Thread regarding McKesson Corp. layoffs

I left McKesson a few years back after 11 years. I loved the people I worked with. However severely underpaid as were all the developers. I left knowing layoffs would start, and I make almost 50k per years MORE and that still puts me mid range for what I do.

Obviously the writer of the post was not one that was laid off. We are NOT whiner's, we were dedicated employees that did a good job. I was laid off after many years and I can assure you my performance was not part of why I was laid off. You have no idea what you are talking about. They didn't lay off "inadequate" employees, they laid off good employees with years of service. I was the only one on my team that was hit by these lay offs even though the product we work with is slowly falling to the wayside. There were only 2 of us that did the job I did and now that poor friend has had everything dumped on her. I am ok with being laid off we saw it in the Stars for sometime. I just don't understand how they come to choose those that they are laying off.

If you are a shareholder, I would dump McKesson stock now to preserve gains. McKesson rode the ACA's coat tails as far as they are going to. Peaking at 240 dropping to 156 they have no hope of recovery. McKesson stock before the ACA floated around $50 with the ACA it went up and kept going up, now it is dropping $84 a share in a few months and has yet to bounce back up. Time to get out. Especially considering the fines for unethical business practices wholly related to mismanagement.

McKesson layoffs have more to do with mismanagement than the work the people do. McKesson have been fined and settled lawsuits for drug oversight. You could say McKesson acts like a giant drug cartel that is a legal, dispensing opioid's in large quantities which caused the government last May to fine McKesson for suspicious ordering practices and suspending three distribution centers for 2 years.

I worked for McKesson and left a while ago for a better job with a better company. McKesson, while I worked there, seemed more interested in climbing the ranks of the Fortune 500 than caring about its people. Keep staffs at barebones and pushing work on its employees to the point some, like myself, were working consistently between 55 and 60 hours per week under salary. McKesson was getting 20 hours of my work for free. I can guarantee if I were an hourly employee I would have never been able to work 20 hours overtime per week because McKesson than would have to pay for it.

The other thing is the ethics of the company, sure, they have catch things like ICARE, but management it seemed could Care Less.

Part of the offer package included a document that included the At-Will employment language the first poster quoted, I was required to sign the document, I reviewed this with a lawyer and she indicated that because it was a signed document added to my HR file that it would be considered a contract. Every state is different but in this case McKesson doesn't have to prove it may have violated At-Will, the employee does. This means you would need to hire a lawyer and try to fight it, good luck with that... my lawyer told me you could spend thousands trying to fight the layoffs but since McKesson announced this back in January as part of a Corporate reduction that was tied directly to business impacts from pricing and lost contracts individual employees have little to no chance of proving At-Will violations. The only recourse could be if you were actively communicating improper actions by the company and you got laid off you may be able to create a "targeted" case. So if you feel you have a case use the McKesson legal consult benefit or see if you can get a "free" consult first.

Is it a contract. Or an agreement.

There is a big difference.

Hey, even though we may signed this At Will contract don't we have any recourse we can use to all get the same (BEST) severance package, it dosn't seem legal that some folks are getting more money then others.

Any lawyers out there want to chime in on these "At Will" contracts?

Will they really prevent ANY legal actions?

I read all of these posts about employees at McKesson being at will employees, and I totally agree about the at will aspect of employment. I worked at McKesson as a VP, 21 years of service, ran several teams, never got a bad review. Many times I was on the McKesson side of the table during layoffs. I saw people treated very fairly in that they were given ample notice, in one case 18 months, good severance package, etc. Then came my time, a much different experience that those I had witnessed. Not because it was me, but because it was totally heartless and deviously planned. I was never under any delusions that this one never happen to me and having witnessed layoffs that seemed to treat employees fairly, I wasn't too worried.

First of all, I and one of my direct reports who I knew would be out of a job unless we could find something for him in the same BU were led down a path thinking that there was a job for him. I actually conducted meetings with the new manager to talk about the new role, and to plan the transition. My manager set up a fake conference call one Friday to talk about this new position with myself, my direct report, and the supposed new manager. Around the time the meeting was supposed to start I received a call from my manager asking to come to the conference room. When I walked in the door, there he was with HR and a my separation information. My severance package was just like the ones I had witnessed for others but there was one gaping hole. I had few thousand shares of stock that I had received 2 months shy of 3 years ago meaning they wouldn't be fully vested for 2 more months. This grant was worth 6 figures since McKesson stock had greatly increased over the 3 year period. I didn't get a dime of this stock even though I had held up my end of the agreement in full. I was then walked to my desk, not allowed to speak to anyone, I was stood over while I collected my property, and walked out the door like a criminal. This was something I had only seen happen when employees were terminated for cause. I was left humiliated, and sick. I was one of many that were let go that day, it was a BU wide layoff. Most people let go where good people in their late 40's or early 50's, good performers, and those that were younger and poor performers, just so McKesson could clear the age claim.

The deception I can blame on my manager, he should have been up front with me, I would have understood. He and I had a good working relationship, and we never had any issues. The stock issue is McKesson. At that time this was a $150B/year company and giving people stock that was 2 months away from vesting would not even show up on a balance sheet, or on a line item budget. This was a cold hearted decision, especially given the huge golden parachute that Hammergren has.

I'm not the original poster on this thread but I do agree.

With regard to the poster who says "You know their compensation, tenure, and their performance ratings. "

You don't have to be HR to get a feel for what those around you make, how long they have worked for the company, or how well they do their job. I go out with my co-workers, picnic at there homes and mine, work with them on projects, I get to know them as friends.

I don't think the poster is HR, Just Honest about what they see around them.

And good luck with your ethics complaint, HR is very busy for the next few month with all these layoffs and having to fill all the new positions in TX and Southern CAL, plus back fill all those USA terminated positions to India or Mexico...

What kind of character it takes to chose a career in HR

You have quite a lot of knowledge about those employees being laid. You know their compensation, tenure, and their performance ratings. Why would you know? Because you are in HR. Ding ding ding! Time to launch an ethics complaint here and root you out. I am thinking that you probably also work for Kate Aitken too.

Apparently a lot of us cared more than most of you on this board. Our co-workers and our customers were like family, and we made sure that they were successful in what they did. We were also part of a much smaller company that actually cared about its employees that the McKesson monster gobbled up. For those of you that look at it like it's just a job it shows. Believe it or not, there are a lot of people that take pride in what they do and take pride in being part of the teams that we were a part of. But then again, ICARE is the McKesson principle that most of you seem to be mocking which shows you never followed it. You must be leaders at McKesson. With people like you remaining with McKesson I'm glad that I'm going to be leaving on my own accord and not part of the RIF. You point out exactly what is wrong with this company. Bunch of d-bags.

#GOLD POST BRO

Your LEGAL contract with the company

To: All of you whiners out there, you signed or agreed to a legal contract with the company, as with 99% of US company's your employment is AT-WILL. Knowing this going in means you should expect to be terminated, plan accordingly, and don't blame the company, its just business... most of those terminated that I'm aware of were less than adequate performers, or had been with the company so long in the same or like role that they were making way over open market wages. If you are making more now then you can get from other employers you are at risk.

At-Will Employment: Employment at McKesson is at-will except for those employees who work

pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement where the collective bargaining agreement

provides otherwise. This means that unless you are employed pursuant to such a collective

bargaining agreement, you or the Company may terminate your employment at any time, for any

reason or for no reason. Nothing contained in this offer of employment shall be construed as

guaranteeing employment for a specific period of time or for future employment. No Company

representative can enter into an agreement contrary to the Company's policy of at-will

employment without written approval from the Company's Executive Vice President, Human

Resources.

I've always said, from my years and years with this company, 'It's not a matter of if, its just when'.

I enjoyed the time I spent with the company, worked on fun projects, new technologies, it was challenging. I've given up weekends, vacations, time off as well, but you do what you think you need to do, in any job.

Given changing busines conditions the tide changes, sucks I know, I'm still hunting down a new job, but I understand and I understood during the other 12+ major layoffs that I did survive.

ICAREd, Lol! Thank you for the laugh!

Sorry I have no sympathy "for those that have given up nights, weekends, holiday, weddings, funerals, vacations and work life balance for MCK because that is what was asked of them"

Why? Because its their fault, not the company's, I was one of them, salaried developer, then I got laid off, twice in three years (I didn't get cut during this years RIF) so now I make darn sure my manager knows that if I exceed 50 hours any given week he gets an email outlining why I had to exceed MY expected work week, and offer suggestions so that it dosn't become the norm/expectation, and guess what my manager is fine with this, I do good work, meet my deadlines and don't "Whine". I choose to work here because McK pays what I want and gives me a good work/life balance. If they didn't I would work with them and if we couldn't come to an agreement that meets MY requirements I would look for new work that did. I'm in control of ME... I am NOT in control of the company.

So my take is NOT to whine, take control what I can, and that's ME and MY career.

I agree getting a RIF sucks, but it happens. If you don't want it to happen to you run your own company with NO stock holders, or... win the lottery...

My 2 Cents

To all the life events mentioned in this post, "weddings,funeral, nights, etc" I do beleive if you are on the clock, you are getting paid. I beleive Mckesson also has a bereavement policy so you also get paid. So to all the ones complaining, try and find something positive instead of blaming someone else or blaming the company for make a business decision, for the business.

Integrity

We strive to make decisions, both big and small, with a focus on what is ethically right.*

Customer-First

Our customers are at the center of everything we do, and our success comes from their success.*

Accountability

We make personal commitments – to our customers, vendors and colleagues – and hold ourselves accountable for keeping those promises.*

Respect

We treat each other, our customers and our vendors with dignity, consideration and open-mindedness.*

Excellence

We go beyond expectations for our customers and each other.*

(*Not valid if stock price drops, or we decide we want to move to Texas someday.)

"show some respect for those that have given up nights, weekends, holiday, weddings, funerals, vacations and work life balance for MCK because that is what was asked of them." So, this was done by force? Surely they had a choice to work elsewhere.

"That are being herded into a conf room or on a call for a mass layoff" How would you have handled the situation?

Really? You don't know what a human factor is? These are people aka human beings. Not robots, not numbers, not employee ID's. People. That are being herded into a conf room or on a call for a mass layoff. No, it is not personal that they are being let go, but treat people like people and show some respect for those that have given up nights, weekends, holiday, weddings, funerals, vacations and work life balance for MCK because that is what was asked of them.

HUMAN FACTOR!

"What you forget is the human factor." Could you define what the "human factor" is?

Bullcrap! I know many people that were 100% billable for their time that were let go in the lady round and their billable rate was no where near their salary. They had backlog of work to keep them busy at least until 2017! Now the rest of us are asked to pick up this slack on top of our own backlog. It is as though they picked names out of a hat with no rhyme or reason on who they were letting go.

You sound like a lawyer

Amen! Accurate

Yes, jobs are at will and yes, the only thing the company "owes" employees is a paycheck.

What you forget is the human factor. And I fully disagree with the "less than adequate" performers. April 2015 the majority of sales people that were let go were here several years, 55+ and most had hit their quota during FY15. How is that sub-par? The PM's and developers were some of the best and brightest. Almost all I know of in the last 3 RIFs were actually very good performers, and several were replaced by subpar individuals that are paid less, as the work product shows, or were outsourced to India. Few were given the option to re-located to another state, at their own expense, to take a job at a lower pay grade despite being exceptional and knowledgeable employees. All declined.

Bottom line, perhaps if the C-Suite evaluated their own performance and pay grades, and were held accountable for not buying companies which led into debt, looking at market factors influencing the Pharma business and paid more attention to what other SW vendors were doing then the PEOPLE affected would not be so "whiney" (to use your word)

And, again, if the majority were sub-par then please explain why several were asked to come back after the RIF due to poor planning by MCK. They let too many go, and then others quit. Again, I personally know several asked back; only one accepted.