#performance

I was laid off last week it was so surreal I'm a hard worker, always come in on time, meet company goals, never written up. I get good reviews and exceeds expectations.
But they do this to me? Are they not basing this off job performance?
I'm fighting their notion that I'm always late. I asked late to what! They said they couldn't give me details and sign here is you want the package. Well I signed but I will also be filing for unemployment and giving them a copy of the recording of my lay off! I bet their lies fall apart when I show them my Google Timeline! Also emails and teams messengers screen saved where I constantly responded before 8am. I'm done with these fools!

I have never been through a massive layoff before. For those that have been through this before - is there specific criteria that they typically use? Is it always the lowest performers? Do they target people that have been with the company a long time and are making a higher salary? I am not new to my department, but they moved me to a different team within my department with the first wave of VSP last year (which I wasn't happy about). While I am definitely not considered a low performer, I am however the least experienced on my team with the particular work that we do. As we get closer to the November 20th date, I am starting to really worry that I will be selected.

Shareholders care about capital gains. Is XOM going up? No. Hardly keeping up with inflation. Then what the f is the management doing?

Our manager just raised our quota again, like we’ve got unlimited hours in the day. I’m pretty sure he thinks he’s boosting performance, but all he’s really doing is making it impossible to provide decent service. Can he even do that? I know for a fact this isn’t a company-wide change, and it’s not the first time he’s pulled this stunt.

so it’s almost 1year for D Amman now as the Upstream President; how has he done so far? Nailing it and ready for the CEO or all talk and no trousers

Does an exceptional performance rating guarantee a promotion in Fid folks?

https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ai-work-use-performance-reviews-1e8975df?mod=hp_lead_pos7

For those of you too cheap to pay the buck a week:

Julie Sweet, the chief executive of consulting giant Accenture ACN 1.83%increase; green up pointing triangle, recently delivered some tough news: Accenture is “exiting” employees who aren’t getting the hang of using AI at work.

The firm has trained about 70% of its roughly 779,000 employees in generative artificial-intelligence fundamentals, she told investors. But employees for whom “reskilling, based on our experience, is not a viable path” will be shown the door, Sweet said.

Rank-and-file employees across corporate America have grown worried over the past few years about being replaced by AI. Something else is happening now: AI is costing workers their jobs if their bosses believe they aren’t embracing the technology fast enough.

From professional-services firms to technology companies, employers are pushing their staffs to learn generative AI and integrate programs like ChatGPT, Gemini or customized company-specific tools into their work. They’re sometimes using sticks rather than carrots. Anyone deemed untrainable or seen as dragging their feet risks being weeded out of hiring processes, marked down in performance reviews or laid off.

Companies are putting their workers on notice about their AI skills amid a wave of white-collar job cuts. Amazon.com announced layoffs last week that affected roughly 14,000 jobs, while Target recently shed 1,800 corporate roles. International Business Machines has also disclosed thousands of cuts. Executives at Amazon and IBM have tied workforce cuts to the technology in statements this year.

Julie Sweet, CEO and Chair of Accenture, speaking at CES 2025 in Las Vegas.
Accenture CEO Julie Sweet says the company is “exiting” employees who aren’t getting the hang of using AI. Overall, the company expects to increase head count in the 2026 fiscal year. Steve Marcus/Reuters
Some companies are training people in how to use the tools—but leaving it up to them to figure out what to use them for. There are countless possibilities for how to deploy AI. Some businesses have required training classes or set up help desks to coach employees on how to incorporate AI into their work. Others are putting the onus on staff to think creatively about how to make money or save time with the tech.

That can prompt exciting innovations—or it may come at the expense of getting work done. Or both.

At enterprise-software company IgniteTech, leaders required staff last year to devote 20% of their workweek to experimenting with AI. On one such “AI Monday,” staff brainstormed ways to speed up processes like automating responding to customer-service tickets. Employees also had to share on Slack and X what they were learning about AI.

CEO Eric Vaughan said that employees self-assessed their AI usage and, afterward, the company used ChatGPT to rank the results. After a human review, IgniteTech cut the lowest-scoring performers.

“By their own admission, they’re in the basement,” he said. “So now they have to leave.”

It wasn’t easy: Vaughan recalls speaking with his wife over that time about the changes, feeling “terrible.” But he said he felt AI was an existential threat, and that if IgniteTech didn’t transform, the company would die. One tough exit was the chief product officer, who had been with the company for years. He and others were model, productive employees historically but were resisting the AI mandate, said Vaughan, who also leads GFI Software and Khoros.

Eric Vaughan, CEO of IgniteTech, speaking at the FT AI Summit.
IgniteTech CEO Eric Vaughan required staff last year to devote 20% of their workweek to experimenting with AI. Ghelani Studios
Greg Coyle, that executive, said he had bought into AI’s potential to improve IgniteTech’s products and add new capabilities. But he took issue with the nature of the widespread cuts, particularly because the technology is in such an early stage.

“Doing this rapid culling of your workforce, it’s very risky,” he said. “If your AI plan doesn’t work out the way you expected it to, it’s a huge risk for the business.”

After a round of cuts, Coyle said he pushed back against an AI mandate in late 2023 in an executive meeting. He said he felt the company wasn’t working strategically as it pushed out staff. A few months later, he said, he was fired.

AI, Coyle said, is “coming whether we like it or not. You either get on board or you get left behind.” But, he added, “I don’t believe that you take this brute force, across-the-board approach to AI in the business.”

Vaughan said the company has since hired AI specialists to replace the laid-off staff. Accenture has said that it expects to increase headcount this fiscal year.

At workforces large and small, plenty of workers are hesitant to adopt AI, fearful that widespread adoption will innovate them out of a job. They also doubt the technology can do the job as well as they can.

Share of responses from U.S. workers who don't use AI tools when asked to select the main reason why not

A recent Gallup survey found that more than 40% of U.S. workers who don’t use AI say the main reason is they don’t believe it can help their work. A smaller share, 11%, said their primary driver was that they did not want to change how they worked. While AI adoption has grown in the past year, working Americans are about three times as likely to say they aren’t prepared at all for AI as opposed to “very prepared,” Gallup found.

Many employees, even when exposed to AI tools that companies spend a lot on, aren’t biting. When researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology reviewed more than 300 AI initiatives, they found only 5% were achieving quantifiable value. Employees flock to tools like ChatGPT and Microsoft’s Copilot for their ease of use, but don’t often adopt other software.

A big impediment, the researchers found, is that many of those tools aren’t yet programmed to learn from users’ past interactions. That makes approaching a human colleague a better option for complex work. The best return on investment, the researchers found, has often been on back-office functions.

Prioritizing AI adopters
Companies are finding other ways to push staff to integrate AI into their work.

At McKinsey, analytic problem solving is at the heart of what consultants do. When that skill is measured in future performance reviews, consultants will be evaluated on how they make decisions with AI. Now, in assigning staff to some client projects, McKinsey gives priority to employees who are trained in AI, said Kate Smaje, a senior partner and global leader of technology and AI.

People in KPMG’s human-resources division are assessed on how well they collaborate with AI in their wider evaluations, the firm’s head of people said.

PwC is requiring AI training for its newest hires. It kicked off a nine-piece pilot curriculum for new-graduate associate hires in October, including lessons on “prompting with purpose,” designing workflows that include AI and instruction on how to use the tools responsibly.

And at a fall PwC all-partner meeting with thousands of attendees, working with the technology was part of the agenda. The multimillion dollar investment in AI training “will absolutely pay off,” said Margaret Burke, the firm’s head of recruiting and learning and development.

At Concentrix, a customer-service outsourcing company with more than 400,000 staff, bosses recently realized low-performing developers weren’t using AI.

“You find out those people are refusing to adjust,” said Ryan Peterson, Concentrix’s chief product officer.

Concentrix hired Peterson from Amazon in 2024 with a mandate to find ways to incorporate AI across the company. Its attorneys now use AI to redline new versions of contracts. The technology flags clauses that the company would never agree to in negotiations—like accepting unlimited liability, Peterson said. These efficiencies mean that Concentrix was able to redeploy 10 attorneys to higher-value negotiation work and litigation management.

Purchasing teams use the technology to compare requests for proposals, and marketing teams now use it to format and template emails, he said.

Concentrix’s CEO said in a June earnings call that he doesn’t foresee a “massive decrease” in employment, though he noted that declining head count is a possibility.

‘AI will, not just skill’
Multiverse, an education-tech company in London, states that its mission is to advance AI adoption. Each quarter, it awards an employee who has come up with the best uses for AI 10,000 pounds, or about $13,000. Finalists this quarter include the creator of a paperwork automation system that cut a 30-minute task to five minutes and someone who made a sales aide that creates a customized briefing based on publicly available information.

Job applicants at Multiverse are asked in interviews how they use AI in their lives, and in one assignment, prospective hires write prompts to complete certain tasks, said Libby Dangoor, who oversees the company’s human resources and AI among other areas. If applicants are skeptical of AI, it would be picked up in the application process, she said.

“We have to hire for AI will, not just skill,” she said.

LinkedIn job postings requiring AI literacy skills have expanded by 70% in the 12 months ended in July, according to the site.

Annie Hamburgen hiking in Torres Del Paine, Chile.
When Annie Hamburgen began a job search after an extended trip to South America this year, prospective employers kept asking her about AI. Annie Hamburgen
Annie Hamburgen, 28, of Incline Village, Nev., left her marketing job in March to travel in South America. When she came back and began looking for new work this summer, prospective employers kept asking her about AI. “I’ve been trying to demonstrate my openness to learning while making it clear that I’m not going to blindly type things in and accept whatever result comes out,” she said.

Hamburgen recently got hired for a role leading integrated marketing and starts on Monday. In conversations with her future boss, it’s been clear that she should be using AI to synthesize information. A common refrain: “Type it into Grok!”

Still can't believe how useless 60% of the LL5, LL6, Supervisors are at Ford.

If the growth projections were unrealistic, how did Frank beat them every quarter he was CEO? Is some of this you couldn't match up?

Has anyone had performance reviews this year? Any raises?

I'm sure there's some logic behind getting rid of the best performer on our team, but I sure as he-l can't figure it out. I guess that's why those on top are paid the big bucks. /sarcasm

It’s not entirely surprising to see these results when a company that’s neither growing nor shrinking decides to place relatively inexperienced people into senior roles across different parts of the organization, all at once. From one group to another. The decline in EBITDA and EPS speaks to something deeper — a lack of true leadership, professionalism, and understanding of how to steer a business forward.

What’s more concerning is the culture that seems to celebrate losses — where layoffs are treated as a sign of “efficiency,” masking deeper issues and compensating for poor financial performance. It’s an organization that appears more focused on politics than outcomes.

At this point, the “P” might as well stand for Party — because for some at the top, the rewards keep flowing regardless of results. The irony is that leadership likely recognizes these systemic flaws but continues to indulge in a system that benefits them. In the end, it’s the long-term everything is eroded including their own proposed values.

Customer service and technology employees differ significantly from shopfloor workers, rendering the principles of Scientific Management and productivity gains through motion studies irrelevant and ineffective in these roles.
However, Truist, as a service-oriented company, places undue emphasis on the Sapience tool to measure productivity. While this highlights Sapience’s success in marketing and selling its productivity tool to large corporations, it raises concerns about its appropriateness for evaluating service and technology roles.

While the new leadership is focused on cutting, Customer service needs to be addressed as the top priority:

https://www.reddit.com/r/verizon/comments/1oqujew/in_case_anyone_dealing_with_verizon_support_right/

This is just one example. I had a family member have the same issues this week, and cancel Verizon service.

A few things the leadership has to get right:

• Customer Service #1
• Ease of doing business with VZ, including intra-VZ customers/services
• Ki-l money losing businesses
• Collapse the org chart, and maximize resources in the process.
• Give employees a reason to be proud and generally happy. I dont think one discount perk will fix that. But, employees have to feel valued!
• Performance Culture, we expect excellence from employees

Layoffs will happen, but it can't be the headline of the business. or the #1 priority.

When the only thing that “matters” is quarterly performance, leadership starts trimming everything that isn’t a number that moves the stock. Pay. Comfort. Flexibility. Those are the first to go.

Directors and VPs play it safe. They tighten rules not because they believe in them, but because they’re scared to stick their neck out. Fear trickles down faster than trust ever does.

In orgs that reward visibility over results, advancement goes to the safest pick, not the strongest performer… the chosen few keep things calm, nod along, and soothe the people above them…

Real competence can unsettle because it exposes gaps and weaknesses... when u do excellent work leaders are forced to confront how little control they actually have….So instead of building strength, these systems recycle timidity and value loyalty much more than leadership. Once the loop starts each layer shields the one above, and real talent burns out or walks. This is how mediocrity becomes the norm.

AI baby!

BP has said it will ramp up efforts to hive off parts of the business, as the energy company reported a drop in profits in its latest quarter.

The company reported an underlying profit of $2.2bn (£1.7bn) in the three months ended in September. It marked a slowdown against its previous quarter, when it made a profit of $2.4bn, but beat analyst expectations of $1.98bn.

Its chief executive, Murray Auchincloss, who is under pressure from shareholders to reverse years of underperformance by moving away from renewable projects and increasing investments in oil and gas, said BP would push to sell off parts of the business faster.

“We are looking to accelerate delivery of our plans, including undertaking a thorough review of our portfolio to drive simplification and targeting further improvements in cost performance and efficiency,” he said.

Auchincloss, who has vowed to sell off $20bn of assets by the end of 2027, added that he expected the company would have sold or announced the sale of $5bn worth by the end of the year.

BP’s new chair, Albert Manifold, told staff on his first day in the job last month that the company needed to accelerate a plan to cut costs and sell assets.

BP has already managed to agree to sell its US onshore wind business to LS Power, as well as a deal to offload its Dutch retail fuel sites and its electric vehicle charging hubs.

This week, BP also agreed to sell its stakes in US shale assets for $1.5bn, including four Permian central processing facilities: Gand Slam, Bingo, Checkmate and Crossroads.

However, BP did not provide an update on the sale of its multibillion-dollar Castrol lubricants unit, which will be a central part of its plan to raise at least $20bn by 2027.

The company is under pressure from Elliott Management, the activist New York hedge fund that is known for its attempts to shake up listed companies. It has built up a stake in BP and has been pushing the company to cut costs.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/nov/04/bp-asset-sales-fall-in-profits-oil-gas

What is the timeline for

1. Manager submit perf rating.
2. Bonus amount confirmed.

I got the enroll in deferred compensation email today .

Here's what will be said at the town hall:

1. The company is performing very well due to BT.
2. All employees are fully embracing BT.
3. Asinine questions from shills planted in the audience
4. Few if any real questions will be addressed
5. Go-Go will say "full speed ahead".

This isn’t rumor, emotion, or gossip.

This is what the company itself has said, plus the math that follows from it.

No fluff. No slogans. Just reality.

Where Xerox actually is:

• Q3 cash generation did not cover costs; free cash flow driven by working-capital timing, not profits.

• Legacy business declining on a like-for-like basis.

• GAAP gross margin is 22%, very thin to support debt, restructuring, investment, and dividends.

• Significant debt added to fund acquisitions.

• Leadership has stated we do not have 2 years to fix this.

• Workforce reductions confirmed to continue into 2025–2026.

• Integration urgency now tied directly to SURVIVAL narrative.

• Merit / raises tied to profit (uncertain to say the least).

• Strategy locked: no pivot planned, only “execute faster”.

This is a turnaround under time pressure, not a routine quarter.

What has been signaled:

• The model is right, execution has failed!

• The company will run out of runway without faster performance!

• More layoffs are expected!

• Every function and region expected to “do more with less”!

• Employees told to stop prioritizing personal situations and put the company first!

• Execution failures = leadership changes!

The bets are already placed. No turning back. Sink or swim on execution.

Employee reality:

• Job security is performance- and speed-dependent.

• Raises contingent on profitability, not guaranteed.

• Higher workloads, fewer resources.

• Culture shifted from “corporate career” to “survival, sprint, sacrifice”.

Clear message: contribute at full speed or self-select out.

What happens next? Likely 12–18 month environment:

• Continued restructuring & RIFs

• Ongoing cost compression

• Integration friction + tech platform migration

• Talent drain and forced performance pressure

• Narrow focus: cash, margin, execution speed

Best case? Turnaround works, company stabilizes, slow growth returns.

Middle case? Extended grind — layoffs, morale erosion, cash tightness.

Worst case? cash performance fails... strategic alternatives come to play (asset sales / debt restructuring / Private Equity involvement).

All are standard outcomes in leveraged turnarounds; which one we hit depends on speed, cost takeout, and execution.

Bottom line:

• Xerox is no longer operating in “business as usual”.

• This is SteveB's plan A: execution speed vs. cash runway.

• There is no plan B. And plan A must work quickly.

• Everything else — morale, culture, careers — is secondary to operational survival right now.

Wartime rules are in effect. Everyone just heard it live.

The mood shift, the urgency, the tone, the pressure... all real.

This is what corporate in distress looks like when management says it out loud.

Now you know.

Nothing seems to have a good captaincy anymore. Sailors are shaking the boat. In Visa domain knowledge and love for systems is not rewarded anymore. New direction is looking at easy points. Share prices stumbling. Old people are let go. Maybe if there's any small indication, it is right time to part.

Anyone else unable to access the My Performance section of the HR portal to enter their year end comments?

Will someone please post what the Bonus payout percentage is, if it was emailed yet or when they do send it? As someone that was laid off this summer, we’re eligible for pro-rated payment and I’m curious where it’s sitting at as of Q3. I saw a post about the GTH and usually they release it around the same time but haven’t seen anyone mention it.

• Irrespective of performance
• 3-6 month packages

Now a new sales target tier has been unleashed. It starts at one million and Ends at seven miiion we already had sales tiers before
This is the new company making up new things. Even if they existed

We know leadership at a certain point is about potential- not actual merit or experience/ qualifications.

Who would you say our great leaders would be if it was really up to merit and qualifications?

Demolished. Down $111.00 in 18 months, with buybacks. I guess the investors just don’t trust us yet? Put the guy from Slalom in. Or anyone.

The remote workers not performing should be the first to go! WFH doesn't equal watching Jude Judy and going to the mall or getting your hair done etc. Those acting like that did put themselves on this list while those that preferred to be in the office and PERFORM should prevail as well as the WFH employees that actually do their jobs! The lazy as--s are ruining it for the legit WFH employees. Just watch! The WFH 3 days a week hurt us bad! Complacency is through the roof! We also have too many damn AD's. Everywhere I turn there's an AD making $150-$180K. It's stupid! Get Russo out!

We're up 11% in public cloud ARR, vantage is winning in the market

Athina’s podcast is back…

Unsure who the he-l would listen to this. How “transformational” can a Strategy & Transformation officer be when their company's stock is only up 3% over her 5 year tenure????

She needs to go, this toxic S&T culture starts with her, absolute corrupt coward who acts like a dictator

With this new system, and unattainable goals: how can a goal be set if management doesn’t allow you to meet it? It seems like a very complicated way of saying gotcha!

All the performance managers, to marketsource.

When will the company share sales performance and financials for the new brand?

Performance/Talent reviews are happening now for Director levels and above. Districts will consist of around 10 stores. SMs will take on a larger roll and accountability will increase from Rep level up. No more minimum threshold. Basically you hit your quota or get out starting 1st quarter once holiday traffic slows and less staff is needed. It’s going to be an apocalypse in retail for the bottom feeders.

The Employees and Wall Street dont believe Raul F. "The debut of the Xponential AI framework adds a fresh storyline, but with not a single major analyst rating DXC a 'buy' – unlike its IT services peers – the company’s still playing catch-up.

As digital transformation gathers pace globally, DXC’s stronger cash flow and AI push could keep it in the game for the long haul – as long as it can deliver on its promises."

Usually there is an email sent out around this time of year for progress on Success Bonus. If green or yellow or whatever. Anyone seen it? Any word from the suits on our bonus?

I get the feeling that whoever’s making these layoff decisions is just incredibly lazy. Cutting by numbers without any deeper thought, let alone real strategy. My team hasn’t had some roles backfilled since forever, and you can definitely feel it in our performance and workload. I think the company loses far more than it gains by letting people go. Layoffs have turned into nothing more than a performative exercise to prop up the stock.