#culture

We are laying people off weekly, expecting a huge tech layoff in Q4 but we can afford to have large celebrations offsite. Wake up everyone this isn’t the old Nike anymore.

Comment your number out of 5 and your %.
How are you feeling?

Not laid off yet, but all my projects have somehow been distributed to other teams.

It's a ghost town on 19. They laid off the entire Marcomms team yesterday from the CMO, executive directors, social, literally everyone in GHQ and Serbia!!! This was huge because it wasn't just a few people but more like 70 or so. This seemed really personal or just fed up with a few people and decided to make the rest suffer as a message.

What is the plan? Is NatGen integrating into Allstate programs? Are we going to be expected to learn theirs? What is their leadership like? It seems like a lot are being shoe horned into leadership levels at Allstate which is not great considering how NatGen does business in regard to their employees...What is going to happen between the two companies and more importantly what is the plan for adjusters and appraisers?

Seeing all the curated nonsense coming from the partner meeting on Amplify, I asked Gemini to share characteristics of a cult. Here’s what it gave me.

“Cults are typically defined by a charismatic, unaccountable leader, high-control, and exploitative behavior, often utilizing thought reform and isolation to create total dependency. Key markers include unquestioning commitment to the leader, intolerance of criticism, and a, "us-versus-them" mentality. Examples include isolation from family/friends and mandatory, constant financial or time commitments. 

Key Characteristics of a Cult

• Charismatic, Authoritarian Leader: The group revolves around a leader who is viewed as the ultimate authority, often a messianic figure, who is not accountable to any authorities.
• Isolation and Control: Members are isolated from the outside world, including friends and family, to foster dependency.
• Coercive Persuasion/Thought Reform:Techniques like chanting, meditation, or intense work routines are used to suppress doubt and force compliance.
• Exploitation: Leaders often financially, emotionally, or se-----y exploit members.
• "Us vs. Them" Mentality: The group creates conflict with wider society, viewing themselves as superior or enlightened.
• No Tolerance for Questions: Dissent, criticism, or doubt is discouraged or severely punished.
• Preoccupation with Money/Recruitment: The group constantly seeks new members and funds, demanding significant personal resources.
• Fear of Leaving: Members often fear reprisals or believe there is no life outside the group.”

Have folks moved from New York or other high-cost locations to Tampa or Irving for Citi? Was there an implication of loyalty for having done so only to now be discarded like trash?

Every new manager believes that the only way to show impact is to “start from scratch”. Most of the time they just repeat old mistakes but because they are surrounded by their newly minted hires, no one is there to tell them we tried this 15 years ago and arrived at the same conclusion so you might want to do this and that. This is so painful to watch at times. Forcing out experienced hires to make space for “cheaper” brand new hires only to relish old mistakes and call it new learnings. Not sure if business continuity is any better at Exxon, Shell, and others. And by the way those old mistakes can be very costly.

Who's going to confess to being the joker who asked if we can have a MORE flexible 60/40 policy....

Or better still the one who asked if they should include their commute on their timesheet.

When I joined Nike a few years ago, what stood out to me most was not the size of the brand or the big ambitions. It was the internal culture. Advancement often seemed less about performance or integrity and more about alignment with leadership, especially the kind that required unquestioning agreement

Too often, facts took a back seat to loyalty. Those willing to echo their leaders’ views and carry out uncomfortable directives were rewarded with promotions, high-visibility projects, and insulation from layoffs.

Tight circles formed outside of work through golf outings, country clubs, and social events, reinforcing a system where proximity to power mattered more than principled contribution.

After witnessing multiple rounds of layoffs, a pattern became clear: the culture endured because it protected itself. Leaders who moved on to other companies to leech on took their most loyal su-k-ups with them. I saw this firsthand in tech and analytics. The brown nosers got protection regardless (inside or outside Nike). For the employees who want to do the right thing, this is either demoralizing or pushed them to fall in line.

HR did not seem to act as a neutral balance. In many cases, it felt more aligned with protecting leadership than addressing real concerns. Whether intentional or not, the effect was the same. The system kept reinforcing itself.

The most sobering realization was that leadership changes cannot fix a deeply entrenched culture. New CEOs and turnaround strategies may shift headlines, but without confronting the underlying incentives and behaviors, meaningful change remains elusive.

Real transformation requires more than restructuring or rebranding. It demands a deliberate effort to reshape the culture and to prioritize accountability, merit, and ethical leadership over loyalty politics. Until that happens, the same patterns will persist, no matter who occupies the corner office.

DF's buddy who owns Lattitude, is taking over connected vehicle's development. People bailing right and left.

Or will you go and eat another one of their bullsh-t sandwiches?

s it normal to feel overwhelmed at Verizon?. Or is just because we are heritage tracfone and the are doing it on purpose for us to quit?

Plus the new office will make worst commute due the traffic in Miami next to the airport.

Is it just me or the New Jersey ppl don’t feel this overwhelmed with the amount of Requests while you doing your daily job?

So Hans ran the company into the ground and gets an extra year of his 24 million salary. Sampath gets a 4 million dollar retention bonus and leaves 3 months later. Meanwhile store managers are being read the riot act if their stores have overtime. Cause my 3 hours of OT are gonna sink the company. Way to take care of your people Verizon. I always knew I was a just a number. But I felt like an appreciated and valued number. Nope. I am no longer proud to work here. Verizon wants me to do the impossible but God forbid it takes me 42 hours. Can't wait for the next pulse survey.

Has anyone received an email about the badge being deactivated before layoffs discussions? Several teammates have received an email stating the badge has been deactivated and when they speak with their leader the leader doesn’t answer any questions.

Team I'm on is mandating AT LEAST 50 PERCENT OF ALL NEW CODE be generated using copilot. No longer "use copilot to work faster" but now "replace your development skills with copilot". I do not doubt, FIS will be rolling this out to ALL of development over time

If there were any doubts that FIS was taking the path of using AI to reduce workforce, well. That seems to be EXACTLY where were headed

Can't wait for the brain and skill rot from forced use of copilot to bite them in the a-s

Anyone else notice how they avoided answering questions related to layoffs vs. C-suite compensation, offshoring, etc. in the latest TDO town hall? I’m disgusted but not surprised in the least that these cowards don’t have the ba--s to answer questions associates care about.

For those around MW and they definitely check this site. Does MW know he's the most hated CEO in Chevron history? Is he being insulated from the morale crisis we have? What does he say to all this?

Maybe this is me but the concept of announcing several executive level promotions and simultaneously telling the workforce that there will be layoffs to offset inflation, shows a total lack of humanity and civilized behavior. Is that what we have become?

"I want to be fully clear and transparent on the great place to work programme"

doesn't mention that Cisco buys their way to the top
Ok

More details in the comments https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activity-7427118095061819392-rD0R?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios&rcm=ACoAAAdeT6sBq6HR8cmvn-Ypy8_0uJhVxf9JjF4

Asurion is supposedly trying to expand service offerings and improve culture but internally we are hearing that they are planning to hire Andrew Brady from Verizon. He was let go from Verizon fie being unscrupulous in his sales practices and treating employees like trash. If that's the new direction at Asurion , Guru should be ashamed

Bridget Engle, whose 2024 compensation was $22.11 million, admitted on a town hall call today that employees were being forced to sit on the floor due to lack of space. This is reminiscent of textile mill workers who were forced to wear diapers because they were not allowed sufficient bathroom breaks. Ms. Engle should be ashamed and embarrassed at this inhumane treatment. The fact that she can casually admit this shows her complete lack of empathy and awareness. Her NUMBER ONE priority should be immediately resolving this issue, publicly apologizing to all employees, and personally apologizing to the affected employees.

From N&O:
“SAS Institute in Cary at No. 556”

Congratulations!

dang everybody looking ashy today

She basically came on saying no questions at the end of this All PCS team call. They are getting eaten alive and are trying to avoid questions now.

Did the email move you at all? 🤔 It felt hollow to me. If they could have gotten rid of all of us at once they would have. I feel more like we are on a subway train...yeah, all of us are moving "forward", but we all have "stops" ahead where we must get off....Oh well, whatever.

Company meeting, a year on and JT is still giggling about the "Difficult conversations" around taking away AEGs

Its been a while since we came here but we are back. So ladies and gentlemen, what is the news?

If you are a PO, PM, scrum lead, BA, RTE in P-M - how are you not losing your mind? The amount of administrative BS we have to do is pure insanity. I have no other word for it. How, on gods green earth, is this an efficient way to work?

Warrior mentality.

Success - you get paid bank
Failure - set of steak knives
Repeat failure - adios

I feel like I work with incompetent people. Some I seriously question how they keep their jobs. Am I alone here? Am I just unlucky? I get technical gaps but this is basic common sense and elementary math.

Can we hope to finally see those MDs who made the poor decisions to expose the company to the risk around Russia (a country on the US-sanction list since 2014 and its illegal invasion so hardly a case of "how could we have known?") finally held accountable for their poor decision-making?
There are Ds and MDs in my area who recruited 100s in Russia and completely messed up our org in the process. Despite showing shockingly poor judgement and poor management skills they are still at Citi.

5 - 22%
4 - 21%
3 - 20%

There’s basically no incentive to do anything other than the bare minimum.

WOW! Stores are literal ghost towns- There is NOBODY in the stores- empty aisles, unsold freight, zero employees. This company has been swirling the bowl for the last 2 years. People- get out now. The company is tanking.

How did people get exec roles in Humana Digital yet have no leadership, experience, accountability or vision/plan to deliver Humana Digital products or create a solid organization to deliver / support? They must have been great talkers during interviews - but the Board and C-Suite need to bring in leaders for Digital! Who is in place there now are awful - what were you thinking??

Humana has no leadership - they do have lots and lots of layers of useful management, just no leadership! They have no vision or plan at all - hence, can't put together a strategy. It cracks me up that they keep hiring upper management but continue to let go of the people who actually do work.

I could never recommend anyone take a job at Humana, nor would I recommend anyone be a customer. They have very few execs / managers that can deliver! Those that cared about the company and its customers are being let go. They are told they complain but in reality they are bringing up real problems and issues that if not addressed will have huge negative impact. The execs / managers don't complain because someone will then say "what are you going to do about that" and they will have no response since they let go of anyone with ideas or that cared!

The 1st question Elon Musk will ask Erica Dhawan is what product did you create?

Please please do not hire those people.. They are just good at talking instead of doing.

In AI world, we need someone can actually create something