#culture

Says it all really

If you got a 4 in only one area. The "how" . How does it really impact you ? I know people thag have had 4s stick around for years. But this was before the aggresive cuts and bora bora

Its out and followed by “more people in fewer places”

What a fu--ing mess this is

Anyone get an email for a task to complete " Review Distribution of documents or Tasks" Titled Auto Expectation Document-Annual only to see if was canceled in WD.

Well it was seen prior to it being canceled. It's a zero tolerance policy with no exceptions. No reason to let you go. So here we go folks. Hold on the rides about to get bumpy as he-l....

My team is half of what it's been when I joined seven years ago. Others who are still with the same team, is it the same for you? I'm genuinely curious if this is a common thing.

Are lining up at the crystal palace as we speak.

https://x.com/gothburz/status/2009386221521244406?s=46&t=8PYOIs_oDhf5yp9H30hhiw

Last September I announced mandatory return-to-office.

Five days a week.

I called it a "culture-first initiative."

Culture means presence.

Presence means badge swipes.

Badge swipes mean metrics.

Metrics mean I can prove something to the board.

I don't know what.

But I can prove it.

The announcement went out on a Tuesday.

I sent it from my home office.

In Aspen.

I have an exemption.

"Strategic leaders require location flexibility to maintain global perspective."

I wrote that policy.

HR approved it.

HR approves everything I write.

By Wednesday, 340 employees had updated their LinkedIn status to "Open to Work."

I called it "natural attrition."

Natural attrition means they quit before I had to pay severance.

Very natural.

We lost 47 engineers in the first month.

I told the board it was "alignment correction."

The people who left weren't aligned.

With coming to an office.

That I also don't come to.

But that's different.

I'm strategic.

The office costs $4.2 million per year.

Empty, it was a write-off.

Now it's a "collaboration hub."

I measured collaboration.

Average daily Zoom calls from the office: 7.4 per employee.

They commute 45 minutes.

To take calls they could take from home.

But now they're "present."

Presence is culture.

I've never been more certain of anything.

A senior engineer asked why we couldn't stay remote.

She had metrics.

Productivity was up 23% during remote work.

I said, "Productivity isn't everything."

She asked what else mattered.

I said, "Serendipitous collisions."

She asked how we measure serendipitous collisions.

I said, "You can't. That's what makes them serendipitous."

She stopped asking questions.

Then she stopped showing up.

Then LinkedIn said she's at a company that's "remote-first."

Good luck with that.

They'll learn.

We installed badge tracking software.

It cost $380,000.

It tells me exactly when people arrive.

And when they leave.

And how long they spend in each zone.

I check it every morning.

From home.

The data is fascinating.

Average arrival time: 9:47 AM.

Average departure time: 4:12 PM.

I sent a Slack message.

"Core hours are 9 to 6."

Arrival times shifted to 9:02 AM.

Departure times shifted to 6:01 PM.

Productivity did not change.

But the metrics look better.

Metrics are culture.

We have a "hybrid" option now.

Three days in office.

Mandatory Monday. Mandatory Wednesday. Mandatory Friday.

That's called "hybrid."

Because Tuesday and Thursday are optional.

But there are "anchor meetings" on Tuesday and Thursday.

Attendance is "strongly encouraged."

"Strongly encouraged" means mandatory without the liability.

I learned that from legal.

The head of product asked if he could work from home when his wife had surgery.

I said, "Of course. Family comes first."

Then I said, "But let's revisit your Q4 performance targets."

He came to the office.

His wife understood.

I assume.

I didn't ask.

That's personal.

The CFO asked about ROI on the RTO policy.

I showed him the badge data.

"Presence is up 340%."

He asked if revenue was up.

I said, "Revenue is a lagging indicator."

He asked what the leading indicator was.

I said, "Badge swipes."

He nodded.

The lease renews next year.

Seven more years.

$29 million committed.

We needed bodies in the building.

Now we have bodies.

Fewer than before.

But present.

Morale is down.

Glassdoor says we're "hostile to work-life balance."

I told HR to respond.

They wrote, "We're a high-performance culture that values in-person collaboration."

That's corporate for "the review is accurate."

But it sounds like a rebuttal.

The CEO asked if RTO was working.

I said, "Absolutely."

He asked for evidence.

I showed him a photo of the office.

Full desks. Glowing monitors. Bodies in chairs.

He smiled.

"This is what culture looks like."

It looked like a stock photo.

Because I got it from a stock photo website.

The real office has 40% occupancy on a good day.

But he doesn't know that.

He's also remote.

We're both strategic.

Next quarter I'm proposing a "collaboration bonus."

$2,000 for anyone with 95% badge-in compliance.

The bonus costs less than the turnover.

And it shifts the narrative.

We're not forcing people to come in.

We're "incentivizing presence."

Incentivizing means paying people to do something they don't want to do.

It's different from mandating.

Legally.

The employees who stayed are "loyal."

Loyalty means they have mortgages.

And kids in school districts.

And RSUs that haven't vested.

They're not loyal.

They're trapped.

But on paper, it looks like loyalty.

And paper is what the board sees.

I've been doing this for 22 years.

I know what culture looks like.

It looks like butts in seats.

Butts in seats mean control.

Control means management.

Management means me.

RTO isn't about productivity.

It never was.

It's about seeing people.

So I know they exist.

So I know they're working.

So I know I'm in charge.

That's culture.

As long as the badge swipes go up and to the right.

Who is feeling like this is a preferred workplace? What is leadership doing to make this a preferred workplace? It seems none of the employees from 3M are part of the future. The goal is to replace everyone with better employees and bring them in as Sr Director or VP and above. If you are not already that level, you never will be.

I've been noticing a lot of people getting their titles bump down 1 grade level. Any insight for folks who were impacted? Did their leaders say it's either agree to it or get laid off?

It seems the new HR is back with the hammer for colocation.

Contractors, who were remote hired are supposed to be in office during connect week but the full timers in different region are told their position is moved to different region.

You can't be serious!!!! This is an absolute pathetic joke!!!

If using this to track our every move why aren’t all bands (3 and 4 specifically) required to use it if not directly tied to production? Seems to me if they are looking to cut people this would be where to start - if your Verient consistently shows you are more idle than not maybe you are disposable more than others.
I am not talking the downtime because of reading an email and gathering your thoughts or listening to a recorded team meeting you missed. I am talking about the people who WAH and log in early in the morning then go about the morning getting breakfast, showering, walking the dog - THEN actually starting work or napping during the day. We all know installing Webex on your phone can help it “appear” as if you haven’t stepped away from your desk but if Big Brother can actually TRACK you are not at your desk why not leverage it as needed? I HATE Verient but if it is for some it should be for all and used the same across the board.

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.

Wayfair really turns a blind eye on some. Im in another team but my friend heard that one of the CSO agents does work avoidance and nothing has been done. Keeps easy tickets and updates them every two days just to meet metrics when it should have been closed but goes on weeks with it open. Out of the blue the ticket metric sky rocketed.

Over the past two years, T‑Mobile employees have been operating in a near‑constant state of transition. Frequent reorganizations, unannounced job eliminations, and shifting priorities have created an environment where stability is the exception rather than the norm. This instability has eroded the sense of security employees once felt in their roles and has fundamentally changed how they experience their work.

Employees consistently hear that “our people are what make T‑Mobile special” and that this is a place to build a career, not just a job. Yet the company’s actions — particularly the elimination of high‑performing employees who were previously recognized as role models — directly contradict those messages. Individuals who were celebrated, mentored, and held up as examples of the company’s future have been let go without transparent communication or meaningful attempts at repositioning.

This disconnect between words and actions has created a deep cultural fracture.

The most recent layoffs intensified this sentiment. They were not clearly announced, leaving employees to piece together who was impacted and why. In the same conversations where employees were told how valued they are, they were also informed that more “duplication removal” and organizational changes are coming. The result is a workforce that feels misled, unprotected, and uncertain about its future.

The emotional impact is significant. Employees who once demonstrated extraordinary ownership and commitment — who would “do whatever it takes” — now question whether that level of dedication matters. When high performance is no longer a differentiator in job security, the spirit that once fueled T‑Mobile’s culture begins to fade. Instead of feeling like they are building a career, employees increasingly feel like they simply have a job.

This is not a matter of resistance to change. It is a matter of trust.
And trust, once lost, is difficult to rebuild.

If T‑Mobile is to preserve the culture that has long differentiated it, leadership must acknowledge the gap between messaging and lived experience, communicate with transparency, and demonstrate through action — not rhetoric — that employees truly are the company’s greatest asset.

(original post is 11 down)

I have worked for three companies before this one. Each had its flaws, but each, in its own way, understood something basic about decency. When I came to CVX, my fourth, I was told, again and again, that the culture was different. Healthier. Kinder. A place where people stayed because they were valued.

I believed it. For a long time, I wanted to.

Six years in, I can say without hesitation that this is the most hostile environment I have ever survived and I started on a rig in Midland, TX.

What makes it dangerous isn’t incompetence or chaos, it’s intention. Everything here is calculated. Smiles are worn like disguises. Praise is given only when it can be reclaimed later as leverage. If your work is good, someone else will quietly attach their name to it. If your ideas land too well, they stop being yours almost immediately.
And if you are noticed, truly noticed, by the wrong person, especially your boss, the consequences are swift and surgical. Threats are not confronted; they are dismantled. Slowly. Invisibly. By the time you realize what’s happening, your reputation has already been rewritten without you in the room.

Gossip is the real currency here. Cruelty, its favorite language. Personal lives are treated as public property, mined for weaknesses. An affair. A secret. A truth shared with the wrong person. Even something small, once discovered, is inflated until it becomes unmanageable. Stories grow teeth. Context disappears. Suddenly, survival feels like something you have to apologize for.

This is not a place where mistakes are forgiven. It is a place where they are archived.
I used to think cultures were defined by mission statements and values posted on walls. Now I know better. Culture is what happens in whispers, in meetings you aren’t invited to, in credit you never receive, in silence when you need protection.

If this place has taught me anything, it’s that the most dangerous environments are the ones that insist they are safe.

Anything less than 100% is corporate greed, plain and simple. The people who stayed are being squeezed dry doing the work of two employees while getting paid for one so executives can protect their bonuses and call it “strategy.”

But by all means, Dan, keep slurping your coffee and pretending this is complicated. If Hans is still pulling in millions, don’t insult everyone’s intelligence by offering scraps. There is zero excuse for anything under 100%. Anything less is a slap in the face, and everyone knows it.

Broadcom doesn’t have much of a “company culture” but now you realize that most of the VMware culture building events were meant to soften and obfuscate the pay gap between you and the millionaire executives.

Now YOU are the millionaire.

Welp, looks like another ‘rules for thee, not for me.’

‘Select’ leaders will have assigned spaces for ‘business continuity’

It would be bad to give them a widdle inconvenience. Poor babies.

Foskett - Who might be the laziest CRO on the planet. Here is 25% off and a couple of tickets to the Super Bowl. Isn't a strategy. His rolodex is ancient and hardly relevant. And we keep him around to ride around in the jet. The level of favoritism and nepo babies he has in his org is nuts! Ineffective!!!!! The other guy working for him in FIG sales. He keeps losing more people because the smart ones won't work for him - utterly ineffective and we continue to not address. It's a mess and that is why people are leaving! They do not want to make changes and will continue to bleed clients and talent. It is that simple.

Any good leadership remaining? Who are they????

I talked to someone at UP on another platform and was told seniority with UP only determined your shift and off days. Management will line up individuals on any job they want to and seniority does not matter.

Managers, mdirectors,, VPs,,, advisory engineers,, “scientists” are not doing any work in the office and they are alllllllllll getting passes by their supervisors Morale is at an all time low

I don't want this post to get washed away by Chevron's HR Trolls. Please help keep it alive and post your thoughts here or on the original post, 8 down.

All time low. I’d say I hope senior leaders see this. But I also suspect it’s by design. Low morale = high attrition

2 in the thoughts and 1 in the prayers for all you delta peeps. Your new CD&TO left a trail of pain and misery at USAA. Don’t believe me? Read any of the dozens of posts on here about her. Best of luck! 🤞

Just read Amala is going to Delta Airlines to be their Chief Digital & Technology Officer.

Poor Delta. These worthless executives always come out smelling like roses.

They're all the same. All they think about is how to line their own pockets. That's their one and only goal. Don't expect much to change. I wish I was wrong, but I believe that we're in for much of the same.

Oh, you thought they were going to choose the most capable and knowledgeable people? Not a chance. They’re picking the ones who excel at kissing up and delivering polished slide decks to upper management. These are the folks who coast by using the work and expertise of the very people the company isn’t keeping.

They’re selecting the “yes‑at‑all‑costs” crowd—people who are just trying to hang on until the back half of 2028. Some of them even said they couldn’t relocate because of their spouse or personal situation… yet suddenly they’re taking the job?

Honestly, I hope it blows up in their faces when the yes‑people eventually leave, and the company realizes they let go of the people who actually knew the work and kept things running. At that point, they won’t even be able to operate properly.

A pattern of female leaders exiting certain areas of the organization.

We haven't really grown any new policies since July. It's going to get a lot worse. We are too expensive and can't afford to pay agents commission anymore since they account for about 30% of our expense ratio. People are not buying houses or new cars and putting their groceries on their credit cards. Broke. Plus our brand su-ks! Our current round of Execs are wannabes! They are only interested in profits over people. Nothing else as they despise employees and see you as a burden. Greed, incompetence, and unethical leadership defines this organization now and the culture that MT brought in is just a cancer that is slowly ki-ling the patient. In the next 5-10 years SF will become just a shell of itself and a story of what not to do in business. Place is and will always be a sh-t hole.

Well said, @g9+1ke4bkj4j.

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”

• Desmond Tutu

Officially open to work

Everyone is looking for new jobs. Seems as though they are pushing people to do so instead of laying off. Worst management of any company in the USA

You can tell the state of a workplace by what people joke about. The only time you hear people genuinely laugh or smile is when someone's making a joke about how terrible things are or complaining about management. It's the one form of morale we have left, I guess.

I feel like there’s a whole market to capitalize on there if leadership could ever catch on.

My store is high-performing, do we have anything to worry about? I remember reading a while ago somebody complained about being blindsided with closing since the location was high-performing, but I thought the person was trolling. Does it ever happen that such a store is closed for whatever reason?

From where I'm sitting, just relying on layoffs and nothing else to make the numbers look better is a plan to go out of business. The new CEO isn't solving problems, he's just accelerating the decline. Watching the company I once cared about fall apart like this isn't just frustrating, it's genuinely sad.

No wonder CK sends out a 7pm email on OUR RESPONSIBILITY and COMMITMENT..
LOLzzz
Don’t Trump know the defense companies work for stockholders not the nation ?

https://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2026/01/08/government-contractors-trump-stock-buybacks.html

https://dpa-international.com/politics/urn:newsml:dpa.com:20090101:260108-99-106399/