#culture

I endured 3 years on the core line with many promises of a role switch after my "2 year commitment" in the end it was all just a lie. Oh well.

Get your licenses, learn the ropes and get out while you can asap.

Anyone else seeing what’s happening in the UK?

Good people are leaving, particularly women, and others seem completely burnt out. Yet we still hear all the usual talk about diversity, inclusion and people being our biggest asset.

Since the leadership change, the culture feels completely different. There seems to be a leadership style being imposed that just doesn’t translate well to the UK market or the way teams here have historically operated.

More pressure, more workload, questionable appointments and everything coming back to the numbers. People can deliver what’s asked of them and still somehow be told they need to improve.

And it’s not just employees noticing the change. Some partners and customers are starting to see the disconnect too, which should be a much bigger concern for the business.

NetApp UK used to have a great reputation and culture. It’s sad watching that disappear.

How much longer is it going to take? Apparently HP has an inflated view of who should take the job than who is actually interested in it.

https://www.reuters.com/investigations/mark-zuckerberg-had-bold-plan-replace-meta-staff-with-ai-heres-how-it-imploded-2026-08-26/

"To make its workforce “AI native,” Meta explored slashing the size of many teams across the company by as much as 60% in two waves, internal documents show. Staff revolted - and hours before a big layoff in May, the CEO called off planning for further cuts."

MD on the other hand, obviously doesn't care. Yay! (:D)

It appears that the UK hub is being replaced by India and it being made a main technical hub. I guess we did train our own replacements.

In a tough environment, your colleagues can really make a difference. With all of the rapid fire changes, collaborative, experienced and, sure, funny colleagues are what helps the most.

I think it’s about time to employ these “small” business losers and run it like a real insurance company

For the surviving “CenTeamers,” Gallup has some encouraging news. About 1 in 10 people has the natural talent to be a great manager.

Unfortunately, companies pick the wrong person for management 82% of the time.

Even better, managers account for at least 70% of the difference in employee engagement between business units.

Gallup also points out that companies often promote people because they were good at their old job, had been around long enough, or seemingly “deserved it.” None of which means they can actually manage people.

My favorite finding: statistically, there is/was probably someone on your team with the talent to be a great manager. There’s also a pretty good chance it isn’t/wasn’t your manager.

Source: https://www.gallup.com/workplace/231593/why-great-managers-rare.aspx

But don’t worry, CenTeamers. The next Pulse Survey should get to the bottom of this!

London Calling, Sarah. Gallup says companies pick the wrong person for management 82% of the time. Centene seems to have solved that problem by promoting them and laying off the other 18%.

#SimplifySarah

Tim Cook steps down as Apple, $AAPL, CEO on August 31 after taking the company from ~$350 billion to over $4 trillion.

John Stankey steps down as AT&T, $T, CEO after taking the company from ~$215 billion to ~$178 billion.

Apple increased its market cap by roughly $3.65 trillion and AT&T lost roughly $37 billion.

Six years. Two CEOs. Completely different outcomes. I wonder why?

One led through massive innovation and growth. The other spent years making questionable strategic decisions resulting in failures of epic proportions, while simultaneously alienating the workforce with policies like 5x RTO, cutting costs and talent, and destroying culture and morale.

But I’m sure Stankey will find a way to explain how all of this is somehow the employees’ fault.

Get this l0ser Stankey out!

Source: M. Gray

1. Learn Storytelling

Storytelling is the highest intangible ROI skill you can learn

Sales, hiring, marketing, it's all storytelling.

Start with basic storytelling frameworks (e.g. the Hero's Journey) and the 7 fundamental emotions.

And watch how listeners turn into believers.

1. Rethink Health

Everything changed for me when I came across Symbiotic Success:

Your health directly affects achievement, even if you can't see it.

Now I prioritize meditation, lifting weights and nutrition.

Success is a game of longevity and health is your competitive moat.

1. Work Like a Lion

Society has conditioned us to work like we're cows grazing.

Low focus.
Long hours.
Minimal output.

Instead, work less, but work like a hunting lion.

Sprint. Rest. Repeat.

1. Find Your Peak Energy State

Optimal hours, environment, and work style differ for everyone.

Keep experimenting until you find your most productive state, when you don't have to fight yourself to get stuff done.

Once you find it, energy flows where your focus will be.

1. Learn to Communicate Concisely

Most people's emails and messages are full of fluff:

'Hope you're well!'
'I just wanted to ask...'
'Could we circle back on...'

Stop.

Be concise and get to the point, your value increases with the effort your readers save.

1. Be Happy for Other People's Successes

It's a positive-sum world out there; there are 22 million millionaires in the US alone.

Recognize that one person's success isn't your failure and offer genuine congratulations.

Joy for others manifests future accolades for you.

1. Be Boring

A lot of success comes from just saying no to cheap dopamine.

And instead, focusing on the mundane:

• Maximizing sleep
• Guarding time for workouts
• Not eating out in favor of your nutritious diet

Boring's the secret the successful don’t want you to know.

We do not need a stay of execution; we need certainty and security.
Leadership has lost its humanity in what was once a great company, where people genuinely came first. PayPal is no longer a company I’m proud to work for.

I would welcome the opportunity, if given the appropriate platform, to publicly and constructively critique the decisions and leadership approach that have brought us to this point. People deserve transparency, accountability, and to be treated with dignity—not uncertainty and fear.

The traditional five-day office week was sold to us for decades as some kind of sacred law of business. Executives insisted that without people physically sitting in a cubicle, collaboration would fall apart, productivity would tank, and "culture" (whatever that means) would just evaporate.

Then 2020 happened. In a matter of weeks, half the working world moved to their kitchen tables, and it turned out the whole thing was less about performance and more about control.

Here's how the forced remote work experiment kind of blew up the core myths of office culture.

1. The Productivity Mirage

The big scary warning was always: unsupervised employees will slack off. Turns out that was backwards. Multiple studies during the pandemic showed productivity held steady or even went up when people worked from home. No more open-floor-plan noise, no more soul-crushing commutes — people actually got hours of real, focused work done. Turns out showing up isn't the same thing as producing anything. Output matters, not butt-in-seat time.

2. The Collaboration Cult

Leadership loves to say innovation needs "watercooler moments" and everyone breathing the same recycled office air. And sure, in-person brainstorming has its place. But the pandemic proved you don't need five days a week of shared oxygen to collaborate well. Teams got good at async work fast — people had time to actually think before responding instead of just performing enthusiasm in a meeting room. Real connection comes from intentional communication, not a shared zip code.

3. The Real Estate Sunk-Cost Problem

When companies push hard for a full return-to-office despite everyone hating it, the stated reasons rarely add up. A lot of these orgs are locked into 10-15 year commercial leases, and an empty building is just a giant unrecoverable cost sitting on the balance sheet. So forcing people back to their desks is often less about "performance" and more about justifying an expensive real estate bet nobody wants to admit was a mistake.

4. The Illusion of Culture

"Culture" got used as a guilt trip to drag people back to their desks — like camaraderie only exists within four walls. But most people figured out pretty quick that real culture isn't free snacks and a ping pong table. It's psychological safety, respect for your time outside of work, fair pay, and people actually communicating clearly. Once the office perks got stripped away, you could see they were just distractions from bad work-life boundaries the whole time.

The Bottom Line: Outcomes Over Attendance

The whole remote work experiment showed that the five-day office mandate was more of a leftover habit than an actual business requirement. Hybrid setups are a fine middle ground for teams that need occasional in-person time, but the idea that full-time office attendance is non-negotiable just doesn't hold up anymore.

Work isn't a place anymore — it's a thing you do. Companies that don't get that are gonna keep losing their best people to competitors who actually care about results instead of just watching who's in their seat at 9am.

Our leader just hides while our company is attacked daily. This guy has no control over any situation or any type of plan. You just get 10 minutes of him reading off a script every three months on an earnings call. You can hear him flip the pages it’s so embarrassing.

My supervisor is unbearable for about a week every 28 days. It is like clockwork. Is this some sort of management technique? Why would she be mostly agreeable and then a total monster out of nowhere?

I get it, they will not be promoted. We don’t want them over us. But that doesn't mean they have to leave. Just take the paycheck, be quiet, and don’t ask for a career. That’s not too much to ask. Like promotes like, we only promote what looks like us, sorry…

Here’s hoping the RTO scares off the fossils so the rest of us can finally grow

NIke really needs to address its hiring and assess talent and performance culture. Business is in the sh*tier and leaders can no longer get by with keeping their friends and inner circle safe. Right now, way too many people are getting by purely on favoritism and nepotism while others carry the actual workload.

Also, trying to reach a younger demographic shouldn't mean handing senior titles to former athletes who lack business experience and corporate work ethic. We need a realistic balance of proven experience and institutional knowledge if we want the company to succeed.

When what you hear from the CEO is completely different from what he is instructing his directs to do, it’s time to go.

Anyone else fed up with the false metrics leadership is using to measure success in the risk and control space. Its ironic that the department that was built up because of the sales metic that was an illusion of added profits is now deploying the same metic illusions of reduced costs.

If it's true that the board only cares about stockholders and stock price then that explains their worth to the company. It's like our weekly conference calls. I want 30 sales this week, that breaks down to 5 per day, here is a sales plan that involves free time and I want you to call people until you get 30 sales. Same every week and the rvp has done his job. The tools are a cr-ppy POS system, Internet phones and the same call lists week after week. Low sales the store gets blamed high sales the management gets bonuses . You want stock prices to climb get rid of these do nothing fools and put your effort where your customers are. Revenue is generated by stores fools. Dm's rvps svps don't make the company a dime and almost none of them even know how to take a payment. Make us do Amazon returns with the business model of let the stores do all the work with no support or training and ignore what happened to Kohl's. I don't sell cars or insurance I work rent to own. These returners aren't shopping their returning. You are trying to teach us to swim by saying there is water nearby. You have never gotten wet yourself. Ernie Talley ran the business and saw a need. These fools now think since they wear the hat they are chefs but the truth is stock price is low and their middle men are clueless. Blame everyone else but the fault is in the mirror Blasquez. I haven't forgotten about your ineptness or you York with your id--tic power tripping. I would be ashamed if I were you.

Are there any real leaders that you admire in XOM?

These upper id--ts will just send in whatever they want and load up our backrooms and pi-s off store management. Mondelez upper management is so clueless.

I get it, they will not be promoted. We don’t want them over us. But that doesn't mean they have to leave. Just take the paycheck, be quiet, and don’t ask for a career. That’s not too much to ask. Like promotes like, we only promote what looks like us, sorry…

Anyone still around in US timezone after the latest round is executed, be prepared to work during IDC timezone in addition to the regular hours that you already do as you all will be reporting into IDC.

IDC VPs have figured out there are no jobs in US . So IDC experience and work hours can be rolled out to every one left in US.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/technology/tech-news/accenture-ceo-julie-sweet-makes-a-vacation-request-to-employees-for-this-august/articleshow/133284654.cms

What is behind that Smile?

We have been seeing an influx of “vendor resources” added to our teams to “help” with inventory.
Something’s rotten in the state of Denmark

Source: Dr. Mullen

I once hired someone smarter than me. I hated how it made me feel.

→ They were sharper in meetings.
→ Faster with decisions.
→ More technically capable than I was.

Instead of feeling proud, I felt exposed.

I started wondering:

If they're better than me, what exactly am I bringing to the table?

Then it hit me.

I was competing with talent I was supposed to be leading. So I changed how I led.

1️⃣ I asked more questions than I answered.
↳ My job wasn't to have every answer. It was to get the best thinking into the room.

2️⃣ I gave credit publicly.
↳ If someone was better than me at something, I wanted everyone to know it.

3️⃣ I shared decisions earlier.
↳ People take more ownership when they help shape the answer.

4️⃣ I made disagreement safe.
↳ If your smartest people are afraid to challenge you, you're wasting their talent.

5️⃣ I admitted when I didn't know.
↳ Pretending to know everything wasn't leadership. It was insecurity.

6️⃣ I measured myself differently.
↳ Their growth became a better measure of my leadership than being the smartest person in the room.

That changed how I thought about talented people. I didn't need to outperform them.
I needed to create the conditions for them to outperform me.

https://www.reddit.com/r/IBM_Employees/s/LypsgKSMZg

Idk where to begin but I feel the website is an absolute trash. Like batshit trash.

I tried to add the Google AI pro on my FIOS plan and well, you can't.

Why the heck it is so difficult to navigate through the website?

Same with Verizon Dollars, can't find what is the balance on my Verizon dollars. The chatbot does not respond.

Tried to call in the service rep, it literally said the VOICEMAIL iS FULL and hanged up. My wife next to me literally started laughing as how can a company this big is so full of cr-p.

Doesn't usually take this long. I didn't expect them to be positive because points at everything, but with how long they've been holding back results, they must be BAD bad this year.

Anyone heard anything?

A few months ago I was talking to a recruiter about coming back to Fidelity after I got laid off. When I spoke to them, they said something like "it's a huge relief I don't have to explain that whole connect week thing to you compared to other people I call". They also said "yeah... it's gonna be an experiment".

From the outside looking in, you can tell a lot of these people in HR have opinions on what's going on that they don't want to be outward about. Anti bootlicking opinions. Or at least that's what I see. They hate the new laws of the land, they're just the ones that have to enforce them.

So, if you're in HR, if you feel comfortable sharing, what do you think about all this?

I mean we match on colors and both have a clowns running the show.

Since nothing else works and they are more worried about what’s on this website? Will someone please let the leaders of P66 know that the supervisors in the control center or never at work and if they do show up it’s only for a couple hours at a time it’s been like this for past year.

Let’s continue to hire multiple million salaried leadership people that need to be trained, cut Nike engineering experts and have a fake ITC office where nothing gets done yet we pay millions for.
Surely that will fix our issues. Bravo, brilliant.

Maybe not such a bad person at heart after all….

Please note that none of the surveys in Synopsys are anonymous.

In last yearst Shape survey, there was a question whether you believe in CEO Gh@zi leadership. All L6/M6 and above who rated 3/2/1 have either been laid off or are in the layoff pipeline.

So, play safe and give 5 ratings to such questions, basically lick the @ss in surveys unless you are in notice period.

Any other groups receive a request for employees to provide their top 3 “accomplishments” this year? Seems odd for this outside of mid year / year end reviews.

Is all the bashing of Schwab and its senior leaders here really warranted? There's a reason why Schwab is consistently ranked a top employer in nearly every city where it has a campus. Because it's a really great place to work. The pay is well above average, the benefits are 1st class and the company does really care about its employees.

Now I don't kid myself. I know at some point that Schwab will need to make a decision in its interest that won't be in mine. I come to this site to get an idea of when that may happen so I can plan accordingly. Instead I just end up reading a bunch of nasty comments about how terrible the company is. Last summer we cancelled our lawn care service for financial reasons and now my husband cuts the grass. I would sure hate to think the crew that came out to my house each week was now online badmouthing me like a lot of you are doing to Schwab.

I love Schwab but I'm a realist. At some point they will probably lay me off. But til then, I am committed to giving them my best and so should the rest of you.

LMAO..WFH for the next three weeks!

How pathetic is it that Canon provides these slum-like conditions?

So embarrassing for a company of their size.