Thread regarding American Electric Power Co. Inc. layoffs

DEI isn’t being rolled back because it’s useless. It’s being rolled back because many white males view the progress of less represented groups as a threat to the historic power structure that has benefited white males. You guys just aren’t strong enough to admit that. “More for the others means less for me. And there’s no way THAT person could ever be more qualified than me. I’m a white guy with a degree!”

For years, minorities and women have watched white men get opportunities because they knew someone or simply looked like their hiring managers. It’s called “The Good Ol’ Boy Network” and has existed at AEP and many other companies for decades. DEI simply ensures everyone who is QUALIFIED has access to the same opportunities. For the previous poster and many other people at AEP, that is simply unbearable. It cannot happen.

Well now, DEI is basically dead at AEP and many other places so who are you going to blame for AEP’s problems or your inability to advance next? The C-Suite and other leaders at AEP are laughing their way to the bank while their simpleton goofball employees blame the g-ys, women, blacks and DEI for the problems at AEP. DEI goals didn’t lead to 20 year directors being knocked down several pegs. DEI isn’t why your bonus stunk last year.

What a small minded world we live in.

This is the biggest gaslight session I've ever seen on here. DEI was everywhere for a good number of years and now it's being rolled back because people realized it was useless, toxic garbage and you lost the ability to silence dissent. You claim to be a man of the people but all this stuff was implemented from the top-down and only flourished in a climate of fear. You sound like a leftist who is angry that people are leaving the cult. You were SO close to finalizing g-y race communism. Darn! Just remember, there is no final revolution.

This board, like much of AEP, has a cartoonish hatred for DEI. QUALIFIED women and minorities being granted a few more interviews has apparently been an affront to so many of you hard working, deserving and smarter European men. White guys have utterly dominated corporate America and especially the utilities industry since its existence, and the advancement of well qualified people who aren’t white guys has just been a bridge too far many. It’s sad and shameful.

Take a look at the facts. AEP typically has anywhere from 75-80 people who are in leadership or executives. Right now, over 90% are white men. Over 90%! The business has entire departments with no female, veterans or minorities in supervisory roles. The new CEO has hired nothing but white guys, many of whom have little or no experience in utilities. I never even hear the term “DEI” used in my department so what are you guys afraid of? Are you that terrified that someday, a few qualified blacks or hispanics, or even worse, A WOMAN, might be your supervisor or manager at AEP? THE HORROR.

Keep blaming “DEI” for your problems when the all-white and male leadership team gives you yet another thrifty bonus while they take home high six or seven figures. DEI did it. Or, God forbid, they lay people off yet again. DEI did it. The next time you think about the org flattening, embarrassing many of you who worked for years to earn a leadership position, just remember DEI did it. When you’re working 10-11 hours a day to do the work of two or three people thanks to the hiring freeze, remember DEI did it. I’m starting to think many of you are ok getting treated like children as long as those pesky minorities and women don’t advance in the process. “Hey Mr. Bill. Yessuh, I’ll come to the office 5 or even 6 days a week and keep working with no hope of a promotion as long as you keep our company looking like the country club I’m used to seeing and stop those darned minorities and women from getting a job, and keep those LGBT folks from wearing AEP shirts at a parade. Make my health insurance more expensive again too boss. Anything for the cause!”

I feel awful for the people in diverse ppl who have to work at this organization.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed," DEI is fulfilling the commitments made by the Declaration of Independence that declared our rejection of immense wealth authoritarian tyranny and slavery. Why in the name of God, is there still an obsession with oppressing your fellow human beings for your vainglorious self-aggrandizement? If you cannot compete and win on a level field of competition, you are not worthy of success.

With META announcement today on getting rid of their DEI department and policies, I wonder if AEP will sh it can the post George Floyd DEI cr-p. They want everyone else to slim down and save money, that group is 100% cost, they produce nothing that goes to the bottom line.

Disappointed to hear people from outside the electric utility industry are filling positions held by long tenure employees, who understand the sacrifices required of employees, who are called upon to keep the lights on 24/7. Hiring people from outside the industry, who have not made the tremendous sacrifices required of them and their families is a slap in the face for all the weekends, holidays, family events and special occasions missed serving our customers. If the C-Suite Club does not value our contributions, talents, loyalty and sacrifices, maybe IT is time for all long tenure employees to look for greener pastures and leave this desolate shareholder ruled wasteland in the rearview mirror. After the spring ICP debacle, would be a opportune time for a mass exodus of legacy employees. Our families deserve better and so do we.

Our employees are risking their lives to restore power to hundreds of thousands of customers in frigid temperatures, with trees, branches and limbs coated with ice crashing down around them. They are driving and walking on dangerous roads, yards, right of ways and repeatedly exposed to tremendous levels of deadly stored energy. Where are the C-suite guys and gals? Where are the major investors? We are taking all the risks and they are raking in all the reward.

This company used to be a family of shared sacrifice and shared reward. Instead of cutting frontline workers and the employees, who support them, why don't we cut the corporate deadwood just taking up space and stealing the bountiful fruits of our labors and ruining our lives. A little common sense corporate deadwood pruning would have been better than burning down the orchard.

Ok AEP "leases" the building to itself because of some arcane legalistic mumbo jumbo no reasonable person would comprehend. Big difference. It's still all AEP.

Unless something drastically changed, Service Corporations are not allowed to "own" any assets. Everything is held by the OpCos. The HQ building is leased back to AEPSC, they don't own it. So there is an incentive to fill that building and others back up. You can not justify having x number of floors empty and continue to pay the lease on them. It will only be a matter of time before everyone is back in the office. It's not a matter of if it's a matter of when.

The rental incentives are from the localities that give AEP tax breaks to build in their cities/counties/towns. AEP pays less taxes and the localities make up the difference(and then some) taxing our pay thru their income taxes (like in OHIO). So when we aren't in the office, we don't pay those office locality income taxes(remember when we all had to change our splits in HR NOW?) and the localaties come up short on thier revenues.

New CFO hired.
Looks like Bill is churnin and burnin

I'll believe RTO when I see it. AEP employees are already significantly underpaid compared to similar roles at other companies. And I don't think they are suffering from not fulfilling commercial real estate rental incentives since they own their buildings. Allowing WFH and hybrid is one of the only ways they can offset the pathetic salaries.

If there is a RTO I would expect more people to initiate retirements after March. If there is a bonus, collect it, get it in the bank and leave. Why take on the added expense of driving in every day, for what? I sit in a cube with my head set on talking to people all day. I bring in my own coffee and lunch, I get up about 10 am to take a pi-s and I sit at my desk around noon and eat lunch and get on my phone to play some games for 30 minutes if I don't get a drive by. Im back at it at 12:30, take another pi-s at 2-3p and pack up at 4. Home by 5. There is nothing I do in the office that I don't do at home. I'll spend $30-40 a week in gas but won't see an increase to cover that. I'll need to tell my insurance company I'm back driving every day so my rates will go back up. The best part, unless they force all of the managers in my line back in, Bill will be the only one in the office between me and him.
I'm really looking forward to that, queue up the next survey. I'm going to see how many cuss words I can put into it the next time. Go ahead and replace all of us with H1B visa Indians, I'm sure that'll come up in a Board meeting. Speaking of the Board, since that woman took over, the company has gone to a sh-t and a hand basket. Does she know anything about how to run a Board, let alone a company. DEI at it's finest.

Well in 2024, AEP…

• Fired a CEO
• Conducted two separate severances
• Hired a CEO who should rather work than enjoy the fruits of decades of his own labor (He also made a career at Berkshire. That alone sent a terrifying message to employees that profit over people is the new normal at AEP)
• Quietly forced workers back into offices without explanation or announcement
• Became the next shiny object for Carl Icahn
• Arbitrarily decided to “flatten” the organization by demoting an enormous amount of people, likely well into the hundreds and probably more. These are employees who have worked at AEP for years, and helped the company to grow tremendously. Their reward is they’re now overpaid individual contributors who would almost certainly be at the top of the list for a future severance. Everyone knows the company hopes many of them decide to leave voluntarily.

And for 2025, expect an RTO announcement very, very soon. It’s not a rumor. It’s happening. So if you’ve got kids or family to account for, prepare yourself to sacrifice even more of that time to make AEP an even more attractive investment opportunity for wealthy investors.

Buckle up. At least the new guy smiles and does inane interviews while he actively makes your work and personal life more difficult than any other previous CEO would have ever dreamed of. The family first, employee driven company you once worked for is dead. AEP! AEP! AEP!

We, the employees of American Electric Power shall prevail despite the many challenges we face. Our future, our legacy and our destiny are defined by us. Corporate leadership comes and goes and the consequences of that revolving door leadership is their legacy not ours. We carry the burden of wearing the uniform of this company everyday and we are the reason our customers forgive the sins of those residing in C-suites far removed from the consequences of their decisions. We are all that is good and right at AEP and those who reside in the C-suites owe us far more than a paycheck and a attaboy, RESPECT!

This was a cool page… but wth is up with some of these comments? Weirdos.

Also as a fellow vet your done with your oath once your service is over. Literally. Vets don’t let other vets be douch bro vets.

Buddy - these notes are really creepy. What is your end game.

The fu--ing wacko with the thesaurus and the kindergarten copy of karl marx's greatest hits needs to shut the he-l up.
I only come back here every couple weeks to find new quotes for my TR website and half of what I see is this friggen kook talking like hes an NYC Luigi wannabe.
In the words of MJ "Stop it, get some help."

You were paid weren't you? Less than we earned and far less than we deserve. We shall not be Discounted, Diminished and Dismissed. Your hypocrisy and heresy reveal your overinflated ego and dependence on privilege. Your delusional vaingloriousness shall be your downfall. Were you not loved as a child? Did your mother and father ignore you and fail to properly socialize you? A little man pretending to be a great man to everyone else's detriment. If you have to stand atop a mountain of unearned and undeserved money to rise to greatness, you have achieved nothing but fraud and extortion.

We demand symbiotic corporate management culture not callous parasitic corporate management culture. Eventually you ki-l the host your feeding on and then you starve or the host organism uses a tick key to pull you off and flush you down the commode.

The last comment shows the mentality of leadership at AEP. This is why the AEP does not provide careers but just jobs. There is a difference. Pay is always important but there are many other things that make working for a corporation great.

You were paid weren't you?

If there was anything I could ask for Christmas, it would be to get my time and life back that I wasted working for these rich uncarring je-ks of leaders at AEP.

Merry Christmas to everyone, current and former employees. That is except to Therace and her band of thieves. Hope you get coal in your stocking this year

Yes.

Are engineers the lowest paid job classification at AEP?

The rabid cannibals of crony capitalism are in a feeding frenzy. Eventually there will only be one left and he will be sitting in a corner gnawing on his own ankle. Bon appét-t!

They are extending the deadline for "spans and layers" flattening until end of Q1 so if you haven't been demoted yet don't worry there's still time! Now that they've shifted everything onto the oppcos anyone want to guess which one gets sold off first to boost short term gains and get Carl and friends their big win?

Merry Christmas to everyone. Remember we are AEP because we built this company with our talent, our determination, our sacrifice and our devotion to our customers and coworkers. Good health, good fortune and the hope of a brighter future in the New Year. We are the heart and soul of AEP and no one can take that from us. Our strength is the bond we share forged in hardship and adversity that gives us the strength and resolve to succeed.

Why do CEOs feel no shame?

AEP is the sum of its thousands of dedicated, hard working and caring employees, not its callous and greedy major shareholders and revolving door CEOs, who swoop in, su-k up huge compensation packages and move on to the next mark.

Surprised we don’t hear more about the disaster over in Energy Delivery more often here.
Also the Saturday update was just a business update. Nothing shocking or new shared.

The concept of a "new gilded age" refers to a current period of significant wealth inequality where a small elite accumulates vast wealth, often at the expense of the working and middle classes, essentially meaning that while the economy may appear prosperous on the surface, the majority of people are not sharing in that prosperity and are often struggling to maintain their standard of living, effectively "paying for" the wealth of the elite through their lower wages and reduced purchasing power; this is considered a parallel to the historical Gilded Age in the late 19th century where similar economic disparities existed.

Amazing when people in leadership roles are doing well they project their perception of reality on others. Don't threaten or challenge the broken culture I have invested so much time su-king up in and now benefit from and enjoy at everyone else's expense.

So does anyone have an update from the meeting this morning?

Company boards are the main issue, members are brought on by current members so any continuous corruption will start with the board. They hire the CEO and for the most part all of the EVPs . The only way to get a new CITO will be for Bill to go to the Board and convince them Therace needs to go and that goes for any of the other EVPs. The Board wanted the outsourcing to save money but they based that decision on the lies Therace sold them on. All changes are going to start with the Board and they only people that have any pull are the big 3-4 investment firms. I have no hope that things will get better under Bill. I'm waiting for a number of retirements from the Board before thinking there will be change. For now, do your job, collect your paycheck and bonus and hope for the best. Or, leave, retire, get a different job in AEP and wait it out. For me, I'm waiting it out, GL to everyone and have a Merry Christmas.

Can the guy writing his personal version of the communist manifesto in here get a job or something?
Most of your posts have nothing to do with AEP specifically, just vague whining about the concept of shareholders at large.
I come here to read updates about AEP, not the schizophrenic ramblings of some deranged leftist. Do you even work here?

Recent events have demonstrated CEOs have made enemies of the people they employee and serve. CEOs chose to be our enemies and they pretend to be shocked that the American people are disgusted with their new Gilded Age. CEOs have created a culture that rewards them for mistreating and stealing from their employees and customers. The more they mistreat and steal from their employees and customers, the greater the compensation packages awarded to them by major shareholders. CEOs would have us believe, we as employees are doing well when the company is doing well even though only CEOs and major shareholders prosper.

It is time to end the reign of spoiled rich kids, who grew old but never grew up. No company can survive without its employees and customers. Every company, its employees and customers can thrive without CEOs and major shareholders. When CEOs deliberately and determinedly prey upon their employees and customers with the same callous indifference untreated cancer demonstrates to its human hosts, CEOs make their own enemies and when those enemies turn on CEOs like a pack of rabid wolves, you get what you have coming to you. Only CEOs can change what is wrong with the corporate culture and remain. If employees and customers are forced to change what is wrong to survive and thrive, CEOs and major shareholders are no more. Crimes are defined, prosecuted and punished by the many, not by the few in a just and legitimate representative government.

I'm just going to do my job, nothing more, nothing less. The company pays me for 40 hours plus overtime when needed. I plan to live up to that agreement, no more , no less. Nothing in that says I have to cover for TCS. They're supposed to be smarter and cheaper then the folks they replaced so they don't need my help. As for what goes about on Mount high, I have no clue, above my pay grade and I don't care. CEO, EVP, SVP or VP, I have no sway with them and the only thing they can do to me is fire me. No big deal, I'll just get another job somewhere else. For now, the pay is better, job su-ks, TCS su-ks, CITO su-ks but I still get my paycheck like the rest of you. I don't care what happens to the company, I really don't, the company stopped caring about me a long time ago, I'm just making up for lost time.

AEP's money comes from the communities they serve. Their customers, you and I. The biggest thing wrong at AEP is that it used to be a company that could chsnge snd enrich lives. Those leaders thst understood that concept left on their own. All others leaders thst stayed dont have those principles or leadership skills in them. It is all about them.