#morale

• EM will drain your energy
• You're just a numbr
• benefits will continue to shrink
• U will be watched constantly
• gossip is survival currenc
• Trust no one at work
• Your words will be used
• One mistake can end you
• PIP is always hanging over you
• Ranking always turns teammates into rivals
• reviews are we-ponized against employees
• Silence = the safest strategy
• Speaking carries cost
• Fear is control
• Everyone is watching ONLY their own a-s
• Peers are potential informants
• Mentors are not safe (anymore)
• Mgrs want constant survival anxiety
• Campus morale is sh-t
• Happiness is gone
• Dignity got stripped away 100%
• Everyone wants u to leave
• Execs = greed; want you to leave
• Pressure will keep increasing, this is something u can bet on
• Everyone is looking for exits

I thought it was interesting that the latest survey I received did not ask whether I would recommend BNY as a place to work or whether I would consider leaving BNY for another job. I guess management is worried about the answers that would be given to those questions.

After 36 years at Fidelity, I have learned that every generation of associates eventually faces a moment when the conversation gets heavy.

People start asking whether the company is changing too much. Whether the culture is still the same. Whether the future is secure. Whether leadership understands the pressure people are feeling. Whether the next reorganization, strategy shift, technology wave, or market cycle means something worse is coming.

I understand those concerns. I have lived through enough change to know that uncertainty is real. It affects people, families, teams, confidence, and morale. I would never dismiss that.

But I would also offer this perspective: catastrophizing has never helped anyone build a better career.

Fidelity has never been a static company. It has grown, reorganized, adapted, expanded, corrected, invested, simplified, and reinvented itself many times. That is not a sign of failure. That is one of the reasons Fidelity has endured.

A long career teaches you that companies, like people, go through seasons. There are seasons of growth, seasons of constraint, seasons of reinvention, seasons of discomfort, and seasons when the path forward is not as clear as we would like it to be. The mistake is assuming that a difficult season is the whole story.

It is not.

Fidelity remains a company with tremendous strengths: deep customer trust, a respected brand, scale, financial discipline, a broad business model, talented associates, and a history of finding its way through change. That does not mean every decision will feel perfect. It does not mean every associate will experience change the same way. But it does mean that this is still a place where people can learn, contribute, grow, lead, and build meaningful careers.

To those early in your career: do not let fear become your career strategy. Listen, learn, and be aware of what is happening around you, but do not let anonymous anxiety define your view of the company or your future. Build skills. Build relationships. Ask for feedback. Understand the business. Volunteer for hard problems. Become known as someone who is reliable, curious, adaptable, and focused on outcomes.

A career is not built by waiting for certainty. It is built by becoming valuable in uncertain environments.

To those who have been here a long time: our experience matters, but only if we keep converting it into relevance. We have seen cycles before. We know that the mood of the moment is not always the truth of the future. Our role is not to deny that change is hard. Our role is to help others navigate it with perspective, steadiness, and maturity.

Long-tenured associates have a responsibility to be culture carriers, not nostalgia carriers. We should remember what made Fidelity special, but we should also help shape what Fidelity needs to become next.

That means mentoring newer associates. Sharing context. Reducing noise. Solving problems. Staying open to new tools, new ways of working, and new business realities. It means being honest without being cynical, realistic without being fatalistic, and loyal without being blind.

There is a difference between concern and catastrophizing.

Concern asks: What can I learn? How can I prepare? Where can I contribute? Who needs my help? What skills do I need next?

Catastrophizing says: It is all broken. Nothing matters. The future is already lost.

I do not believe that. Not after 36 years.

What I believe is that careers are built through adaptation. Reputation is built through consistency. Leadership is built through how we show up when things are unclear. And culture is built by the daily choices we make in how we treat each other, how we talk about the future, and whether we choose to contribute or simply complain.

Fidelity is not perfect. No company is. But it is still a place with opportunity for people who are willing to grow, stay curious, build trust, and focus on meaningful work.

The best advice I can offer is this: do not outsource your outlook to the most anxious voice in the room.

Pay attention. Be thoughtful. Prepare yourself. Keep learning. Take care of your network. Take care of your reputation. Take care of your teammates. And remember that your career is bigger than any one rumor, reorganization, difficult quarter, or online thread.

I have seen Fidelity change many times.

I have also seen people build remarkable careers here because they chose resilience over fear, contribution over cynicism, and growth over retreat.

That opportunity still exists.

The question for each of us is how we choose to show up now.

The stock is up, so I guess people are ok with the abuse. The complaining stopped.

Every conversation comes with a little reminder that they can let you go whenever they feel like it. You are never secure or safe and they want you to know that. It's a control tactic and it is draining every bit of energy I have left.

Don’t expect engagement, cooperation, creativity. You won’t get it because you don’t believe in it. You believe in hierarchy of mediocre yes-people, micromanagement and fear tactics.

Im sorry i dont mean literally but i have to question whats happening there because not many people i work with have a damn clue how to do their job and have no freakin work ethic what so ever. And its getting worse with each new recruit brought on board. That location has always been known as an issue so very shocking when it was announced a growth location but something has got to give. There are way too many of you that are just a red flag so what gives seriously

Not even a single manager in this company seems to work on anything other than “stakeholder management” and preparing presentations for leadership.

Meanwhile, the individual contributors who actually get the work done are excluded, discarded, and overlooked, while their work is celebrated only to stroke the egos of so-called leaders. That’s the reality of Verizon today.

How is this okay? They sit around and share negative opinions about specific employees without any shame. Word gets around fast and now nobody trusts anyone and everyone is scared of being next. That's not leadership. That's bullying, plain and simple.

I'm getting really tired of seeing no benefits from good results and shouldering all consequences of the opposite. When everything was great, there was no upside for employees. Yet as soon as things started to fail, the downside was layoffs. And it keeps happening.

3 hours a day.
15 hours a week.
60 hours a month.
720 hours a year.

That’s 30 full days of your life spent commuting every year.

One entire month annually sacrificed sitting in traffic so a presence report can show the “right numbers” for work that still just happens on a laptop and Teams calls.

Thousands in gas, tolls, parking, wear and tear, and unpaid time gone forever.

And for what? Morale is worse. Burnout is worse. The stock is down. People are leaving.

That’s #LifeAtATT

Nothing and I mean nothing scares ppl investing with any bank more than turmoil and unrest.
They are really pushing for massive layoffs done by silent workers being threatened long insane hours and excessive workloads.
They WANT this to happen. Jump ship get the he-l out let them sink like State Street did.
They deserve their misery gaslighting employees. Reneging on five years of hybrid.
Abby is cooked she’s lost her way they’re going for the big sell out why taking about 25% in the wake.
She wants insane type A hyped up employees or the massively linear Indian and African workers willing to do this workload for Pennie’s on the dollar to escape genocide or sepsis in the streets.
This is tectonic.

I've been at several companies over the last 20 years, and I've been at 3M for the last ten.

I used to be able to enthusiastically say that 3M was the best place I've ever worked.

I guess that's still true, but not the 3M of today.

This place has gotten bad, and it continues to get worse.

Per Charlie, will you all get the F out of here here please?!?!?!?! Just leave already!!!!

Should be posted daily so we don't ever forget the qualities of our Dear Leader.

Especially all those bootlickers and the standing ovations and softball questions at the Town Halls.

WF CEO CELEBRATES 23 CONSECUTIVE QUARTERS OF HEADCOUNT REDUCTIONS
https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2026/04/14/wells-fargo-ceo-layoffs-wfc-earnings-call.html

Anyone going through that recently?

I got this fu--ing annoying member from another team, who is good for nothing.

Yet, I can see behavior which always cause chaos, trying to step on everyone’s toes.

Matter of time when someone asks them to “calm TF down”

There was a time when I genuinely believed this company valued its people. That feeling is long gone. Now we are just waiting for the next layoff announcement and bracing ourselves to train the people who will eventually replace us. I won't even mind all that much when my time comes.

Most employees appear disengaged, simply completing their assigned responsibilities and leaving at 5:00 every day. There is little motivation to exceed expectations because most people feel that exceptional effort is neither recognized nor rewarded through promotions, raises, or bonuses. This has proven to be the case at Truist.

Employment is ultimately a two-way agreement between employer and employee. However, the expectation at Truist often seems to be that teammates should consistently go above and beyond in every aspect of their work. In reality, employees are compensated to perform the duties outlined in their roles. As a result, most (including myself) have adopted the mindset of doing only what is required for their role, since additional effort does not appear to lead to meaningful financial or career advancement.

Well said, @a7+1krek386h.

Can we go back to the time when we were able to focus on our work without having to worry about losing our jobs 24/7?

Before I quit two years ago, I remember it taking 15 minutes just to log in every morning. To say the place was a mess would be an understatement. Not to mention, the whole Genpact deal destroyed already low morale. I was so happy to leave it all behind. Have things improved at all since then?

I remember walking through the halls here when I first started and feeling genuine excitement about the place. The energy was real and people seemed to actually enjoy being here. Over the years, I watched that energy fade as the bank stopped treating employees like partners and started treating them like just another expense. Now it's completely unrecognizable.

What the he-l kind of leadership is that?? How is that acceptable? This place used to have good managers. Now all of them have been laid off or left and we're stuck with new id--ts with zero people skills and even less knowledge. No wonder this place is sinking as fast as it is.

Looks like we’re getting hit every three months. No wonder morale is in the gutter.

So nervous about today, I can't function!

I swear, I hear this one more time from anybody, I won't be responsible for my actions.

Everyone’s stressed, everyone’s worried about where they stand, and collaboration disappears the second pressure goes up. What happened to this place?

The golden years are long gone. To compete with price slashing, we have to almost give away our product. This leaves less to work with. Though cost cutting has been a theme the past 5 years. But this past year has reached Sprint levels. Do more with less people and money but be happy about leadership's questionable decisions. It is scary the similarities of what Sprint went through before being destroyed and what we are seeing today within. A sad coincidence we added yellow to our colors. On top of all that weight from above, customers are getting worse. Not just with us but everywhere. The entitlement norm and lack of compassion or respect of fellow humans is a crazy strain on workers already looking over their shoulder.

@xx+1kqqf7e4m makes an excellent point.

We've been weighed down by margin pressure quite a bit. General population will continue to be VERY cautious given all the sh-t that's going on in the country and inte world. Plus this case of a lingering fallout from the botched Albertsons merger - it's a messed up mix of bad things. Now, I wander, how much suffering will be directed towards the employee. I hope for the better, but i am increasingly losing that hope.

I was not LR’ed but after this last one I’m officially checked out. I will do what I’m asked to do and nothing more. Thank you Cisco and my wonderful team but this battery is officially permanently drained.

it is tough to work here, full stop. BUT i like my manager and peers, i'm happy to be here with them. i hope we win and i hope we can make it work. i see and feel the pain......but let me tell y'all about the company i came from. i hope the opentext experiment works out

Nothing ever changes for the better around here. Especially for us lowly employees.

Does anyone else feel like workplace monitring has gone way too far?

Badge swipes logged... VPN activity closely watched. Teams status checked (and tracked). Calendars scanned. Emails parsed... Productivity fu--ing evaluated.... AI note-takers showing up in meetings, nobody asked for them....

Then executives act surprised when morale is awful and people do not trust management. At this point, I assume every company laptop is basically a tracking device that also happens to run work apps.

That's it that's my post. Somehow we lost this. I think all of us have a hunch why.

when you optimize for one thing, you usually suboptimize something else.

so now we spend energy on trivial stuff like badging, attendance, and proving people are physically present, while less time goes into the actual work. the work is still there. it just gets buried under another layer of compliance theater.

wells fargo has always had a problem with truth and trust. in good times, people work around it. in tough times, it gets harder to hide.

that’s when the cracks show.

High performer with excellent performance assessments, but I can't do it anymore. Staff cuts have us at bare bones. We do not have the staff to do even an average job anymore, forget about excelling. All we do it jump from one fire to another, a little here and a little there, trying to satisfy everyone and actually not accomplishing anything. Client satisfaction is not even on the radar. Job satisfaction is non-existent. I'm done.

The problem isn’t just one bad decision. It’s weak direction, poor follow through, and leadership that doesn’t inspire much confidence. Does anybody actually still see a future here?

I used to think that liking your job was a normal expectation, something that most people could reasonably hope for. After spending so much time in this place, I am genuinely not sure anymore. Is there an assumption that we are all just supposed to tolerate our work and find our fulfillment elsewhere, or am I actually supposed to enjoy what I do for eight hours a day?

I used to be the person who volunteered for extra assignments, who looked for ways to cut waste, who stayed late to get things across the finish line. Then I noticed that the people who did those things either burned out and left, or they got managed out by leaders who felt threatened by anyone who seemed too competent. Meanwhile, the people who just showed up, did exactly what they were told, and never rocked the boat were the ones who stuck around. This place doesn't want people who think or try. It wants people who nod and comply.