#worklifebalance

Hi there, I am joining MC next month, how is current environment there? With respect to layoffs?

I'm retired now, but I lived that fight for years. The survival mode. The grind that wears you down with papercuts.

I made it out, but the battle left scars. What helped:

Guard your energy. No emails after 7pm.
Build skills. Ten minutes a day on something new.
Track your wins. Three tasks a day: work, growth, you.
Find safe connection. Outside company systems.

Keep going. Your resilience is inspiring.

Unlike most people here, none of us from my small and rather insular team want to leave Optum. We work normal hours, are compensated well for it, and our boss keeps telling us we're safe. He has no reason to be lying, at least none that I know. I can't lie and say I'm never worried, though, hence me being here in the first place.

All US staff back into the office in January, 3 or more days per week. Who cares that you were largely remote for 6 or more years, you have 60 days to change your entire way of life to pretend to get more work done at a temp desk.

Who cares if your entire team is in another state or country, you now need to sit in traffic and spend money to attend Teams calls from the office instead. An effective pay reduction for the entire US NG workforce. Great job!

Recently, they changed block scheduling in our club. Is this happening in other clubs? No set days off and no weekends off anymore?

Even if I don’t get laid off, which would be a miracle… going forward the work culture here will be that of slavery; longer hours, micromanagement, faster pace, less beginner friendly, riskier to take PTO/sick/maternity leave, etc.

I doubt this is the only company with this idea. I hate this direction we’re moving towards.

If Blackbaud expects employees to depend exclusively on its paycheck, it should be prepared to answer a straightforward question: What responsibility is it willing to accept for the financial security it demands employees surrender elsewhere?

For employees unfamiliar with the exclusivity policy, go look it up on the HUB. Read the wording and consider what it means for your ability to support yourself and your household.

Because exclusivity has a price. A company should not get to demand it simply by putting a prohibition in an employee handbook.

People take second jobs for reasons that deserve more respect than suspicion. They have mortgages, medical bills, dependents, debt, and emergencies. Sometimes a second income is the difference between making progress and falling behind. Calling that a loyalty problem is an extraordinarily convenient way to avoid discussing whether one paycheck is enough.

Blackbaud has every reason to protect confidential information, prevent actual conflicts of interest, and require employees to perform the work they are paid to do. Those concerns justify specific, proportionate rules. They do not justify a sweeping claim over an employee’s ability to earn a living outside their working hours.

An employment agreement purchases labor under agreed conditions. It should not purchase veto power over someone’s entire economic life.

The imbalance is glaring. A company can spread its financial risk across customers, investments, and business opportunities. Under a blanket exclusivity policy, employees are expected to concentrate their livelihood in a single employer—and absorb the consequences if that arrangement stops meeting their needs.

Where is the reciprocal commitment? Does exclusivity come with guaranteed employment? Compensation that adjusts to an employee’s actual financial obligations? A promise that the company will cover the shortfall when an unexpected medical bill arrives?

Without a meaningful commitment in return, the message is brutally simple: your financial vulnerability is your responsibility, but your efforts to reduce it require our permission.

That is a remarkably self-serving definition of loyalty.

For someone already working full time and still struggling, a second job represents additional effort, lost evenings, and less rest. Punishing that person for trying to stabilize their household adds corporate discipline to an already exhausting situation. It treats financial survival as misconduct.

A sensible policy would address demonstrable problems: conflicting schedules, misuse of company resources, compromised confidentiality, or failures to meet job expectations. Judge employees by their performance and conduct. Require a concrete business reason before restricting what they do with their own time.

Blackbaud should be able to explain precisely what harm a restriction prevents. “We expect exclusivity” is a demand, not an explanation.

If a company wants to be an employee’s only source of earned income, it should make that dependence worth accepting. It should not simply forbid the alternatives and leave the employee to figure out the bills.

The higher salary doesn't seem as important to me as it used to. I'd rather have the ability to work remotely, arrange my day with some flexibility, and not feel that my job owns every waking hour. I know that could mean earning less, but I'm wondering whether people who've made that choice are happier with it?

Why are you ki-ling yourself trying to meet expectations that keep changing? They'll run you into the ground and then let you walk away without a dime.

I made work my priority, including giving up most of my weekends, and Truist outsourced my job anyway. I won't put myself through that for an employer ever again.

One phrase that immediately makes me question a job during an interview is a manager saying everyone is like family. I'm old enough to know that can only mean you're expected to put work ahead of your own life. And again, I'm too old for that cr-p. That's what's making the job search even harder.

Insufficient sleep
Elevated stress
Isolation
Negativity
Screen time
Po-nography
Alcohol
Overeating

Keep in mind, scrubs, that your mental health does not stem from this place; instead, you are reflecting your own choices.

Is this normal? Is it expected? I know it's not a lot, considering some folks work 60, 70, and longer hour weeks, but it's their choice. I feel like I'm required to work extra.

November and December are here. Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's — the year packs a lot into its last two months.

If this year was rough, the holidays are a reset, not a deadline. Take the days off. Eat too much. Call the people you keep meaning to call. The work will still be there in January — the time with your family won't.

And if you did get laid off this year, you're not walking into the holidays empty-handed. You're walking in with experience, and a fresh year starting in 60 days.

Happy holidays, everyone. Finish the year well.

This would be 8 hours- is that ok or would I be at risk of getting terminated? Have to be home to take care of my kids when they come home. I just wish this company would tell us clear what the expectation is.

50% the people around here spend their days sitting in airconditioned offices drinking free coffee, sittn in meetings about other meetings and moving numbers around in excel. all while collecting 6-figure salaries.

yet everyone is miserable because the guy down the hall makes $100k or $500k more. so what?? bob makes $350k doing practically nothing and you make $250k doing practically nothing. you're BOTH doing fine.

meanwhile there are people working outside in 100-degree heat making a fraction of that. i'm not saying dell is perfect (far, far, far from it). but some of you have turned one of the cushiest gigs imaginable into a personal tragedy because someone else got a bigger bonus or a better ranking or some exec has a plane.

maybe, just maybe, the job isn't nearly as bad as you think. maybe you've just gotten so comfortable that you've run out of real problems... and aparently bob getting promoted is now your biggest one.

I'm 58, divorced, two kids finishing college next year (both will have jobs come July). Been with Exxon for years, currently a Well Performance Technologist. Have about $1.5M between my 401k and savings, house is paid off and worth around $600k. No loans or other debt, healthy (as far as I know :-).

I'm getting tired of the grind and don't see myself doing this for another 5-7 years.

Always wanted to teach and thinking about finding something part time, not really for the money but because I think I'd actually enjoy it.

I don't spend much and don't need a fancy lifestyle.

Just wondering if I'm crazy to walk away at 58.

Any folks here who retired around this age? Did you regret it? What am I overlooking?

Different jobs, but same makeup budget.

Only difference is that one received a huge early payday for poor results and the other gets to be on Fox TV 5 nights a week as a paid commentator. I thought there is a prohibition about being significantly employed outside the Bank.

Guess Ford Jr. is working remote and putting in his 40 hours over the weekend.

interesting seeing more nvidia employees (and former employees) nowadays are speaking up online about the culture. long hours, zero work life balance, managers yelling at people are a default - add to that favoritism and a constant atmosphere of fear. the golden handcuffs come with a lot of BS as well. some teams are ok but i think the toxicity is pretty widespread. most of the mgmt responds to burnout by shifting the blame to the worker and 'efficiency' sh-t, use AI, get organized, su-k it up, etc. ok, now we are sitting on trillions, JH is a demi-god, the competition is several light years behind us and they are still acting like pricks - does any of that success actually translate into being a decent/human place to work?? that's the rant for today.

Has anyone heard anything about set in office hours being put into place?

The idea that keeping your job is some kind of a reward, at a place that is in a constant state of turmoil, it's sadly pathetic and a hallmark of the Devon experience

Some folks obviously have flexibility. Do you?

Given that some other companies are doing "voluntary" buyouts for employees, how likely would it be done at HCSC, but not just for managers/directors like the 2025 RIFs?

I am still devastated and having a hard time moving on in life regarding being layed off ftom General Atomics in 2020. I was a flight line mechanic at the Palmdale location. It has been a really depressing past six years.

I just want to do my work without someone constantly overseeing every little thing. Even managers who start out reasonable seem to end up worrying more about control than letting people get on with the job.

That’s it, that’s the post. That’s what it feels like inside this dumpster fire.

Just saying

Sun Life Canada employees are being told to return to office, for minimum 2 days per week starting in January. Not sure if other business areas will be told to return too. Could be a sign of layoffs coming as this seems to be the route many companies take to get people to quit before they start offering buyouts.

The EOCs distain for anyone over 40 is simply due to the fact that the majority of us are not good sheep. Today in the cafe at my location they were running a 30% off sale on BNY merch and there was literally a line. Why would anyone in their right mind spend money to have the logo for the company that will do anything to lay you off and send your job overseas to be made a mess of? They were all young kids and H1-Bs in line. Disgusts me.

From waking up to make this commute to sit in an office on zoom calls to talk to my team thousands of miles away. This isn’t sustainable.

I know, objectively, that layoffs are done for the week, but subjectively, I still can't stop stressing and worrying. The "what if" is permanently stuck in my brain.

Heard a rumor that the company plans to eliminate hybrid work starting in 2027. Unsure if this is just for folks that are hybrid in Minnesota and DC where hybrid employees are expected already to come in 4 days a week. Anyone hear anything about this?

Timeline of events:

1. Voluntary layoffs (leave on your own accord)
2. General Layoffs (you don't see it coming)

Makes sense if your no where near an office to leave now, enjoy the holidays and find another job? I assume general layoffs early next year would wipe out anyone not near an office?

Would anyone with kids be on board with them going into tech? I personally wouldn’t want any kids of mine to have to deal with such a toxic culture and bad management and cost cutting.

Is today going to be a lighter day?

What do you think the grand plan is?

Do they go even more lean once ODW is launched?

Does SalesChat replace sales? Seems to be happening with Services AI bot.

What does the future look like for sales? IT? Support? Product Groups? Engineers? RevOps?

Also, as hard as it is, DON’T let this impact you. We don’t get paid enough to worry about it. Close your laptop and go home to enjoy your family life. They don’t care about us so why should we care about them. If ODW fails then it fails. Not my problem

I think you all suffer from occupational mental illness. You spend 40 hours a week, sometimes more, at jobs you don't like, surrounded by people you also dont enjoy. Then some of you go home and spend even free time thinking about how much you hate our job. Now imagine if you LOVE your job. You wake up excited to go to work. "Good morning, everybody! How are my favorite peeps today?" You love your coworkers. You love what you do. You go home happy, enjoy your evening, and can't wait to do it all again tomorrow. You'd be happy at work and happy at home. Every day would practically be a blessing. Instead, you normalize spending half your waking lives somewhere you wish you weren't. And you call this being a well-adjusted adult. Its not.

Let's say I am implementing a system over a weekend - we'll not just me, I am working with consultants and a bunch of our folks. So, I go home at 3AM. If they were to ask you to show up tomorrow at 9AM because of the RTO rules - I guess that's a fairly messed up logic

When a company begins having regular layoffs, the odds say that eventually your number will come up.