A purported ex-Verizon employee shared a heartbreaking virtual confession two days ago about losing her job in the recent wave of layoffs that hit the US telecommunication company recently. The female employee’s troubles hit the roof with the life-changing job cut announcement as she was already grappling with what she called a “rough pregnancy.”
Struggling to figure out what to do next, the female employee penned a post titled “I was literally about to submit maternity leave but then got the layoff news” on the anonymous professional platform, Team Blind. In her brief confession, the “depressed” woman claimed that she was about to send in her maternity leave request the same day she was hit with the layoff revelation.
Laid-off pregnant Verizon employee shares emotional confession
She told other professionals on the social media platform, “I am one of 13k they are letting go at Verizon.” The reported ex-employee further shared that she had been planning for her “leave, lining up projects, trying to keep everything stable while dealing with a rough pregnancy.”
The viral Team Blind post was nearing 30,000 views at the time of writing. It detailed an interaction the former Verizon employee had had with her manager, and how they had struck a “mutual agreement on the request timeline.” The pregnant professional also disclosed that she wanted to submit the formal maternity leave request a few days ago, and then take time off work accordingly.
However, given the current circumstances, she regretted not having sent it earlier. “I am so frustrated and mad and sad at the same time,” she added, noting that hormonal changes during her pregnancy were not helping her either during such a dilemma.
Verizon layoffs and their impact
On Thursday (US time), the US wireless carrier announced that it was cutting more than 13,000 jobs, marking its largest-ever layoff at a single time. The drastic switch was backed by the company’s restructuring goals focussed on shrinking costs.
Along with the job cuts, Verizon also chalked out plans to turn 179 corporate-owned retail stores into franchised operations and shut down a store altogether, as per Reuters. A spokesperson also confirmed, calling the layoffs an “opportunity for Verizon to reset, restructure and realign our priorities on ways that will help us regain our leadership as a communication provider.”
The company’s new CEO, Dan Schulman, told employees in a note that the workforce transformation would ultimately bring down the expenses linked to outsourced employees and other external labour.
“Our current cost structure limits our ability to invest significantly in our customer value proposition,” he said in the note, as per Reuters. “We must simplify our operations to address the complexity and friction that slow us down and frustrate our customers.”
The company has since guaranteed that the job cuts–mostly from the US–were not fuelled by AI use.
What’s next for laid-off Verizon employees
The new Verizon CEO, who was been a board member since 2018, said the company was building a $20 million fund to aid laid-off employees in career transition so that the focus can be “opportunities and necessary skill sets as we enter the age of AI.” Reports floating on the Internet ahead of the actual announcement suggested that 15,000 jobs would be cut.
A professional who has been working at a Verizon data centre for over four years called the layoffs worse than you think” in a separate Reddit post. “This 13,000 person layoff “restructuring“ plan isn’t just a bunch of stores closing, they’re firing a large number of their in house engineers and replacing them with contractors, firing Senior Directors, managers, getting rid of entire departments etc,” they added.
With the latest wave of Verizon job cuts emerging as the biggest in the company’s history, Tami Erwin penned an open letter to the recently laid off 13,000 employees. She was with the company for 35 years and served as CEO of Verizon Business before she left the firm in 2022.
“The news this week has weighed on me deeply,” she wrote on LinkedIn. “As I reflect on it tonight, on a quiet Friday night, I’m thinking about the people behind the headlines.” Despite the current state of tech boom in the industry, she reminded everyone, “people remain the heart of every great company.”
She added, “Give yourself permission to grieve. A job is identity, relationships, and pride. Losing it is personal.” At the time same time, she consoled the laid-off employees about their “Verizon experience is meaningful and will open door.” Erwin particularly reminded the professionals to hold their head high as, “no one can take away the impact you’ve had.”
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