Verizon announced yesterday that over 10.4k employees took buyouts to leave the company — that’s almost 7% of the company’s worldwide workforce.
We can’t blame them: The offer included up to 60 weeks of salary, bonus and benefits (depending on the employee’s tenure).
In other words, the perfect deal for a Verizon employee who has long wanted to quit it all, live in a van, and become a travel influencer.
“I didn’t get fired, Mom…”
The “voluntary separation” offer has been on the table since September, in hopes of reducing headcount to save $10B by 2021.
Bob Varettoni, Verizon’s corporate director of communications, told us the deal was offered to 44k employees (primarily US-based management employees); of those, 11.4k employees volunteered — 90% of which were accepted.
The droves of employees who took the buyout could indicate that — with the US unemployment rate at a 49-year low — people are feeling confident about collecting that tickle and taking their chances on the job market.
All about that 5G
The offer is reportedly part of an effort to trim the telecom giant’s workforce ahead of its push toward 5G.
The race is red hot as many private companies are taking it upon themselves to get 5G early, but for the rest of us, carriers like AT&T and Verizon don’t expect the eagle to fully land until 2020.