#culture

Why don't we include another brutal truth here?

Our costs are out of control and we are failing vs competition and our benchmark is BS.

Are we hearing the feedback from the broader organization?

TB placed it's new guy and he immediately got rid of biggest slacker. Now he is mandated for bigger clean up so next on the line will be the remaining testing people including the bigger lier who got the quality of product on the knees by protecting her puppies and almost ki-ling couple of products where many top performers have left because of her non competence. The next big list is just around the corner so stay tuned

What the heck does it mean to be on the bench? Being a benchwarmer is usually bad but it is discussed as if it is good at Exxon so must mean something different?

Once this was a company employees would be proud of working for but now it’s just a shadow of its former self.
We career from one RIF to the next whilst being told by disingenuous leaders that AI will take care of everything.
Work from the office, no work from home as you won’t have an office. Use google, no Microsoft…no Google etc etc.
There is a total lack of honesty or transparency from leaders. They are all running scared and frantically trying to get on the “relevance” lifeboat. Forget “women and children first”…these guys are cowards only interested in covering their own backs and surviving.
No strategy, no communication, just chaos.

Mandatory distribution of performance reviews will always lead to cutting those with institutional knowledge. As one moves up, the number of people you are distributed against becomes smaller and smaller.

At some point, you are no longer talking about high performers and low performers, but those who are liked better. When the company then uses those reviews to decide who to cut, they are making a big mistake. It results in cronyism.

As you already pointed out, this is rampant in this company. Here's to hoping I get chosen for severance next time.

This company is headed for the trash heaps of history.

Don't ever forget it. You're more likely to get laid off if you're skilled, experienced, and outperform than if you're an average slacker who's just good at office politics. The better you are, the higher the chance you're deemed too expensive for a company that cares neither about the quality of its people nor the quality of what it delivers.

When there are posts of people claiming to be let go, their friend was let go, they know of a team that was let go etc, but they can’t answer when people ask WHERE or WHO even though this is anonymous, it leads me to believe these people are lying. They’re just trying to cause excitement and anxiety and stress.

It boggles the mind, no matter how you look at it. Sorry to everyone affected. I have to believe there are companies out there that actually value what you bring.

Why does this company continue to treat cyber security like an afterthought? Incident after incident, no lessons learned. Hire actual professionals rather than these afterthought staff!

I’m sure there are numerous, but the 360 app team is a total mystery to me. No one responds to emails or messages. It’s impossible to get any answers to XDA or FMP. I am starting to think none of them know the programs and aren’t able to answer questions.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/lawsuits-claim-at-ts-ceo-saw-the-relocation-mandate-as-a-way-to-replace-older-workers-with-younger-ones/ar-AA20YBUD?ocid=BingNewsSerp

Stankey should have a nice read while he’s taking his afternoon dump.

Hard to take any of this seriously when the system tracking “presence” can’t even get it right. We’re making decisions and enforcing policy based on data that clearly isn’t reliable, then calling it accountability. If that’s the goal, maybe start with accuracy first.

Not sure who needs to hear this, but acting like you run the place when you don’t is getting old. Constantly trying to manage everyone, inserting yourself into things that aren’t your responsibility, and acting like you own the company isn’t helping anyone—it’s just annoying.

Also, you’re not the locksmith. Stop changing things, controlling access, or acting like everything has to go through you. It creates confusion and makes it harder for people to actually do their jobs.

Focus on your role, do it well, and let everyone else do theirs.

Just some honest feedback — there’s been a noticeable amount of negative talk about coworkers, and it’s affecting the work environment. Also, there’s a tendency to get involved in things outside of your role, which can come across as overstepping. It might be worth focusing more on sales, staying in your lane, and keeping things professional.

Long story short: Our location out performs Portland and especially remote Tempe employees by miles. Everyone knows this including leads and managers. They just don’t do anything about it because the environment simply put is “someone else will do it.” - very bad perspective, but it’s true. They don’t address the lazy people because at the end of the day the job will get done.

During our team meeting today the last remark was “accountability.” Which I thought GREAT! I have literally been bringing this up to management for MONTHS. However it took a turn when it was directed towards us…. The at/above performing location. Followed by the typical avoidant manager phrase of “you each need to hold yourself to high standards.”

Basically what I got out of it is “We know people aren’t carrying their weight. So that is why we are expecting all of you to carry it for them.” What in the clownery is this work environment?

People at my area, secure, with same people , picking same desk are now coming in Friday. Leave computer on over weekends, come in early Monday.

The 2 days on weekends count

Brilliant system by USBank

Earth day eh? They encourage people to to leave laptop on all day and drive to work

Given that this site is anonymous, isn’t it kind of crazy the amount of speculation that occurs on here? Meaning…no one with information actually posts on here. Incentive being, you can see all these posts of people freaking out, toxicity, anxiety, etc…wouldn’t you think if you had information to share, you’d share it? Like what is the downside? That people hate this place even more? People are more anxious? People stop working? Lol.
It’s already happening. We are the number 1 company on this site. I can’t see things getting much worse. The views per post are insane, given they aren’t bots. People look, but just scroll on by. It’s extremely weird, and asocial. The effort it takes to share info on here is so low…the asymmetrical upside makes it so odd to me that not one person ever shares anything. It makes you realize these people we call “leaders” are some of the most self-centered people we come across in society. Like can you imagine seeing hundreds of people in distress and you SEE IT and had the power to help, and you’re like nah. Everyone at this company goes on this site, VP to analyst, so none of this bs that the plebes are the only people on here. Just so weird. This place is f’d man. Or maybe I’m the odd one out that if I were a VP or above I’d share what I could to help my fellow man/woman.

If it can tell me how to stop anyone at or above p3 from scheduling a meeting to "discuss tomorrows meeting."

Tomorrows meeting by the way is billed as "brief introduction..."

Maybe we can get a Kindergarten teacher to come in and give their TED talk on "introduction best practices?"

For the activity monitoring skeptics. Given how hard charlie fetishizes JPM, still think this concept isn't coming to Wells eventually?

https://fortune.com/2026/03/24/jpmorgan-monitoring-keystrokes-video-calls-meetings-junior-investment-bankers-its-for-employee-wellbeing/

This is the [unofficial] chat for today’s COO Town Hall. Post your questions, comments and concerns here since we can’t truly be honest in MS Teams without fear of being monitored, fired, retaliated against.

I do not know why should I be surprised to see same a$$ kissers in receiving EIA.

Sick to my stomach, after yet another year / quarter where the efforts are not recognized or appreciated.

And no surprises where only the pets in the same location getting all the recognition.

Call me narcissist or petty, but no denying now that all the posts I saw about how managers have their own pets who get all the recognition were true.

The plan is that there will only be a skeleton crew in the US once ALL the cutting is done to still claim we are an American company. Farewell Five9, you were once great.

How does HR continue to let AVPs report to AVPS and Directors with less than 6 people. There used to be span of control and that seems to be a lie.

JVB the corporate queen of organizational destruction is at it again. Glaring ageism on display and everyone sees it and knows it. Forcing generals out and bringing inexperienced and unqualified barely out of boot camp privates in. She’s earned her reputation and will leave this organization in the same shambles as she left MM sales. Arnoldi forced to take this demoted sales failure should really inspect this spin up junkie before ops becomes another failed more, better, faster experiment.

Does anyone have an update on the Irvine plant in terms of another RIF or the culture of the plant rn?

Who all got the survey? I’m sure they’re not going to like what a lot of us have to say.

In 2024, when we were hybrid, I used to be genuinely happy going to work. I was energized, motivated, and excited to contribute to the largest telecommunications company in the United States. But after nearly a year and a half of the five-day return-to-office mandate, I feel completely drained.

Every day is a battle — fighting traffic, searching for parking, and then scrambling to find a desk. To make it worse, people schedule meetings during my commute, which makes no sense.

Back in 2024, I felt bright, energetic, and enthusiastic about the work. Now I feel like Squidward, doing the bare minimum just to get through the day. Whenever I am asked to go above and beyond or deal with some ridiculous request, my response is basically that I am commuting or that I will get to it once I can actually find a desk. The whole thing feels like a joke.

To make matters worse, everyone on my immediate team and in my department seems endlessly enthusiastic about chasing more wireless and fiber gross adds. Maybe some of that excitement is real, but a lot of it feels rehearsed. I look around and see people acting energized and engaged, and it is hard not to wonder whether they actually feel that way or are just playing the part. Honestly, the only place I ever see people expressing what this experience really feels like is on this site. In person, people seem scared to say it out loud. It often leaves me feeling like I am the only one being honest about how exhausting and demoralizing all of this has become, especially because I am overshadowed by so many coworkers who seem enthusiastic about their jobs and about taking AT&T to the stars.

As per the -3 Chief HR Officer a few years back, Clap Now. Eat your slop, little piggies.

there was some kind of huddle meeting with each pod. d-mb a-s manager used an analogy of fast food drive thru employee. lol

Is this how they view us? fast food drive thru employee? what a d-mb bi--h.

yea... I mean employee who has all customers information from their ssn, dob, cc #'s, chk # information and ready to be sold off.

would you like bbq sauce and upgrade it xl size?

what a fu-ken clown leadership is.

TMO already partners with SpaceX. Not sure how ATT will respond but I’m certain VZ will once again fail, as they did with the iPhone years ago. Leaders will tell us it’s nothing to worry about and use word salad and elaborate slide decks to propagandize their message. Some will clap and take photos in a red chair while writing on a post it note. The rest of us will patiently wait for our impending severance.

https://www.fool.com/investing/2026/04/08/spacex-bad-news-att-verizon-t-mobile-starlink/

u need to pay attention to all of this... things that impact decisions... bookmark this somewhere and REMEMBER: personal disputes, retaliation, preserving dominance and status, rivalries, and internal power struggles, often arising from cycles of poor judgment, limited opportunity, trauma, +loyalty

I am the manager of three former ExxonMobil employees:

The first is desperate to please me and shows strong “boss-pleasing” behavior. It’s frustrating because I need him focused on productivity, not on feeding my ego. His results are what matter.

The second reacted strongly when I asked for help moving a table, saying it was a safety risk and refusing to do it.

The third seems to be living in the past. I hear “when I was at ExxonMobil…” at least five times a day.

I’ve started to notice a pattern. Former ExxonMobil employees often seem like they’ve gone through some kind of conditioning and struggle to behave normally in a different environment.

I don’t know what the company is doing to its employees, but it feels intense. They all come across as somewhat distressed, almost like they’ve developed an obsessive or overly rigid mindset.

I’m not sure what to do. They seem like capable employees, but their behavior is unusual, and I don’t want to fire them.

Any ideas on how to “reverse” the ExxonMobil effect?

P.S. They all say they left due to strategic changes, like departments being moved to other countries, not because of performance issues.

Sorry lads

There's clearly a willing contingent that would instantly take them up on it.

Instead they choose to sever people who might really need the job, throwing them into the crocodile pit of the current job market.

Or they push to make working conditions annoying enough that people who have options voluntarily leave (this part of it makes zero sense to me, these are typically the people you can least afford to lose).

Meanwhile the people who stay are made increasingly miserable, both as a result of the voluntary attrition measures, as well as having to operate for years in an environment with zero job security and no end to the layoffs in sight.

How is any of this better than just yanking the bandaid off, and letting workers have a hand in their own fate?

It feels very "the cruelty is the point" to me

Anyone know if answering the pulse survey in a less than positive way result in being marked for termination? Kind of feels like a way to identify workers who aren’t “aligned” …

Great job Vz Board & Dan.

Great strategy... Great Execution.

Paying Dan $1M a month... do the right thing and resign.

Harvard Business Case already written howbto F-K up a once great company with DEI