Verizon cuts ex-Alltel employees, offers small consolation
It looks like Verizon has finally figured out what it’s going to do with the Alltel employees that it picked up during its acquisition of the company: give them the axe. More specifically, Verizon is cutting an unspecified number of jobs in Little Rock because those corporate positions are now redundant. The departments being given the axe include finance, marketing and legal, but there is some hope for those losing their jobs — Verizon would be more than happy to have them apply for positions in its call centers. We’re not sure if being asked to step down from finance to handle customer complaints over the phone is a nice offer, but having a job is better than no job, right?
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Verizon is a great company
while everyone else stopped matching 401k
Verizon kept matching and gave us profit sharing
while everyone cut tuition reimbursement
Verizon raised ours to $8000 per year
Health benefits
Mine are cheaper for 2010 then 2009
Work life balance
4 weeks here plus gobs of personal hours
Pay
I cant complain, there millions of people that would love to have my job and every day I give 110% to keep it that way.
You can actually look at it this way too:
Alltel is (was) not just in Little Rock. They did not just provide service in Arkansas, they had a fairly large footprint of their own. As such, they would need to have a work force in other areas of the country: They had switched, cell site people, network quality-type people (the “can you hear me now?” type) retail store people, call center people (though they may have only had 1 call center, I don’t know), etc. but the only people you hear of getting the proverbial axe are some of the management and a few departments like Legal, Marketing and Finance? Depending on the size of the company before the merger that could have amounted to something like 20% to less than 10% of the total workforce Alltel had before the merger. (all numbers arbitrary because, well, I don’t know how many people are getting cut as opposed to how many people the company used to have total)
I would say that’s pretty darned impressive. Considering how often you hear of companies buying another company and then outright canning the majority of the previous company. While working in a call center may not be the most glamorous place to work, at least the option to interview for a position is there for those folks who would like to stay on no matter where and retain seniority benefits like vacation, retirement and the like, even if it’s just to have a job while looking for something else.
Even if people don’t choose to interview, no, it shouldn’t affect their chances for Unemployment. From some of the people I’ve known who have worked there, unless you leave on really bad terms, Verizon is pretty fair to their employees. I would be very surprised if the people who are getting cut haven’t been given plenty of forewarning of the possibility and hadn’t been given other opportunities to find positions elsewhere in the company.
Switches, not switched, spelling…..
Alltell had about 10 call centers throughout the country. I worked for 1 of the 2 that verizon kept open. now we are getting the boot as well.
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You’re stupid for one thing… Second, do you honestly think they didn’t look for positions for these people? If you never did business with a company that has fired someone you’d be in really bad shape… Don’t post if your head is so far up your ass that you can’t see light.
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BGR… you have got to start moderating these comments. This is actually a pretty serious topic yet douchebags like the commenter before me fill our screens with their verbal vomit.
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edit didn’t mean you Anthony it was in reference to that Apple guy.
Yea.. I guess it makes more since to pay people to do the same exact thing twice. That sounds like a recipe for success.
It is business.
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Why don’t they just pay everyone with gumdrops and good intentions? Then they’ll never have to lay anyone off and we’ll all be happy forever! Wooo!
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LOL who wouldnt work for gumdrops
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diabetics…
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yeah you got me there
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One of the goals of most acquisitions and mergers is to eliminate redundancy in an effort to improve profitability. I’m surprised that anyone wouldn’t see this coming.
Still sucks for those given the axe.
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Alltel’s marketing department was actually pretty succesful. Interesting move…
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Get some perspective people. What did you think was going to happen? Everyone knows that there were going to be duplicate jobs in a merger. You get on Sprint about have a negative balance sheet and losing money in certain quarters (same goes for T-mobile), but you gripe and complain about a company making cuts in expenses where it is supposed to.
I swear, everyone just wants to complain. If it ain’t Verizon fans yelling at AT&T, it’s Iphone fans screaming at everyone else who compares their new phone with it.
Get some perspective before you comment.
Pooch
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No, not everyone. Just the people most likely to hit the submit button want to complain. Comment threads are a vast exercise in self-selection bias. Anger (doubly so if it is the ignorant variety) gets people fired up and posting.
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There are no pay cuts being given to those people even though they would just get lousy jobs. It sucks but hopefully Big Red at least gives the people enough money so that they have a decent holiday season!
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corrections: bad timing,lose their job and with their current marketing.
Can you hear me now?
Good . . . YOU’RE FIRED!
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That always happens when to companies merge some body has to get axed.
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LoL.. you guys are banging on VZW for doing what all companies do after a company acquisition? When companies merge or one company buys out another you typically have redundancy. The idea is to do more with less overhead.
It sucks for those people to lose their jobs during this bad economy, but it is the nature of the beast and companies have been doing this for years. VZW is no better or worse then any other company in that regard.
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Sucks for everyone who lost their job – good luck to all of you
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Verizon would be more than happy to have them apply for positions in its call centers….
How is that different from everyone else who is applying to get a job there
Unemployment or suicide would be better options than working at a verizon call center
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Really? I was always happy with the reps I talked to when I had Verizon, and anyone who’s worked in management knows you don’t get good customer service out of your employees if you don’t treat them well.
i have had to go to the Elgin call center multiple times for meetings and the last time i was there, employees there were having a Halloween party. they looked really happy
that is the dumbest fucking thing i ever heard. duhhh some people like to keep their jobs!!!!!! it’s not whether they treat u well or not. it’s about do i need this job. Verizon wireless call centers suck i know i went to Alltel and ended back in the same place. Alltell’s comp package was much better, and you got commision for just helping people with things they were going to buy anyway!! cell accessories and text messaging
So does this mean that Alltel as a brand will finally disappear?
I just wonder what will happen to chad
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They fired his azz like everybody else
Ummm … it seems one point (of pure evil) is being overlooked …
… by offering the severed people the opportunity to interview for the call centers, they can effectively block unemployment claims from anyone who does not take them up on it (or at least tries) on grounds that they are not looking for work (or worse, that they were offered a position and refused it).
But they weren’t offered new positions, they were just offered the opportunity to interview for them. They can interview and until they are hired, if they are, they can still collect unemployment.
Pooch
I doubt that’s the reason.
Unemployment premiums cap out at a certain percentage, which is based on overall company retention percentages. The higher percentage of your employees you lay off every year, the higher the percentage of your payroll costs you pay in unemployment insurance premiums. I can’t say for certain what Verizon’s retention numbers are, but I do know two things: One, every Verizon rep I ever spoke to when I had Big Red was American, and Two, call centers tend to have something like 50% retention rates, which means that Verizon is almost certainly already paying maximum unemployment insurance premiums.
If that’s the case, they can lay off whoever they want to without worrying about their UI premiums at all.
My guess is that they offered these people call center positions because they didn’t want to lose their training and expertise. Didn’t need ‘em in management anymore, but you can save a bundle in payroll and HR expenses by retraining current employees rather than hiring new ones. That kind of transition can be rough, so my heart goes out to these guys.
I must say why is this a surprise to anyone. almost anytime companies merger there are people who get let go. It’s all about business and the bottom line.
And for all you making remarks about Big Red why don’t you go and look at how many people were let go when Cingular & AT&T merged seeing as they weren’t all kept either
IMO get a grip already people it is what it is, and it is all about profits when it comes to corp america.
@Apple
Dude does Apple have over 1000,000 apps ? Why are you commenting on Android or Verizon? Is it because you secretly want the iPhone on a dependable network?… you want the Droid? Or is it because out of 100k apps 995,000 are worth less? HHHMMM ? I will go with All of the above! LMAO
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This isn’t this first or last time a merger has led to lost jobs. This is the the “rule” and not the “exception”.
Increased subscribers, and save money in overhead (reduce staff) and the CEO collects a raise and bonus payments in the process. Rinse, repeat, collect…..
Unemployment varies from state to state. If you are making $75,000 a year (for example) and get laid off, you can collect unemployment. You are not “required” to accept a lower position at less money (although a bad job or a pay cut is better than being unemployed in this economy). Some states are “at will” and as long as your employer doesn’t lie or otherwise dispute your UI claim. you are all set. In Texas, even if your claim is denied, you can appeal and your employer must provide proof. Even after this, if you pick up part time work and earn 3 times what your UI benefit is, your former employer can’t stop you from collecting UI.
Sure the process takes longer, but you can and will eventually collect $$. Still, you can claim unemployment while refusing work that is more than 20% below what your previous earnings were for months before TX will lower extended benefits.
Point being, there are many reasons to like or dislike a business. No promises were made to the employees (I can assume this because it would have been disclosed).
Must every discussion be divided with ATT fans (iPhone) or Verizon Fans (the network)?