#employeeengagement

Everything is always doom and gloom here. I'm trying to find something good to say to shake things up a bit, but I'm coming up short. Anyone got anything?

The person they brought in for this wellbeing presentation, is one of the most chilling presenter I have encountered and not in a good way.

There was no emotion, blank stare, no genuine feeling about anything. Everything seemed practiced and rehearsed. I know sociopathic tendencies are rampant the higher you go up the ladder but this one kind of scared me. It’s like I would not ever want to work with that person and can’t take any advice seriously. Maybe it’s just me and so overworked that I have no idea how this will help.

The current union has little to no presence on the floor. There are lots of new employees, yes some of them are lost causes and that’s the narrative more experienced members will run with. Regardless, a lot of new people are not associated or familiar with our union and unfortunately won’t be till radio silence is broken for either a big election or contract. There was no communication last contract until they were looking for us to amend what they presented. A little packet, two excel sheets, vote on that, and no you can’t have anymore details and the FULL contract is confidential.

I would really like some outreach from the union to the floor outside of union meetings, in this day and age there should be other avenues of communications.

If there is no change from the elected union officials then their time in their cushy jobs will be short lived. Though they are not allowed to campaign on company time, I am allowed to make sure they don’t get elected on company time.

So yeah, course correction anyone?

"If you're working, you're not working hard enough. And if you are working hard enough, you're not working long enough. And if you are working long enough, you're not passionate enough. And if you are passionate enough, well, you're not hustling enough. And if you are hustling enough, you're not loyal enough. And if you are loyal enough, you're not focused enough. And if you are focused enough, well, then you can kind of see how this goes..." J. Fluke

I’m getting a lot of “my purpose“ recognition notifications from a bunch of executives I have never met and aren’t even in my hierarchy. Like I don’t report to them in any way shape or form. Almost like they are mistakingly recognizing me, when they mean to recognize somebody else. Has anyone else? I appreciate the effort, but considering how awful this company has been to work for the last two or three years it seems pretty disingenuous. The engagement survey starts next week, the new CEO starts today, etc. It just feels like a bunch of exacts are trying to cover their a-s.

READ BEFORE COMMENT : i thought i didn't get it , then i saw that table had more than one page , when switched to second page it was there just like everyone else .

a lot are already saying they have it ( 28th aug or 21th aug ) no need to stress ..

I’m spending more time trying to figure out how to turn features off that were automatically changed on my Outlook. Then I am actually working because everything is so inefficient and such a pain in the @… but I can’t even turn these features off because they come right back! I hate this. I’m absolutely confident and comfortable with change, but this is just unnecessary unproductive and unwanted.

If they’re gonna put this on our computers, then they need to give us the access to make the changes we prefer in regards to Settings. I’m tired of opening up emails just to have to close out a bunch of automatic Outlook calendar invites that don’t make any sense and we’re not requested or needed!

GIVE US ACCESS TO MANAGE OUR OWN SETTINGS SO WE CAN BE PRODUCTIVE AND TURN OFF THESE DISTRACTIONS AND ANNOYANCES!!!

Everyone staring at their Outlook like…
⊙_⊙

I love this company. I came here from a completely different industry 5 years ago. I was drawn by the owner’s story in a Harvard Business Review article. I still think it’s a great company, on the balance. What I wish the leaders would understand is that AI is an amplifier. If you feed it noise (e.g. “bad” data, unclear business logic / rules), it will amplify chaos. If you feed it good stuff like a piece of beautifully crafted music (e.g. well designed process with “good” data and clear rules), it can turn it into concert. How do you get the “good” stuff? Through your SMEs, through SMEs working closely together, TRUSTING each other, by respectfully challenging each other. It’s hard work. There’s no switch, no buttons you can press. You won’t get there by trusting outsiders, trusting people who agree with you at all times, trusting copilot AI slop, that’s how organizations walk off a cliff. It’s the same old boring things. Cleaner diet, exercise, good habits that determine good health outcomes. Don’t be tempted by the weight loss pills (eg GLP1), because not only are you NOT going to get what you want sustainably. There are a TON of unknown side effects that you will pay a hefty price for. Excellent output requires excellent inputs and excellent process. Right now, the market is up, and we have tolerance for trying out GLP1. What happens when the market is down? Still, I love this firm and its people, and I focus on the little I have control over. There is hope yet

Super Saturday

I just wanted to share a thought regarding the message. I’m sure it wasn’t intended this way, but the wording “For Those STILL Here… Have a Great Rest of the Weekend” could potentially come across as a little discouraging to those who took time out of their Saturday to participate in Super Saturday. I think a simple acknowledgment and thank-you to everyone who made the effort to be there would help people feel appreciated and recognized for their time and commitment. Everyone’s time is valuable, and even a small expression of appreciation can make a big difference in keeping people encouraged and engaged.

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.

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

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

Are there any real leaders that you admire in XOM?

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.

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?

I remember when Target was well known for solving internal problems quickly.

It's been 2 years since I've had a skip level status. Most of my team didn't take the best team survey because they don't believe it works. The biggest problem on our team was never followed up on after the survey.

Get your sh-t together, Target. How about instead of calling consultants you actually talk to the people who work there.

not a good mgmt approach IMO

Every year, employees are asked to be honest and say how they really feel. We take the time to fill out the survey, the results are reviewed, presentations are made, and action plans are discussed.

And then… what actually changes?

LOL. They got tired of planting employee questions from the audience. Playing Jeopardy - made up their own questions to answer. Too funny.

@VP Why does VZ waste money promoting internal employee videos, newsletters, emails on internal website, most employees do not have time to watch list, read, listen but do their 8 hour work.Personally, I work on my feet, not at a desk,yet local manager sends out emails I don't read until days, weeks later, unless I take my lunch.

Taking away the last bits of any real joy we have around here but pretending like they are doubling the investment. This company has no culture left.

Im wondering if the 4 hours on the clock training we are granted per month and the AI My Agent that was announced are going to be delegated by Cisco on what we study and if we use the Agent or not.

Instead, I got no training, no mentoring, and assignments outside my skill set. So much for my expectations.

And please, be honest.

Not with town halls, but real conversations about things getting better? It seems like they're hoping the issue will fix itself.

I changed roles thinking it would help, but it didn't. Nobody leads, nobody mentors, nobody even seems interested in talking to me. My manager has never asked if I need anything or how I'm doing. That's not leadership. That's just someone occupying a title. I'm not staying where I'm invisible.

There is a free Claude partner certification voucher campaign ongoing for dxc employee (ending 31 Aug 2026).

If you are eligible, go claim it.

Workplace excellence often ends up meaning:

looking good
sounding good
being visible
being “aligned”
being socially smooth
fitting the corporate narrative
participating in culture, meetings, rituals

It’s about optics and behavior inside the system.

Work excellence usually means:

delivering results
doing the hard work
solving the real problems
carrying the load
improving the bottom line

It’s about actual output and impact.

Enough people around Stankey have finally gotten in his ear and policy changes are in the works. Senior HR leadership is preparing to roll it out in the next 6-12 months.

It will be presented as a "change to presence report requirements."

It will most likely involve quarterly presence requirements instead of weekly, with some (probably not a ton) of leeway for occasional work from home.

The biggest factor motivating the change is problems attracting and retaining new hires - especially younger workers.

Nobody will tell Stankey directly that he was wrong, but it's being couched as "You've done an amazing job transforming our culture! We're ready to take the next step now."

He's bought into that.

Did everyone enjoy the training on employee disengagement?

How can SAS expect people to be highly engaged when it's clear company goals won't be met which means smaller or no bonuses, fewer or no promotions or raises.... more money for the big cheeses and endless building up of interns and enthusiasm for hiring young people but none of either for anyone else.

Yay SAS.

Do you have a best friend at work?

Sadly many people I thought were a friend fail to stay in contact or even attempt to maintain any links or connection once transferred. If you aren’t useful to them they have no time for you.

This was posted on LinkedIn on 8/18/2026 under "O'Reilly Auto Parts India". If you're an O'Reilly IT employee, does this concern you?

For nearly 70 years, O'Reilly Auto Parts has been helping our customers keep their vehicles on the road. Today, we're building our next tech home in Bengaluru, India, the same way we've always built: through people, culture, and the belief that the best way to grow is from within.​

Welcome to O'Reilly Auto Parts India. We're excited for the journey ahead and hope you’ll join us for the adventure. ​

100s of them remote netflix all day for months, 6 fig with bonus

Pros
Fewer annual reorgs
More 3%+ merit (no 1-2%)

Cons
You'd have a handful of folks "advocating" for you that would have to be elected every 2-3 years
You'd give up 1% of your base annual salary

Thumbs up if you like it. Thumbs down if you don't

There’s a point where “culture” stops being what a company says on LinkedIn and becomes what people actually experience when they work there.
You can post all the polished messages you want about people-first leadership, growth, transparency, and culture—but saying those things doesn’t make them true. Culture is reflected in who gets listened to, who gets protected, who gets developed, who gets held accountable, and ultimately, who chooses to stay.
If leadership continues asking the same small circle of people whether everything is okay—and those people are the ones benefiting from the current system—of course the answer is going to be yes. But that is an incredibly narrow way to measure the health of an organization, especially one that desperately needs to right the ship.
At some point, leadership has to get uncomfortable enough to actually listen. Not just to the loudest voices, the favorites, the “yes” people, or the people sitting closest to power. Talk to the people who left. Talk to the people who stopped speaking up. Look at retention. Look at engagement. Look at production beyond the surface-level numbers. Look at what happened to the travelers and relationships that were handed off to people celebrated as “top performers.” Did those relationships grow? Did those travelers stay? Were those desks actually nurtured—or were they simply inherited?
And if the same people have been sitting in leadership seats for three years while the same problems continue to surface, it is fair to ask whether the problem is no longer the circumstances—it’s the people in the seats.
Leadership should not be a talking head. It should not be gossip, cliques, politics, favoritism, or protecting the people you personally like. Leadership means fighting for your people, advocating when it is uncomfortable, holding everyone to the same standard, and having the courage to admit when something isn’t working.
Stop fluffing certain desks while demanding everyone else prove themselves over and over again. Stop celebrating numbers without examining how they were achieved or what happens after the handoff. Stop confusing loyalty to a leadership circle with loyalty to the company.
Three years is enough time to make meaningful change.
At some point, continuing to do the same things, empowering the same people, protecting the same behaviors, and expecting a different outcome becomes exactly what we all know it is: insanity.
What makes this particularly sad is that this company once talked so passionately about being different. About putting people first. About creating something better than the corporate environments so many people had experienced elsewhere.
Somewhere along the way, it started becoming the very thing it said it would never become.
Profits matter. Performance matters. Growth matters. But people have to matter too.
And when good people continue walking out the door, leadership shouldn’t be asking how to improve the messaging around culture.
They should be asking what happened to it.

This is what leadership and success look like! All bow down to greatness!