#morale

And it stinks

It felt completely stripped of any clear message or real leadership. It looked like it was generated completely with AI or rewritten so many times by HR that there was absolutely no purpose to it. No numbers, no changes, no future. How did NetApp lose so many important people while the entire leadership team stays onboard?

Glad that George also got a $15M raise yesterday for all his hard work: https://www.stocktitan.net/sec-filings/NTAP/form-4-net-app-inc-insider-trading-activity-d08f092e431a.html

Playing the fiddle while Rome burns.

How they always manage to target the very people the team depends on is beyond me.

Will we at least get a few months to recover from all the stress?

It didn't look like it on the all hands, lots of red but we will get there they say

Don’t give me all that double talk about needing a job and all.
You are grown human beings. You should be able to do something else, and clear yourself of this mess here.

Why do you keep doing the same thing every day, yet expecting a different result? At this point you are beyond being able to justify why you stay here to anyone or yourself.

Just a P.S.A. that bears repeating: Even though it feels like it would be better to quit since EJ has become such a toxic work place / environment, do not quit. If you do quit on your own volition, you are giving up many legal protections. Make them fire you. Learn the code words for ageism in disguise: "over-qualified," "passing the torch," "new perspective or cultural fit," "fresh energy," "doesn't want to learn the new technology" to name a couple. There are more and the company will dress it up as a compliment.

HR is NOT your friend.

They're leaving in droves now before it gets worse. Which is hard to imagine. Better get while the gettin's good folks.

Nobody trained me. You're simply expected to know things, then get blamed when you don't. The mood is terrible because everyone is only here out of necessity. Corporate talks a big game about safety and standards but won't fund what it actually takes to meet them. They'd rather rearrange the shelves than make the job manageable for the people stuck doing it.

I lost count of how many layoffs have happened in the past 8 years. Today's is the worst. Our already skeleton crew was cut in half. All of us are already over worked. This place is going to be a disgruntled sweatshop in day or 2. And they layed of the folks with a future. 3 of us are close to retirement and informed our managers that a layoff would be welcome for us. Nope, they skipped us and went for younger generation. Who is going to carry this company forward? NetApp... where stupid thrives.

Days like today are always tough. When smart, hard working and loyal, good people get let go from doing their jobs to assuage the hubris at the top. Every single layoff has a personal and professional impact. I think there is growing frustration at NetApp that GK, our President and SVP of Comp to name a few continue to be here despite years of stagnant growth, lack of vision and being completely disconnected from field teams and customers. Everyone with a brain cell knows $10B by 2028 is not happening yet GK and executives keep pushing the same BullS*** narrative. Unless we get acquired or acquire a company it will not happen organically. Why not make $8B a realistic goal and stop the gaslighting. It's time for Executive leadership to be held accountable.

After years of being expected to do more and more with less and less, now I just show up for the money. I stopped caring a while ago. How can a place change so much so quickly? Or am I wearing rose-tinted glasses when it comes to Medtronic of five to ten years ago?

If you been here a year or you been here 15 years. You know that Verizon doesn’t give a cr-p about you. You are a number. Always have been always will be. My issue is, at least they used to hide the fact you didn’t matter. It was not as apparent as it is now. Employee morale is at an all time low everywhere. Unless you’re making six figures of course. Leadership is so out of touch with reality. Put them in front of a computer or tablet and ask them to sell. They would look at you cross eyed. Let alone hit these insane quotas that they are putting in front of us. It’s everywhere. Retail r2b V2B b2b. Let’s change commission. You’ll make more they said. Lmao. All of us that have been around long enough know that’s a crock of shi* anytime commission is changed it’s to line the pockets of the C suite. The ones that have zero clue.

The cost of living is at the highest it’s ever been and we can’t even get a raise enough to cover it. It’s actually a pay cut with the rising cost of insurance.

Funny we have not had a pulse survey for quite a while. Not that they matter. They just change show you the good results and say “you asked we listened”

We got so accustomed to being the “best” carrier. Now, T-Mobile and AT&T are laughing in our faces.

Run while you can. If you can. This is a sinking ship.

Honestly, I never thought the current Bank President would have such a devastating impact on USAA Bank’s culture, organization, and people leadership. I knew him when he was an ED, watched him move up through the ranks, and genuinely congratulated him when he was selected. At the time, I was happy for USAA because I believed he might help restore the culture many of us remember from before 2018, etc. I never imagined it would turn out like this.

How did we get here?

I’ve worked in this industry for more than 35 years, and this is stunning. Employee exhaustion from perpetual cost-cutting cycles has become so normalized that people now seem to accept it as a fact of life.

I understand capitalism. I understand the need to make a profit. But at what point did we remove the human element from the workplace, all while increasing our use of slogans like "people first" and "we’re a family"?

We've became a sick society.

This treatment of depression staff has happened under Ryan's watch, and Rajat Taneja is complicit. It was never like this with Al... remember the lockdown tears and family-vibe he instilled? Now a climate of fear.

Question is, is it purely down to Ryan (being a salesman, not CEO material), the shareholders, Rajat... or would this have happened under Al but he saw it coming?

so sick of every tom, di-k and harry reminding us to complete it, been here 20 plus years and never had anything good happen from that stupid survey
another waste of time

It is not about expecting a reward. I actually get a real sense of satisfaction from doing a job well, no matter where I am or who I work for. But here is the thing all of us have to accept. Do not expect loyalty back. Do not expect appreciation. Do not expect any of it to protect you. When cuts come, you will be out the door just as fast as the person who does nothing. Maybe faster. Whatever corporate culture this place supposedly had is long gone. If it ever existed at all.

Two talented people are gone from the team, but the clueless, passive-aggressive manager survived. Lucky us.

Emplyoyees have lost:

1. Company paid medical benefits
2. Profit Sharing
3. The monthly possibility of promotions. Now done only annually
4. Company contributions to 401K with each pay check. Now done only annually
5. 2% or less raises
6. Your own desk. Now having to come in each day to seek a desk with hoteling.
7. No personal file space.
   Employees have gained:
8. More work due to layoffs and resignations of colleagues, and job uncertainty

So how does management expect to keep and attract employees under these circumstances?

I wrote this poem when I got made redundant from Verizon in November 2015. Still relevant today.

It Was my Final Day – The Bard of Verizon

It was my final day.
I looked around the office.
At all the empty desks.
I could tell.
The building was now an empty shell.

Where is everyone ?
Tom, Di-k and Harry my good friends all now gone.
I wondered if ?
Just like me they had been hit by a RIF.
I shake my head in disbelief and want to cry
That must be the reason why.

Meanwhile at Verizon HQ.
Fran Shamo's latest financial report was sadly nothing new.
We must do something radical to improve our profit margins as they are still down
He said with a frown.

The board racked their brains for hours.
And even more hours.
Until Lowell McAdam jumped to his feet he had a brainwave.
"Eureka I have the perfect plan.”
"That's why I am the top man."
“How about if..."
"We have another RIF ?"

There was whooping, smiling, laughter and high fives all round.
The company’s profits would soon rise a solution had been found.
Lowell McAdam then said "Ring The Bell for a job well done we deserve some praise."
"Let's also award ourselves a well deserved 20% pay raise."

The board couldn't care less.
If the RIF made their minions lives a mess.
The poor Verizon staff.
Unlike their leaders could neither smile or a laugh.

Once they were many now they are just too few.
Lowell McAdam's grand plan would give them all more stress and work they could do without.
That much they knew.

Their future is not going to be that bright.
All doom and gloom probably describes it just about right.
And yes they work under a cloud constantly worrying if ?
They are going to be a casualty of yet another Verizon RIF.

Only time will tell, but no one has a good feeling about Zayo

This isn’t working. RTO isn’t working.

The conversation internally is still focused only on badge swipes, presence reports, five-day mandates and 10% sweeping layoffs while the stock slides, morale stays low, and leadership takes new debt and pushes expensive long-term office bets nobody wants.

Markets don’t care about the unnecessary and expensive RTO facade. It just destroys value by forcing out top talent and plummeting productivity.

They don’t care about micromanaging badge data.
They don’t care about forced commutes that reduce available working hours.
They don’t care who sat in a chair 5 days this week while watching Netflix at their desk.

They care about execution. Growth. Costs. Talent retention. Confidence in leadership. All the things we aren’t focused on right now.

At some point the board has to ask hard questions and decide to make some real changes to turn things around.

Because the falling stock price, disengaged employees, and doubling down on unpopular policies isn’t a strategy. It’s self inflicted destruction.

Please stop doing layoff. We are only 80k employees which is very less then your competitor. Still you continue doing layoff . Not even a single employee is happy over here. Please make your existing employee happy.

How much of a lack of character, conscience and morals do you have to be a leader at Chevron? The way it seems you cant have any and only care about yourself. MW and team see all the hardship, chaos and stress they are putting this company through and they still do it. They are affecting people's health and dont care. Must be a terrible upbringing. They DO NOT HAVE TO give everything to rhe shareholders. No law that says they have to. They can have some human decency but choose to have none! Don't put in an ounce of extra effort for these sc-m bags!

I know several employees that have been given date of June 30.
They are doing zero work.
In short FIS Management has given them paid vacation.

The intent was to save money, instead management is doling out free money

I just want this round to be over so I can have some peace of mind, even if only for a couple of weeks. I'm terrified of losing my job. It's a bad period in life, too many obligations and reasons to stress. Losing my job would probably bring me to my knees. I hate that it's come to this, but I can't change it right now.

Just numbers. That's it. Everything is about cuts, and we're the ones cut. Easy savings for leadership to boost the stock and their bonuses. So stop investing. Stop the extra hours. Stop expecting anything. And for God's sake, don't give this place a single thing more than what they're paying for.

Why is it always on the survivors to absorb everything from the people who got cut? If there's suddenly so much extra work, maybe those people shouldn't have been let go. But there's never any real planning afterward, just an expectation that we'll do the jobs of three people, including things we have no idea how to do.

These days, it's fashionable not even to attempt retaining talent. Cost-cutting is the go-to strategy for propping up the share price and securing leadership bonuses. In the long term, they're cutting the branch they're sitting on. I'm not sure any of this is sustainable. The two groups most targeted in layoffs have been veterans, the well of knowledge and experience, and the younger talent that any company would ki-l for under normal circumstances. It's a recipe for disaster.

I do good work for me. Not for the company. They don’t care whether I try or not. There is no reward coming my way. Odds are I will be let go eventually and nobody in management will lose any sleep over it. But I also know myself. If I spent eight to ten hours a day just skating by, working only for a paycheck, I would lose my mind. So I do the job well because I have to live with myself afterward. What I cannot figure out is how some people coast so easily. That would drive me insane.

Think about the people you work with. Every one of them has a distinct mind, a unique set of experiences, a whole library of skills they built over years. That is an enormous amount of potential sitting in one place. A smart company would see that as gold. Instead, most corporations treat employees like identical spare parts. Interchangeable. Disposable. If that is not a sign that the economy has lost its sense of what actually matters, I honestly do not know what is.

with most of the layers doing nothing but making reports celebrating that the chocolate rations have been increased from 2.4% to 2.7% this quarter. Meanwhile back in the garages and CO's it's now BYOTP (toilet paper) time.

https://www.salesforceben.com/the-midlife-crisis-of-the-salesforce-professional/

Layoffs even in AF, smaller territories, higher targets, no raises, greater levels of micromanagement, offshoring....leading many to question is the hard pivot to AI really worth it it just leave the ecosystem? Or even leave the entire tech industry as misery increases for everyone.

Is anyone else struggling with the new leaders in MD Live? It’s toxic and micro management and like I’m not allowed to have an opinion. I’m ready to leave but wish I would be packaged out and offered severance. I tried to bring it up as an option and was dismissed which seems like the current mentality in this area. Anyone else? Or anyone with suggestions? Does anyone know if there will be layoffs?

Any other clubs that lose people find out that they aren’t being replaced ? We lost a receiver, a day forklift driver and someone in freezer cooler .. we were told they were not getting replaced .. yet the F/c now has a merch over there which has left the floor short .. then they take a lift driver over there which make the floor short again.. why are we not replacing people .. all they are doing is stressing everyone out because we still have to do the job yet we are running out butts off like crazy while our managers get a huge pay raise to still sit in the office or walk around the club with their coffee cups barking out orders of how we aren’t getting enough done . Home office needs to get their heads out of their butts and realize it isn’t the mangers keeping your clubs going … it is the associates u are treating badly

My top 10

It increases commute time & stress. Period...
It raises costs for emplyees...
It can reduce worklife balance.
It limits access to wider talent pools.
It hurts productivity for focused work.
It creates unnecessary office overhead.
It can lower employee satisfaction.
It makes caregiving harder.
It can increase burnout risk.
It is not improving collaboration.

The soft layoffs in innovative medicine continue, and many of us are starting to question the criteria behind who is being let go. Employees who consistently come into the office three days a week, contribute meaningfully, and do their jobs well are being impacted, while others who rarely show up and contribute little seem to remain untouched.

It’s difficult not to notice how political the environment appears to have become. At times, it feels as though if someone in leadership doesn’t personally favor you, your position may already be at risk. That perception alone is concerning. It keeps repeating and everyone sees it.

I simply wish professionalism, maturity, and fairness carried more weight in these decisions. People should not feel that their livelihood is tied to office politics, personal insecurities, or whether they are personally liked by leadership.

Let’s be honest — some of these leaders are simply not qualified for the roles they hold. Titles and positions do not automatically make someone an effective leader. True leadership requires competence, accountability, emotional intelligence, fairness, and the ability to develop and support strong teams. Unfortunately, many employees are witnessing the opposite.

Too often, decisions appear to be driven by favoritism, office politics, personal comfort, or insecurity rather than actual performance and contribution. Strong employees who bring value, experience, and consistency are being pushed out, while individuals with the right relationships or visibility continue to advance despite limited impact. That creates frustration, distrust, and a toxic work culture.

What’s even more concerning is that many organizations claim to value innovation, collaboration, and talent retention, yet they continue to lose some of their most capable people because leadership lacks the maturity or confidence to manage high-performing individuals effectively. Great leaders build strong teams around them. Insecure leaders often view strong talent as competition.

At some point, innovative medicine has to ask themselves why morale is declining, why turnover is increasing, and why employees no longer trust leadership. The issue is not always the workforce. Sometimes the issue is the people making the decisions

I joined last year, I am kind of surprised the there is so much pride associates have to stick around in company for 20-25-20-25-30-35-40 years!

In my first 6 months, when I met somebody or when they were introduced, there was no mention of their achievements, work or success or role .. it was always .. achievement is "she/he has been here for 10-15-20-25-20-25-30-35-40 years" lot of them are in the same role or team for at least 10 years!