#officeculture

Nothing has changed except headcount.
A little lower, still much more headroom to cut. Applications causing slowness in employee work (see AGS). Many office employees provide little to no value. Same old RTO complaints now have evolved to badging in and going home shortly after with no HR ability to counter. No corporate AI strategy as of March 2026, No PQ strategy as of March 2026 how is that possible? People that are not capable of keeping up with any communication methods yet they remain employed here. This place is a zoo at this moment in time.

I'm tired of pretending to be okay all day but also can't unload on someone just trying to be polite. The question just forces you to either lie or be the person who always seems in a bad mood. I'd rather just skip the small talk and work.

EH YOU ARE KI-LING US WITH DRIVING TO THE OFFICE FOR CR-PPY FOOD AND ANNOYING &LOSER LEADERS. WANT TO BOOST ENERGY, LET US WFH UNTIL GAS IS UNDER $3

Lay low don’t attach any undo attention to yourself.
Do not trust or talk to coworkers.
Under no circumstances should you help coworkers. Those that struggle stand out and will end up layoff candidate.
When its survival mode, it’s either sink or swim.

Three meetings so far today. Every single one, people staring at screens or out the window. Nobody wants to be there. Nobody is paying attention but looks like nobody cares either. What's the point??

It has been a year since the RTO policy and the divide it has created is hard to ignore. Those of us working remote or choosing offices closer to home often feel excluded from decisions, meetings, and the informal networks that keep work flowing. It is isolating and the pressure to play the game just to be seen is real.

Meanwhile, many in-office employees are not thriving either. Badging in, headphones on, fake smiles, people are disconnected, isolated, and going through the motions. There is no real connection and the culture has become draining, even toxic, taking a toll on mental and physical health.

The truth is clear. RTO has not solved productivity or engagement. It has highlighted a disconnect, a tension, and a struggle on both sides. Anyone else experiencing this? How are you navigating it?

https://www.thehill.com/opinion/technology/5775420-remote-first-productivity-growth/

Why would a company that makes money from supplying computers to home workers mandate a policy that returns all worker to return to the office a minimum of 3 days a week?

You would think that, as a computer company, HP would encourage remote working to be an example for other companies to take note on how they can have remote employees too. HP would then continue to have a sales bo-m (like they did in 2020) on laptops to supply workers.

Bottom line, HP wants to justify having large useless buildings by filling them up again with employees.

For those of you who have been mandated to return to the office 4 days a week are you complying? Has anyone heard of what consequences we face if we don't comply?

We all know that RTO was a completely political kissarse move and not a decision based on any facts but I am completely over it!
I'm in the office more days now than before COVID except now I don't even have my own assigned desk. We promote homeownership and affordability but treat employees like we are vagrants having to pack up our entire work life and take it home everyday and then hope we get a desk tomorrow. One that isn't covered in food crumbs from the person yesterday because they aren't cleaning these desks and the desk wipes are out more often than not!
Now that Trump had destroyed gas prices, between the cost of tolls, gas prices rising, the constant fear of layoffs, and hours in traffic, I'm being pushed way past my limit. I'm naturally a high performer but that's about to change. Being asked to do more work with less resources, all while being forced to come into an office just to sit on Teams Meetings all day is the d-mbest thing Pulte has done to date.
And, unfortunately, it's an employers market, so he can get away with it. #burnout #FDT

It's all meetings about meetings and reports about reports. It slows everything down. Not that anybody among leadership cares, mind you. It's just the new way of doing things.

I sit in my car at lunch just to have five minutes where no one talks to me.

"The call is coming from inside the house" is a famous horror movie trope and urban legend, most notably from the 1979 film When a Stranger Calls. It refers to a terrifying scenario where a person, receives threatening phone calls, only to discover the stalker is already inside with them. Reminds me of Citi...

Supported you? Managed thoughtfully? Tried to understand people's strengths and assign work accordingly? Do they even fully understand what your team does?

Mine might as well be from another planet. Great at office politics, useless at the actual work, and convinced that passive-aggressive behavior equals authority. I don't think anyone would notice, or work would suffer, if they were gone tomorrow.

Anyone see the “ATT is He-l” written in sharpie. Cracks me up every time I see it. Also those godda-n elevators are so slow

https://youtube.com/shorts/zidJDw00ZYo

YOU!

PSA to all the olds who must come in and cough and sneeze in our faces. I know yinz gotta make your days but take a sick day like wtf. Can’t go more than 2 minutes without one of you hacking a lung. Die quieter, thank you for your time

So I was previously located in another area of campus in a flexible seating space. Over a short period of time all of the flexible seating became assigned seating and neighborhood pods. Of course those neighborhood pods and assigned seats were the preferred seat seating near windows, quiet spaces, etc. and the only options left were in the noisy busy parts of the floor..

Our group just moved to building 600 pod C and it’s happening again.. seriously don’t understand the purpose of flexible seating if teams are going to start going through the process of making assigned seats. It’s so obnoxious to get stuck with the creepiest seating options just because I’m an individual contributor and not in the position to throw a trantrum to secure the preferred seats. So here I am once again being faced with having to sit next to the door where everyone enters and exits all day long. This whole thing is so obnoxious and ridiculous… even comical to some degree.

Looks so silent as I start my day. Anything going on guys?

1. Jumped on an sec update call so my name would be noticed and solved Wordle in 3 tries!
2. Bumped my used couch and lowered the price on alt-classified. Found a smoking deal on a few used Star Wars figures!
3. Took a long walk through the buildings using the bridges and took a big dump. Walked fast to look busy.
4. Joined an incident slack channel and asked for status to look like I was involved. Asked a d-mb question that was answered 3 posts previously (oops!).
5. Went to a meditation class and then a fun e-bike ride through campus!
6. Bought some cheap blazer tickets on alt-tickets.
7. Spent a couple hours on the van but only saw cleats.
8. Asked why the stock wasn’t rising on alt-personal finance. Wow, so many answers from people!
9. Calling it a day. Winning!

Houston is modernizing the buildings based on the San Ramon model and we promise you will only move to the unassigned model in a modernized space. You’re going to love it.

What is the mood knowing they broke that commitment and are now awkwardly and cowardly backtracking by possibly bringing the Hess building into play?

Btw, MN was the decider to force everyone into unassigned. Now RB is trying to clean up his mess.

I keep showing up and pretending it doesn't bother me, but the gossip and pettiness here is next level. It's so unprofessional that I'm starting to wonder if every corporate job is like this. Makes me want to find something completely different just to escape this mess.

Please bathe daily, wear clean clothes each day, wash your hands after using the bathroom, use antiperspirant and brush & floss your teeth. That is all.

There is no further talk of layoffs in the coffee corners.

Are we safe now? I hope so!

With the pending cuts and return to the office , I would like to know will the office be providing free coffee and lunch at least one day a week? Am i going to have equipment at the office and at home? I should not have to carry my computer, monitors, cables between home and the office.
I now will have lost time due to travel, have to spend money on travel to and from the office.
I have been told that it is expected we are in the office eight to five and they will be monitoring who is late or leaves early. This place gets worse by the minute

I left in January before OPO closed and before the PE axe swung. Things were tense when I left and I know they got worse before the big cut.

Is DF packed wall to wall? Are the parking lots insanely packed? Does anyone care about their job anymore? Are the contractors all gone?

Since we all headed there...

The consolidation of the offices to the hubs. ECS and future state. The loss of jurisdictional expertise from the regional offices to the hub and an SCP manual. You lost touch with what made you number 1- no customer cares about your metrics, they want confident knowledgeable guidance and you’re not giving that anymore, especially when management doesn’t even know the job and just focused on your idle time and how many cause of loss you closed. When you stop putting the customer first and worry about the things they never see or know, you lose touch with the actual mission. You cannot separate yourself by being like everyone else

I remember watching with a co worker in the break room and he said something about wishing he hadn’t spent so much time with his family earlier in his career. Who says that?

NY JC Plano Columbus tech teams still hybrid 3 days.

Are they still bringing in fast food for inside reps? You’d think they’d try something more thoughtful to keep people energized and engaged during long days at their desks.

Is it true that we’re going to be required to wear suits and ties? I noticed this week that there were a lot more people wearing suits this week.

Anyone? Since I have to come in everyday and no one sits in my corner except me (why am I here) at a min having them come by was like ok…. Guess I’m at least here to receive that 😐😂

Supposedly anyone within 25 miles of any office. Good luck.

Thoughts? It's insane how they are tracking too.

AK made clear on feb office hours that 15-70-15 here to stay. Is this means 15% layoff every year in the form of PIP?

I’m hearing another incident happened involving a desk takeover that occurred within the span of 30 minutes away from a desk.

Chill out folks. You’re not cops if someone’s speeding and not the desk ge----o at work.

I know they exist. I see the people in webphone. So, why are they the exception? I see job posting with “5 days in-office”, but clearly, that’s not always the case. Applying internally, are all the jobs genuinely gonna be 5 days in office still?

There are so many opportunities I would love to see through, but I am not gonna commit to another job with 5-day mandatory office. I can’t do it anymore.

OK, who did it? There is a new sign up in our breakroom stating it is against company policy to microwave fish. Well played.

I mean, I'm a rule follower. So I am going to microwave some asparagus and broccoli tomorrow, but not fish.

Why is it so hard to tell us in advance, or at least confirm which orgs will be affected? It's as if the goal is to keep us perpetually on edge. Do they truly believe this constant fear of losing your job somehow makes us more focused and productive? The vibe in my office has been toxic for months. I dread coming in now more because of the atmosphere than the actual work, which is stressful enough on its own.