#culture

The tech’s impressive, I won't lie, but the culture’s another story. So much internal drama and empire-building, it was exhausting. I still can’t decide if I should be grateful for the experience or angry I stuck around for as long as I did.

Accenture is the definition of burnout. Same outdated systems, same empty promises, no real path forward. The layoffs are just the cherry on top of a very stale, very bland cake.

Full disclosure, I am one of those people who was cornered by the cool-aid drinking Supervisors of Imperial Oil, and had to leave the company to keep my sanity and self esteem.

I am curious to know, with all the worker bee jobs moving to Houston and BTC, what will the Supervisors do in Canada? Shouldn’t their jobs also move out of the country??

It wasn't always like this, but recently, thanks to having mostly new people as managers, every one of them in my department seems to live in their own little bubble. You ask for direction and get five different answers, then somehow you’re the one at fault when things collide. It’s becoming laughable.

I left that job shaking my head. Worked my tail off with a master’s, got crumbs for pay. The person who replaced me had no degree and got a huge bump just for being friendly with the boss. Makes you wonder why you even bother doing things the right way. Education means nothing when favoritism decides everything. I'm glad to be gone. It took me a while to find something else, bit now I actually like my job once again. That place nearly destroyed me.

It feels like working in limbo. Everyone’s just waiting for the next round of cuts, going through the motions. It was never fun here, but it used to be friendly. Now nobody talks, everyone’s just waiting for the other shoe to drop. It’s so draining that getting laid off almost sounds like a relief.

I was so proud to say I worked at Cisco. Now I just change the subject when people ask where I work. The place has turned into such a train wreck I can’t even defend it anymore.

The so-called leaders play politics and mumble through meetings and promote people who don’t even understand the work. Things are getting worse every day and nobody seems to care. Sometimes I feel like I'm watching a slow collapse of a once great company in real time.

This is real talk!!!!

Ilumina keeps beating its head over with useless PLM and MRP tool upgrades that neither add value to the company or increase the speed to get products to market. The only group to benefit from these activities is the workforce in India that has substantially grown ever since Jacob has taken over. Consequence will be our competitors taking over our market share and making us irrelevant, an afterthought. These useless initiatives are being spearheaded by our clueless leadership and middle management that neither have the best interest of the shareholders or employees, only their determination to maximize their own paychecks. Management teams like those that fester at Illumian are the ticks that ruin a company's value and culture. If there was a way to replace Middle management with AI, sign Illumina as #1 customer.

Would be to go on and move all into the hubs and start over. Voluntary exit all wfh employees and get this show on the road. Half in and half out is ki-ling the company. Maybe if they go all in on the hubs they can rebuild the brand.

COP will soon layoff significant numbers of hardworking and skilled personnel with significant institutional capacity and knowledge in its efforts to become as per McKinsey Focused Future Proof….
What does this new COP really look like and at what cost?
Or are the management consultants correct in that COP is rudderless and need of institutional retooling.

Verizon is a train wreck stuck in mud. They have not improved or learned anything in years. Different year same leadership mistakes. They need a Maga like shake up and stop being cheap on infrastructure. From network to systems they cheap out and customer and employees live with the failure. Taking the cheap road has allowed T-Mobile to pass us and customers lining up to leave. Our credo is fake news. We run from success. We hide from challenges. We strive to be cheaper today than we were yesterday. We blame our employees. We removed job satisfaction and replaced it with fluff and selfishness. News flash: This isnt changing so su-k it up buttercups.

Engagement Pulse Survey (employee satisfaction survey) is going to be sent out early in November. The result of this thing seems to be nr. 1 priority of our management around here...

Our overlords care the most about two questions in particular in the survey:

1. Do you trust the management?
2. Would you reccomend Kyndryl as a company to work for?

The rest of the questions is fluff and they even admitted it openly the other day...

The last time most people did not bother filling it in and some of those few who did submitted answers that were less than praise (since it is an anonymous survey).

Consequently, there was a mandatory follow-up investigation session where one of the FLM's loyal minions was tasked to find out who the troubkemakers are... They went about it by saying on a Teams call: "raise your hand if you trust the manager"...

This time around we are all asked to go into a prep-session where we will be instructed on "how to properly understand the questions" prior to filling in the survey and we are encouraged to then fill it in together...

So - I expect we will go from the lowest employee happiness ever which (was the last survey's result to the highest employee happiness ever) and then there will be rounds of applause and patting on shoulders circling around in newsletters and the local talking heads will have stuff to talk about till the christmass and will be thanking each other and nominating each other for employees of the quarter based on this while we will be witnessing more stealthy firings, clients leaving, teams & roles blending and so on.

And this stuff is orchestrated by individuals who also send out non-anonymous feedback requests about their performance to their subordinates and then they read out loud the praise they get in front of all who had to participate.

CEE in a nutshell for all y'all.

I was wondering if they were going to cook the books on the engagement survey. Either folks were scared that any negative reviews would be traced back to them, or they only took the survey results from Sr. Management. I don't know a single person who gave them a good response. Complete sh-t show.

All these posts the last few months really confused me. I left Jones in 2023 after being there about 5 years. Easy job but no real money, went to FinTech and TC is three times my Jones pay. Jones is a glorified pyramid, everyone in the finance industry knows that. That's why they only get people from Citi, the worst bank in the country, they just come to get a piece of the pie off the back of the FA's before it's too late. Calling it a "partnership" when nearly all of the profits goes to the GP's, OK partner. You do the grunt work, they make all the money. If you've been there years you already know that so why be so surprised now? You thought being at the bottom of a pyramid made you matter? You thought eventually you will be at the top too? If you don't get hired from the outside you will never be promoted unless you are a white woman, they get a little DEI without getting too dark around there. Don't be mad at people at the top, they were not hired to be good, that's what YOU are for. You work, they take trips..
THE BOTTOM EXISTS TO FEED THE TOP. If you aren't smart enough to leave just make your pennies before the place implodes when someone really investigates it
Someone posted about this before. SCAM
https://www.thelayoff.com/post/@OP+1k358h85a

Recent org changes have made long standing structural and leadership issues worse. The problem isn’t the teams it’s a pattern of short-sighted leadership decisions that keep adding inefficiency and ki-ling morale, SP and MM ARE NOT the right path. Both too self-important and ego driven for any clarity possible. The number of people on this page alone is an indication of how bad it’s gotten as MM has been a topic on this page for years, those who openly questioned aren’t here anymore, not a coincidence.

Structural & Leadership Gaps

• D&D expanded under leadership with weak technical grounding and poor operational judgment.
• Decisions are based on optics and “culture first” over scalable, efficient delivery.
• The result: redundant tools, unclear ownership, and wasted spend doing the same thing.

Talent & Morale Erosion

• Many skilled hires walked into instability they didn’t cause and can’t fix.
• People are burned out, disengaged, and blamed for inherited problems.
• Leaders who manage up well but not down are driving the decline blaming everyone but themselves.

Culture & Reputation Risk

• Morale is at a breaking point.
• Expanding the remit of a leader with no relevant knowledge or skills tied to these issues sends the wrong signal.
• Continued inaction risks more and operational instability at a critical time.

What EMT Needs to Do

• Launch an independent review of leadership effectiveness and technical capability, ask the staff in a truly anonymous way because trust is gone.
• Simplify tools and processes stop paying for redundancy.
• Rebuild trust with transparency, consistent engagement, and measurable goals tied to outcomes, not self-serving politics.

The situation is still fixable only with top-down action. EMT needs to step in now to stabilize the org and restore credibility. If not, the erosion will only accelerate.

For those fallen during 2020 layoffs, the 5 year layoffversary is coming up. How are you celebrating departure away from the XOXic (XOM Toxic) environment? How was your experience with Layoff, good bad? And how are you doing now? Let's provide some real insight and inspiration to those still there who have only made to believe otherwise by their bosses and HR.

Here is my experience.

Extremely bad departing experience; manager reading HR script informing, never returned my personal desk items, the laptop box chaos (mixing up wrong people names with wrong addresses), bashing us in LI, classifying us a Retirees (i am sure XOM again is benefitting somehow by this move) and still sending us mail asking to donate to UW. Those dear colleagues never reached out for support, post departure dealing with benefits was bad.

How's it now; Director in a non tech but Fortune 500 making 38% more base plus 25% bonus, RSUs, better healthcare plans, less toxicity than XOM, and a learning for someone who fell for "long term career", and "family" jargons of corporates and someone who cared and took colleagues at to their face value to never trust and believe in that again. Tough but a good and an eye opening lesson.

For those other 2020 martyrs, how was your experience and where are you 5 years down the road?

Make this thread a long and full as possible to give some insight to those who remain at XOM and want to know the true experiences the fallen had. It will also help aspirant newbies to determine whether they should join XOM or not and shut up the kool-aid drinkers because their agenda to paint a rosy picture of XOM leaders and HR handling will be exposed.

If you are full of ideas and energy, this might not be the place for you. The system here slows everything down with endless layers of approval. Unless you have friends in high spots, your voice will never reach the right people. You are better off taking that drive somewhere that lets you actually build something. Exxon is not it.

Just seeing how fast MN and his admins jump to downvote this!

State Farm has turned into the neighbor and neighborhood that you move out of because your housing values are going down, school system has now been taken over by the state and your car has been broken into twice this month. The cops are always down at your neighbors house and every one on your street does not mow their yard, has painted their houses purple and has a broke down Tahoe or Malibu sitting in the driveway on 24s! You hear g-n fire every night and you rarely go out after dark. Most of the houses are now rentals, all the old people are scared for their safety, and black Jake is selling more and more SF policies! 2040, the future looks so bright!

This is a great YouTube channel that will help you understand why Canon has deep-seated cultural issues.

https://www.youtube.com/@salarymantokyo

I started at Humana around the time of the CenterWell rebrand, and ever since then, I've seen one poor leadership decision after another and watched the ship quickly start sinking. I saw quality people jump ship at a rate I've never seen in my entire career, and those remaining go into survival mode or went completely unhinged and treated everyone poorly. I saw bosses use their direct reports as punching bags and give them menial work while stealing their direct reports ideas and passion, claiming them as their own... and the same bosses act completely fake to "teams that matter" while slave-driving those that worked thankless jobs behind the scenes, which kept the wheels turning. I've seen Humana sink hundreds of millions of dollars to implement new software, then implement new software over the new software... rinse, lather, repeat. I've seen brilliant minds reduced to glorified assistants that weren't allowed to speak. I've seen repeated empty promises from senior leadership, gaslighting, manipulation, disrespect, verbal abuse... but hey, the benefits and pay are great, right?
I let before I completely lost my mind and my individuality... with no real plan except GET THE HECK OUTTA HERE. I do not regret my decision, even for a moment.
Humana is the wild wild west and I did not want to be mentally gunned down any further.
My advice to anyone still there... leave while you can. Their words do NOT cover up what's really going on. Please open your eyes.

Following the most recent merger and the creation of the current company in 2019, L3 leadership has shifted from a growth oriented company that made strategic acquisitions into new businesses, to a purely profit driven entity. Perhaps the disastrous acquisition of AR was enough to make them g-n shy about buying any more companies. The entire focus is now on profits for investors or "stake holders". Having established that, it would seem foolish for any perspective job applicant to hope for a long term career with this company. Layoffs have become common place with no regard for talent or an individuals' contribution. Considering that and the blatant reverse discrimination practiced during its' failed "woke phase", it is no wonder the company is avoided like the plague by savvy job seekers.
Read the posts on this site carefully, They are not hyperbole.

Has anyone heard anything concrete about more layoffs coming?

If someone is telling you not to talk to those of us who were laid off because you might “catch” whatever we have, please ignore that advice.

We’re not contagious. We’re just people who got caught in a business decision.

Getting laid off is socially strange. Suddenly people who were friendly colleagues start treating you like you have a disease they don’t want to catch. They were work acquaintances, not real friends, and layoffs expose that pretty quickly.

Here’s the thing: your loyalty and tenure aren’t going to save you if your number comes up. The people who distance themselves might be on the other side of this tomorrow. The ones who step up and stay human through this? Those are your real friends - remember who they are.

If you’re being told to avoid us, ask yourself what that says about the culture you’re working in right now.

In the past few years, I've worked with a few people who came over from another big oil company, and they brought that same cutthroat attitude with them. As a result, in my area, being aggressive gets you promoted faster than being good at your job. Teamwork is a foregone idea no one really believes in anymore.

It’s clear that Fidelity cannot and will not develop managers to be leaders.

Is there a strength that the firm has that could reshape my opinion of the firm? Things were better before the pandemic, but it doesn’t seem like work will ever go back to being a great place to work.

I’ve been kicked down so many times that even the bare minimum is more effort than the company deserves. It’s not just me, it’s my whole department and probably just a leadership style.

There needs to be a process to demote or fire the managers who were hired during the pandemic, with no experience or qualifications.

I have been here for more than ten years and it feels like nothing has changed. No appreciation, no respect, and the same toxic setup year after year. People who care end up burned out, while bad behavior gets ignored. If anyone is thinking of joining, look somewhere that values its people.

Are there any technical people leaders anymore? Seems like they are focused on bringing in leaders that have no skill, but claim to be great coaches. We are in a death spiral and need technical leaders who can help solution, not leaders who want to focus on asking if you are done yet. And the new PLs who want to help you with career coaching? GTFO. I don't need career advice from someone who has just arrived on the scene when I've been here for years. I need a leader that can remove roadblocks. We are so lost.

Name the role that encompasses this toxic behavior!

(The biggest red flag at work is when no one ever disagrees with the boss to their face. Unless you want to be a target).

Here’s why:

1. People are scared, not respectful, because speaking up feels like a career ending move.

2. The boss is insulated from reality. If leaders only hear what they want, not what they need, they become dangerously out of touch. That’s how companies rot from the top down.

3. It breeds a culture of fake smiles and resentment. Everyone plays nice in meetings, then tears the whole thing apart in private.

4. Bad ideas go unchallenged. Without pushback, people make poor decisions.

5. High performers leave. Fast. Talented people don’t stick around in echo chambers. They want to contribute, challenge, and grow, not tiptoe around egos.

if you did get it, is it one of those "are you happy with your job" type of thing? I never respond to these since I get paranoid of being retaliated

Placing engineers—especially those expected to think deeply, design complex systems, and solve nuanced problems—in a call center-style environment is typically a recipe for reduced productivity, poor morale, and suboptimal work quality. Here's a breakdown of what you might expect:
🔇 1. Disruption of Deep Work
Engineering requires focus. Complex problem-solving, debugging, architecture decisions, and coding often need extended periods of uninterrupted concentration (aka “deep work”).
In a call center-like environment—loud, crowded, constant interruptions—engineers will struggle to reach that mental state.
Expect more errors, slower progress, and lower code quality.
😤 2. Morale and Retention Issues
Engineers typically value autonomy, mastery, and purpose.
A call center setup implies surveillance, noise, lack of control over the environment, and potentially even micromanagement.
Result? Burnout, disengagement, and eventually attrition. You may lose your best talent first.
🧠 3. Shallow Thinking Becomes the Norm
When you're in a reactive environment—like one focused on pings and constant chatter—people naturally start thinking short-term.
Instead of proactive design and long-term systems thinking, engineers will fall into reactive, band-aid solutions.
📉 4. Decline in Innovation
Innovation thrives in environments where people have space to experiment, reflect, and collaborate thoughtfully.
The call center model is built for throughput, not thoughtfulness.
Expect fewer new ideas, missed architectural risks, and weaker long-term planning.
🤝 5. Poor Collaboration
Ironically, while open or call center-style setups are often justified as “promoting collaboration,” in reality:
They often increase distractions rather than useful conversations.
Real collaboration requires intentional, focused communication, not random drive-by chats or overheard meetings.

🛠️ Putting engineers in a call center environment is like asking a concert pianist to practice in a food court. Sure, they might play something—but it won’t be their best work, and they probably won’t stick around.

Post below as a responce, everyone is welcome to post, even the corporate shills.

I met a new SD at lunch this week who recently joined. The guy pulls no punches. Super smart I hope he won’t lose patience with this place. He isn’t afraid to say what all the engineers in the room are thinking that most SDs and VPs are too stupid to understand.

Twenty-four years in the same system — and what we celebrate is endurance, not progress. HR calls it loyalty. Most of us call it survival.

Look at that photo parade of executives. They’re not symbols of a healthy company — they’re evidence of what went wrong. These people are responsible for Verizon’s decline, not because of who they are, but because of what they failed to do. They traded competence for branding, strategy for slogans, and accountability for optics.

Upper management turned visibility into the goal. Titles grew; real responsibility shrank. While they polished personal brands and ran PR campaigns, the work that keeps the company running — the network, the customers, the finances — quietly eroded.

This isn’t a comment on gender or diversity. It’s about a leadership culture that values appearance over results. They didn’t inherit a broken company — they perfected how to hide failure. And now, as another round of layoffs nears, they’ll post about “resilience” while others pack boxes.

Smiles don’t fix towers, routing, or cash flow. The pictures tell the story better than any press release.

The people "leading" this company are some of the worst people I have ever worked with in my entire career.

When I started here, I thought I was joining a serious tech team. Turns out it is more like a finance group pretending to understand tech. The culture feels empty and the talent that used to make things run is mostly gone. It is strange to watch a once solid place lose its identity bit by bit.

Sometimes I look around and realize this place has turned into a waiting room for people hoping to reach retirement before the next round of cuts. The younger ones are already planning their exits and who can blame them? The middle group is stuck trying to decide if it’s worth holding on or if it’s finally time to jump ship before things get even worse.

Meanwhile, the executives keep cashing in and talking about strategic realignment while the rest of us carry the weight and worry about the next reorg. They’ll be fine no matter what happens. The rest of us are just line items on a spreadsheet waiting to be erased.

I know the usual peeps on here will say it is your fault for staying, but it does make me angry and sad how the EC and senior leaders show no humanity to employees. They may have tough business decisions (yeah, yeah, I know as a result of their stupidity) to make but they can’t be decent or kind at all. Basic stuff like asking how people are, 1-1 sessions, managers remembering your kids name, at the start of a conversation or meeting asking what people have been doing (before launching into their script) bla bla bla ….. it just normal human behavour. You do this with your neighbours at home so why can’t they manage it at work ??? Very sad 😞

Have you ever checked our hard-working leader’s Teams status. Check it right now. It’s 2:30 PM CT in Dallas yet it shows he has been away for 3 hours.

He is the CEO of a Fortune 50 company. I understand he may have business travel, but you can always login to the WiFi at the airport, plane, hotel, or pretty much wherever you are.

Also, if you ever check his status in the evening around 5 or 6, he always shows last seen 30 min ago, 1 hr ago, or 2 hrs ago.

So he takes long breaks during the day. And doesn’t work a minute past 4 PM. Yet myself and my colleagues are hard pushed clocking in 60+ hours to meet our bullsh-t convergence goal.

Guys, this guy only cares about himself. Only the best lifestyle that is possible for himself, nothing but the worse for his employees.

Rat has a history and quite a wild history.. look what is going on with ELV SLT

https://x.com/realmattforney/status/1976735339843580370?s=46