Verizon laying off sales reps around the country
By Chris Ziegler 
posted February 10th 2009 9:29AM
posted February 10th 2009 9:29AM
So, you guys hear about this recession thing? We've now been relayed two distinct stories of layoffs inside Verizon's sales ranks within the last 24 hours, though it's not clear whether the recent Alltel acquisition has anything to do with 'em. First off, we're told that virtually all -- 90 percent or more -- of Circuit City-based reps have lost their jobs. Though the move might seem make sense in light of Circuit City's failure, it's important to note that these folks were not Circuit City employees -- indeed, they were employed directly by Big Red, but only a very small number have been transferred to other positions. Secondly, we're hearing stories of major layoffs in the Gulf Coast region, with Verizon allegedly targeting higher-paid senior reps for the axe.[Thanks, Mike and verizon rep]
Wow, glad I got out when I did in October. I knew when CC stock was at $.25 that the axe would be coming.
Verizon's internal slogan, 2009
"Taking the biggest axe to the best sales reps"
Its sad that reps were let go but I can say 100% certainty that the reps that were let go were not picked out of a hat at random. These were reps who were on final disciplinary action for various reasons as well as consistently underperforming on a month to month basis.
I beg to differ on the final disciplinary part. There are a lot of reps on final disciplinary action, but they still hold their jobs with verizon. Verizon has no heart as they get rid of their best reps and make their plans more customer unfriendly. Look at there worry free guarantee changes next week. Look at their new every two credits or lack there of. I feel sorry for alltel reps because they are the next to go. I guess all those CEO's and presidents in Verizon are doing an awesome job and keeping their jobs. I'm glad i could get laid off so I could fatten their pension plans and retirement. There's nothing better than giving rich people more money. Go Verizon. Go Big Red. Go forth and pillage.
I thought that the major wireless carriers were still being significantly profitable. If so, then why are they laying people off?
from what I've experienced...internally posted positions are being held by HR to see if any CC folks can fill them. So while it's likely they got their notices becuase there are no other immediate places to just drop them, they are getting first look for open positions to see if they fit.
And even though VZW is doing good, I'd imagine taking all the CC reps (I know, they are verizon employees, but CC is quicker to refer to that group), and placing them in a nearby store, that is probably already operating lean would simply mean the store would be over-staffed and sales goals and commissions would suffer. So while it would be nice for existing reps to cut hours to make room for the displaced, some people simply can't survive on less than what they make. Royally screw 1 person, or just mostly screw up 2 or 3?
Glad I don't have to make those decisions.
I do see your point regarding the CC people. If they are already being fairly profitable and they cut jobs, their profits should increase. I'm wondering what they're going to do with those profits, fill a giant money bin and go swimming in it? It'd be nice if they'd use them to create more jobs.
To hell with VZW, I guess Lowell needs his damned private jet, while he pisses on his "help." There was a big concern over churn in Q4 financials, but since they totally devalued the contract renewal for the embedded base, you will continue to see churn rise. As well, if they keep slashing jobs like this, morale will go down the toilet, and there will be no one happy there. They axed me right before my 401k vested and I was eligible for my Long Term Incentive awards. I'm sure that had nothing to do with it either.
Also greg, I was not on any warnings and I was a top sales rep.
can you hear me now? [heard outside one such office]
Justin and Verizon Rep,
I should have been a little bit more clear, I can only attest to the procedure that we followed in my area during this process. I will say that we were asked to review all reps with a very specific equation to determine the individuals who would be terminated. Regardless of the reason for being laid off, this has been one of the most difficult things that I have ever been involved in. Justin, did the person you meet with review your severence package? You will not lose your 401k and you will still receive your STI from last year as well as a prorated amount for this year. There is a lot more to the package that you might find beneficial. If you want to know more or have any questions about what is available to you then please leave your email or number and I will contact you directly. Greg
100% of the reps in my market were place into other locations.
I hate to see this happen, and I imagine if CC didn't fold these actions would not have happened to the extent they did. Those who were on bad terms with the company to start with wont be back, but Verizon is good about getting their people back when the opportunity arises. It is sad that so many people were displaced due to Circuit City failing, but moving them all into direct locations just isn't feasable for a number of reasons, if you are too short sighted to understand that, than so be it. Don't go back to work for them when they call.
wow! i cant believe all you guys are on here crying about losing your jobs and blah blah blah. obviously you were terminated for a reason, either on final for whatever the reason is, or....plain and simple....your numbers SUCK! now you are on here blaming it on vzw about how its such a bad company, most of you were given a settlement & sti's, look at other companies, do you think the former employees of those companies are being given these benefits seeing as how the economy is going right now? No! so stop blaming vzw or the economy. Blame yourself!
I just don't buy it... VZW sales reps are paid commission, so if you're making 'big bucks', that also means that you are bringing in 'big bucks' for the company! Now there certanly may be some poor performing sales reps who were let go due to being dead weight.
It had nothing to do with who made the most money because like JMc said sales reps are commission based. I make money they make money. I made over 125k last year and still have a job so that argument goes right out the door.
I'm sorry folks were let go but if they think for one second that VZW would just let people randomly go or were singled out, they seriously need to get their heads checked. No company is stupid enough to let go of their top performers. I can understand if they were overpaid but as a sales rep, are you really ever overpaid? If you were raking in the commission, you were obviously making the company money. Don't get me wrong, I really do feel for people that were layed off, but what do you really expect the company to do when Circuit City closed business? Overstaff a store? A company still needs to look out for their best interest. I think this whole CC situation gave the company to clean up house. People that were not performing were let go. Simple as that. But with such high turnover in that line of job, they'll probably get their jobs back (if they want it) in no time.
I'm an Alltel employee, errr, technically Verizon now. I've been with the company for nearly six years and am worried, but realistically, it would cost them more money to give me a severance package than some of the newer employees. Plus, if you figure I've been one of the top performers in the market, I shouldn't have anything to worry about with the merger. But, after to reading some of these comments, I honestly don't know what to think about the meeting I have in 7 hours.
VZ guy, what exactly is the specific equation that they used? I have been a rep for over a year, no PIP, no corrective action in three years. My base is about average and I finish in the top 5 of my district every month using the stack KPI rankings of new, renew, atr, dapc 99+. I would like to know the formula as it is being discussed there are two more rounds, at least in non-divested Alltel markets once the merger and rebranding are complete.
We should all get together and make a boycott forum or blog on all the scams and ways vzw squeezes extra pennies out of customers. If i get fired i will be sure to make a blog for that and expose VZW of all their dirty secrets. Who knows maybe ill even write a book on the shady things the company does to customers and their employees
I knew there would be SOMEONE who had to say something about VZW squeezing every penny...
do your damned research. VZW is competitive with every other MAJOR carrier in the States. Different companies offer different perks, but overall the prices, coverage, and features are nearly IDENTICAL.
and I would LOVE to hear what "dirty secrets" you have to say. I'm sure I could counterpoint every single one based on just common sense and standard business practices.
I was a VZW rep at a CC kiosk, and was also, what I thought, and according to our reporting system, one of the top reps. Got let go, though... I had a very good relationship with our district manager so I'm pretty sure it wasn't her call, and I was told it was performance based, which doesn't make sense either because I was doing well...
It just really sucks.
VZ Guy:
I was leading in gross adds and dapc, was not on any warnings or PIPs, was considered "leading" in my annual review and my balanced scorecard, so you tell me what the hell the stakes were. I'm not giving you my info so you can turn me in to Lowell and get my severance revoked.
Justin:
I only offered my assistance because I have the ability with the position I am in. I have no intentions to report anyone let alone have the ability to revoke anything like that. I won't get into internal company memos that my department received but I will say that 90% of it was numbers based. Whether this be KPIs, attendence (the new attendence policy was made retroactive to the past 365 days), tenure, etc. A formula similiar to the BSC. Every category had a specific amount of points given to it and each category was weighted differently. When it came down to deciding between two reps who had similiar score we had to explore other peripherals such as disciplinary action, job availability (too many sales supervisors not enough positions), as well as looking at whether the employee fit our Credo and whether they would be a good team member as we move forward. This doesn't mean that every rep that was fired fit these categories but many of them had poor performance in a lot of the graded areas. Again, I can only state what we did in my region.
Ok...Well I will only say that I worked for VZW for 3 year. I enjoyed it was promoted with in a year to a supv in a CC to only have the worst DM in VZ history that HATED me with a passion. I was one of the first to see the shock of the CC's closing down. I was in the first set of 155 stores. I was in PC CC. I was always in the top!! I was the best in my DAPC and my KPI's. My reps were never issued a PIP while I was there! and neither was I. I was in the top SWAS for 3rd qtr and best YOY growth for 2nd. But guess what I was fired! For some bogas reasons that still to this day have not been explained or shown to me for what I did wrong. I honestly feel they knew this was coming. They placed people where they could. They over staffed stores by 4 or 5 head counts. Demoting people that were Sales Reps to Customer Service Reps. They were even going to demote me!
I am now receiving unemployment...Thank you VZW really appreciate it!! But its taken me 3 months to get a job and not hate how I was dismissed. I have filed a complaint with the EEOC and I hope that the rest of you do the same.
I will also not agree with the way that they performance of people were rated. We all know that its different in each market. But in the Fla market, you were judge, told Leading, Performing, Or you basically suck! If you look your ratings up in About You...They have the same for all markets on the overall explaination of your rating...But I will be damned...Its whatever they wanna rate you as. There is no number system like they had in GA. Your basically kissing someones ass to get a good review. Which is crap. So how they are coming up with how comes and goes!! I completely disagree 100%!!!
Oh and for those who are still employed by VZW steer clear of a DM named Beth O'Quinn, she's a real winner!!!
Good luck to all those who lost there jobs...I know its hard now...we were making some good money!!!! But once you step outside that cult and realize that you have a life again, you will appreciate what has happened and realize its all good :)
The old CC PC Supv
I am lucky to have always have been in a store but have many friends that were CC reps. When my store got overstaffed a few weeks ago and we were not allowed OT anymore, bc as a sales rep in a 2 over head count store not being able to get in numbers or some good ot was upsetting. I do feel really bad for all the reps and sups that lost their jobs but I do understand that there is simply not the productivity to keep them. I wish that Vzw had gone about this better, like either moving and keeping the CC reps or just laying them off to begin with. It wasn't cool to mess with all of their minds.
I see most of the comments are from sales reps, however managers and ASO's were also laid off. No one as far as I know on the OPS side saw any data to warrant who should be released. One had not even seen their 2008 evaluation yet.(But that was one formula used).
Four ASO positions were ranked in one area, and one of the four positions was a brand new hire that was (believe it or not) a rehire. Rehired and promoted from a previous csr position. Started in Jan 09 in operations. Oh, and an additional note on that---the rehire had never even given proper notice when leaving the company. She just decided to leave after a few days on the job. Talk about credo and core values!!
So how can you rate fairly in that instance?
Then what gets everyones attention is the ages of the four. Ages 56 to 23. The 56 year old has many many years with the company, which means she earns a higher per hour rate-costs the company more money to keep her. The 23 year old is the rehire that just started in Jan 09. Lower pay scale.
Do not like when they try to hide what the real reason is why they are offering a pacakge. DO NOT LIE!
What shock went through the offices when the lay offs were in progress. What do you say to young person wanting to make a career with VZW when they see someone who DID make a career-working hard and wanting to retire with that company-get let go? Here that question all the time.
im not sure what it all was based on... they say they ranked every employee in the district sales reps in both the stand alone stores and circuit city reps. but the fact is that was not true. i obviously was a rep from a cc and was placed in a near by store. well i was layed off.. i been with the company for 3 years, never been written up, never on pip, never late nor called in always ALWAYS attained my quota mostly going over the quota! i always was in the top 3 in sales in the district... well the store i went to had 2 sales reps that were on there final pip... meaning they hadnt hit quota for 3 or 4 months... they still have there jobs... i dont! someone never late, never absent, always hitting and exceeding quota compared to people who couldnt sell a jacket to a eskimo! like i said i dont know what they based it on but i dont think it was thought out well... they lost a lot of really strong performing reps... for those that were laid off... i feel your pain and am just as bitter and feel just as betrayed as you.. btw is anyone trying to sue? cause sign me up!