Thread regarding Lumen Technologies layoffs

For those laid off in 2024, there was still some residual STI that would be paid in early 2025, on a pro-rated basis according to when your last day was. This allows them to not pay that, either.

If they do a layoff in late October or in November either before or after their earnings release, then those laid off won't be getting much if any STI, either.

No bonus in favor of a 1% pay increase. Double kick to your stomach. Once they go no bonus, it's gone for good.

A lot of Kate’s pay is tied to there being a payout. Don’t think she's gonna give that up. We MIGHT get a few bucks but she will get millions

But wait...didnt Kate say she has empathy for the company and think it needed a big hug?

Who or what exactly does she have empathy for? Sounds like it begins and ends with the shareholders. Because she couldnt care less about the people who work hard to keep the lights on.

For those who didnt see the quote in the media last week:
"This was a company that needed to be transformed fundamentally and also needed a giant hug. And I thought that maybe I could lead it in a uniquely feminine way."

Bravo friend. Spoken in a way only a true long term Lumen/CTL/SAVS/Qwest employee could.

Lumen manipulates numbers and messaging to appear better than they really are. No surprise for a failing company. Getting rid of payouts of any kind like STI, stipend, on and on, has been going on for past 10 years or so. To undo all of them appears to be a preemptive move in setting up for a buyout. Factor in little or no STI, no raises, inflation, and your realized income is going down day by day. Lumen is not attractive in terms of getting ahead by making your savings grow in a meaningful way. There's plenty of other jobs out there that will pay you at least 10% more, which unfortunately gets you back to level ground in terms of income to COL ratio, but that's better than losing money working for Lumen. Lumen does not value the employees, everyone is replaceable with lower cost workers, and in many cases lower cost workers in India.

Id--t OP left out the rest of the e-mail. Try telling the whole story.

"Former employee who was aware of discussions about a communication like this going out company-wide. It's serious and it's a concern if this was sent. The ELT knows the impact this messaging would have and it wasn't taken lightly."

What do you mean? I think its positive to know that the board was aware of the under estimation of revenue and just readjusted so we would be able to reach the payout threshold for sti?

They didnt say it was being paid at zero. They modified the projections so if we made just about the same as we did in the first half of the year, it would get paid out.

What concerns me is that the original projections of revenue and EBITDA are way under what we are actually bringing in. They attribute that to spending on the "Private connectivity fabric" infrastructure. But didnt they know this when they made the projections? I think thats just smoke and mirrors. This company is in trouble. And without the AI marketing fluff that Kate put out there before the Q2 results to generate some market action, we'd be a sub-$1 company and on the verge of bankruptcy.

I agree with the guy above...that email may be setting us up to be disappointed.

But of course, they end the email with blowing some positive smoke up our behinds.
So keep working people! Lets go get that North Star!
At this point the only people who I think like working here are the ones who are always throwing up hearts and claps on Teams chats with the SLT.
Lots of kiss-ups in this company.

"Our future success depends on excelling in execution of the day-to-day business while fostering positive change and growth guided by our North Star. Thank you for your commitment and focus on our customers and financial performance in 2024. Together, we can achieve incredible results this year and in the future."

Also probably underhanded attempt for a show of interest to get people to leave so they don't have to pay severance.

Former employee who was aware of discussions about a communication like this going out company-wide. It's serious and it's a concern if this was sent. The ELT knows the impact this messaging would have and it wasn't taken lightly. The internal decay and toxicity is bad at Lumen. The financial forecast is much worse than what is shared to analysts and shareholders. They were seemingly saved by Kate's relationships at MSFT but there are many more obstacles and hurdles they must overcome before anyone can do a victory lap. I'm hoping for the best. I still have a lot of friends and good people that have not escaped yet.

If they weren't projecting they wouldn't have sent the email clearly. They're prewiring everyone to be disappointed. Even though the stock is rising based on the bit $5 and $7Bn fiber deals those are just in the books. Revenue hasn't been realized yet. This sounds kind of like what got Enron in trouble. NOT saying that's what's going on but projecting sales and actual revenue are 2 very different things.

Where exactly did you see it confirmed that the 2025 STI will pay at zero?

Bonus days are over for most corporations.
It disappeared with the pension.

Good riddance Lemon!

WOW so happy I am not there anymore.

And as Charlie Brown would say...."All I got was a rock"