#costcutting

We need to be using more AI to trim cost here at T. We are going backwards if we don’t.

Feels like Centene has been trying to outsource a lot of work lately. Does anyone know if that actively happening?

It appears Citi is only cost cutting and scaling back operations. They can’t grow and are not innovative, so the only option is to keep cutting and reduce the bottom line.

It's amusing reading all this speculation when we all know deep down that nothing will change. The same thing that always happens will happen again. We'll see more layoffs, more outsourcing, more "do more with less" rhetoric, and more of the same for employees. Nobody gives a damn about us or improving our situation, least of all any CEO.

I’ve been in enough high-level meetings lately that I can’t shake an uncomfortable feeling. I’m not saying the company is doomed. I’m not saying tomorrow is the end. But I am surprised more people aren’t talking about some of the warning signs. When every conversation becomes about cost cutting, reorganizations, efficiencies, and “doing more with less” while long-term investment, innovation, and employee confidence take a back seat… it’s hard not to wonder where this is headed. Maybe leadership has a bigger plan that isn’t obvious yet. I hope that’s the case. But sometimes companies don’t collapse all at once. They slowly drift there while everyone convinces themselves the next quarter will fix everything. I could be wrong, and I genuinely hope I am. But if people in the room are uneasy, perhaps it’s time to start having honest conversations instead of pretending everything is business as usual.

Centene Corporation is offering voluntary buyouts to most employees. This move aims to cut costs after losing members across key plans. The health insurance giant serves over 26 million members nationwide. Layoffs may occur if insufficient employees accept the buyout offers. Workforce reductions could impact customer service and claims processing.

St. Louis, Missouri

https://www.newsweek.com/centene-layoffs-2026-medicaid-medicare-insurance-obamacare-coverage-12076026

California Academy of Sciences employees rallied at San Francisco City Hall. They called for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to audit the Academy's finances. This action followed recent layoffs affecting at least 38 union members. Management stated staff reductions were necessary to reduce expenses and eliminate deficits. Workers had previously proposed executive pay cuts, which the Academy refused.

San Francisco, California

https://localnewsmatters.org/2026/06/12/sf-california-academy-sciences-workers-rally-layoffs/

Lee Raymond, Who Created Exxon Mobil, Dies at 87

He oversaw Exxon’s acquisition of a rival, cut costs relentlessly and denied the scientific consensus on climate change.

Lee Raymond, the chairman and chief executive of Exxon Mobil Corp., at a news conference in 2005. A former high school debating champion, he was known for making withering remarks to those who challenged him.

Lee R. Raymond, who as chief executive of Exxon Mobil wrung out costs to make that global oil company the most profitable in its industry while stoutly resisting the scientific consensus that burning fossil fuels was causing a potentially disastrous warming of the Earth, died on Saturday in Dallas. He was 87.

His death, at a hospital, was confirmed by his son Colin, who said the cause was complications of pneumonia. Mr. Raymond’s agreement in 1998 to acquire Mobil — a transaction valued at about $81 billion, then the largest corporate merger ever — created the world’s biggest private-sector oil company in terms of annual
sales, operating in 200 countries. The deal reunited the two biggest parts of John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil

Trust, sundered in 1911 by federal trust busters in an effort to spur competition. During his reign as chief executive, from 1993 to 2005, Mr. Raymond relentlessly cut costs, including eliminating a third of the executive jobs after the merger, and helped boost net income to $36.13 billion from $4.8 billion. The company’s market value increased fourfold to $375 billion.

Mr. Raymond shunned publicity. There was no discernible effort to make him seem endearing or personable to the general public or even to his own employees. He was known for making withering remarks in response to questions from employees or investment analysts. “What you’re hearing today may seem boring,” he said at an analyst meeting in March 2005. “You’ll just have to live with outstanding, consistent financial and operating performance.”

At company headquarters in Irving, Texas, he worked in a hushed office suite known as the God Pod, where a painting of a tiger hung behind his desk. Some employees nicknamed him “Iron A-s,” according to “Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power,” a 2012 book by the journalist Steve Coll.

Before Mr. Raymond became chief executive, his biggest public role was taking charge of the company’s response after the Exxon Valdez tanker ran aground on a reef in Alaska’s Prince William Sound in March 1989. The accident spilled 11 million gallons of crude and blackened 1,500 miles of coastline. Mr. Raymond, then Exxon’s president, oversaw the cleanup and, in 1991, helped negotiate a $1 billion settlement of federal and state legal charges arising from the spill. He accused environmentalists and politicians in Alaska of making the disaster worse by refusing to let Exxon spray chemical dispersants on the oil slick shortly after the spill.

In 1994, a federal jury in Anchorage ordered Exxon to pay $5 billion in punitive damages to about 34,000 fishermen and other Alaskans who said they were harmed by the spill. Exxon appealed, leading to another 14 years of litigation.

In a 2008 Supreme Court ruling, the damages were reduced to $500 million.
In the early 2000s, as BP and Chevron courted public favor by touting their investments in alternative energy sources, Exxon took a hard line against government restrictions on fossil fuels and funded research challenging the consensus on global warming.
Mr. Raymond, a former high school debating champion who had a Ph.D. degree in chemical engineering, considered himself a scientist with standing to question that consensus. In a 2005 interview with the public television host Charlie Rose, Mr. Raymond said there was a “natural variability” to temperatures on Earth over
millenniums. “If we weren’t here, the climate would change,” Mr. Raymond said. “It has to do with sunspots, it has to do with the wobble of the Earth, and it has — there are all kinds of things that come and go. If you talk to a geologist, he will tell you the Earth, over its history, has been much warmer than it is now and much colder.”

Because wind, solar and other alternative energy sources were costly and could not replace oil and gas in the near term, he argued, Exxon should focus on finding and pumping more oil, including, if possible, in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.

Environmentalists regularly denounced Exxon. “There is a spectrum of corporate behavior on global warming and Exxon is the epitome of denial and deception,” Kert Davies, then the research director at Greenpeace USA, told The New York Times in 2005.

Mr. Raymond also resisted corporate trends toward greater acceptance of g-y rights. After Exxon acquired Mobil, the combined company rescinded Mobil policies banning discrimination on the basis of s-xual orientation and ended a practice of providing benefits to same-s-x partners. The moves prompted some g-y and le----n drivers to boycott Exxon service stations.

Under Mr. Raymond’s successor, Rex Tillerson, Exxon Mobil adopted more inclusive policies and acknowledged that human activity contributed to climate change.
Mr. Raymond seemed unbothered by the unpopularity of his views. “I’ve never had a focus group to decide what my persona is out there,” he told The Wall Street Journal in 1997.

Nor did he wish to discuss his personal life. During a court hearing on the Valdez oil spill in the 1990s, an Exxon lawyer asked Mr. Raymond to sum up his background. “I hope this doesn’t get too boring,” Mr. Raymond said. “It kind of bores me.”

Mr. Raymond, center, addressed shareholders during an Exxon annual meeting in 1989. Nine years later, he oversaw the agreement to acquire Mobil.

Lee Roy Raymond was born in Watertown, S.D., on Aug. 13, 1938. His father, Clifford, a railroad engineer, encouraged the young man’s studious ways. In the 1997 interview, Mr. Raymond recalled his father’s alluding to a lack of opportunities in South Dakota and saying, “You have to get an education and get out of here.” After excelling in high school debate and extemporaneous speaking, Mr. Raymond enrolled at the University of Wisconsin and graduated in 1960 with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering.

He married Charlene Hocevar in 1961. They had three children, male triplets.
In addition to his wife and son Colin, he is survived by two other sons, John and Rob; and seven grandchildren. Mr. Raymond earned his doctorate in chemical engineering at the University of Minnesota in 1963 and joined Exxon the same year as a production research engineer in Tulsa, Okla. He later headed operations in Venezuela. In the mid-1970s, he impressed his bosses by turning an unprofitable refinery in Aruba into a
reliable source of profits.

After returning to the United States, he headed Exxon’s nuclear power business and oversaw the sale of a subsidiary selling office equipment, including Qyx electronic typewriters.

During his 12 years as chairman and chief executive, his compensation totaled more than $686 million, or $144,573 a day, according to an analysis done for The Times by Brian Foley, an independent compensation consultant.

That compensation amounted to “entrepreneurial returns for managerial conduct,” Charles M. Elson, a corporate governance scholar at the University of Delaware, told The Times in 2006. “Exxon was there long before Mr. Raymond was there and will be there long after he leaves. Yet he received Rockefeller returns without taking the Rockefeller risk.”

An Exxon Mobil spokesman at the time said Mr. Raymond’s performance justified his pay. Mr. Raymond was a director of JPMorgan Chase & Co. and its predecessor, J.P. Morgan & Co., for 33 years before stepping down in 2020. He also was on the board of the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington.

His hobbies included duck hunting and golf. In a 2013 interview with Investor’s Business Daily, he recalled having made three holes in one. On the corporate jet, he liked to drink milk with popcorn in it, Mr. Coll reported.

One of Mr. Raymond’s sons, John, co-founded Energy & Minerals Group, a private equity firm. “My father gave me three things,” John Raymond told The Journal in 2014. “He gave me work ethic, he gave me a good education and he gave me no money.”

Though Lee Raymond was known for his pugnacity, he had a softer side, according to Mr. Coll’s book: “He could be fiercely loyal to ExxonMobil colleagues and sometimes wept openly when subordinates faced illnesses or other personal struggles.”

https://www.wheresyoured.at/ai-is-slowing-down/

Their AI-first hiring freeze is just an excuse to keep employee numbers, and costs, low. They have no AI strategy and by and large it's a game of showmanship and fakery.

Read that newsletter. It's fun and informative and he's got something coming up soon that should be a hoot.

I hear 50% cut of this experiment. No need for bloated central team in asset model.

The new CEO will want to make an impression from the start. My guess is he'll do it by cutting costs, whether that's needed or realistic or not. It happened with every new CEO and it'll happen with this one. The higher-ups fu-k up and we pay the price. Every single time.

The BBC is preparing to cut approximately 2,000 jobs. This action represents about 10% of its total workforce costs. The broadcaster aims to reduce overall spending by £500 million over the next two years. Its news division is expected to face major job losses. These measures are part of wider efforts to secure the organization's financial future.

https://m.economictimes.com/news/new-updates/bbc-layoffs-around-2000-jobs-at-risk-as-broadcaster-plans-10-cost-cuts-who-may-lose-their-jobs-and-why/articleshow/131740244.cms

Surprise, surprise!

The EC goal with this year's annual planning, will be to cut to the bone. The internal transformation is not going fast enough to keep up with competition, so internal development efforts will be severely cut. Why invest in outdated and undocumented infrastructure? The cost savings will be used for sourcing the needed functionality outside.

It will be a sad Christmas for many!

Reports have shown that the average data center has a turn over of 7 years. After 7 years, you either add to, scale out or build a bigger better revamped datacenter. For AI, the estimated average is every 2-3 years at 1 billion (or more) each time.

Companies are now looking for ways to back out of it after already throwing 500 million or more into it without looking like it was a mistake. Dare I say they are using AI in order to try to figure out the best spin control to justify pouring money into AI and NOW trying to back out of it. LOL

Is or does Citi fall into this category? I dunno but I do know that other companies are pumping the brakes just a bit and are looking at exit strategies.

It's already feeding on its own exhaust, and it's way too expensive. Hallucinations are the feature, not a bug. It's an excuse - to offshore, to cut headcount permanently (and dump the extra work on whoever's left), and to save face for leaders who are too embarrassed to admit they bought into the most obvious hype in history.

Well, AS certainly has the language down already, how to make layoffs sound necessary even if there have to be other ways to cut costs. Well, it was to be expected, I guess. I just wonder how do you bring back a dying console by cutting and not actually trying to improve things.

https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/10/opendoors-india-exit-is-fueling-a-bigger-conversation-about-ai-and-outsourcing/

Black Mountain faces a nearly $2 million budget shortfall. Rising operational costs and storm recovery expenses caused the deficit. Town Manager Richard Hicks cited rising personnel and health insurance costs. Officials propose freezing five to six positions and raising taxes. They also consider increasing garbage fees and water rates to balance the budget.

Black Mountain, N.C.

https://wlos.com/news/local/black-mountain-budget-shortfall-million-officials-town-manager-layoffs-tax-increases-interim-richard-hicks-community-governments-helene-recovery-meeting-

And you know what? For once, I'm okay with that. We have way, way, way too many layers of managers with barely any direct reports who never do anything useful. Getting rid of them will actually cut costs without affecting work in the least. I don't like layoffs, but for once I approve.

Team,
​First, I want to commend everyone on how beautifully you’ve adapted to our Personal Waste Ownership Initiative. By removing individual trash cans and requiring everyone to carry their own garbage three flights down to the central loading dock, we saved $4,200 annually in plastic liners. More importantly, I’ve noticed a real sense of pride as you carry your banana peels around all day. That is the grit that makes us a family.

​However, Q2 margins are still looking a bit "soft," and frankly, my bonus shouldn't have to suffer for it. To ensure we remain a lean, mean, profit-generating machine, we are implementing the following cost-cutting measures, effective immediately:
​1. The "Breathable Air" Optimization Program
​We’ve noticed a lot of erratic, deep breathing during stressful client calls. To reduce wear and tear on our HVAC filtration systems, the office oxygen levels will be dialed back to a crisp, simulating a productive high-altitude environment (roughly 11,000 feet).
​Action Item: If you feel lightheaded, please utilize the corporate-approved hyperventilation stance (head between knees) on your own time.

​2. BYO-Electricity (Bring Your Own Juice)
​Leaving monitors and laptops plugged into the company grid is costing us thousands. Starting Monday, wall outlets will be locked.
​The Solution: Employees are encouraged to bring their own fully charged power banks from home. For those looking to gamify their wellness, we have installed two Stationary Power-Bikes in the breakroom. If your laptop is dying, you may pedal at a minimum of 85 RPM to generate your own electricity. (Note: Pedaling time does not count toward billable hours).

​3. Micro-Tiered Restroom Subscriptions
​Frankly, the restroom has become a hotbed for unbilled leisure time. To counteract this, we are introducing Tiered Toilet Paper Access:
​Standard Tier (Free): 1 ply, single square per visit, sandpaper grit.
​Premium Tier ($4.99/month): 2 ply, quilted. (Billed directly via payroll deduction).
​Add-on: The Fluorescent Lighting Pass ($1.99/visit). If you choose not to pay, the motion-sensor lights will remain off, allowing you to reflect on your KPIs in total darkness.

​4. Caloric Efficiency & Mandatory Fasting
​The complimentary coffee machine is gone. In its place, we are installing a single, lukewarm Corporate Nutrient Spigot dispensing a gray, flavorless caloric paste. It contains 100% of your daily vitamins, eliminating the need for long, unproductive lunch breaks.
​Bonus: Because chewing is a known distractor, this will strictly be a liquid-diet initiative.

​5. Blinking Quotas
​Studies show that the average human blinks 15–20 times per minute, resulting in roughly 4.8 minutes of total darkness per employee, per day. Across a department of 50 people, that is four hours of unearned sleep daily.
​Please try to synchronize your blinking with your teammates, or better yet, practice the "sustained focus stare." Optical lubricant eyedrops will be available for purchase at the front desk.
​"Efficiency is doing things right. Total corporate austerity is doing things so right it hurts."
​I know change can be uncomfortable, but remember: every penny we save on lightbulbs and toilet paper is a penny that goes directly into securing the company's future (and my new yacht, The ROI).
​Let’s get out there and crush it!

Best news yet! The fact they spend millions on that smoke and mirror fest never made sense to me…
This place is the titanic!

Employees report ongoing layoffs, aggressive cost-cutting measures, and a continued expansion of operations in India. Cybersecurity and operational teams have been among those affected, raising concerns about the future of U.S.-based roles.

According to discussions among employees, more work is being transferred overseas as the company focuses on reducing costs and consolidating operations. Many are questioning the long-term impact on workforce stability, service quality, and institutional knowledge.

The lack of transparency surrounding these changes has become a growing concern for employees across the organization.

Media Matters, a progressive media watchdog, has undergone layoffs and cost-cutting measures. The organization faced significant financial strain from a costly legal war. This legal battle was waged by Elon Musk. President Angelo Carusone determined difficult cuts were necessary for the non-profit. Layoffs were implemented after discussions with employees.

https://www.status.news/p/media-matters-elon-musk-lawsuit-layoffs

Everyone is being asked to cut back on everything from coffee supplies, toilet paper, janitorial, repairs, etc. and it’s barely halfway into second quarter… what’s going on? We usually don’t see this until late in the year. Plus with the staffing cuts, it’s not making sense this early. Does anyone think this is for a DT merger?

No longer can get a masters degree? Are these clowns really continuing to go down this cost savings route? We already have zero job growth with no new positions anywhere in finance (and other depts). Whatever, the company su-ks now and I’ll just do the bare minimum until I find something better

What better way to celebrate 250 than a ai slip eagle printed on a dirt cheap shirt.

We have in house designers… maybe ask them to do it next time.

Looks like that SF lost her mind. There was a couple of urgent L2 level leadership meetings and additional cuts and savings asked. Is it the aim of SF to destroy the company? When she will finally understand that leading the company is way more then financial numbers? Is she finally loosing her support to lead this Titanic?

Can someone imaging she survive as a CEO any longer? I never seen something like this. Only Kelly Beaty could be worse choice.

We're the ones who usually pay the price whenever costs need cutting. Seeing others being hit for a change is a bit refreshing. No hate but it's about time.

As long as the employees who do the actual work remain, I welcome these layoffs. Too long we've been losing the wrong people while those who do nothing but sit in meetings regurgitating the same things over and over again remain. If they're on the list, I say bring it on!

They tossed out long term employees like garbage. Decades of service gone just like that. Loyalty doesn't count for anything here anymore. They cut the people who actually know how things work. Now all that knowledge is walking out the door. Management only cares about slashing costs, not about who they're losing. It's disgusting.

Despite enacting 1000s of layoffs as the company claimed it needed to reduce costs. We also expatted an American female to SJS in a GL role, paying for 5 kids to go to private school all expenses paid.

It's not being great at anything. It's being cheap and staying average. Excellence would cost money and require effort, and neither of those seems to be in the budget lately.

Why don’t we just replace the worthless SLT with AI? The direction will be way more focused and with clear strategy. We will save tens of millions if not hundreds of millions when counting stock comp and bonuses.

Here is a polished, punchy version of your post that keeps the aggressive, anti-AI edge and focuses entirely on the economic strategy to break the system:

If you genuinely hate AI, now is the time to band together and ensure it never becomes permanently embedded in your work life.
The strategy is simple: Use Copilot for anything and everything, no matter how small.

Why? Because right now, the costs are heavily subsidized. GitHub has already started shifting toward metered billing, meaning every single prompt costs tons of tokens. By this time next year, full-blown model access will be completely unsustainable for corporate budgets because of how expensive it actually is to run.

We are already starting to see Copilot throw "too busy to respond" errors. Keep pushing it. Keep up the volume. The current pricing model is a house of cards, and if we maximize consumption, the technology becomes completely unfeasible to maintain at the rate we're paying.

PS: this post was generated using Kroger copilot. Fire me

Invista's Kingston plant is laying off over 100 workers. These job cuts are part of a company-wide restructuring effort. The company has not been profitable, with costs exceeding its value. Layoffs will occur between June 21 and August 2. Invista aims to become leaner and more cost-efficient for a profitable future.

https://www.thewhig.com/news/more-than-100-jobs-cut-at-invistas-kingston-facility

Last week my tram was told that they are monitoring our AI usage and those that are not using it at are risk. We were shown a dashboard that tracks general ChatGPT usage and Codex usage.

This week an email comes out instructing us on the proper use of AI, which model to select based on usage cost.

So wait, you want us to use it but in the same breath you are worried about the usage cost?

Id--ts

Was curious and looked up VZ Stock today and was floored to see it back at $44 after the incessant layoffs and cost cutting. All the sell off in corporate real Estate and discontinued leases, all the head chopping, cutting benefits and stock sharing, ripping out Legacy equipment because of power consumption, shutting off the Lights and the empty promises of AI “efficiencies”— and the Stock is barely holding at 44 Bucks. What the actual F#%K is going on Dan, maybe our CEO should be replaced by AI for some actual efficiency and cost savings.

I have been told to expect cuts in the coming months, specifically August. As far as recent cuts made, some were expensive and others were not top performers. Who knows. Some of the cuts have gone after long tenured employees, who probably made good money and hefty LTI if they qualified. Replace them with a junior for half the cost.

With token pricing increasing dramatically, AI solutions are going to be too expensive. We'll end up using real AI - another Indian.

Exactly this. CEOs are finally realizing that the moment AI stops being subsidized through subscription, its cost becomes way too high to justify. So they'll go back to the previous solution, which will be more outsourcing. Either way, we're the ones getting sc--wed.