State Farm just asked their employees to voluntarily quit

This was sent to me by a former coworker. Here's the email. Basically, the "The new workforce realignment process replaces the process formerly known as transition." Is more than likely "You're all being replaced by AI."

From: Rich Garcia, Vice President – Human Resources & Development

State Farm has always been guided by a clear mission to help people. Living our mission requires us to approach workforce decisions with the same care and discipline we apply to the ways we serve customers. We’re focused on providing remarkable experiences for our customers, offering competitive prices and cultivating a culture that attracts, engages, and retains employees. Our people – all of you – are our differentiator. While our focus on helping people remains consistent, the ways we conduct our business to carry out our mission evolves. As the business changes, so does our workforce. When workforce changes are necessary, we want to approach them in a supportive and respectful way.

With this in mind, today we’re announcing new ways business areas may make changes in their workforce if and when changes are needed:

– A workforce realignment process with common enterprise timing

– Two voluntary exit programs

What it means

The new workforce realignment process replaces the process formerly known as transition. The thoughtful and intentional design of modernizing the transition process has been a journey over time – as we’ve been looking out at labor trends, competitive pressures and an exodus of retirement age workers. We knew we wanted to have a more people-centered process when workforce realignments are needed, while caring for the transfer of knowledge as we keep our customers and service levels in mind.

You can find more details about both the process and these programs here. In short:

– This new workforce realignment process is designed to give employees choice, when possible.

– If a business area needs to use the workforce realignment process, they will lead with voluntary exit options whenever possible. There may be scenarios where a business area needs to use the Severance Payment Plan to support involuntary exits.

– If an employee is eligible and in-scope, the voluntary programs give them an opportunity to opt-in to be considered to exit the organization and receive a financial payment.

What’s next

Tomorrow, you will receive an email with details about the new voluntary exit benefits and eligibility requirements. Your leaders just received this information, so they too are still learning. If your department or area needs to use the workforce realignment process now or in the future, they’ll communicate with you directly.

Thank you for your continued commitment to keep customers at the center of what we do and for the ways you support each other.