#talent

MW and JG talking about AI like it's going to change their world.

Maybe it is. We see it in other parts of the world, part of people's day to day. It takes talent, and the talent is leaving.

If I had to guess, the average PSG of the AI team is probably not higher than 22.
All the people working on the data have also exited the company because of the BS and lack of confidence in our completely disconnected leaders.

JG and LC would rather spend tens of millions of dollars on BCG and McKinsey or EY rather than just pay a fraction of that to retain the talent that was here.

The world's best AI practitioners are not dinosaurs like the consultants with MBAs that JG and LC are bringing in. and the ENGINE strategy for AI is a fantasy at best. It's sad that these leaders have completely neutered what was a team with good talent.

No one wants to work for these puppets guided by management consultants who have practically zero experience in AI. If you're using the same consultants who have been here over a decade or two, what are the chances that they know what they're doing?

The best employees in the world are trusted to work where they want, when they want, and how they want. Not because no one is watching, but because they’re capable adults with talent, character, and integrity. When you hire people like that and give them autonomy, they consistently deliver more than any mandate ever will.

A five-day RTO policy sends the opposite signal. It tells top performers they aren’t trusted. And they respond the way the market always does, they leave. What’s left is a shrinking, less competitive talent pool made up of people with fewer options, the bottom quartile of talent.

If connectivity and flexibility are truly our product, we should be the company that proves it works, not the one that contradicts its own message.

Top performers are a threat to weak management. If the company was smart-they would reward their hard workers. They can’t because of this. They are too threatened that those below them are smarter than they are. Intelligence will get you in the door-but Optum is too threatened to keep you.

https://www.inc.com/leila-sheridan/kevin-oleary-loves-why-his-companies-will-never-force-a-return-to-the-office/91291726

https://www.inc.com/leila-sheridan/kevin-oleary-loves-why-his-companies-will-never-force-a-return-to-the-office/91291726

Kevin O’Leary — a real investor with actual companies laid out why forcing people into offices is a losing strategy:
“If you’re trying to say to people, ‘Oh, you got to work in an office,’ you’ll just get the bottom quartile of people who have no choice.”

He points out that in his portfolio of 50 companies, 40% of employees stayed remote after the pandemic and that’s true across the economy.

That’s pure talent economics. If you force everyone back full time, you literally shrink the talent pool to people who can’t choose otherwise. Meanwhile the companies embracing flexibility get the best performers and stay competitive.

This is about facts not feelings. It’s about results, real hiring markets, and the fact that companies that mandate RTO are choosing the bottom quartile instead of competing for top talent. Investors and workers alike see through it.

Was anyone from this org able to stay as a remote employee? Seems like this org’s layoffs really hit remote workers hard. Some very talented and hard working people were let go from this org.

It’s not looking good for TCS. Plan A is moving to cheaper alternatives that better align with the mgcc workforce once the current TCS contract expires.

Get ready for another round of knowledge and talent loss.

Skilled and experienced people can find another job more easily. They'll be the first to quit, followed by many decent people who can't meet the RTO requirements. I don't condone these attrition tactics, I think they're cheap and counterproductive. But if they have such a strong urge to push people out, why not do it strategically instead of shooting themselves in the foot?

The consequences of how layoffs have been handled, the lack of a sound strategy, and the plummeting stock price are resulting in a major loss of talent. Coworkers are leaving for Google, Healthcare Organizations, other tech companies etc. Solutions Architects, Technical Expertise, Managers with specific insights, and others that formed teams built out over the last few years are exiting stage left because of a lack of confidence in leadership, no clear pathway forward, ridiculous bureaucracy, and hollow talking points from the Executive Team. As a result much of the effort and resources that went into building teams for new services and technologies over the last few years is now a clear and abject waste of resources and time, resulting in missed opportunities and long term damage in the marketplace.

I have a feeling that everything will fall apart one fine day in the near future, seemingly without warning. You can't be averse to quality, race to be the cheapest, cut everything and do pretty much nothing else on your way to success, and still expect great results.

Well the long awaited 5-day RTO announcement finally came and in PNC fashion it was an email instead of being covered by the executives at their all hands. Obviously they didn’t want the questions or responses. Demchak is so disconnected from reality it’s comical. Good luck to folks that have been hybrid remote since well before the pandemic, a detail most in leadership seem to forget. Can’t wait for the talent to leave in troves to get paid what they’re worth.

Company wide email to come later this week. Only managers received the communication for now.

After so many layoffs, needing to go to market to fill the position of Principal Applied Scientist in Enterprise AI team is not a good look:

https://careers.chevron.com/en/job/houston/principal-applied-scientist-enterprise-ai/38138/90322089824

What happened to the robust pipeline of talent that was spruiked so enthusiastically by IT leaders only a few years ago? What happened to all the digital scholar wunderkinds who were going to change the company?

It looks especially bad after so many other high-profile departures from Chevron, especially in the IT and data segments.

And who in their right mind with those skills and located in the US would work for Chevron?

(I wonder if whoever lands the role will have to do a Skills Insights assessment, and whether they will be allowed to score above “fundamentals” with their lack of Chevron experience?)

Why is DXC letting top people walk out the door without a fight? I’m not just talking about layoffs but folks leaving for competitors and getting zero pushback. No raises, no incentives, nothing. What's the plan for the future if this is how things are being done?

Wanted to share since everything is cyclical. Looks like we hit bottom on the labor market cuts. Should start turning around very soon. That’s not going to bode well for the tops attrition plans and current treatment of employees. So far they’ve managed to retain more people than they would like; however, with the market maybe starting an upswing, the talent is about to go to greener pastures with higher pay and better treatment. Going to lose the very people they would like to keep. The only thing keeping people here are waiting another year or two to retire (most people), the hangers on do nothings waiting for severance (no offense to you, but you know who you are), and the talent that’s stuck due to a bad job market. The last class of employee is the ones they don’t want to lose, but will be the first to go.

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2026/01/08/layoff-pace-in-december-hit-lowest-level-since-mid-2024-challenger-says.html

The cuts in VBG definitely had to be performance based. I’ve been looking up VBG jobs that have been posted in Jan in various states on Verizon careers website and there are several openings for client executives, senior account manager/account executive roles and the retail smb positions. Some of the cities I selected recently had people riffed in that area/territory last month and now the job is open and there was NOT additional headcount last quarter so the q4 hiring freeze is not the reason the job is open now. essentially they just axed some people to get rid of them and hopefully bring on better talent in Q1. At least that’s how it appears to me, what do you folks think? 🤷‍♂️

You can build all the offices you want. The workforce you’re trying to force into them doesn’t want them.

Five day RTO is not culture. It’s wasted time, wasted money, and wasted talent. People commute for hours just to sit on video calls they could do better from home. There is no productivity upside and no data to support it.

The market has already moved on. Over 80 percent of companies offer hybrid or remote work. Younger talent will not choose a dinosaur policy when better pay, flexibility, and trust exist everywhere else.

As older workers retire, you’re forcing out the next generation before they ever commit. That’s not strategy. It’s self sabotage. Keep spending billions on offices no one wants while the talent pipeline walks out the door.

I just perused my LinkedIn and noticed yet another Chevron contact is moving on to Exxon. This has to be the third person in a month and I don't have a ton of contacts. I don't think I've seen anyone make the move to Exxon before from Chevron (I'm sure it happens), but we definitely had talent coming the other direction in the past. I guess our loss is their gain.

The market is at all time highs and our stock is down 3%, back to $24. Exactly where it was a year ago. Zero progress while everything else runs.

Banks across the board are downgrading the stock to “sell.” Wall Street has no confidence. Employees have no confidence. Yet leadership keeps pretending this is working.

How much louder does the message need to be? This strategy is failing. The stock is dead money. Morale is wrecked. Talent is leaving.

Enough excuses. Enough doubling down. We don’t need more spin. We need real change. Now.

Honestly, Cisco runs on H-1B talent in a very real way—just like a lot of big tech—because it brings in people with deep, specific skills that are hard to find at the exact scale and speed the work demands. These aren’t random hires; a lot of them have strong engineering backgrounds and advanced degrees in areas like software, networking, security, and data. And yeah, it can make things feel more competitive for Americans, but that’s kind of the point: the world isn’t slowing down, and neither is the industry. If you don’t get the role you wanted, you can either sit around and blame the system, or you can level up and come back stronger. That’s the difference between a grown-up mindset and a baby mindset—Cisco (and the people who thrive there) reward the folks who adapt, learn, and keep pushing.

Anyone else seeing experienced hires being promoted ahead of life long company employees? Seems the company hasn’t been doing a great job of developing their own employees so has to go outside for talent now. Lifelong employees beware!

Really really good geologists, engineers…Talent is the real competitive advantage.

They’re creating conditions so no skilled person with options would stick around. You can’t offshore every job. Thinking you can automate anything beyond repetitive tasks is laughable. Chasing the bottom of the barrel guarantees problems. Specific experience, role secrets, and workarounds matter. Paying for quality is an investment, while saving $10 now can cost $100 tomorrow. Apparently, they haven’t grasped the concept. Piles of money, right here and right now, are blinding, I guess.

Wonder if Chevron is hiring good talent folks or just bunch of losers who have nowhere to go.

These workforce cuts are creating a deeper problem that isn't being discussed. We haven't been attracting top-tier talent for a long time because the word is out about how things work here. By letting some of our most capable people go and filling spots with unprepared new hires, PepsoCo is slowly dismantling its own future.

a company in healthier stage was valued less than a company with more than half of talent gone. To think that former WD management adds that much to the premium is something only seen by Wall Street - bulls create unthinkable scenarios

If anything, the better you are at your job, the higher the odds you get cut. The only guiding principle has been the short-term bottom line. Not long-term stability, and definitely not some bold strategic vision. That would require effort. So brace for yet another round of shedding talent and competence.

https://www.trendforce.com/news/2025/11/26/news-beyond-ex-vp-lo-intel-is-reportedly-poaching-tsmc-arizona-engineers-with-20-30-higher-salaries/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

What are they upto?

None of it makes sense. I lost several exceptional people from my team. It feels like the decisions were made strictly by the numbers, and because of that we’ve let go of some truly valuable talent. How is that supposed to work long-term?

Some more major talent left yesterday , many that were the glue for Enterprise customers. There are random sales people that noone knows filling the gaps of leavers.

The 15th of November fell on Saturday so the RIFs rolled Monday . Remember 2024 rolled same dates in January

So, there's a lot going on here… Q3 and we're revving up for Q4… and we're preparing preparing for Q1. you know we have our eyes on the following Q2 and Q3 that comes after that and then that pivotal Q4 kind of ramping out to 2027… pivotal Q1, until 2027 Q2, followed by that Q3 and the Q4, kind of going into 2028 Q1. so there's a lot that we are kind of like laddering up there's a lot, kind of going over and we're gonna make sure that we kind of like we are not boiling the ocean or jumping shark next quarter. And talent retention.

What is going with this team? So many leaders have departed and they are unable to retain talent. Place is a mess and it’s enough time to leave.

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.

We are interviewing at least 3 current Belk planners and buyers at my new company and that's just for open positions on my team hahhahahaaha.

They are losing so much talent and I am here for it. FAFO

I can’t believe how much talent will be forced out over the next year through the country studies. We are struggling for good people already and we are walking off the edge off a cliff blindfolded. It’s not if but when this will blow back.

Every year, the United States opens its doors to tens of thousands of H-1B visa holders — highly skilled professionals, mostly from India and China, who fill roles in technology, engineering, and healthcare. Politicians and CEOs justify it as a necessity: “We don’t have enough qualified workers.” But maybe the real question is — why don’t we?

The U.S. government has built a system that rewards importing talent instead of investing in it. For decades, America has underfunded public universities, allowed tuition to skyrocket, and turned higher education into a business. A degree in computer science or engineering can now leave a young American buried under six figures of debt. Meanwhile, companies say they “can’t find talent” and turn abroad — where other nations educate millions of students in STEM for a fraction of the cost.

Countries like India and China don’t just produce skilled graduates — they do it through public investment. Their taxpayers subsidize the training of engineers who later come to work for Google, Microsoft, or Amazon in America. The U.S. benefits from that education for free. It’s a brilliant deal for corporations — and a terrible one for American students.

The H-1B program wasn’t meant to undercut American workers, but that’s often the effect. It’s a convenient tool for corporations to access cheaper, compliant labor without addressing the deeper issue: America’s refusal to make education accessible and affordable. Free tuition or debt-free public universities would build a domestic pipeline of talent that could easily compete with the global workforce. But such reforms don’t attract corporate lobbyists. Visa programs do.

So, the cycle continues. The U.S. imports the best minds from abroad, while millions of bright young Americans are priced out of their own future. The “land of opportunity” keeps outsourcing opportunity itself.

If America truly wants to stay competitive in the 21st century, it must stop renting its brainpower and start growing it.

How is it that someone walked out of P66 is now doing the same to bring his minions in from the same company. Some really solid talent getting out or being walked out.

Constant reduction in talent, structural cost reductions, feedback like we are going to squeeze until something breaks. How can we maximize shareholder value for the long term when we are just focused on the drive to the bottom.