#corporateculture

All European companies hire McKinsey to understand how they can run their business better. But McKinsey is not working for the benefit of these companies or Europe. McKinsey is working for the benefit of billionaires in the US.

Recently McKinsey asked Volkswagen to close 8 of their 10 German factories and lay off almost everyone.
https://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/unternehmen/volkswagen-mckinsey-soll-angeblich-schliessung-fast-aller-deutschen-werke-empfehlen-a-89c85f97-0964-40b0-ad5f-7163ea7c1925

McKinsey is also the reason why the executive board want to fire SAP employees. This entire narrative that SAP should fire almost everyone and replace them with AI comes from US billionaires through McKinsey.

My hot take is that SAP should fire McKinsey. It will save millions that we give them each year. And SAP should focus on innovation instead of using stupid US marketing and laying off employees and making customers angry. Christian Klein is only doing all this because he plans to join the McKinsey Germany board after he leaves SAP. And that's wrong.

Can anyone confirm/deny if there will be layoffs at the corporate HQ’s this upcoming month?

Truist's culture has officially become the worst. They are the laughing stock of the banking industry. Bad teammates will get promoted because they fit the new culture, and leadership will get worse with the corporate gaslighting. There's no hoping that they will change and do right by the teammates. Think about this when you're driving into the office or sitting at your desk tomorrow.

What’s exhausting is the sense that there’s a permanent inner circle. The same names recommend each other, amplify each other, and open doors for each other while outsiders are quietly ignored. It creates a culture where talent and contribution matter less than who you’re already connected to.

Paisner v. Tan, Del. Ch., No. 2026-0307
Paisner v. Tan is a shareholder derivative action filed in the Delaware Court of Chancery on March 5, 2026, seeking to void an "extortionary" deal involving a 10% stake in Intel Corporation sold to the U.S. government.
Case Overview
Plaintiff: Richard D. Paisner, an Intel shareholder represented by Heyman Enerio Gattuso & Hirzel LLP and GM Law.
Defendants: Lip-bu Tan (Intel director), other Intel board members, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and the Department of Commerce.
Core Allegation: The lawsuit alleges that Intel's board was coerced into issuing approximately 10% (9.9%) of its equity to the Department of Commerce (DOC) for "no meaningful consideration" following public demands from President Donald Trump.
Key Legal Arguments
The complaint, which was partially unsealed on March 11, 2026, asserts several grounds for invalidating the transaction:
Lack of Congressional Authority: The suit argues that only Congress can authorize a federal agency to become a partial owner of a publicly traded company, and no such law exists for this transaction.
Extortion and Coercion: It alleges the board succumbed to "well-founded fears" regarding personal and professional relationships after President Trump publicly claimed CEO Lip-bu Tan was conflicted and should be fired.
Illegal Voting Agreements: The deal reportedly included provisions requiring the government to vote its 9.9% stake as directed by the Intel board and pledged government support for sitting directors. The plaintiff argues this created a conflict of interest by providing directors with a unique benefit not shared by other shareholders.
Pretextual Funding: The complaint claims the government demanded the shares as a "pretextual advancement" of funds Intel had already earned under a 2024 CHIPS Act agreement.
The case was initially filed under seal on March 5, 2026, and unsealed on March 11, 2026, with certain confidential information redacted. The plaintiff seeks an order canceling the deal and unspecified damages.
Bloomberg Law News

Good article from "The Hill" on remote work, flexibility and why mandates just don't work.

https://thehill.com/opinion/technology/5775420-remote-first-productivity-growth/

"...Leaders sometimes argue that stricter in-office rules are needed to fix collaboration or innovation. The better path is to raise the bar on management, not badge swipes. The Institute for Corporate Productivity report describes organizations that use “magnet, not mandate” logic, pairing remote-first defaults with intentional gatherings, clear policies and outcome-based performance management. The combination produces high trust, defined norms and sustained results.

The risk profile for mandates is asymmetric. If they fail to lift performance, you absorb morale damage and replacement costs while sending a public signal that policy, not management, is your lever. If they “work,” the effect often comes from short-term pressure rather than durable operating improvements. .."

"...Executives face a choice. They can pursue badge-driven control that fails to raise performance and risks losing their best people, or they can treat flexibility as a strategy, design for trust and clarity, and measure what matters. The organizations that choose the latter are building stronger teams and better businesses. The smart move now is not to roll back flexibility — it is to raise the standard for how you lead..."

That feeling is completely dead now. If you told me 15 years ago this is where we'd be, I'd call you a liar. Yet, here we are.

Is it March 10th? Are we really doing this again with the whole "second Tuesday of the month" purge timeline? We literally just went through this in 2024.

not so friendly reminder…

When corporate says bring your whole self to work, please do not.

Bring your professional self. The edited version. The safe version. The one that says good question even when the question made absolutely no sense.

When someone asks what did you do this weekend, you do not tell them you were dancing on bars, binge watching shows, or questioning your life choices.

You say you relaxed and recharged.

When the big boss tells a joke that completely dies in the room, you laugh. Not because it was funny. Because everyone understands the script.

Here is the truth nobody says out loud.

Corporate is theater.

Meetings are scenes. Titles are costumes. And most people are acting like they have everything under control.

That is why they call them performance reviews.

Some people think corporate sucess is purely about talent. Sometimes it is. But a lot of the time it is about knowing when to nod, when to stay quiet, and when to say great point.

so if you want to survive corporate…

work on your acting.

because the people winning the game are not always the most qualified.

They are the ones who understand the stage.

REALITY check??

Am I wrong, or just saying the quiet part out loud?

He will sweep UHC American Technical jobs all to India, with Steve saving money for the shareholders and collecting his big Bonus for cutting cost at the expense of American Workers. Walkout March 27 -- Stop work. Hit them on the bottom line.

What is the deal with the hatred towards IT at Chevron? Its pure he-l working here in IT as you are treated as a 3rd class citizen. We are the first for our ignorant ELT to pick on for cuts all while that advertise around Houston how they are technologically advanced and talking about how important IT is. For those who say we dont pump oil, try to do your job now without IT. Like getting paid, well software makes it happen.

Help me understand this. We buy companies. Some of them are good, some su-k, so quality varies. What's constant is what we do after the acquisition. We always run them into the ground, destroy any value that exists, they stop innovating or developing technology, and the whole thing turns out to be a dud. Why does this always happen?

These people are trained to talk for hours without saying anything. And it absolutely grates on me when they wrap bad news in sickly sweet language. What's the point? It reads like a horror story instead of easing anything. Just fuels more frustration. I'm still waiting for the day I meet someone who's just straightforward.

(A message from the very tired Paul Revere of HR)

Greetings, Esteemed Anonymous Contributors,

We at BNY Mellon are delighted — truly delighted — to discover this vibrant digital community dedicated to spirited discussions about our organizational “evolutionary workforce optimization cycles” (a phrase we prefer over the less nuanced term layoffs).

While we typically communicate through carefully curated press releases and town halls where no one answers questions, today we bravely venture into the wild frontier of anonymous internet forums to “set the record straight.”

First, we want to assure you that we absolutely, unequivocally, categorically do not monitor this site. We would never assign interns to track sentiment, #hashtag labels categorize emotional volatility, or flag posts containing the words “reorg,” “offshoring,” or “my manager hasn’t made eye contact in three weeks.” Any suggestion that we do so is purely speculative and frankly flattering. We appreciate the vote of confidence in our operational capabilities.

Now, regarding the persistent rumors of layoffs:

We hear you.
We value you.
We appreciate your passion for rumor‑based fearmongering and forecasting.

But let us be clear: layoffs at BNY Mellon are not “layoffs.” They are strategic talent recalibrations designed to ensure we remain competitive in a rapidly evolving financial ecosystem. Think of it like pruning a tree — except the tree is you, and the pruning shears are held by someone who has never met you but has strong opinions about your cost‑to‑productivity ratio.

Some of you have expressed concern that these recalibrations seem to occur annually, quarterly, monthly or whenever the stock price declines a tick or the EC gets bored. We assure you this is not the case. Our workforce decisions are guided by a sophisticated algorithm that considers dozens of factors, including market conditions, operational efficiency, and whether your department head recently attended a conference about Eliza, AI investment and Build'26 automation. All neatly tied to your stretch 2026 Workday performance objectives which you are guaranteed not to meet.

We also want to address the perception that leadership communications lack transparency. This is simply not true. Our leaders are deeply committed to transparency, as demonstrated by their frequent use of phrases like “we’re on a journey,” “we’re transforming,” and “we’re excited about the future.” If you find these statements vague, that is because true transparency requires a certain level of abstraction. We cannot reveal everything — not because we don’t trust you, but because we don’t want to spoil the surprise ending.

Some users here have suggested that morale is low. We find this surprising, given our robust suite of employee engagement initiatives, including:

• Mandatory town halls and BK Live events with your favorite EC team
• Mandatory RTO days with no WFH or controlled WFA days
• Mandatory mindfulness webinars held during lunch
• Emails reminding you to take PTO while simultaneously increasing your workload
• Town halls where questions are pre‑screened to ensure no one accidentally asks something real
• Leadership videos filmed in front of abstract art to symbolize “innovation”
• Free donut Thursdays and of course our deliciously brewed coffee and Kool-Aid!

We believe these initiatives demonstrate our unwavering commitment to your well‑being.

We also want to dispel the myth that offshoring is replacing domestic roles. This is a misunderstanding. We are not replacing roles — we are globalizing opportunities. If your job responsibilities now reside in another hemisphere, consider it a testament to your influence. You have gone international and are now deemed export-worthy.

Finally, we’d like to address the recurring theme that BNY Mellon prioritizes profits over people. This is a mischaracterization. We value people immensely — especially the ones who help us achieve profits. Without profits, how could we continue investing in the technologies that allow us to reduce the number of people we need? It’s a beautiful, self‑sustaining cycle of innovation and involuntary career mobility.

In closing, we thank you for your continued engagement, even if it occurs on a social media platform we definitely do not read. Your feedback is invaluable, your dedication is inspiring, and your speculation is… spirited.

Please remember:

We are all in this together — though some of us are in it more temporarily than others.

Warmest corporate regards,
BNY Mellon (Hypothetically and Definitely not Legally)

Build A Rocket Boy implemented further layoffs at the company. CEO Mark Gerhard described the decision as deeply painful. He also claimed overwhelming evidence of corporate espionage and sabotage. The studio previously launched the action-adventure game MindsEye. MindsEye received negative reviews and was the worst-reviewed game of 2025.

Scotland

https://opencritic.com/news/27446/mindseye-studio-build-a-rocket-boy-announces-more-layoffs

On the Beat, seeing some red faces trying to sell these budget restraints.

Cost Shareholders minimum $150-$200 Billion.
T-Mobile
DTV
Time Warner
Lots of smaller potatoes as well in their shareholder evisceration stew.
Each of those two Dolt Headed CEO's will walk or have walked from their tenures with $250M each and all the perks.
Remember executive compensation is never linked to share price at ATT. Just metrics that are easily manipulated and massaged.

Has anybody else noticed the increased number in generic five-star reviews and decrease in negative ones? It could be argued that people are simply happier here and talking about it (with very similar, soulless phrases), but anybody who works here knows that's bull. What happened? Is Glassdoor another corporate sellout?

A Massachusetts couple settled a lawsuit after eBay employees carried out a cyberstalking and harassment campaign triggered by an online newsletter critical of the e-commerce company. The settlement, disclosed in a federal court order filed Wednesday, Feb. 25, halts a trial set to begin next week over multimillion-dollar claims filed by David and Ina Steiner against eBay and three former executives. The terms of the settlement were not shared. The company declined to comment beyond the order but previously said in court papers that it was committed to compensating the Steiners "fairly and appropriately for the appalling conduct they endured." https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2026/02/27/ebay-lawsuit-settlement-cyberstalking/88883622007/

Target leadership need to realize as a publicly traded company they are continuing to harm their external stakeholders and investors despite the changes that perceive will fix the issues.

https://money.usnews.com/investing/news/articles/2026-02-27/targets-management-under-fire-as-investors-agitate-for-change

Have to say, morale is as bad as ive seen it in a decade. Marathon has managed to take a happy and prosperous workforce and completely svck the fvcking life out of it. Gone are the days of site independence, now everything is handed down by corporate edict through 2 year engineers who only know to do what theyre told. I suppose it was bound to happen when the C-suite was more concerned with woke bvllshit and DEI representation for 4 years than running a fvcking business. Its criminal to watch them manage this company right into the ground. All of the new initiatives scream desperation, while employees leave in droves. The worst part is that its paving the way for boot licking goobers to work their way into management roles, solidifying incompetence from the top.

Was amazed how many people were unashamedly prepping resumes at work this week. Can't blame them.

Block’s layoff news today is pretty fascinating.

Jack Dorsey just cut nearly half the company — over 4,000 employees. Headcount goes from 10k+ to under 6k.
Stock? Up 25% in a day.

And here’s the interesting part:
They’re not losing money. Q4 earnings beat expectations.

The reason given:
“AI and intelligent tools are fundamentally changing how companies are built and how work gets done.”

That feels like a real regime shift.

For the last decade, growth meant hiring.
Now growth might mean replacing org charts with AI leverage.

What makes it ironic is that Dorsey, as Twitter’s co-founder, left behind a famously bloated structure.
When Elon Musk took over, he cut roughly 80% of staff — about 6,000 people — and the platform kept running.

History has a sense of humor.

If fintech is cutting this aggressively in the name of AI efficiency, does that mean traditional big banks will accelerate layoffs too?

Feels like we’re entering the era of “AI + ruthless efficiency.”
Curious how durable this model really is.

https://www.marketscreener.com/news/attention-long-term-five9-inc-fivn-shareholders-grabar-law-office-investigates-claims-on-your-b-ce7e5cd9d98cf025

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania--(Newsfile Corp. - February 26, 2026) - Grabar Law Office is investigating claims on behalf of long-term Five9, Inc. (NASDAQ: FIVN) shareholders as an underlying securities fraud class action complaint has survived a motion to dismiss. The investigation concerns whether certain officers of the company have breached their fiduciary duties they owed to the company.

If you have held Five9 (NASDAQ: FIVN) shares continuously since prior to June 4, 2024, you can seek corporate reforms, the return of funds back to the Company, and a court approved incentive award at no cost you whatsoever. Visit https://grabarlaw.com/the-latest/five9-shareholder-investigation/, contact Joshua H. Grabar at jgrabar@grabarlaw.com, or call 267-507-6085 to learn more.

WHY? A federal securities fraud class action was filed against Five9 and two of its Officers has survived a motion to dismiss. That Complaint alleges that Five9 (NASDAQ: FIVN), through certain of its officers, misrepresented the purported strength of the Company's net new business bookings and visibility into its installed customer base, and that when these statements were made, Five9 was in the throes of a "challenging bookings quarter" due to constrained and scrutinized customer budgets and sales execution issues, forcing the Company to cut its annual revenue guidance and take remedial action to address sales execution issues.

On February 23, 2026, a federal court determined, among other things, that "plaintiffs allege with particularity that defendants knew, and failed to disclose, that Five9 was performing below its own projections and expectations in the first half of 2024." Evidence presented is sufficient for plaintiffs to plead that certain of Defendants' statements about the strength of Five9's sales, including that "the net new side of our business is very strong" and "we are seeing very strong bookings momentum on the net new side," were false or misleading, and plaintiffs allege with particularity that defendants' June 2024 statements about macro factors were false or misleading. Plaintiffs further established a strong inference of deliberate recklessness or intent to deceive with respect to certain false and misleading statements.

Citi has shallow, performative culture that makes you feel small for wanting to do actual meaningful work. No wonder things have ben getting worse all the time when our values are completely broken.

This space could be used to exchange information and offer support to those concerned about their jobs and families.

The real issue is corporate greed, not one another.

When the he-l did we stray so far from the mission?

State Farm just announced it made $24 Billion dollars last year and is going to pay $5 Billion in dividends. Most in history! State Farm is a Mutual Company and should never ever ever never make that much money. They have the best actuaries and investment people and know exactly what they are doing. That means they have been robbing people blind. Remember that the next time they tell you to do more with less or we don't have any money in the budget for staffing. I can only imagine what kind of bonuses the Executives are going get. Just like the rest of Corporate America destroying this nation. Sc-m of the earth trash!

Special Advisor & Director recently sold US$11m worth of stock

On the 24th of February, Hans Vestberg sold around 225k shares on-market at roughly US$49.61 per share. This transaction amounted to 32% of their direct individual holding at the time of the trade.

What's going on in IT? Two years ago there was one VP/GM position, the CIO, although they were approved for two. Now there are three VPs, including the CIO; the second VP position (then GM) was filled in 2024. That's a big increase in comp as VP's are a min of $850K (salary, VCIP, and RSUs), plus other benefits. I guess the recent layoffs in IT paved the way for the increase in comp for the newest VP. Welcome to the club!!

I was laid off in November from the Midland office and it's honestly been a blessing in disguise. Fortunately I got hired on a new job very quickly but I do miss the people I worked with. With my new career path its so nice to be fully utilized and not be bottlenecked by discipline engineering and needing the approval of 3 different departments to do something. I forgot how nice it was to not work for a corporation.

WTH is with the new name? Everyone I've spoken to says "sounds like a cleaning product". They are not wrong - there's at least a handful of random products out in the market that share the same name. You would assume that someone from branding would have checked. Ugh.

Not to mention, this is going to cause some confusion for the foreseeable future. Not the first time a company in our industry has tried to rebrand but that has rarely worked out well.

More information coming out about the devaluing of WFH by corporate America. Su-ks, we all know how much more productive we all are, why don't the corporations see it? This makes no sense other than... corporate always wins!!!! RTO or GO, have a great weekend everybody!

Looks like Ramon is making all locations take down signage that says Frito-Lay to rebrand as PepsiCo Foods. He took our profits, might as well take our identity!

Ramon doesn’t need more branding, he needs a therapist.

Factor in that too as you mull over possibly being let go. Don’t forget, we are better together, unless of course you are let go, then you are on your own.
.
“Citigroup Chief Executive Jane Fraser has been elected as chair of the bank's board and also received a one-time award of $25 million. etc… restricted stock valued at $25 million and 1.055 million stock option.”
.
https://www.morningstar.com/news/dow-jones/2025102210533/citigroup-ceo-jane-fraser-named-chair-gets-25-million-stock-award

The corporate labs had a reorg and layoff. I heard that there are others let goboutside the lab as well. What other areas had layoffs this year?

Trump Justice Department should look into this for all businesses

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/t-sued-york-city-pension-183955729.html

Yep. Writing was on the wall. But it finally hit home. I'm actually happy I got RIFD. It's the push I needed to get out of a company that under pays and never Values you as a person. Corporate leadership just gets more money. And the company declines. They will sell or close there doors. Watch. 👀

https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/unitedhealth-ceo-privately-invested-in-potential-competitors-wall-street-journal/

So I and many other got laid off recently due to the company strategy to automate and replace with AI and failing that, outsource to India.

Considering so many large companies who regret their decision to lay off and replace with AI, you'd think this was thought out.

Nope. Got told outright that the company is willing to accept financial penalties for failure to meet contractual requirements, reputation damage and other losses. All because this is the strategy that Omar is steering the ship towards.

Fine ok. But zero communication or consultation with those affected. I'm not even talking about those who were let go, but those who remain and are expected to pick up the pieces.

No-one we work with knew, had any communication, etc.
Any pushback was met with silence and passing the buck to someone who is new (senior management Accenture replacement) and has no clue on the business. Which were met with corporate fluff, deception and being ignored.

Those of us let go were an average of 20 years each.
Some less. Some more.

When we tried over the last year to use AI as a tool, we would spend more time arguing with the hallucination it produced, than getting anything productive out of it.

But since we're now gone, there's nothing in place to replace us. Just that replacing with AI is the plan...

Absolute insanity!