Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Verizon Says 44,000 Managers Qualify for Company Buyout Offer

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 42 posts

Re: Verizon Says 44,000 Managers Qualify for Company Buyout Offer

#11

Post by beemeetoo »

yostrovs wrote: post #2

Amazing that they have 44,000 managers

Had a friend at a yuuuge company (comparable to Verizon) and their title changed as they spent more time with the company w/o their role or responsibilities changing a lot throughout the years.

After 7-8 years at the given company this friend of mine became a "VP" and first I was "WOW, look at you!", but then he explained that he is doing the same sh*t, maybe a tad bit more, but this is how they get their promotions, etc... so they had tons of "Managers" and "VPs"...

Re: Verizon Says 44,000 Managers Qualify for Company Buyout Offer

#12

Post by jsnell »

> The incentive includes three weeks’ pay for every year of service, thanks in part to profit-enhancing benefits from new corporate tax laws.

I genuinely had to check whether this was some kind of a parody site. "Corporate tax cuts are great, companies can now afford to give bigger severance packages!"

Re: Verizon Says 44,000 Managers Qualify for Company Buyout Offer

#14

Post by Torn »

ct0 wrote: post #6
whack wrote: post #5

Aren't these buyout offers the worst way to trim headcount? The people most likely to take them are the ones who are good at their job, and confident of landing another one at a different company. The people least likely to take them are the mediocre ones who know they'll never land an equally good position elsewhere. If you want to keep your best people, this seems like the exact opposite way to do it.

I believe the intention is to trim cost

Short-term cost though, if whack's thinking is correct. Longer-term talent drains means execution risks sliding even further into mediocrity

Re: Verizon Says 44,000 Managers Qualify for Company Buyout Offer

#15

Post by SilasX »

whack wrote: post #5

Aren't these buyout offers the worst way to trim headcount? The people most likely to take them are the ones who are good at their job, and confident of landing another one at a different company. The people least likely to take them are the mediocre ones who know they'll never land an equally good position elsewhere. If you want to keep your best people, this seems like the exact opposite way to do it.

I don’t know how Verizon is doing it but sometimes the offers are structured so that they exclude “essential employees”, ie anyone they like. So, if you get the offer it’s a sign they think you’re not any good :-p

Re: Verizon Says 44,000 Managers Qualify for Company Buyout Offer

#16

Post by mudil »

whack wrote: post #5

Aren't these buyout offers the worst way to trim headcount? The people most likely to take them are the ones who are good at their job, and confident of landing another one at a different company. The people least likely to take them are the mediocre ones who know they'll never land an equally good position elsewhere. If you want to keep your best people, this seems like the exact opposite way to do it.

Companies throw a wide net in these matters to prevent lawsuits, such as age discrimination lawsuits. But then more managed process takes over on the individual level.

Re: Verizon Says 44,000 Managers Qualify for Company Buyout Offer

#17

Post by zdragnar »

minikites wrote: post #8
ExBritNStuff wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They use the term manager for lots of roles that don't actually have any management function. I worked on a team within Verizon that had ~40 people, all of whom were considered managers, even though none of us, other than the two actual managers, had any people under us.

For those who may not know, companies do this so they can classify as many workers as possible as "exempt employees" meaning they are exempt from overtime pay and other worker protections.

"In general, to be considered an “exempt” employee, you must be paid a salary (not hourly) and must perform executive, administrative or professional duties."

https://www.thebalancecareers.com/exempt-and-a-non-exempt-em...

To be honest, I'm a little surprised that these employees couldn't be considered administrative or professional without a managerial title.

Edit: reading further, this clarifies a bit: "These categories are purposefully broad to encompass many types of jobs. However, it is the tasks performed on the job, not the job title alone, which determine exempt vs. non-exempt employment status." Essentially, it's not entirely a cop-out by companies to avoid worker protections.

Re: Verizon Says 44,000 Managers Qualify for Company Buyout Offer

#19

Post by _jal »

jsnell wrote: post #12

> The incentive includes three weeks’ pay for every year of service, thanks in part to profit-enhancing benefits from new corporate tax laws. I genuinely had to check whether this was some kind of a parody site. "Corporate tax cuts are great, companies can now afford to give bigger severance packages!"

I'd read that as, "The investor class has not quite yet internalized regarding the recent tax changes as their god-given birthright, so at the moment they don't squeal quite so loudly when the proles get a nickel."

Re: Verizon Says 44,000 Managers Qualify for Company Buyout Offer

#20

Post by MisterOctober »

minikites wrote: post #8
ExBritNStuff wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They use the term manager for lots of roles that don't actually have any management function. I worked on a team within Verizon that had ~40 people, all of whom were considered managers, even though none of us, other than the two actual managers, had any people under us.

For those who may not know, companies do this so they can classify as many workers as possible as "exempt employees" meaning they are exempt from overtime pay and other worker protections.

This is emphatically the case. The administrative and IT exemptions are rankly abused. It's not only big / tech companies that engage in this practice, either -- so many folks work for middling-or-less salary and expected to put in uncompensated overtime. Companies craft HR policy to shoehorn practically every full-time position into an exempt class.
Post reply on HN