Thread regarding Mutual of America Life layoffs

Mehdi is the "recordkeeper whisperer." Like Nancy Reagan's astrologer. Like Buddy in Elf. He's a professional Tarot Card reader. Stephen Rich has put in all of his chips in on Mehdi to save the company. He is "Jesus Incarnate."

who is Mehdi? And what does he do?

This Mehdi guy is a like Nancy Reagan's astrologer back in the day. He has no experience with retirement plan recordkeeping and wasn't he running his own construction company at one point. Seems mysterious and shady like his the the "chosen one" or the "recordkeeper whisperer." FIS has been an unmitigated disaster. We went with then because they could house annutiies. Now, we are shutting down Truspire and throwing the Landmark/Truspire disaster out the door. Most recordkeepers have moved away from OMNI FIS because their technology is awful and not reliable. TIAA is finally getting rid of OMNI (for those of you old enough to remember, when TIAA made a move to FIS in 2006, it was a colossal disaster. MOA top Brass never learned from this schitstorm and history repeated itself.

"Cut the Fat." The only recognizable faces to Mehdi and Steven are the current "Heads of Technology." Greed, Festog, and Donaldson's organizational structure remains unchanged. It is crucial to inquire about the full scope of the FIS contract negotiation, vendor relationship and identify all the individuals involved. Are two inexperienced EVPs needed with the size of the technology team?

I have heard that DFS is requiring the company get to a benchmark by the end of 2025, which is like 75M in revenue or something like that. I’ve heard a few numbers and benchmarks but not sure what it is exactly because no one of authority (like Rich) has been transparent with this information.

Is this restructuring being forced upon them by NYDFS ? If so, maybe NFDFS has given an ultimatum: either make these changes by a certain date or we will force a sale or receivership. Is this a plausible scenario when Rich says they have been in talks with NYDFS and the talks seems to be going a little better ?

"More time" usually means more layoffs. They should cut the excess fat and salaries at the top, instead of the hardworking rank and file. Why are the EFVPs, the CHRO, and the Head of Comp still there? That's a significant savings right there.

When a company says they need more time to "restructure," it means they are requesting "additional time" to significantly change their internal operations, potentially involving adjustments to departments, roles, staffing levels, or business strategies, and they need more time to carefully plan and execute these changes effectively. Reading between the lines, "additional time" means more layoffs. I say 50-75 more by the end of 2025. We need to hear the full financial results. Why do the rating agencies find this information out before employees and policyholders ? Why not level with your employees about the real reason The Firm needs more time.

Time is money. And they are nearly out of time and nearly out of cash. They need to fix the longstanding issues with FIS. They have failed to build out the participant and employer websites. Where is the outrage ! They have had three years to fix these issues. They will never get fixed. Time to cut the fat and the Field Executives in charge of Sales and Service who have failed miserably. Time to get rid of the heads of Technology. Time to get rid of the heads of Client Relations. Where's Bailey ? Hiding out like won't get caught. Bailey hasn't done anything for 4 plus years. Time to cut the fat.

They did not announce any future layoffs, nor the financial results of 2024. Only that they “need more time”. Nobody feels their job is safe and everyone is freshening their resumes as we’ve heard this “we need more time” before. The last time there were 2 rounds of consecutive layoffs. Pretty sure this is the same.
“Happy New Year! Your position has been eliminated.”