A former top executive at Verizon has penned an emotional message to thousands of employees facing job cuts, as the telecommunications giant begins its largest-ever round of layoffs affecting more than 13,000 workers. Tami Erwin, who spent 35 years at Verizon and served as CEO of Verizon Business before departing in 2022, posted a heartfelt letter on LinkedIn that has resonated across the corporate world. "The news this week has weighed on me deeply," she wrote. "As I reflect on it tonight, on a quiet Friday night, I'm thinking about the people behind the headlines."
Her message emphasized that while technological transformation is necessary, "people remain the heart of every great company." Erwin, who rose from customer service representative to the C-suite, acknowledged knowing "how profoundly this will be felt across the V Team."
"To those impacted, from someone who will always bleed Verizon red: Give yourself permission to grieve," she wrote. "A job is identity, relationships, pride. Losing it is personal."
Former executive challenges leadership to Balance technology with humanity
The cuts represent roughly 13 percent of Verizon's 100,000-person workforce and will slash labor costs for nonunion employees by 20 percent. New CEO Dan Schulman, who took the helm just last month after PayPal, is implementing sweeping changes as Verizon hemorrhages customers to rivals AT&T and T-Mobile.
In his own message to staff Thursday, Schulman cited the need to "reorient our entire company around delivering for and delighting our customers," while announcing a $20 million reskilling fund for departing employees.
But Erwin's letter offered something corporate communications rarely do: unvarnished acknowledgment of loss paired with hard-won perspective. She urged workers to give themselves time to grieve, then to recognise that "your Verizon experience is meaningful and will open doors."
"Hold your head high. No one can take away the impact you've had," she wrote, encouraging employees to "build a framework for your next chapter and go forth and conquer."
While acknowledging that artificial intelligence, quantum computing, robotics and intelligent networks will redefine business, Erwin issued a pointed message about the responsibility that comes with corporate transformation. "Technology doesn't transform a company. People do," she stated. "And when change affects people's livelihoods, leaders must modernise more than systems—they must modernise process, communication, empathy, and accountability." She added a stark warning: "Transformation without humanity isn't leadership."
'Your story isn't ending—it's evolving,' says leader who left three years ago
Erwin didn't shy from acknowledging the forces driving the restructuring. Artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and robotics are fundamentally reshaping telecommunications, she noted, and "the direction is right."
But her core message challenged the notion that technological transformation justifies human collateral damage. "Technology doesn't transform a company. People do," she wrote. "And when change affects people's livelihoods, leaders must modernize more than systems—they must modernize process, communication, empathy, and accountability."
The former executive, who now serves as a board director and advisor to Silicon Valley startups, drew on her own experience leaving Verizon three years ago. "Your next chapter will be equally as fulfilling," she assured displaced workers.
Verizon lost 7,000 consumer postpaid phone connections last quarter while analysts had forecast gains. The company's struggles come as it faces what Erwin called "extraordinary things happening across industries" that favor agile, innovative companies over legacy players slow to adapt.
"Your story isn't ending—it's evolving," she concluded. "And I'm cheering for you, always."