#performanceexpectations

Is achieves expectations the new successful? Joined this team three months ago and only worked with this manager for two months, received achieves expectations but comments seemed negative unsure why..

Just when I think I'm about to get promoted, the rules change. It's always something else. Always. I've been playing this same game for years and I'm getting really, really tired of their sh-t. I think the whole thing is intentionally set up like this, to always keep the carrot just out of our reach but close enough to keep us motivated. Well, I'm done trying.

Fed just got theirs and they are due Dec. 3. How did it go for the commercial side? For AEs, there is a SIGNIFICANT jump in technical accumen expectations. Does anyone on the other side of this from commercial have tips for how you can suddenly gain the knowledge of a CIO with a master's degree in 30 days?

TIAA created a governance program to safeguard the retirement products it manages for millions of Americans. Two Black women designed and ran it. According to a federal lawsuit filed September 24, 2026, both were pushed out within four months - and the work kept going without them.

The complaint, lodged in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleges TIAA terminated the worker who operated the program under a rationale its own internal communications contradicted the very next day.

The worker joined TIAA in August 2023 after two years at J.P. Morgan, according to the filing. She was recruited by a colleague - a Black female Managing Director hired in 2022 to create the company's New Business Initiative Assessment program, known internally as NBIA. Together, the two-person team developed the entire framework: an enterprise-wide governance and control system designed to ensure regulatory compliance and operational readiness for all new and materially modified products offered to TIAA's retirement and wealth management clients.

The program was no back-office exercise. According to the complaint, TIAA's executive committee approved it, internal audit cleared it in the first quarter of 2025, and the company formally submitted it to the New York Department of Financial Services as a "key mitigant" for product safety and soundness risk. The pipeline grew from 22 initiatives in 2022 to 57 by mid-2025, the filing states, supporting business lines projected to bring in over $25 billion in additional assets.

Over 31 months, the worker received no documented performance criticism of any kind, according to the filing. No improvement plan. No discipline. No warning.

Then her colleague went on approved medical leave in late July 2025.

The complaint alleges that a senior manager - who the filing says had "no knowledge of the area" - immediately tried to pressure the worker into gutting the program without the colleague's knowledge. On the first night of the leave, he emailed her: "we will need your leadership to determine, practically speaking, which activities to curtail or eliminate," according to the filing. The worker refused, citing the program's regulatory importance, and added her colleague to the email chain so she would see it on her return.

Within weeks, a covering manager was installed while the worker was on approved leave. According to the complaint, this manager - who is not Black - launched what the filing describes as "a sustained campaign" to disparage the NBIA program as "confusing" and "duplicative." The complaint alleges the covering manager badgered the worker in meetings, excluded her from others, portrayed her as dishonest in writing before senior colleagues, and pressured her to alter approved committee minutes that had been reviewed by TIAA's legal department.

The worker refused to change the minutes.

The complaint alleges the worker raised concerns to TIAA's HR business partner on multiple occasions between August and September 2025. According to the filing, HR took no corrective action. Instead, the complaint states, the HRBP sent the worker a lengthy written reprimand for raising those concerns and instructed her to trust in the covering manager's "positive intent."

The worker's response, according to the filing, was pointed: she asked what outlets were available to speak up "if HR no longer feels able to listen."

According to the complaint, the HRBP dismissed her concerns entirely, writing that senior leaders were being asked to "break bureaucracy" by streamlining processes and driving efficiencies.

The colleague returned from leave in October 2025. One month later, on November 17, 2025, she was terminated, the filing states. The publicly stated rationale was eliminating "duplicative" processes - offered, the complaint alleges, without documentary support and contradicting the program's own institutional history: a program TIAA had created to fill a governance gap, approved by its own executive committee, submitted to regulators, and cleared by internal audit only months earlier.

The worker learned of the termination by phone while she was overseas on approved leave, according to the complaint. The covering manager told her to stop communicating with the terminated colleague about anything TIAA-related - even though the colleague's official employment did not end until January 2, 2026, the filing states.

From there, the complaint alleges the treatment intensified.

The covering manager demanded a list of every stakeholder meeting the worker held, a demand the complaint alleges was not made of any similarly situated employee. In early December, the covering manager verbally requested a report needed for a December 10 meeting, according to the filing. The worker delivered it on December 9. The covering manager reprimanded her in writing for not having it by December 8 - a deadline the complaint states was never communicated and fell during a period of approved leave.

Then came the vacation cap.

In January 2026, the covering manager informed the worker for the first time that she should "baseline" at approximately 20 days of annual vacation, the complaint states. That cap did not exist. According to the filing, the worker's offer at hire included unlimited paid time off under TIAA's written "Responsible Time Off" policy, which contained no maximum. When the worker asked for the policy basis, the covering manager sent a screenshot showing a 20-hour New York Paid Prenatal Leave entitlement - a provision the filing describes as bearing no relationship to the worker's circumstances and concerning hours rather than days.

In the same exchange, the complaint states, the covering manager attached a report of the worker's complete time-off history going back to 2024, before her management even began, signaling that past use of an unlimited benefit was now under retroactive scrutiny.

Then came the performance review.

In January 2026 - weeks before the only negative review of her tenure - the covering manager's own chief of staff sent the worker formal written recognition. According to the complaint, he praised "the clarity and depth of her presentation as truly outstanding" and described her "leadership and subject matter expertise as invaluable assets."

On January 29, 2026, the covering manager delivered the year-end review over video call, the complaint states. She read the colleague's overwhelmingly positive feedback aloud, then mentioned she had added her own written comments and told the worker to read them after the call. The negative portion was based on approximately three weeks of actual observation, according to the filing. The electronic sign-off deadline was the next day. The worker submitted a written rebuttal. When she asked for examples to support the claims, the covering manager could not provide any, according to the complaint.

On February 3, 2026, the worker attended a company-sponsored, invitation-only Black History Month event at NASDAQ organized by a TIAA business resource group, the filing states. While she was at the event, a "time sensitive" report was demanded with a same-day deadline. The covering manager then reprimanded the worker in writing - copying a colleague - and instructed her to report her whereabouts when away from her desk, according to the complaint.

On March 26, 2026, TIAA told the worker her role was being eliminated. The rationale: NBIA processes would be "integrated" into strategic governance functions. The next day, according to the filing, the covering manager sent an email to a broad internal audience instructing staff to continue performing the same NBIA work, using the same process and tools. She asked recipients who had previously met with the worker to redirect their questions to another employee - one the complaint describes as having no working knowledge of the NBIA program.

Also on that final working day, the complaint states, the worker received a request through the NBIA management tool to reactivate an initiative the covering manager had previously ordered placed in the "dead folder." The filing describes this as an attempt to avoid admitting the worker had been right to keep it in the pipeline.

At termination, the worker's base salary was $147,900, according to the complaint. She had also received $43,500 in incentive compensation the previous month.

The lawsuit brings claims of race and s-x discrimination under federal, state, and city law, along with claims of retaliation for raising discrimination complaints and for whistleblowing. The worker alleges she was punished for refusing to dismantle a regulatory control program and for flagging concerns about how she was being treated. She seeks compensatory and punitive damages, back and front pay, and attorneys' fees.

Her former colleague has filed a separate action against TIAA in the same court, the complaint states.

Will Ayman get his 20% growth?

Verizon needs to focus on the quality of people not the friendships they have outside of work. The entire DMV needs a major shake up and they need to replace the entire leadership staff starting with Thompson. He loves to hire his friends and then over looks there sh---y performance. If you’re not a Clark County boy you’re treated differently, not trusted and quite frankly not liked.

One thing that needs to be pointed out right away is that of the more than 25,000 employees Verizon had when Dan Schulman took over as CEO, none have been members of the telecommunications union. He hasn't laid off a single union worker. He has completely focused on managerial and sales professionals.

The second thing that needs to be pointed out is that the reason no union members have been laid off is that the governments of California and New York would only approvate Verizon's acquisition of Frontier Communications if the union jobs were preserved. Presumably, =managerial and sales workers also vote, so one has to wonder why thee government regulators did nothing to protect Verizon's non-union workers. A lot of Verizon workers who were laid off were replaced by Frontier workers. It's sick, The merger should not have been approved without a guaranty of no layoffs. Our governments failed us.

Beyond that, Verizon's layoffs were unfair and indiscriminate. People with stellar performance reviews, in line for promotions, were suddenly let go, without recourse. Dan Schulman and his new management team did not even meet with the people they fired.

Verizon is in a highly regulated industry and should be sanctioned for its behavior.

The remote and wfh accommodated employees are not having to deal with any of this BS. Isn’t that discriminatory to able bodied employees? They are making more money ,too, not having to commute, etc. I mean no wonder morale is so low! People in office are tired of the whole thing. We are not all playing on even turf. People that do the exact same job are required to be at 60% or more while the majority are at home raking in the savings! Boooooooooo! US Bank has some issues that need to be addressed asap!

Got my separation date - Nov 12 2027. This is ridiculous. I'm in UM concurrent review, and I'm so sick of this company constantly devaluing our work. We're expected to do 2.16 cases per hour, but somehow we're also supposed to attend meetings, trainings, and everything else without the metric changing.

How is that reasonable? I can't sit through a one-hour meeting and still complete 2.16 cases per hour. I'm one person. Leadership created impossible expectations and punish us for not meeting them.

I don't understand how they think they can pay bottom dollar and expect top performance. It makes no sense. But it seems to be logical to the id--ts in charge.

After over a decade in corporate banking, I’ve realized that one of the most frustrating things about modern corporate culture is when performance expectations become increasingly subjective.

It’s one thing to be measured on clear outcomes, production, quality, deadlines, or objective standards. It’s another to be told you need more “critical thinking,” more “ownership,” more “judgment,” or more “independence” without clear definitions of what success actually looks like.

What I’ve experienced is a shift away from structured work and toward ambiguity. Employees are expected to make decisions with incomplete information, navigate constantly changing expectations, and somehow know exactly what leaders want even when the target keeps moving.

The irony is that the people doing the work are often asking for clarity because they genuinely want to succeed. Instead, they can be labeled as needing too much guidance or not being independent enough.

At some point, organizations have to ask themselves whether they are creating environments where people can succeed or environments where expectations are so subjective that almost anyone can be told they aren’t meeting them.

I’ve always believed that if someone knows what success looks like, most people will work hard to achieve it. The challenge is when success becomes a moving target.

Maybe it’s not that employees don’t want to perform. Maybe they’re exhausted from trying to hit goals that are difficult to define in the first place.

Anyone that did not complete a key project deliverable so far in 2026 can expect an off track message next month, the bar has been raised.

Hearing PFUS leadership is saying privately that they will miss plan in 2026 and 2027. What will be higher, the team score or percentage of people who are still around by 2028?

They’ve now published 2 customer PRs this week, must be desperate to have something positive to talk about on the call. If they think Gyro hut is going to move the needle with investors, things must be even worse than they appear.

Dear John,
Oh behalf of the COR retail sales team, we are informing you that you “failed” your side by side observation! Your failed to do your mid check in as well as loosing money for the Company with your failed sales techniques! Your inability to sale and represent the companies values are lacking!

Pip process moved to 30 days. 1 month of not hitting 80 and bam your on a pip. No room for error. Oh and don’t forget if you don’t hit 50% of your INSANE phone quota you go straight to a written. Oh and theres more! 30 days to get on a pip BUT 90 days to work yourself off. Idk but seems like they want us all out for some reason. Make it make sense.

Anyone know the IBP% yet?

Does anyone know how bonus amounts are decided? Is it true managers are told how many people must receive a certain rating. For example; on a team with 10 people there can be no more than 2 people rated at “Exceeds” and there must be at least 2 people to receive “Inconsistently Meets”.

Leaderboard shows how outlandish quotas are right now. 60+% of the company is struggling to hit. What’s next?

If you take on 50 tasks and do 49 of them exceedingly well but do a so-so job on the 50th one, that is what you get judged on.
Better to take on limited tasks but do very well on all of them. If you think you might fail on a task, best to pass that on to someone else.

Simply put, translation: if you’re not meeting your goals, you’re going to be let go.
Read between the lines. He’s basically saying, no goals, not meeting goals….no job.

Since when does ‘meets expectations’ require significant achievement? To me this sounds like giving management the green card to start PIP-ing those still left. Anyone on the bottom 10% of who is left after 40% have been cut. Anyone with a real performance issue would not have survived all the recent mass layoffs.

All,
Please reserve this time for our last senior leadership meeting of 2025. We’ll discuss performance acceleration and Reimagining Work, as well as any questions/topics you raise.

Many underperforming or overlapping doors will close or be converted to authorized retailer locations, especially in mid-tier markets. The company has already quietly stopped renewing certain leases and is testing smaller “express” formats.

Shifting to Indirect Channels:
Expect a heavier reliance on indirect resellers and national retail partners (Best Buy, Walmart, etc.) to handle standard transactions while corporate locations focus more on high-value accounts and business support.

Assistant Manager Role Consolidation:
Assistant Manager positions are likely to be merged or reduced, The “one manager, one lead” model (similar to what T-Mobile adopted years ago) is being piloted in select districts to streamline payroll.

R2B / SMB In-Store Teams Realignment:
R2B staff may be centralized or reassigned to district level coverage instead of sitting in stores. The focus is shifting to digital appointment-based engagement and outside acquisition rather than walk-in small business.

Performance Pressure on Remaining Staff:
Those who remain in corporate retail should expect higher individual metrics, less admin support, and more tech-driven monitoring

Our teams work so hard even being short staffed. Last week we had a great visit from our regional! Then this week our market manager came in and ripped us! The club looks the same as last week! So if a sign is a little crooked, or a pallet not on the line, we fail. Is it like that everywhere?

Here's a revised version of your message with a different wording while retaining the essential details:

"How many stores have had to prepare for these visits, and how many have been given additional support for this spectacle? We know which locations are selected; it’s always the Regional Pets that will stand there and agree to everything presented. Remember, you’ve been operating with minimal hours, yet there’s an expectation to achieve everything with insufficient resources. Let’s be honest about the situation. Corporate likely understands the reality, but they seem to prefer orchestrating things while many are left to bear the burden."

With management now openly changing the role of SEs on the field and expecting them to perform tasks and duties that are outside their typical role and certainly not inline with their original job description, it is now more clear then ever what the intentions are. The expectation to line up 6-9 customer meetings every week between existing customers would mean that you would be meeting with each customer every month. Most customers dont want to meet every month... specially if they are not buying anything new. Management knows this already and is using this to decide who they can put on PIP and ultimately "fire" for poor performance without having to pay them a package. Lets face it, we are in revenue decline because of mismanagement and now the employees are expected to pay the price. Many of which have been with the company for a long time and have contributed a lot over the years and now are being given the short end of the stick. If the headcount is in need of adjustment, why not at least do the noble thing and pay people their package? I am willing to bet that if they asked employees to volunteer for a layoff and still get a package the majority of employees would take the offer. This would show the reality of how low the employee morel is and how poor the company is being managed. Perhaps, this would make it difficult for KKR to sell Omnissa to a potential buyer once it became evident how things are running in here.

Is there even a small chance that this will be performance based? Or are they going to focus on numbers once again and lay off people who are higher earners?

MG is coming for your pension. Total comp is also going to be based more on “performance.” Aka, your mgr will have even more impact on your comp.

It's total nonsense. My manager reviewed my workload yesterday, and I've received 40 percent more work since we lost five members of our team. But he indicated I need to close my SR faster since we are under more secruinite and my metric doesn't match his standard. Wtf

I don’t see the point in working harder to improve our team metrics just so my manager can look better to his director.

I’m not putting in extra effort; where’s my pay raise? What’s the point when this company is laying off people? I’m just here to collect a paycheck until I find a new job.

My friends were let go despite being high performers, and I have no desire to go above and beyond for this organization. It really feels like a terrible company. Is the moral low in other team?

I told my manager I can only do what I can and there is nothing else for me to improve. He was not happy but who caresssss…

PIP here is more about intimidation or saving money than actually helping anyone improve. Most of the people put on one are not even low performers. I’ve seen good people stressed to the point of burnout just because management wants to assert control. It's all bullcr-p.

Yearend self evals are usually due early October.

they've taken away all of my onshore colleague's work and now are telling us if we don't hit certain performance metrics we will be fired. they told us we aren't to produce any work; that's for offshore to do. and now they're tracking our productivity. couldn't be more transparent that this is their way to fire us without severance or unemployment. my team is made up of smart people. people with degrees. they were told if they studied and got degrees in valuable knowledge work the US needs they could find decent jobs. these people have families they're support.

now we have been replaced by an administrative caste one rung above us who isn't accountable to anyone in this country. many of them have false credentials. all of the money paid to employees of this company that would have circulated in the US system is being removed and sent overseas. you have been replaced. this country is a fu--ing joke and we'll just sit here and take it. honestly if that's how we're going to respond we deserve it. we all deserve health insurance tied to employment. we deserve to be replaced and have our position in society given away. we won't fight for it and of course nobody is going to fight for you. we'll su-k it up and take it like little bi--hes and kiss the feet of our new administrative overlords from overseas, send them our money and thank them for it. fu--ing pathetic