#trust

Sacrificed his people’s best interests for Exxon’s money, then charging them for a book where he tries to explain that he’s just a poor victim like them!

In a meeting about three weeks ago the president said ways of working was paused and said restructuring will start back up for phase 3 but there will be no layoffs. Well guess what happened today? If they could only be honest.

Any impact? I left last year and I heard about the cut today. Good luck to all of you. I hope it was not big but judging on number of views it does not look good. I went to Wells Fargo and it's the same sh-t over there, layoffs come in waves and they are trying to outsource as much as they can. Cannot trust management, they tell u one thign and then turn on a dime tomorrow. It's even worse because of all limitations that were imposed on the bank a few years back due to the scandal. Anyhow, good luck all

I’d like to hear from employees who have raised concerns internally and felt the process didn’t work. If you’re comfortable sharing your experience, please do. No names or confidential information. I’m interested in understanding whether there are common patterns here.

I don't trust them as far as I could throw them anymore.

Lots of high profile layoffs and resignations happening this week across multiple regions. No one should trust or do business with this company.

How can the bank trust an outsourced company with sensitive banking work under a consultant contract?

I have never worked under an executive leadership team that has generated this level of distrust among its own employees and leaders.

What makes the situation particularly difficult to understand is that we are watching major strategic decisions fail in real time—many of them shaped or implemented with significant involvement from McKinsey and Cognizant. Rather than acknowledging the mounting evidence, reassessing the strategy, and holding the appropriate people accountable, the response appears to be doubling down on the same thinking and the same ecosystem of advisors. The decision to add another SVP whose professional background includes both McKinsey and Cognizant only reinforces the perception that leadership is becoming increasingly insulated from the realities experienced by the people actually responsible for delivering the work. There is also growing perception that internal advancement has become a thing of the past—that developing and promoting proven talent from within is no longer a meaningful part of the company’s leadership strategy.

The experience with Cognizant has been especially troubling. Reports of investigations involving the company only heighten concerns that many employees already have based on their direct interactions. Communications have too often been characterized by shifting narratives, questionable representations, a lack of transparency, and an extraordinary level of confidence by Cognizant staff who claim they can perform the work better and faster—despite operational results and historical experience that repeatedly call that assertion into question.
The people closest to the work are then left trying to manage the consequences: declining confidence, knowledge loss, execution risk, service concerns, employee disruption, and the enormous amount of effort required simply to keep these initiatives functioning.

At some point, this stops being a problem with execution and becomes a problem with executive judgment.

Perhaps the most damaging aspect is the apparent unwillingness of senior leadership to reconsider the direction when the evidence no longer supports it. Good leadership is not demonstrated by continuing to defend a strategy simply because significant time, money, and executive credibility have already been invested in it. Good leadership is demonstrated by recognizing when assumptions were wrong, changing course, and holding decision-makers accountable.

Instead, employees are watching leadership repeatedly double down while the organization absorbs the consequences. That is why trust has deteriorated so significantly. Employees can tolerate difficult decisions. They can tolerate restructuring. They can even tolerate strategies that ultimately prove unsuccessful. What is much harder to tolerate is leadership that appears unwilling to acknowledge failure, learn from it, or accept accountability for the results.

The de facto strategy increasingly appears to be: outsource all strategic thinking to McKinsey, outsource the work itself to Cognizant, and eliminate the institutional knowledge, experience, and proven talent that built and sustained the organization in the first place.

If senior leadership wants to understand why confidence in the executive team has eroded, it should start there.

Source: K. Box

Harvard Business Review found that 58% of employees trust a complete stranger more than their own boss.

That sounds wild until you’ve worked for the wrong person.

Then you understand it immediately. A bad boss doesn’t always yell.

Sometimes it’s vague expectations.
Feedback that changes depending on the day.
Credit that disappears before it reaches your name.
Meetings you stop getting invited to.
A paper trail that somehow only includes your mistakes, not the context around them.

Then your behavior starts to change.

You over-explain.
You reread every message.
You stop asking direct questions.
You start keeping receipts because you don’t trust what will be said later.

That’s what broken trust at work does. It doesn’t just make the job harder. It makes you second-guess your own judgment.

And most people don’t leave after one big blowup.

They leave after one more meeting where the story changes.
One more rule that only seems to apply to them.
One more moment where they realize they’re documenting reality instead of doing their job.

At some point, it clicks:

You didn’t fail in that environment.

You were trying to survive it.

They are paid the big bucks to fix these problems.

I’ve resigned and last day is coming up. I have 12 days of PTO accrued through my end date. Does Wells pay that with my final paycheck or separately? Don’t trust these people at all. I’m in NC if it makes a difference.

Now I was asked by my manager if that's true and I feel like there's a target on my back. Fu-k me and my life. Don't make the same mistake of trusting your coworkers, folks.

Cicely Simpson wrote about this, and it's worth building on.

Every leader gets tested by a moment they didn't choose.

And you can't control the moment, but you can control whether you hand over your composure or hold onto it.

These are the 7 moments that test that composure, and what to say instead of reacting:

1️⃣ Someone talks over you in a meeting
↳ Hold your point, then keep going.
↳ Say this: "I'll come back to you in a moment, let me finish this point first."

2️⃣ Someone questions your decision in front of the room
↳ Show you're willing to explain, just not right then.
↳ Say this: "Happy to walk through the reasoning, let's take it after this meeting so we don't lose time."

3️⃣ Someone takes credit for your work
↳ Put the credit back where it belongs.
↳ Say this: "I want the team to know this started with [name]'s work last quarter."

4️⃣ Someone uses a dismissive tone with you
↳ Ask them to repeat themselves, calmly.
↳ Say this: "I want to make sure I'm hearing this the way you intend it. Can you say that again?"

5️⃣ Someone tries to bait a reaction out of you
↳ Decline to engage.
↳ Say this: "I'm not going to respond to that right now. Let's stay focused on the decision in front of us."

6️⃣ Someone goes over your head
↳ Name what you expected instead.
↳ Say this: "I'd have appreciated hearing this from you first. Let's talk it through directly next time."

7️⃣ Someone undermines you in writing
↳ Move the conversation somewhere it can actually get resolved.
↳ Say this: "I see it differently. Happy to talk it through rather than go back and forth here."

Staying someone your team trusts matters more than winning whatever moment is in front of you.

Every leader has a moment like this waiting for them, this month or next quarter.

And how you handle it becomes the story your team tells about you afterward.

Most leaders react to protect their ego in the moment.

But the ones who don't protect something that matters more, their team's trust in them going forward.

U.S. Bank’s culture increasingly feels built around one assumption: employees cannot be trusted.

Track IP addresses because people might not be working where they say they are.

Crack down on medical accommodations because someone might be abusing the system.

Centralize / eliminate Business Resource Groups because employees might be spending too much time on work that doesn’t directly produce output.

That is Theory X management: assume the worst, increase control, reduce autonomy, monitor more closely.

The problem is that policies designed around the small percentage of employees who might abuse trust eventually punish the employees who earned it.

And once people realize they are being managed as potential problems instead of valued professionals, engagement dies very quickly.

You can force compliance.

You cannot surveil people into caring.

I love this company. I came here from a completely different industry 5 years ago. I was drawn by the owner’s story in a Harvard Business Review article. I still think it’s a great company, on the balance. What I wish the leaders would understand is that AI is an amplifier. If you feed it noise (e.g. “bad” data, unclear business logic / rules), it will amplify chaos. If you feed it good stuff like a piece of beautifully crafted music (e.g. well designed process with “good” data and clear rules), it can turn it into concert. How do you get the “good” stuff? Through your SMEs, through SMEs working closely together, TRUSTING each other, by respectfully challenging each other. It’s hard work. There’s no switch, no buttons you can press. You won’t get there by trusting outsiders, trusting people who agree with you at all times, trusting copilot AI slop, that’s how organizations walk off a cliff. It’s the same old boring things. Cleaner diet, exercise, good habits that determine good health outcomes. Don’t be tempted by the weight loss pills (eg GLP1), because not only are you NOT going to get what you want sustainably. There are a TON of unknown side effects that you will pay a hefty price for. Excellent output requires excellent inputs and excellent process. Right now, the market is up, and we have tolerance for trying out GLP1. What happens when the market is down? Still, I love this firm and its people, and I focus on the little I have control over. There is hope yet

The 800 nurses working under the utilization review umbrella were lied to or was it a bait and switch? The nurses were told a new work hour schedule was in the works -the nurses would be notified this week and the new hours would start Monday 8/31/26
Today in an email that was very flip they ignored the fact they LIED and said the schedule would be released next week to start 09/30/26 Humana Values Really — Golden Rule — NO
—-Team with TRUST —NO
The Leaders all need to be Fired
Morale is at all time low
Not professional

There’s a growing concern about how decisions are being made. On top of everything else, there seems to be a pattern where certain groups receive preferential hiring and protection when their managers share the same background. This creates an uneven culture where opportunities, visibility, and project access aren’t distributed fairly. Many employees feel sidelined while others are consistently shielded, and it’s affecting trust across the team

It’s hard not to see the company’s recent actions as deeply disingenuous.

For years, we were told that work-life balance mattered, that employee feedback was valued, and that engagement surveys actually influenced decisions. Today, those messages ring hollow.

Don’t forget what the company has done.

A year from now, there may be apologies like Meta did, polished messaging, and attempts to reframe the cuts and other measures as mistakes that went too far.

The narrative will likely be carefully crafted to sound optimistic and reassuring.

But by then, much of the institutional knowledge and experience may already be gone.

There seems to be an assumption that a younger workforce, combined with AI and fewer experienced employees, can simply replace what was lost.

That’s a dangerous assumption. Younger employees aren’t stupid, and Gen Z and the generations that follow are fully capable of recognizing when a company’s actions don’t match its words.

People remember how they were treated.

When experienced employees continue to leave and younger employees follow them out the door, we’ll see where the company is left.

You can’t erase years of institutional experience and expect everything to function as if nothing happened.

The biggest problem may not be the cuts themselves, it may be the loss of trust.

Once employees stop believing that the company genuinely values them, rebuilding that trust is far harder than any polished corporate message can fix.

Leadership seems to need a decoder to comprehend the results, so here it is. The negative survey results are not about healthcare perks or wellness programs no one uses, they are only about RTO and the lack of flexibility.

“I am proud to work at AT&T”

Once true. No longer. Public perception has deteriorated, and when people outside the company hear about the five-day RTO policy, the lack of any real collaboration, and the absence of assigned seating or co-located teams, the reaction is disbelief. Pride erodes when policies feel performative instead of purposeful.

“I would recommend AT&T as a great place to work”

That answer is now clearly no. A mandatory five-day RTO policy for roles that historically had been remote before COVID and can be done more effectively remotely is an immediate dealbreaker for modern workers. The policy alone makes the company undesirable and uncompetitive as an employer.

“We trust the leadership decisions”

Trust is broken. Employees do not support the financial decisions that destroyed value, nor the RTO mandate that ignored clear employee feedback. Trust cannot survive when leadership consistently doubles down instead of course-correcting.

“The company provides opportunities to support career growth”

Opportunities are narrowly concentrated in Dallas, with limited mobility elsewhere. For a national company, that is a self-inflicted constraint that unnecessarily caps growth and retention.

“Our policies and systems support me doing my best work”

They do the opposite. The five-day RTO policy actively reduces productivity, and many internal systems remain outdated and inefficient. Physical presence does not compensate for structural friction.

“The company cares about my health and well-being”

Employees feel burned out, mentally and physically, largely due to excessive commuting and rigid mandates that add stress without any benefit to the company or the employees. Well-being is not addressed by pushing unused benefits or wellness messaging while ignoring the root cause repeatedly identified in feedback.

“Do you feel changes have been made as a result of prior surveys”

No. In fact, the opposite. Employees explicitly opposed three-day RTO in the last survey, and leadership responded by increasing it to five. Feedback was not just ignored, it was contradicted. The disappearance of the prior third-party McKinsey survey results only reinforces that perception.

Did I miss anything else?
The pattern is now set and clear. Instead of addressing the core RTO issue employees are raising, leadership deflects with ancillary benefits and BS messaging. That approach feels like gaslighting, and not listening. So why should I even bother taking the next one?

If leadership truly wants different survey results, the solution is not another manifesto email, benefit rollout, or talking point. It is addressing the one issue employees are consistently, overwhelmingly, and clearly raising.

Flexibility. Trust. Results over “presence”.
That is the message of the survey, whether leadership wants to hear it or not.

This company had more layoffs this week. They lied to us and said that they weren't going to layoff anymore people, but that was proven to be false. I have noticed a pattern with Archer, when they hired a team from Career Builder. Ever since they came onboard, they have let go of a lot of people, to bring in their own. This was the best company to work for, and we all felt secure. Now, we are all on edge.

Fear tactics, low morale, revolving door, broken trust... All of which BNY leadership has hit, and then some. We need a completely new leadership if things are ever going to improve.

Mission Simplify: layoffs, outsourcing, and offshore hiring (through Alorica and JobHai). Employees ask: who's really benefiting?

Mission Simplify cuts jobs while offshore hiring grows. Employee trust and morale continue to erode.

As U.S. jobs disappear and offshore roles expand, many see Mission Simplify as anything but simple.

$365M in severance. Offshore hiring expands. Employees question the direction of Mission Simplify.

The bridge between leadership and employees weakens when layoffs and offshore expansion occur together.

Mission Simplify: American jobs out, offshore jobs in. Workers and members are taking notice.

Someone in India is more valuable than you right now.
Londons Bridges Falling Down!

How are all the BU’s feeling about Devon rolling out the new Samsara fleet cameras with forward/rear facing cameras and microphones. Just tell your people you don’t trust them at this point.

I am on a team of about 12 and we had 2 employees within a week fired. Makes me wonder if a new approach to RIF is setting unrealistic standards, allow team to fail and fire without offering severance to save on the bottom line. Trust absolutely eroded in this company.

Trust me, you do not need “mentors.” By my second year they assigned me one, and when I asked my teammates what that even meant, they all said the same thing: “We barely talk to ours.” And after my own interaction, I understood exactly why. These people aren’t mentoring anyone ,they just want to claim they’re training, developing, and guiding you so they can collect credit for work they never did. It’s corporate politics. They’re not helping you; they’re helping themselves look important. Avoid them. You’ll learn more on your own in a week than they’ll “teach” you in a year.

What happened to that sh-t? 🤷🏻‍♂️

This is fact.

Managers in FIS India tell their employees that Glint survey is not anonymous.
Be careful what you write.

Another item for your reading pleasure. Doubtful that Stinkey has read this one.

https://enhancv.com/blog/rto-stealth-layoffs/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Ya don't say!!! For your reading pleasure. Wonder if Stinkey has read this.

https://thehill.com/opinion/technology/5992056-office-attendance-backlash/

Why would anyone take this. Here’s a few things I’ve thought about:

1. You have no control or say over how the firm is run
2. No covenants and Class B has no rate floor, so you are last in line for any payouts
3. If something happened in the markets, or the firm is badly run, you have your salary, bonus, and LP at risk, it concentrates your wealth to a single firm you have no control over.
4. 20% over the last few years might not have even been better than a growth fund, so there are alternatives.

The whole structure comes down to whether you trust the current management or not.

What am I missing?

Today they posted a link to the town hall recording. I missed the event so I was looking forward to watching.
Watched the entire recording but it was only 38 minutes long for an hour long call!
They deleted the Q&A!!!!
Talk about a lack of trust that I will ever have that they will accurately provide recordings.
Lack of ethics to edit the town hall.

Recent layoffs at ESPN have highlighted significant issues in how the company communicates with its employees. Several prominent figures reportedly learned of their terminations through indirect channels, such as social media or news reports, rather than directly from management. This lack of controlled communication has led to a breakdown in trust and raised questions about leadership's execution of these difficult decisions. The article emphasizes that while layoffs are a necessary business function, the process of delivering the news should be handled with professionalism and respect. This incident serves as a cautionary tale for all organizations on the importance of managing sensitive information effectively.

https://barrettmedia.com/2026/07/27/espn-layoffs-what-managers-should-learn/

Recently attended an Agency travel trip with the top SF agents in the company. The common feedback shared with Chairman’s Council and other executives during the trips sessions was agents have lost TRUST with SF senior leadership. Wow….That speaks volumes for the >20k agents selling and servicing SF products.

https://www.trustpilot.com/review/tiaa.org

Companies are increasingly rehiring employees after AI-driven layoffs, a trend dubbed the "AI boomerang." This phenomenon highlights a potential shortcut in cost-cutting measures that overlooks the value of experienced staff. Experts advise a more thorough evaluation before eliminating roles, considering task automation and the loss of institutional knowledge. Transparency and empathetic departures are crucial for rebuilding trust and encouraging former employees to return. Ultimately, a people-first strategy is essential for navigating AI integration without costly corrections.

https://hrexecutive.com/fords-rehire-wave-has-hr-leaders-rethinking-how-ai-layoffs-get-decided/

Every town hall, they ask us to trust leadership's vision. But vision doesn't pay the bills when half your team gets laid off. We've watched promises get walked back, strategies flip quarterly, and executives cash out while we scramble. So no, I'm done trusting leadership. I think they let us down one time too many for that.

Frank Bisignano left JPMorgan Chase, one of the nation's largest banks, after complaints about his behavior led the company's CEO to lose trust in him, according to a Wall Street Journal article.

The fact that she can get on an all-company townhall and just blatantly lie is wild. My faith in this company has fallen so far that I no longer even trust USB to manage my money. Have been transferring my and my parents accounts to other institutions. This townhall just strongly confirmed that decision.

Stankey seemed awfully confident during today’s ATG Live. After one solid quarter in a six-year tenure, the tone came across as more smug than self-aware, and the comments about employees didn’t exactly help.

Let’s see what next week brings after Verizon and T-Mobile report. One quarter doesn’t erase years of mixed results or settle the competitive picture.

If I were in his position, I’d spend less time taking victory laps and more time rebuilding trust with the employees who helped deliver the quarter in the first place.