed coworkers!
And each one is a copy of the last one and the last 5 ones. And can all be found on a boilerplate McKinsey report.
I've never worked anywhere in a long career with as many all-hands and leadership webcasts. It's like his press conference to stand before the minions and shake a stick at them - after being here for 5 months.
It's not most of their salary but it's a lot. The highest job grade (excluding CEO) has an 80% of base salary as their ICP target.
I don't think the employee call is going to be anything special, you all su-k, we need to do better.
Most of Bill and the execs yearly salary comes from ICP, doesn’t it?
There should be an ICP, i just doubt it'll be a good one. The one guy earlier in this thread said .88 so let's wait and see if he was right. My guess next year, either no ICP or a free turkey like in Christmas Vacation.
Any rumors about upcoming broadcasts on Thursday? Will there be any chance of an ICP?
You do a job for one of two reasons, a paycheck or because you love it. I know for a fact over the last 5 years more of us are moving from the I love what I do to I'm just here for the paycheck
Even Bill is only here for a paycheck so why should I change my attitude Bill?
As time goes on, more and more people will move into the paycheck side. Morale is not a concern for the company at this stage, the wheels have not come off but it may very soon. By the end of 2025, mid 2026, if things don't improve across the board, if would not surprise me to see a large group of older workers (boomers) leaves. They have the time, the money and the "take this job and shove it" attitude.
Bro our customers hate us. They think we are robbing them blind. And we probably are. Well at least some of us.
We are preparing for another winter storm. Please put Bill's chaos out of your minds and focus on the safety fundamentals that keep us all safe. Bill will never know the brotherhood and sisterhood that gives us the strength to endure and prevail over mother nature's fury. Bill is just another spoiled oligarch freeloading on our success. He has NO sweat equity in our company's legacy and never will. We shall still be here long after he is just a bad memory. We are "THE AEP" our customers trust to keep their families lights on.
Does anyone know how many stealth layoffs occurred last week? I heard a new org chart was released in IT that had people missing but there was no announcement or acknowledgement of it. This was likely the "layers and spans" re-org that the others groups have already gone through, but I didn't hear about layoffs when they flattened Planning, PM, Finance, etc.