#productivity

Of all the job functions AI is evaluating within Verizon, VBG leadership is uniquely ripe for replacement. While they talk about transformation initiatives, gap closure plans, and ad hoc Tiger Teams, none have produced real change. Just executive programs to meet their PA objectives.

The daily focus of status calls, roll up forecast reporting, escalations - those are human bottleneck inefficiencies AI will eliminate. Similarly, holding meetings to plan for meetings with higher level human leaders are also productivity black holes, easily identified via meta-analyses of calendar workflows. And the track record of decisions made after too much deliberation…the results achieved are uninspiring, to put it kindly.

While The leadership enjoyed MWC, the sales kick off in EMEA, The Superbowl, and the hospitality suite at CES, the real work of transformation languished back at the office.

AI discovery assessments in 2026 are ruthless. It won't be long now.

Great article on the Hill about how RTO initiatives are sabotaging productivity because the office is a noisy, distracting time-su-k:
https://thehill.com/opinion/technology/5775420-remote-first-productivity-growth/

But as we all know, BB's motivation for RTO was never about productivity; he's trying to drive attrition so that he can get costs down and sell off the parts for cheap:
https://www.itpro.com/business/business-strategy/business-execs-just-said-the-quiet-part-out-loud-on-rto-mandates-a-quarter-admit-forcing-staff-back-into-the-office-was-meant-to-make-them-quit-but-this-quiet-firing-practice-could-easily-backfire

Canon USA’s transition to Google will end up being one of the most regrettable decisions of Sammy’s tenor.

If you are like me, you did your best to prepare but nothing could prepare you for the drastic change that was put upon us on Monday. I bet most of you sat at your computer and threw your hands up once or twice this week. The new tagline for Canon will be “ Blame on Google”.

As I start to learn the product more each day, I am finding out that Google simply isn’t Microsoft when it comes to corporate USA needs and wants.

If Microsoft was concerned that more companies would move to Google, odds are they wouldn’t have raised their per license structure. The reality is Microsoft knows they are better and could charge this fee.

Communication has been at an all time low this week because people simply don’t know how to use the product.

The money we save will be offset by the lack of production this product brings upon us.

The person who made this decision should resign immediately.

HouseCalls leadership is setting the program up to fail. At a time when MA risk-adjustment coding is under the highest scrutiny it’s ever been and risk scores are still one of the main revenue drivers, they keep adding more internal metrics and efficiency targets that make accurate documentation harder, not easier. There’s a clear inverse relationship between coding to the level of specificity now required and pushing APC, completion %, and daily volume. You simply can’t maximize quality, compliance, and productivity all at the same time. Something will give. Right now it feels like leadership wants all three, which isn’t realistic in the current regulatory environment. This is exactly how programs end up with compliance problems.

New productivity metrics for APCs announced this morning.
…here’s comes more emails and performance plans about how we arent doing good enough

Wait being a inflexible employer doesn't get you productivity gains?

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

" The Flex Index finds that fully flexible companies grew revenues 1.7 times faster than mandate-driven firms from 2019 to 2024, even after adjusting for industry and size. "

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??

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

Just going to leave this here.

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

How are your reviews going? Have you been told that you need to increase your productivity? With less people. With no one to make decisions. With product owners not working with the team to guide decisions, not attending meetings, or responding to questions. With a loose roadmap that changes as often as the leadership changes.

And the recommendation by management is to work more hours including nights and weekends. Assume that AI will be the solution to all your problems. Do more in less time with less resources. That is not a request. That is a command. And no, you will not be incentivized to do more.

Don't forget, we expect this from you with no real support from us. We (mgt) are too busy trying to save ourselves with the new executives on the merry-go-round. Our theory is if we can last a year, we are likely to outlive their terms here at Teradata given their work histories.

So hang on. Work like you are fighting for your life, because you are. Do not sleep. Do not have a family. Just do what we tell you, until we change our minds. And if you do all that, you may - or may not- still have a job tomorrow.

Can you name a team who is most difficult to work with ? Basically nothing can be done with this team.
Keeps on adding friction to others work and won’t deliver anything by themselves.

If leadership insists that work is most productive within office walls, I’m happy to lean into that philosophy. Moving forward, my office hours are my only hours. The 'after-hours' emails and evening catch-up sessions from the couch are over. If the goal is a strict office environment, then the work stays at the desk. Naturally, my output will reflect the loss of those extra 'home hours'—my metrics are already showing the dip compared to last year—but I’m simply following the new standard set for us.

It’s not just me. Employees have stopped working. As the rumors continue, people are sitting and waiting. Why invest any effort at all if you’re gone “Tomorrow”. If Oracle wants to resume normal business , they better move past the layoffs rumors and make it happen. At this point workers have stepped off the playing field while they await word of their employment. Productivity has ground to a halt.

Companies keep sinking money into people who spend their entire day bouncing between Teams calls, producing nothing but politics and noise. Meanwhile, the product decays, and sales has to compensate for problems that shouldn’t exist.

The real drain isn’t the technical staff—it’s the layers of middle management whose output is meetings, decks, and vague directives. They enable the steady flow of outsourced slop by approving it, defending it, and pushing it onto engineers to salvage.

It’s no surprise that products decline the moment they enter certain corporate ecosystems. When decision‑making is dominated by people who don’t build anything, quality becomes optional.

If companies want better outcomes, they should stop funding the Teams‑call industrial complex and redirect those resources to the people actually delivering value.

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.

And I still out-perform my ‘coworkers’. And we’re surprised about layoffs?

From what I see, people are more productive, more responsive, and putting in more hours. Why would any company want to give that up?

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!

is there any fued between these two teams?

They always push each others work and delay the work for other teams?

simple changes, Needs CRM teams approval. Work blocked.
Simple approval from CRM, Appsec teams reviewed need more comments from them? Work Blocked.

when will there be a actual work done in this Fiserv?

is anyone working?

For all of us in Phase 1, curious to hear your thoughts on the experiment thus far after the snack cart honeymoon period has worn off.

I for one think it’s worse than expected. For sure my productivity has gone down with my commute and working hours. I am no longer amenable to responding to Slacks or emails after hours if this level of rigidity is in place. That alone is a big productivity drop.

While in the office finding rooms to have meetings or private conversations are becoming more and more complicated. Why do unused offices and meeting rooms get locked? Is it a safety issue?

No benefit to this. More attrition and lost productivity on it way.

I just got assigned a new manager. He is based in a different location to me, as are almost all of the team. He only comes to my office once a month.

Me and one colleague are the only ones out of the 16 team members based in our location, and we both prefer to work from home, and perform much better. This new manager being in a different location seems like a great opportunity... Can I just lie about being in the office? Can he track key card swipes, or WiFi logins to see how many days per week I go in?

I know this info is logged, but does direct managers have access to that information? I'm wondering if maybe some gdpr data protection would prohibit them from being able to casually keep track of office attendance?

Are my dreams doomed?

Forcing employees to worry about their jobs nonstop is a perfect way to destroy morale and crater productivity. You can see it playing out in real time.

Trying to concentrate in that environment is impossible. People talking, interrupting, moving things around... I got more done in a quiet hour at home than I do in a full day at the office. To say my productivity has plummeted would be an understatement. This RTO experiment is failing.

Would be curious to see company wide numbers on this. Certain divisions have suffered under the low morale. There is little incentive to perform. It's only a matter of time for the rest. The C Suite does not care at all. When will their customers wake the f up?

Today I am excited to share a proven framework for completely destroying productivity while looking extremely busy. This system works in every industry and scales beautifully with headcount.

Let’s get started.

Step 1: Internal meetings

Schedule as many recurring meetings as humanly possible. Daily is good. Multiple per day is better.

Rules to follow:

• No clear agenda
• Same topics every week
• Zero decisions made
• No action items
• Invite people who have absolutely nothing to do with the subject

If someone asks why they are invited, say “just wanted to get your thoughts” and move on.

Step 2: Daily one on ones

Have a one on one with every team member every single day.

In these meetings:

• Ask them to walk you through work they already explained
• Ask questions you could answer by reading one message
• Encourage long explanations of things you already approved

If you catch yourself thinking “this could have been an email,” you are doing it correctly.

Step 3: Busy work

Assign nonstop busy work at all times.

Best practices:

• Create urgency even when nothing is urgent
• Make sure the work does not meaningfully affect outcomes
• Ensure it pulls people away from their actual jobs

When they finish:

• Assign more busy work
• Or tell them to redo it because “we need to rethink the approach”

If they ask what changed, say “alignment” and end the conversation.

That’s it. Follow these three steps and you will successfully convert a capable team into a meeting-attending, task-refreshing machine with no time to think.

Thanks everyone. Notes will not be shared.

I spend half my day in meetings that accomplish nothing, and somehow the rest of the day is supposed to cover actual work. It’s ridiculous how little time is left to get anything done, and it’s exhausting trying to keep up like this. It almost feels like a freaking joke.

It really makes me mad that you have some PepsiCo employees who work really hard, get no recognition and/or they get laid off. Then you have those PepsiCo employees who are constantly on their cell phones, Facebook, etc. Get off your phones/Facebook people!! You’re being paid to do a job not to express your political opinions, etc., during work hours!!!

MMWB Inc. Helps Firms Prevent Layoffs Via System Fixes

MMWB Inc. helps companies prevent layoffs by fixing operational systems. This approach eliminates waste that drains productivity and morale. Founder Ben Klaiber notes employees spend 25% of time fighting bad systems. Fixing these issues recovers lost capacity and improves performance. The Toledo firm works closely with a limited number of clients.

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/press-release/story/25438/toledo-firm-prevents-layoffs-by-fixing-systems-saving-jobs-and-profit-margins/

Toledo, Ohio

SF and KB talk up Copilot all day long, its the reason we can rif so many people. But then they took away the ability to record meetings and get transcriptions. One step forward four steps back

I just keep refreshing this page on my phone. Productivity this morning is zero.

Who the he|| designed a new support page?!

Unreadable.
Data needed hidden.
Favourites lost.
Productivity decreased

I was reading this Wharton article about how small slights from employers cause a loss of productivity. link to article: https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/penn-wharton-when-employees-feel-slighted-they-work-less

PNC better get ready for this on a grand scale. Obviously, RTO increases costs for employees (parking, gas, additional child care, loss of time because of the commute, the list goes on). But we’ve also lost our personal day out of nowhere, HSA wellness contributions have gone down significantly, and rumor has it that bonuses will leave a lot to be desired. All in one year. This company is ran by CLOWNS. I encourage everyone to use every second of every occasional absense day in 2026. Don’t work a minute past 5pm. Don’t even think about logging in on the weekend. They take, take, take and only give back to the C Suite. Don’t give them anything more than the bare minimum, because PNC sure isn’t going to give you anything.

Laser focused on customers vs laser focused on spreadsheet metrics:

Sorry Mr. Customer, I have to take a break on your install you've been waiting months for, to complete out my install dispatch, and open another install dispatch so my managers numbers look good.

Why can't we just do the install on a real-time dispatch you ask? That is a great question, Mr. Customer. It's because we will be scrutinized and questioned as to why it took more time than what the useless, non-experienced bean counters say this job should take. Yes, I know thats ridiculous. Everyone knows its ridiculous, but no one can SAY its ridiculous.

This company can't lay off these levels of waste fast enough.

Purge it.

Recently, senior executives at Salesforce have admitted, both internally and publicly, that they massively overestimated AI’s capabilities. They have found that AI simply can’t cope with the complex nature of customer service and totally fails at nuanced issues, escalations, and long-tail customer problems. They even say that it has caused a marked decline in service quality and far more complaints.

But the problems go far deeper than that.

Both employees and executives have said that the company is wasting countless resources on firefighting to stabilise operations since the mass AI layoff. Employees have to spend so much time stepping in to correct the wildly wrong AI-generated responses that AI is wasting more time than it saves. In other words, this AI reduces productivity, not increases it.

But there is also a huge problem here with expertise and skill debt. On top of the firefighting to correct the AI, executives have also highlighted how they are also having to firefight to stabilise their systems from problems that were previously easily solved by staff who had the required experience and skill. However, these staff were fired in the AI layoffs.

https://www.planetearthandbeyond.co/p/reality-is-breaking-the-ai-revolution

https://www.axios.com/2026/01/14/ai-jobs-productivity-workslop

"The big picture: CEOs and employers are super eager to reap the productivity benefits of AI — particularly so they can bring down labor costs.

But for now, AI is mainly being used as an excuse to conduct layoffs that are due to other factors, says Rob Hornby, co-CEO of consultancy AlixPartners.
In a survey from his firm, also out Wednesday, 95% of CEOs said they expected to conduct layoffs in the next five years because of AI. That's likely more hope than reality. CEOs aren't yet seeing productivity gains from AI, he says."

Sounds like LHX. He's probably referring to LHX Next!!

For those who are managers what is being said about the absolutely dismal state of rhe company and the rock bottom morale? Productivity will be at an all time low as no one cares at all anymore.

I really thought that I would have gotten the ax by now, but nope, I'm still here. Guess I have to up my game in 2026 and do even less if that's possible.

Why even bother wasting PTO? I consistently never take off during this time of year and also never care to do much other than move my mouse.