Lots of IT people cut in Columbus
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Don't bother to shoulder tap me in the office, I'm going to tell you to put a ticket in and deal with TCS like every one else. Don't shoulder tap me, I'm not turning around, I'll have my headset on all day to ignore everyone. Don't bother asking me for anything with work order and project numbers, not doing it. Oh and if you're above a 1st line manager and feel like you deserve special treatment, F you, you can deal with TCS just like the rest of us.
In general, you want me in the office 5 days a week, I'm going to be the most pi---d off person in the world so stay clear of me, I don't give a dam about your culture now.
Since I wasn't allowed to take the buy out, me being here is your problem, not mine. The best part, I have enough money to retire right now, I can apply for early SS if I want, I have my points. Bill, F you, you don't scare me. I'm just sticking around to make people know the mistake they made and to sow discontent when and where I can before I leave. I'll be that guy that will ask the question that everyone wants to but are too scared to. Only thing I ask, stay the F out of my cube.
The biggest monsters offer the biggest dreams and then they sn---h them away. Our families and our sanity should be our first priority. When you have to lie, cheat and steal to succeed, all you are is a criminal.
They tried that with Julie, but she couldn’t win rate cases. It’s just the nature of the business. You need someone experienced at appeasing the commissions to make your bucks. I wonder if a utility could even get an exciting young CEO to come work there.
The only hope for that is a homegrown rockstar, but AEP doesn’t pay enough to keep those kind of folks around. The talented ones get the experience and leave to go get paid elsewhere.
Why doesn’t AEP hire a younger ceo and structure compensation in a way to incentive sounds long term investment decisions. Someone that is tech savvy to help unite all the disaggregated groups on one platform.
When leaders sow chaos and anarchy throughout their command they are no longer leaders, they instead are traitors. Remember Benedict Arnold? Bill is here to enrich Carl Icahn and himself. He deserves neither our respect nor our support. The sooner we fail him out of a job the better off we will all shall be.
I would guess it will be one of the external candidates based on his wording in the last meeting. Probably someone he has worked with before like the others.
Wonder if next announcement will be who is going to be President of Transmission.... last leader update was that they had one internal and several external candidates and said they planned to announce who would fill the role by the investor call in Feb.
Heard that there is another big announcement coming next week. Anyone know the topic, I am not sure how much more we can handle.
I’m holding on to hope that leadership will pull back and allow remote Fridays. There are companies in my city that are actively recruiting and are in office 4 days with a remote Friday. So if Bill really wonders “where will we go”, well, there are places that pay more and have more perks. In the video with him and Phil, he mentioned wanting to hire engineers in-house. Might be a challenge. Not many people want a 5 day in office schedule.
It seems to me we (AEP) have not reached bottom yet. Every week something happens that causes a new low to be reached. I wonder what else we're going to sell a stake in to get some cash? It appears we're hurting for operating cash. The company could come out as say, we're backing off our push to convert to renewables and save the cost and push it out a few years. Trump administration is not going to ram through tougher EPA standards any time soon. Stop spending money where it's not needed. I'll take a coal plant over a solar farm any day. More so when it's -10 out.
Hello everyone. I have been checking in on this conversation off and on since I was laid off from AEP. Feel bad for those who lost their jobs and now feeling bad for those still there. Anyways, since my unexpected departure from AEP, I have since then found employment elsewhere where I now have union representation. I know many out there just really really hate unions but I gotta tell you it is very nice now where I am compensated for overtime where, over the many years at AEP and lots of overtime, I was not. Lots of other good benefits as well, thanks to the union. So, instead of getting all worked up about RTO and all of the other bad treatment, do some research and talk to those around you and consider unionizing to protect all of yourselves.
As long as you do a direct rollover to a Traditional IRA, you can move your money out of the 401k. I did it. You just cannot take it as a distribution or it will be a txable event. All new funds have to go into the AEP 401k to get the match. You'll have less exposure with AEP by moving it early.
At the same time Bill is claiming to bring more work in house, IT is adding co-source labor at break neck speed. Which is it?
I left and cashed out my pension. I’ve made more money from investing the balance than I made from the pension itself.
you cannot transfer your aep 401k while still employed. unless your want to take it out as an early distribution and have a taxable event.
If you leave, take the lump sum from your Cash Balance plan and move your 401k to some other financial entity. Do not take a chance AEP raids the funds for cash. I just don't trust AEP with doing the right thing. As they say, take the money and run.
Also, did you know you can transfer your 401K to another financial entity even while you're still working. Might want to sever certain money ties with the company, just in case. Anyone remember Enron?
The problem with that plan is field employees couldn't care one way or the other whether you get to work remote or not. So why would they strike for you? They're the majority of the company too.
I have MS and have been grateful to finally feel like I’m on level ground with co-workers - not needing to request a special circumstance.
Now, if I request anything different than anyone else….
I think we as employees need to lobby our respective state legislatures to pass legislation forbidding hedge funds from investing in utility monopolies that provide essential services to its residents and constituents to protect them from discriminatory and fraudulent business practices that diminish the quality, affordability and reliability of essential services and exploit ratepayers, who have no alternative. It must be made retroactive and punitive to all hedge fund raiders and their shareholders. This shall also prevent the extraction of immense wealth from our states' economies as many of these hedge fund raiders and their investors reside outside the states served by said utility monopolies.
I can’t give my life back to AEP the way I did prior to COVID. It’s sad, but I just cannot and will not commit to that lifestyle again.
Working remotely has allowed me to coach my kid’s teams right after I log off, and pick them up from school. While receiving stellar performance reviews in the process. It’s allowed me to be so much more present for my elderly parents and my family than I was before COVID. I missed so much working 8 to 5 because in reality, it was 6:45 AM-6 PM. Did it every single day for over 15 years. And, it’s not just an 8 hour day. I don’t want to give time back to any company and become a dinner time and weekend dad again. That’s no longer what I envision for my life. My single younger coworkers are so much more balanced than I was and able to do things I could not, because they’ve been fortunate to live a life and have a fulfilling career. I feel for what they’re now facing , just as much as I feel for myself now.
I’m searching hard and simultaneously saving enough to have hopefully a year to 18 months worth of savings, and I hope everyone is able to find an employer that understands how important life is. I simply care about my family, my kids, my church and my life more than I do Bill Fehrman and AEP. I’m not trading my personal fulfillment and my family to make shareholders I’ll never meet happy. Just because we used to do things a certain way, doesn’t mean we should unwind the lessons we learned during the pandemic.
RTO policies hurt working mothers - but that IS the intent, right?
I don’t have school age children (anymore), and didn’t work remote until my children were in high school, BUT, I will say, when we came home for Covid - the physical and mental relief from the grind of commuting… after 30 years.
I can’t do it again and will probably leave the workforce indefinitely or entirely if I cannot find a similar setup.
The funny thing is - I work more hours from home. I don’t think anything of logging in 20 mins early, working through lunch, working a little late here and there. Before - I knew if I didn’t get out of the office by a certain time, I’d be in traffic 40 mins longer.
Bill and Carl Icahn's cronies on the corporate board are gone by March 1st or all AEP employees walk off the job. No quarter, no mercy.
Do unto Bill and his family as he does unto us and our families. Extract all their value then throw them away.
The contractor excuse sounds like a divide and conquer attempt to me.
The contractors are supposed to get excited about 5 days in office because it comes with a red badge. Pitting them against the regular employees.
When a fire starts in your home do you ignore it and let your home burn down or do you extinguish it as quickly as possible. Bill is a wildfire in our work home that we built, not him and his Hedge Fund cronies. We have a decision to make. Watch it burn or extinguish the fire with resolute determination. We are owners and he is a freeloader.
Attempt at damage control. "We want to bring these positions back in-house rather than outside contractors."
New video on AEP Now.
Beavis and Bu-----d say they want to "listen and learn" from employees and get our feedback on this groundbreaking 5 day in-office decision.
Since almost Day 1, Bill has been saying AEP is an underperforming asset. Because, that’s how he views the company. As an asset. Specifically for the hedge funds/investors etc. who want to squeeze every ounce of juice out of this orange.
AEP is not an underperforming asset by any measurement. AEP like all utilities is dependent on regulatory cost recovery, weather and interest rates to generate revenue. All of those things are largely out of our control and Bill knows that. If you have a good leader, they’ve told you this. But by positioning AEP and by proxy us employees as underperforming, it gives him the leverage needed to make wholesale changes. There are hundreds of utility companies that would love to have AEP’s performance. The data is a Google search away. The only difference is, those utilities have not yet been objectified and overrun by an immoral billionaire.
What AEP is though, is an asset that can be stripped down to a carcass, which will naturally result in a more profitable business. And that’s what Bill is doing. He’s doing that by selling off parts and now making the company as unattractive as possible to existing employees, to cull the herd. He has established that if you want to grow professionally by moving into management or have any semblance of a life from Monday through Friday, AEP is not the place for you. It’s methodical, but this will make the investors happy as the next step in the stripping down of the organization.
If you work in operations you especially need to be searching. Now.
Where will they go? Well the people that are at retirement age might just retire instead of putting in another year or two. Loss of knowledge and expertise is and has affected the company over the past 3-4 years with layoffs and buy outs. Others with less than few years who just got engaged and was ready to take on the work might just say it's not worth it and leave. That leaves the middle, yes they may not have have a place to go to but do you really want to take that chance?
Bill your an id--t but people like you don't care, they are he-l bent on doing what they think and dam anyone who won't go along with it.
2025 will be interesting to see how many 63 and up decide to leave and just retire. That knowledge cannot be replaced over night.
Bill “where are they going to go?”
one possibility is no where, employees might stay. Now the company has a horrible culture and disgruntled workforce, productivity will plummet. congratulations Bill, you played yourself. I'm sure employees will swarm to glassdoor to leave negative reviews, thus hurting recruitment. A happy worker will always be more valuable than a pi---s off one. It's sad to see the damage one person can do in such a short time, all in the name of extracting value.
When bill was told RTO would have a negative impact on culture and employees would leave, his response was, “where are they going to go?”
This is the best we could do?
Forming an independent employee board of governance with the authority to call for a company wide employee walkout would be a good start. Filing a class action lawsuit against Bill, the board & Carl Icahn could make AEP a lot less attractive a target for Hedge Fund tyrants and appealing for support from our customer base could be an effective strategy. United we are stronger than we are divided.
Is there anything we can do to get Bill fired? Ichan's thug needs to go and enjoy his ill-gotten gains elsewhere.
How is it that there are 16,000 employees at AEP yet we as a collective exert zero power or influence in the company? We have no say yet we are the clear majority and we're the ones doing the work. How can that even be possible?
The 26th Anniversary of the premiere of the movie "Office Space" is February 19th starring Ron Livingston and Jennifer Aniston. The main antagonists name is Bill and there are similarities to AEP office employees current situation. If you need a little relevant comic relief consider watching Bill be his annoying self. Remember to put the cover sheets on outgoing TPS Reports and dodge Bill, if you do not want to be pressured to work weekends.
They are moving our desks too, I wonder if they are going to put us 2 to a cube so we really feel the pressure. The employee should feel maximum stress and discomfort at all times for the best productivity.
Hello Peter, what's happening AAHH, yeah we have sort of a problem here, you apparently didn't to put one of the new cover sheets on the TPS Reports.
And I said, I don't care if they lay me off either, because I told, I told Bill that if they move my desk one more time, then, then I'm, I'm quitting, I'm going to quit. And, and I told Don too, because they've moved my desk four times already this year, and I used to be over by the window, and I could see the squirrels, and they were married, but then, they switched from the Swingline to the Boston stapler, but I kept my Swingline stapler because it didn't bind up as much, and I kept the staples for the Swingline stapler and it's not okay because if they take my stapler then I'll set the building on fire...
Bill, give Milton Waddams his Red Swingline Stapler back and fill it with staples.
The unique thing about AEP is the amount of employees that have significant tenure at the org. I started and worked on the same team as someone at the executive level who I still have a relationship with after all these years. Funny watching people you grew up with in the company climb the ladder, but we came from a tight knit group that has stayed in touch after all these years.
Said exec shared with me that Bill is viewed as a dishonest and very difficult person to work for. Old school isn’t a strong enough description. Apparently, he’s the kind of guy who will embarrass them for not having a comma in the right place in a deck. He’s also seen as the kind of leader who intentionally tries to drive others out of the org. The executives leak like a sieve because they can’t stand working for him. They’re trying to embarrass him.
We have all got to remember…for everything that has happened at AEP over the last couple of years, there are still many leaders who started boots on the ground like most of us. It’s one of the most difficult times this company has seen and primarily driven by a leader who rules with an iron fist. If not for the opco leaders, this company would have been fully back in office in 2024.
Freedom is not valued until it lost? Really? Just go find another job snowflake. While I don't agree with what the c suite is doing, you are not a slave. Just find another job.
Hedge funds, particularly activist hedge funds, can often harm the workers of companies they control by pushing for cost-cutting measures that can lead to job losses, reduced benefits, and decreased research and development spending, as their primary focus is often on maximizing short-term profits for shareholders, sometimes at the expense of long-term employee stability and company health.