#corporateculture

All the member-centric, one team/one dream and right care/right time/right place blather can pay the bills. But you realize what a charade it all really is after it resurfaces for the third or fourth time at the same starting point.

Doesn’t lend itself to fulfillment through meaningful work, that’s for sure.

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The Seven Species of LinkedIn

A field guide for the modern professional jungle. Bring your coffee and your sense of irony.

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1. The Drum Beater

“Achievement unlocked: updated my email signature.”
Celebrates everything — from finishing a webinar to surviving Monday. If self-promotion were cardio, this one would be marathon-ready.

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1. The “Humbled” Achiever

“So humbled to announce that I’m basically amazing.”
Masters the ancient art of bragging while pretending not to. Their posts start with false modesty and end with 1,200 likes.

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1. The Thought Leader

“Innovation is just passion wearing a tie.”
Part philosopher, part buzzword generator. Communicates exclusively in abstract nouns — synergy, authenticity, disruption — as if they’re paid by the syllable.

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1. The Motivational Evangelist

“I spilled coffee on myself — and learned a valuable lesson about leadership.”
Turns every life event into an inspirational parable. A broken laptop? A metaphor for resilience. A delayed flight? Proof that patience is a skill set.

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1. The Corporate Citizen

“Proud to be part of a company that’s making the world slightly better — at least in our press release.”
Their posts are indistinguishable from the HR department’s. They clap for every culture initiative like it’s the Super Bowl halftime show.

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1. The Sycophant

“Brilliant insight, boss! (Please notice me.)”
The algorithm’s most loyal servant. Likes, comments, and reposts with the precision of a political campaign. Never misses a chance to congratulate management for “inspiring leadership.”

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1. The Silent Lurker

“Just here for the sociology experiment.”
Never posts. Never likes. Knows everyone’s promotion history and engagement stats by heart. The digital equivalent of the person at a party who stands by the snack table quietly judging everyone.

Would be a great cost saving and I don’t think they add much when there are already managers,senior managers,ADs and Directors

Get rid of some of the fat and Verizon might have a chance

It is crazy hearing about RIFs when we have so many executives and most people have no idea what they even do. CEO has a meeting, then the SVP has a meeting, then the VP, then the Sr director, etc. All just say the same things and ask what did you think about what the ceo said. If they want to cut costs start with upper and middle management.

Due to the current economic climate and the future efficiency of AI all major companies are making cuts to keep up with the rising costs to do business. Even if AI isn't a realistic strategy companies are all in because the potential is too great to ignore. Vote for leadership not party affiliation. We are experiencing the impacts of almost 10 years of horrible leadership decisions at the top that trickle down to companies across America.

What adds insult to injury?

1. My last day after well over 30 years is Nov 20, no two day Thanksgiving pay.

2. Max severance is 182 days, only getting severance pay for less than 1/2 of my tenure.

3. C suite automatically get 2 full years severance unrelated to their years of service.

4. The previous layoff in January 25 everyone received max 182 days PLUS $10K. No $10K this time around. Seems like precedent was set and taken away.

This level of greed, cronyism (BH hiring family and friends) and the consistent ADDITIONAL C SUITE hires should speak to the dark soul leaders of this company.

Let’s start with the heart of it: their employees. Chevron loves to slap “safety first” on their ads, but the reality? It’s a revolving door of near-misses turning into nightmares. Just this year, in June 2025, their own CEO, Mike Wirth, had to send out an internal video basically admitting safety’s going to he-l in a handbasket—rising injuries, close calls piling up, and he’s begging staff to “reinforce standards.” Like, dude, that’s your job! But here’s the gut punch: This isn’t new. Back in 2013, a massive explosion at their Richmond, California refinery ki-led a 46-year-old worker because Chevron straight-up failed to train him properly on the hazards.  And in 2014? A gas well blowout in Pennsylvania fried 27-year-old contract worker Ian McKee alive—OSHA slapped them with a $940K fine, but who cares when profits are rolling in?  Fast-forward to now: Their El Segundo refinery racked up 46 environmental safety violations in just the last five years, and over a decade? It’s a laundry list of leaks, fires, and fines totaling millions.  They even coughed up $160 million in 2018 to settle claims over refinery accidents that could’ve been prevented with basic oversight.  If you’re clocking in at Chevron, you’re not valued—you’re expendable. One wrong valve, one skipped safety check, and poof, you’re a statistic. They preach “people before profits,” but the bodies say otherwise.
And don’t get me started on the communities they’re “blessing” with their operations. Chevron’s track record is a horror show… Take Ecuador: For decades, they dumped billions of gallons of toxic waste into the Amazon rainforest, wiping out Indigenous communities and leaving a cancer cluster the size of a small country. A court hit them with a $9.5 billion judgment in 2011, but Chevron dragged it out for years, accusing everyone else of fraud while dodging payment.   They finally “won” an appeal in 2018 by crying foul, but the damage? Irreversible—kids born with birth defects, rivers that glow at night, entire villages relocated.  Or look at California: They’re fueling Israel’s gas ops, propping up what critics call apartheid and war crimes while communities back home deal with refinery flares belching carcinogens into the air.  A 2021 report clocked dozens of unresolved environmental lawsuits against them, with Chevron ghosting fines and cleanup costs like it’s optional.  These aren’t accidents; it’s a pattern. They swoop in, extract, pollute, and bounce—leaving locals to foot the health bills. Communities aren’t partners; they’re collateral damage.
Oh, and the lies? Chevron’s greenwashing game is Olympic-level. They’ve been caught peddling this “climate-friendly” BS while funding denial campaigns for 50 years. California AG sued them in 2023 for decades of deception—hiding how their fossil fuels torch the planet while smiling for ads about “net-zero” dreams that are pure smoke.   In 2021, watchdogs filed an unprecedented FTC complaint: Chevron’s ads claim they’re slashing emissions, but their plans? A measly 5-10% cut that’s basically a rounding error while they drill like tomorrow’s canceled.  And just last month, October 2025, they’re in court again, falsely smearing a lawyer in a $51B climate fraud case as the bad guy—Oregon county called it out as baseless BS.  Even in New Mexico, they got busted allegedly faking remediation reports on oil wells, lying about cleanup to keep fracking unchecked.  Shady? This is criminal. They lie to regulators, to you at the pump, to Wall Street—anything to keep the cash flowing.
Look, if you’re a Chevron employee watching this—I’ve seen the X posts, the layoffs hitting 8,000 of you this year alone, the burnout stories from rigs to refineries—you’re not “essential.” You’re a number on a spreadsheet, squeezed for overtime, exposed to hazards, then pink-slipped when oil prices dip.  They use you daily, wear you down, and when you’re broken? Next applicant. It’s not a job; it’s exploitation wrapped in a uniform.

Especially since the card carrying members of Mensa who run Truist can't even articulate what it's supposed to mean. Incredibly insulting to your employees. You've failed us all.

So glad that in this time of need Amazon has decided that my salary would be better suited going towards the big beautiful ballroom, than me and my family. Thanks corporate overlords.

These corporations seem to have no idea how to address any of their issues other than to lay people off. They do it to please the shareholders, however everyone else is stressed out. They wonder why employees have no loyalty to their company anymore? It's because corporations don't care about them. Shop local, buy local. Buy as much as possible from small businesses in your community. That money stays in your community and doesn't line a shareholders pocket. Sc--w them. Take your power back. Between robotics and AI, nobody is going to have jobs in a few years unless it's serving at the feet of the rich.

Seeing lots of corporate level posts but what about the situation at your station? All quiet at mine so far (being vague in case Sonny Boy is lurking here).

Part of corp risk

Let’s be honest. They don’t care about quality or people, only about cutting costs. If they can outsource us all, they will. The work will definitely suffer, but that won’t matter to them. As long as the numbers look good on paper, they’ll call it a success. That’s the sad truth of where we are now.

General update: US Silica was purchased by the Apollo Group ("wealth management firm") in August 2024.
Almost immediately layoffs in the corporate structure (not surpising, given a buyout)
Company is now ULTRA focused on cash - so very little capital spending, really digging into every bit of money spent.
Rumor is that they're trying to sell the Oil & Gas plants.
ISP - They laid off all of the mining employees at the Lovelock, NV plant. (Most of them got rehired by the contractor that they hired to run the mine now.) Several plant employees also laid off, not sure how many.
Decisions being made at the corporate level without regard/knowledge of how the DE plants run are going to make it impossible to keep the plants open. Orders in general on the DE side have been low since Nov 2024.
I'd stay away from US Silica. They also have a history of laying people off right after performance reviews (in November) . That way they don't have to pay any bonuses, since you have to be employed in March of the next year to collect the bonus from the year before.

Please be advised that the “Enter weather information here Direction for E&PS”

So much winning!! I feel so safe!! PSMS rules anyway, who needs corporate level safety?

https://journalrecord.com/1997/07/17/walter-leaves-att-after-fallout-with-allen/

Now I need a COSTUME that fits the VIBE: something between “Corporate Casual” and “Emotional Damage.” Otherwise, I need a costume that says “spooky, broke, and still pretending to care.” 👻🎯

Ideas so far:
• 404: Job Not Found
• Spirit Halloween Employee
• A Target logo bleeding out
• “Ghost of Corporate Past”
• Red shirt + name tag: “Ex-Targeted Employee”
• A walking Clearance Tag

It’s Friday, I’m still here, but mentally I’ve clocked out! 🧠💀 Hit me with your best ideas before I show up in a box labeled SEVERANCE PACKAGE.

I was laid off years ago from a different company and felt like I did something wrong,
but it wasn't me it was a company much more dysfunctional than CMCSA.
This was not your fault.

However...
Some observations from a former national engineer who lead a team that built a system intended for divisional and DCF usage;

1. Other national and 2 of 3 divisional teams HAD to build their own instead of collaborating with national and all divisions.. e.g. Power hungry.
2. Upper management permitted this to happen. Heck, the west pretty much encouraged it.
3. DCF rolled out new systems with poor naming strategies and a ~70% ability to match names in existing systems.
4. Cable is dying !! And Brian Roberts has realized that the monopoly is over and hired a co-CEO since the next 10 years will determine if CMCSA survives.

Point is, we had too many people building the same system(s) and management let it happen. Upper management was all about power and not about cooperating.

At the global town hall held on October 22, a very courageous employee rose to ask the first question. Stating that he "was not a VP yet," he proceeded to ask Bryan Hanson to explain the rationale behind adding additional layers to the ranks of senior executives while engaging in yet another round of Q4 layoffs.

By my recollection, counting our pre-spin days, we had layoffs in 2019, received US government pay during the pandemic to avoid layoffs in 2020, and then followed with layoffs in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. Now in 2025, we are sacrificing more people upon the altar of growth, while making room for more executives to augment the ranks of our C-suite. That makes the question particularly timely —Hanson fashions himself as a leader, and historically, leaders who can both speak and demonstrate shared sacrifices tend to earn followers. Hanson says a lot of the right things, but his actions indicate otherwise.

His answer was supremely unsatisfying. He provided corporate doublespeak about how we will continuously evolve, and occasionally, that evolution will cause his leadership team to eliminate jobs. That answer is the standard boilerplate C-suite talk that those folks have been spewing for many decades now. But it did not answer the question. In fact, it did not come close.

As a leader who came in claiming he wanted to flatten the hierarchy, he has significantly thickened it. The tie that binds Hanson to his clique is that they all worked with Bryan in years past. Hanson justifies his decisions by explaining that he needs people who have experienced spin-offs before. This argument, however, begs the question. Are Medtronic and Covidian alums the only people who fit that bill? At what point does this become cronyism masquerading as a meritocracy? And given the huge severance packages (Barry, for whatever personal struggles he is facing, likely earned a two-year severance package when his good old buddy Bryan figured out how to eliminate his position instead of accepting his resignation. No bad for declining a job offer.)

Despite all his flash and polish, it is hard not to wonder if Hanson is simply a pirate, out to pillage as much as he can while throwing some bo--y to his inexhaustible supply of friends. It is hard not to conclude they are feeding off what will eventually become the carcass of 3M's health care business group. And no amount of slide editing at 11 pm can paper that over.

https://youtube.com/shorts/bP6L6kbz2lM?si=U_3CnJs74rLXJMWw

Almost nobody, except for possibly two or three people, above store level positions at Belk is African American. Yes, you read that correctly, Belk corporate is nearly 100% white. I’m not seeing any
African Americans, Hispanic, Asian, nothing, where is the diversity?

https://www.youtube.com/live/eSXjz0-8Q8s?si=ppwY032lzrpaEvSB

55:45 - Aaron Clarey gives Ford its lashings.

What’s the most ridiculous examples of wasteful spending you’ve seen?

Drop your wildest stories of money being lit on fire. No names, just chaos.

Take a look at this sh-t on the Cricket page. I know some of you a--holes will say "we don't care about Cricket", but some of us do....

https://www.thelayoff.com/t/1k2mx5x6h

Such a sh-t show!!!

Ah, the newest corporate gospel has arrived. Another “inspirational” RTO email reminding us that being in the office builds connection — which is ironic, considering I haven’t connected to anyone except the guy who keeps stealing my chair.

Leadership preaches “collaboration,” but what they really mean is: we signed leases, now fill the seats.
They’ve got family photos, doors, and flexible calendars; we’ve got assigned burnout.

The new buzzword of the week? “Ten toes down.” Cute. I guess that’s easy to say when your toes aren’t in traffic for two hours a day.

Every line of these emails reads like it was generated by a bot trained on stale HR slogans. “Culture!” “Teamwork!” “Innovation!” — all while the rest of us are juggling hot desks, dropped calls, and existential dread.

If they actually believed in teamwork, they’d try working by the same rules they force on everyone else.
Until then, spare us the sermons and just call it what it is: office rent recovery.

This is a term used when convenient, but not one that represents reality.

Who hurt you?

Just saying, human nature.

Go and look at the executive-bios link. Dan's LinkedIn is not there, and there is an empty Phot logo. This is the sloppiness that says it all. No attention to detail, even at that high a level. In other companies, the communication leader will resign in shame, but here, Sam the People cheerleader will not even know what to do. BTW, how is the sun coming out of the V now, feeling? Sam always helped Hans hire the best of the best, losers.

I just spoke with DAS. Back in June 2022 it looks like they uploaded Maurice to the cloud. This explains the robotic answers, the bad writing and his inability to read. It also explains any future attempts to automate your work and work we so that you make less money and work less hours.
He will be put back in his body when his total income exceeds $100 billion per year.
This is all pretty hush hush but on good authority.

Wirth now has three priorities.

First, complete the restructuring and rebuilding of Chevron's corporate culture; second, integrate Hess; and third, extend the concession to develop the giant Tengiz oil field in Kazakhstan, which expires in 2033.
The latter is crucial. When the initial 40-year agreement was signed in 1994, it was dubbed the "deal of the century," as it gave the company access to the oil of the former Soviet Union.

Our concession is valid for another eight years…We have begun working with the government to discuss its extension. I'd like to finish this, not delegate it to someone else," Wirth said in an interview with Bloomberg.

Feels more and more like LCS only exists for media optics. No good path to profitability with any of the venture projects.
Equally concerning is the toxic culture created within…screaming, shouting, and slamming doors in meetings is modeled by management especially he who exited to run the U/S. Why is this behavior rewarded?

UKG has done it again! First that mo--nic, diabolically grinning U, and now they go and slit the K’s throat in the logo. Art or an accidental confession? Maybe it’s just supposed to symbolize how the company keeps drifting apart internally. I bet in the next rebrand they’ll completely butcher the G – perfectly fitting for their corporate culture.

And the slogans… “when work works, everything works” – seriously?! Sounds like an AI on the verge of burnout. The old line “Our purpose is people” was already nothing but brutal cynicism after all their anti-people actions. Just tell the truth already: “our purpose is profit, we don’t care about people.” Period.

I don’t care about you wearing makeup or not, or any weight gain or loss, or if you decided to wear your hair different. However, when your corporate headshot is over ten years old, I’ll even give you fifteen, but you’re pushing it … you no longer look like that. There are some exceptions and you know when you’re NOT the exception. I respect people who have the confidence to show themselves as they really are because this way you’re not unrecognizable when I actually do meet you in person.

Now that a little time has passed, I thought about sharing some thoughts with you all, John's minions, and the staff at Business Insider and other outfits who scour these forums for hints, facts, or observations. BI asked for comments to their survey about 'the memo'

John's right. loyalty is dead. His memo makes that clear. The 'multi year transformation' is code for job over career. This won't improve collaboration. They tried that with workplace 2020. We don't collaborate. We find a corner of space and lay low until we slip out to catch the train.

This message only serves to further divide. Many of T's brightest and most loyal have and will continue to simply find a new home where innovation and commitment are rewarded. Some will praise their leaders for cutting the slackers, ki-ling dei, improving collaboration... basically parroting the CEO and his priests. Many will complain and threaten to leave but they will eventually find their way to the stream where the majority of the company resides. They are the ambivalent masses who know how to stay quiet and carry on. They badge in, go to meetings, send a few emails, and speak when spoken to. They are the 'future' if which John is building. Clock watchers. Professional annual-review authors. Gantt charts, ppt decks, and endless backlogs of well defined but rarely delivered work products. They learn the buttons to press to get the cheese.

If this all sounds familiar it is probably because John seems to have channeled old 80's corporate movies as his inspiration for the workforce if the future. Cool thing is that 2025 tech lets the uninspired masses watch them while pretending to work.

In conclusion. B+ for conviction and passion, C+ for staying on target. He does have a knack for going off on tangents. D for knowing you audience. F for delivery. When in doubt, wait it out. Remember that rule, J? Wait 24 hours and make sure you're not letting emotions cloud your better judgement.

In the first plot select 'Insurance' and 'USAA':

https://www.economist.com/interactive/business/2025/06/16/corporate-culture?fsrc=core-app-economist&mc_cid=fa28ffc4ba

The second chart shows culture dimensions like Transparency, Candor, Strategy vs leadership, pre and post COVID.

one thing i realy miss from my time in the corporate world… is watching that one employe that no longer care ask a real qusetion at an all hands / townhall…

They’re gonna open up talking about how well the company is doing, using a lot of the nonsense corporate jargon. shout out to soulless chatter. But then at the end they’re gonna turn it over to q&A. that’s what the whole thing is supposed to be about you / get to interact with the higher-ups, cause they don’t let middle to low level peeps talk at this. they don’t trust them to get it done.

and what was so disgusting to watch about these is all the questions were clearly planted. It was always hey, I’ve been here 7 years I love the new products blah blah new services, like what other new exciting things do you have, and what challenges do you see. you know, it’s just always just really disgusting talk.

But one in a while like once every three years there’d be someone crazy dude or girl who knew they didn’t care to work there anymore, and they’d be like hey, so like why have quotas has been so high and why doesn’t this or that thing work, in this system we’ve been telling you it doesn’t work for eons. and then I would get really excited and start to love the townhall…

the first thing I would do is look at their immediate mgr cause they’re sweating that they can’t believe this is happening.

and the reason I say someone had to no longer care to talk like this is once you spoke like this you were probably gonna get fired, two to three months after you said something like this. shout out to HR, never having anyone’s back. i know, HR reps will get mad at me. i got friends in hr and we say things like this, but at the end of the day, anytime you send an email to a higher-up or spoke out like this you were gonna get fired for some mysterious reason, or something everyone else was doing…

and when you hear an hr person defend what they do, it sounds just like Congress. Just like Congress is like, I’m here to represent the American people, I wanna get the American people back to work. if you listen to HR it’s the same thing. they’re like we’re here to provide resources and you know blah blah blah for the you know, average person at the company. at the end of the day they just don’t.

and the reason I think Congress is a good comparison is i think a lot of people who go into HR, they go in with pure intentions, a good heart like I wanna help people and then they get in and they’re like okay, you actually, our job is to make sure the share price go up and the regulations don’t get passed against the co.

Leaders clamoring to hijack meeting.
Talk 500 miles a minute.
Hollow Corporate enthusiasm.
Glimpses of fallen allies enslaved to enhanced collaboration.
Describing every initiative like it's a big deal on the cusp of entering a new frontier.