#burnout

Seriously? We keep losing people, the amount of work stays the same. Mgmt just keeps asking for more and I am at the point where giving up is the only option I have.

They've got us stressed out constantly. No breaks, no rest, no relief. This company has completely taken over our lives.

It's not even just Verizon anymore. I'm done, period. Been here too long. I can barely drag myself into the office these days. I need out. And I'm willing to take the risk in this market. I'll survive a few months, the big financial stuff is behind me. Mortgage done, kid almost done with school. I can afford to coast for a bit. Frankly, I never want to hear the name Verizon again after this.

After another long sh---y week, consider watching Big Mistakes on Netflix, from Dan Levy of Schitt's Creek, a new offering. It's very funny. Anyone else watching anything fun to distract from the horror?

I used to stay late learning new skills. Used to take on extra projects to grow. Then I watched three people who did exactly that get laid off anyway. Now my full potential is doing my job well enough to not get noticed, because getting noticed here isn't safe anymore.

There's no rock bottom here. There's always one step lower to go.

Working? As soon as that daily Teams call wraps up, I’m already mentally checked out. Got the grill going, burgers and ribs cooking low and slow, just enjoying the smell drifting through the yard. I’m kicking back with a controller.
Fridays are quiet anyway. My manager doesn’t bother anyone so I figure there’s no reason to do anything. Good food, no stress that’s just how a Friday ought to be.

Aka: Get CenturyLink Out

This new "division" is nothing more than Lumens strategic AI vision in real time. The targeted guinea pigs for testing AI solutions within a real working environment... the AI trainers.

This has been mentioned prior and foo-foo'd as fodder. Again, the future of AI lies on corporations bottom line, meaning: the AI sellers, promoters, builders & enablers need to show how ROI is achieved!

GCO is the Truman Show, just watch it all play out. Corporate is going to condition you as "a part of the growth side", which you are, but what role??? Not a philosopher, all the informational and transformational crumbs over the last 2 years have led to this very moment! Training the replacement for 90% of Lumen human jobs, while the other 10% work along side their Virtual AI agent. Pay for educated upskill has just been deleted and the people left will be ramrodded and burnt out... but you all should be proud of your efforts for advancing the bigger cause of proving how ROI will be achieved from an Operations standpoint.

After over 20 years of being loyal to this — barely recognizable firm — the writing is on the wall for me. My leader couldn’t make it any more obvious he is trying to make me quit. I’ve given this firm so much of myself. There were times when I was a salaried pay grade 6 and was “as part of my leadership development”, leading over 10 CW members, while also having a bunch of other cr-p the leaders didn’t want to do (disguised as development), while also essentially handcuffed to my phone taking back-to-back calls for 8 hours a day. Oh, and did I mention also studying for my 7 and 66 off the clock? I was so burnt out; but I pushed through those long (often close to 60 hrs a week) because I never imagined this firm would be in this state of complete and utter disrepair. I wanted to be a lifer, wanted to retire here. I gave this firm my sanity for more years than I’d like to admit. Taken time away from my wife and kids to keep chasing the dream for what should never have even been allowed pay. I hustled. Have had horrible leaders who couldn’t care less about my development. My family. My well-being. But still, I stayed. And mostly as the years went on, I stayed because I had finally made it to the goal pay grade. Was full-time HBA and with 4 kids, that flexibility had been invaluable.

Now? Well, now I think I cost too much money to keep on payroll. I should mention I’m absolutely kicking myself for finding another role here when I was “reimagined” in Aug. I panicked. The job market is trash. After over 2 decades here, I was devastated, honestly . I’m the bread winner. I knew almost immediately after starting this new role I had made a grave mistake in not following my gut feeling of what an absolute nightmare this new micromanager of a TL would be. And she’s worse than I could have ever imagined. I don’t work on a team. I’m an individual contributor and my “performance” is based on her opinion alone. I’ve already been put on a PIP and now a written warning. I’ve been told she, along with AR, have been “investigating” my computer activity and any periods of more than 5 mins “idle time”. I’ve been an HBA FOR OVER 15 YEARS AND HAVE NEVER ONCE had my integrity questioned. Felt like the associate from AR was interrogating me, as I was completely blindsided by the whole thing. Essentially I was told that my activity on the system should at minimum be 8 hours/day. I called several things into question and was denied access to these activity reports in order to try to prove their allegations wrong. I’m now being required to essentially log every hour of work a day for 8 hours. I’m absolutely certain they’re going to terminate me. I’ve never met two more cold-hearted people at this firm and have no intention of staying here any longer than I have to.

I’m sick with anxiety every day. I’ve lost over 15 lbs since in 5 weeks since I was out on a PIP. Worst decision of my life was not taking that BS severance package when it as offered and telling this place to F right the F off and never look back.

Now to my questions:

1) Due to my blind stupid loyalty to this firm, and being HBA, I have banked almost 300 hours on sick time. I know regardless of how employment is ended her that the sick time is never paid off. You just lose it. I have over 30 something days of pay I could’ve used as time off and didn’t. Should I just start burning those days?? I’ve earned them. Could they potentially penalize me for using too many?

2) With almost 20 years here, WHEN they finally terminate me (which will be completely made up or highly exaggerated “performance” issues), will they offer me severance? I’ve been told by several friends that don’t work here that it’s likely they would due to my tenure, the inside knowledge I’ve acquired over all the years and to prevent any chance of a lawsuit (make me sign an NDA or something)

Thanks! This page has been my only source of sanity to see I’m not the only one being completely sc--wed. After the latest round of GPs took off for India last week, I know it’s just a matter of time for so many of us. ELT has burned this once beloved company to the ground while padding their pockets and ruining the lives of associates and their families.

Ever since the Pandemic, this place has been horrible. I am finding it financially impossible to do my job. 100% travel here and they moved my home office to a city 20 miles away. Thats 40 miles per day I’m not getting paid. With gas prices $5 per gallon, it’s becoming impossible to do. I get an 2% raise per year if I’m lucky where in the past 3.8% was the norm. All they talk about is “cutting costs” yet BM lives in NY and commutes to Charlotte. I’ve been through 6 management changes in the past 4 years alone. It’s been micro-aggression after micro-aggression. HR is essentially outsourced in most decisions and they work in call centers in India to give you incorrect information. They are leaning full-in on AI and there is no room for advancement except to be a Merrill salesperson that is 100% commission. There are no jobs. I’m so sad at what has become of this place.

I got home from work the other day, laid down on the floor… felt 100 pct worn out…

My wife looks at me and says, why r u so tired? You were just sitting at a desk for 8 hrs…

Some people do not understand that desk jobs can be exhausting too. It is not just sitting. It is nonstop meetings, phone calls, dealing with different people, navigating sh-t personalities, handling stress, and making decisions all day.

By the end of it, my brain is done. If one more person asks me to do something, I might lose it.

Please tell me I am not the only one.

i come into work every day and smile and make small talk with everyone. i act like everything is perfect. i compliment every body. i make jokes. i laugh at jokes that aren't funny. i don't bring up any problems. if i don't do all of that then it feels like they are just waiting to punish me.

i am really tired of this act. we are not family. i just want to collect my check and go home. so stop forcing me to act. last time i checked i ain't collecting a hollywood paycheck.

The worst corporate manipulation tactic I’ve seen is this…

Mgmt pushes u to your breaking point,
then shame you for breaking…

High performers are the easiest targets.

You absorb more,you try harder, you start blaming yourself.

When someone disrespects u, provokes u,or keeps pushing your limits, pay attention.

You adjust.You work harder.You overthink.

Until one day, you snap, and suddenly you’re “emotional” or “overreacting.”

But the breaking point isn’t the problem.
The situation was never sustainable.

So don’t internalize it.

It didn’t start with you.

Constant pressure, endless questioning, no acknowledgment or reward, and then you're dismissed without a word. Eventually you start doubting everything - your skills, your capacity, your value. And yet, the people I've worked with here have been genuinely competent professionals. That's no accident. Companies do this on purpose. They'd rather have a workforce that's limited and easily controllable than one that's thriving and knows its own worth.

I'd do anything else at this point - different company, different industry, I don't care. Healthcare years are like dog years. One equals five. And I think I just ran out of years.

Whoever's left after the next round is in for a rough time. The company won't spend a dime more on employees, but everyone will be expected to pick up the slack for absolutely nothing in return.

Why is that something that's considered not just normal, but a quality that represents a hard worker? How did we allow it to get to this?

The constant changes and workload is getting out of hand.

If I could leave tomorrow I would. I've been at several companies and this is the worst. Maybe it's my age (nearing 50), or burnout, or just the healthcare industry being awful. Probably all of it. I can barely drag myself in. I just wish the economy didn't have me chained here. Unless they cut me. Would be doing me a favor, really.

It's not as if it will ever pay off. The only thing one can hope for is to be worked to the point of exhaustion, ditched and replaced. Working hard once made sense. Putting in some extra effort opened doors and created opportunities. It's pure masochism these days. What is it? Fear, habit, delusions that it might help you keep the job?

Peak combo of constant crises and steady decline, with the daily expectation of joblessness.

I would otherwise be out without a second thought. I don't know what your experience is, but there are barely any jobs out there. I reached my peak burnout just as there are no options left. Well, I'll just tread water here until better times, trying not to go nuts from having to show up here every day.

Or let me phrase that better, why do we let that be the case?

I can't believe I put myself into this position. The environment is toxic, we have extremely poor people managers, most of them are micromanagers, and tools and processes are broken or ineffective. There is massive burnout not just in my team, but anywhere I look. Getting out of here is my number one goal.

The workload here is insane, but what really gets me is how everyone acts like it's totally normal. Totally acceptable. Working late isn't an exception around here, it's just expected. This kind of pace isn't sustainable and I'm watching people quietly burn out all around me.

I just can't do this anymore. I'd take anything else at this point, even something that pays less. I know the market is rough, I know the odds. But I've got savings, severance would buy me some time, and I'll figure it out. There will be other jobs. Putting aside the constant uncertainty and the overall sense of decline, both of which have been deeply demoralizing, I think I'm just personally burnt out. Not the best time for a major change, but it is what it is.

No offense intended to any recent layoffs or anyone that might be affected in the future.

I am a long term high performer. As a result of a recent reorg, bringing our team into IT that shouldn't be in IT, they put me in a brand new role I'm horrible at and I hate, and are overworking me to death. Not only does my leadership have no fu--ing clue what they're doing, they are extremely thin skinned, and not open to feedback. So fu-k it, maybe they're right, I'm not equipped for a role in their stupid bullsh-t org. I think they're going to fu-k up royally and cost the company a lot of money, but let them own it.

I am now begging, pleading with everyone I know internally to try to find a life raft. I don't even care if I have to take a pay hit, this stress is taking years off my life and will be very damaging to my career. But if I can't find something, externally or internally, I think I just need to quit. This is the d-mbest sh-t in the universe, and I really am the atlas holding a bunch up, so fu-k it, let them deal with the consequences of their stupid choices and yes men bullsh-t. They're about to do something very stupid that's going to pi-s a LOT of people off and make tons of enemies.

Everyone make sure you understand the current business model. 80% of all employees at State Farm, including Leaders, have been here 5 years or less. They are getting rid of U/W, Fire ILR, Chat, Customer Support etc... Around 70% of Auto and Fire claims employees have been here 2 years or less. Wake up! This company is what you call a churn and burn or a pump and dump scheme! They have to message how "people" are the most important thing but in reality they will do everything in their power to make you leave and especially do not want you to get severance or be eligible for unemployment. They make you work in a totally understaffed meat grinder, reassign and then reassign you again to horrible departments. With the constant turnover, they load level others work to the people that are actually good employees which burns them out even quicker. This is not based on stupidity or incompetence but it is a cold, brutal calculated plan that corporate America is using to destroy the American worker. Regain control in their minds. Find a way out and for the love of God do not buy any State Farm products! Tell friends and family too! These people are trash and will do anything to you to enrich themselves.

Here is the rundown:

Moving to a 'open contribution' model. Near 100% adoption of AI across the company.
Moving to an 'AI first' mindset. Ty Thorsen (SVP) announcing new 'AI transformation' team to force the use of AI across the board for all engineers.

Still have no growth strategy, just directions and empty promises, AI is taking over increasing burnout, you know what that means...

Moving fast fast fast and faster, more speed more acceleration more efficiency, aiming higher doing better bigger goals yap yap yap typical corporate jargin bla bla bla be excited about company growth (dont ask for more pay)

Karlheinz wurm could not pronounce 'cost', kept saying 'co-k'

Overwhelming negative feedback in the Q&A about RTO.
The anonymous questions are funnily brutal, the top voted one:
"As an office-first organization, shouldn’t all the leaders on this call be present at their main collaboration sites?"

Ty Thorson (SVP) """"answers"""" RTO concerns:
'While individuals might be more productive at home, teams are more productive working together in person" holy cope

"we are not the only ones doing this..." slap to the face

"Were leading this with a carrot, not with a stick. We are hoping the people will appreciate coming into the office for their team" trying to blame YOU for their bad decisions

Then they start blatently deleting all of the tough-to-answer RTO questions. Absolutely comical as more and more people ask "Why are you deleting RTO questions". So much for being a transparent company.

The rest of the questions are sidestepped and doesnt really answer anything, typical corporate vetted PR talk around the use of AI and how its going to change the world.
Constantly reciting the absolutes, like "all", "most of", "best", "must", "fully", "completely" etc.

People are asking some really brutal questions now, example:
"Someone deleted the question??? Please have all leaders show who is currently in the office if we are to believe you are leading by example"

They keep deleting questions rapid-fire.
Atmosphere gets tense.
No actual questions answered.

"I see concerns about topics like RTO, please message xyz if you feel this way"

"Will we compensate people for gas and time lost coming into the office? Thats not part of Cisco's policy its your responsability to take care of that" lol thanks lets create a problem and expect you to pay for it

The questions in Slido get REALLY heated now, moderation is working overtime deleting messages. More and more questions on compensation not increasing with inflation.

Out of all the leadership speakers, only 4 were in the office.
Everyone couldnt even come into the office to give a talk about returning to the office.
Great lead by example.

The rest of the meeting was a big nothingburger.

It cannot be any clearer how dogshit current leadership is.
If you havent quiet quit by now, this is your signal.

Fidelity appears to have made a business decision long ago in response to shrinking margins, automation, fee compression, and a more self-directed investor base. The problem isn’t the decision itself. It’s how that decision has been operationalized.
When a firm replaces professional judgment with opaque performance systems, “standards of care” stops being a value and starts being a slogan. The micro-management intensifies by design. Weekly one-on-ones. Additional check-ins. Maybe a "visit" from a market leader. More oversight framed as “support.” More and more metrics, but less trust.
I experienced this firsthand. It became a slow, unsettling realization that doing the right thing for clients and doing the right thing for the system were no longer the same thing. That tension doesn’t resolve, it accumulates. Over time, it wears you down. (Which I gather is the objective of a constructive discharge.)
Some people resign. Others try to hang on, only to find their work increasingly scrutinized, their judgment second-guessed, and their margin for error shrinking to zero.
It can be soul-crushing. (Which I think is the idea.) For those living it, the cost isn’t just professional, it’s personal.
Best wishes to everyone currently navigating that reality. If its any consolation, what that environment erodes isn’t talent, it’s morale and morale can be rebuilt quickly once you’re no longer inside a system designed to grind it down.

Bumped from @cf+1kh0ce72y, an on-point post.

After our team was hit in January, everything landed on the rest of us. Same deadlines, same expectations, but with half the people. I'm exhausted and every week it gets harder to keep up. When I say something to my manager, I get told to prioritize. Prioritize what? Everything is urgent.

I don't want to be fired, but I have no intention of going the extra step either. I just do what I have to and that's it. All my extra time is spent looking for something else. And to think I used to love my job.

We used to have a slower season, a time when you could catch your breath and actually think. That doesn't exist anymore. The pace is relentless now, and the workload has become the baseline. Everyone is exhausted, but pointing it out feels pointless because leadership seems to think this is just how it should be.

People talk like it's the most important thing, but nobody talks about what it costs you. The sleepless nights, the constant knot in your stomach, the way you carry the weight of this place into every part of your life. So yes, having a job is good, but don't tell me I should be grateful for something that's making me miserable.

I was desperate for a way out of Fiserv and the opportunity looked amazing. What it ended up turning into was endless hours, impossible deadlines, and constant panic. Now I'm stuck because it's even harder to land a job than when I left. Even Fiserv looks attractive at this point.

I've been trying to leave for a while, but I always chicken out. Honestly, I wouldn't mind if they made the decision for me. I have some backup to bridge me over until I find something else. I just can't do this job anymore. I've reached that breaking point where I can barely drag myself in.

I left a while ago, but oh my God did the stress not stop when I did. Working there, I stopped sleeping, stopped taking care of myself. Almost a year later and I'm still working to feel normal again, even with a much better and less toxic job. Ford leaves a mark.

Is anyone enjoying their breaks?

Tough times are ahead. Again. I'm training myself to use every moment away from work for myself, to stop carrying it with me all the time. I can't influence what's going to happen, so I can at least try to enjoy what precious free time I have. Good luck to everyone next week. Be good to yourself.

I realized just how much I hate and dread my job the moment I realized the relief and happiness I feel come Friday. It's almost physical. Is this really how we're going to live our lives until retirement? I have at least ten years to go, I honestly don't know how my mental health is going to take it.