#worklifebalance

I'm really not trying to rant here, I'm actually asking. Does anyone feel productive when they come in? My office days are pure chaos. People talking about sports, playing on their phone, solving puzzles together. Random coworkers keep stopping by my desk to chat. I spend half my energy just trying to tune it all out so I can do my job. At home I get ten times the work done. How is any of this helping us collaborate?

I can say with full confidence these have been the worst three years of my career.

We used to have job security. No matter what, I knew I had some stability. I could buy a house or a car because I felt safe. Now my mortgage feels like a noose around my neck since I can't tell anymore if I'll have my job from day to day. It's really sad how much things have changed for the worse.

That's all I wanted to say.

I'm a level 7 individual contributor in tech in my early fifties. With four kids soon all in college and a late start (last year) on active retirement investment, I plan to work till age 65. I actually enjoy my work and my team at Fidelity.

Assuming I wont' be laid off, is it a realistic expectation to work till that age, as an individual contributor or should I transition into one of those "leadership" roles to stay on longer?

My group is small and kind of isolated from the rest of the company. And nobody here wants to leave. The pay is good, we don't work crazy hours, and leadership keeps telling us we're safe. Whether that's true or not is not certain, but it's enough to make people want to stay.

Planning to move to a hub to save job with single salary. Which one offers low commute and best work life balance and not get fired in a year of moving?

Especially if you hate it here. Leave this place to those of us who like working here. Everybody will be happier.

I can't with people who say there were surprised by layoffs. How?? Layoffs have been a regular occurrence for years. Constant small cuts with several major rounds every few months. Where were you if you managed to miss this? I'm not saying it should be like this, but please, stop saying "layoffs happened out of nowhere."

https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-employees-layoffs-artificial-intelligence-return-to-office-tech-jobs-2026-4

I'm stuck in a miserable team and every day is a struggle. Bills keep me at SAS but I'm desperately looking. Been grinding on LinkedIn, company career pages, reworking my resume for hours on end. Still nothing but rejections. What platforms are actually working for people? I'm exhausted.

They sell us tones of BS.
AI. AI. AI. …..

For those who worked through the late 1990, what's one thing you're glad younger folks won't have to put up with?

I remember printing out hundreds of pages just to review a document and having to track changes by hand with a pen. The paper cuts alone were brutal. What other dinosaur era work habits are you happy died off?

Girl in 3WF has been openly playing Solitaire ALL morning.
The most IDGAF move I’ve ever seen.

I had to reactivate my account because recruiters kept asking for it, but the constant posts about nights out, people partying with coworkers, and random personal photos feel so unprofessional. Does anyone actually use this platform to help others find real work? It feels more like a social feed than a job tool most days.

What do you consider "red flags" in an interview? For me, it's the "we're like a family" line. Every time a manager says that in an interview, I know what's coming. It usually means they'll expect you to stay late, cover for others, and never complain about it. Call it what it is. A workplace with blurred boundaries and guilt trips. Hard pass.

Those of you who aren't in a production based role and aren't being tracked 24/7 do you keep yourself active on teams even when you have nothing to do?

Stankey’s bank account isn’t gonna grow itself. Be sure to work hard today so him and the rest of the C suite can line their pockets.

You’re probably working for some menial reason, like paying for your families healthcare, or being able to afford living.

Never forget, the only reason you exist is to make the rich richer. Once your job no longer makes them richer, you no longer have a purpose

I gave Waters everything. Late nights, weekends, all of it. Then they outsourced my job. Lesson learned. I'll never do that again.

It's getting harder.

I tune in, do the least I can, stop exactly on time. Some days I do nothing. And those days are getting more frequent.

I understand it's not easy to find a job, but if you invested half the energy into a job search that you do into hating this place, you'd be fully employed somewhere else by now. And you'd be a much, much happier individual. Do yourselves a favor, folks, and move on.

I don’t have the guts to quit, but if they did it for me, it would make the decision easy. That’s where I am right now.

A good life. I was so used to that place that I stayed way too long when I could have been working at a place that has better pay, is actually staffed well, and doesn't have managers who get off on yelling at the rest of us. Give it a try, folks. There are much better employers than Macy's.

I think I've been so stressed for so long that I've finally crossed a hill and now I simply don't give a damn anymore. If they're going to lay me off, fine. It's not as if anything I do will change that decision, so why worry over it? I just do my job and don't think about it anymore. Life's been much better since I adopted this attitude.

It would have saved quite a few jobs, I believe, for those who wanted to stay. I know for a fact I'm far from the only one who'd be happy to take severance and run. It's a win/win, so I really can't understand why it's never an option. I know plenty of other companies that offer VOB.

The bodies are there but the people aren't. Hundreds have already left in their heads. We do the minimum, watch the clock, and wait for the day we can physically leave too. Schwab did this to itself.

Hey,

If you worked at Verizon for 15 years in PA, moved to FL, then all the sudden VZ sells off to frontier, but then you quit after a few years on a Friday, start Verizon on a Monday, do you think Verizon will finally bridge the Verizon time again? Was told that since Frontier bought VZ, all VZ seniority ends, should you ever get rehired at VZ. Haven’t been able to bridge the time and have been denied, since in the language of the buyout, you can’t carry your time over, if he rehired. Been back at Verizon for about 7 years now in the same position as service tech, feeling robbed of time.

You're not doing yourself any favors for doing more at this place.

What do you guys think about it? Pros and Cons? Gotchas?
Sounds too good to be true.

Taking mental sick days is my new norm here. They fu-k with you to the point everything is not okay and I need time to calm my nerves. This is the first time I’ve felt like this in the 19 years I’ve been here.

So Elcio today said a minimum of 8 hours a day in office in order for it to count as being in office, no exceptions.

But also today, the guy in charge of Operations, we over 2000 people on a call said it is understandable if you have to work 6 hours in office and make up the other 2 hours at home, we understand people have life priority and can’t expect everyone to stand and watch the count to be in at exactly 8 hours a day to count as in office when you have an emergency or have to pick up kids or elderly parents.

So many mixed messages.

I asked my manager is it 4 hours a day, 6 hours, or 8 hours minimum in office and he said he doesn’t know what counts, he has never been told. And he said he doesn’t care as long as I do my work since I sit by myself and the rest of the team is in OH, AZ, and MN.

So what is minimum?

Attitude, Resilience, Persistence, Demeanor, Flexibility, Volunteer, Practice your stories, Follow-up, Send thank you notes and much more. I got let go, it took me 10 months to get a new job. Take advantage of LLH career resources, take as many classes as you can. Different career counselors provide their point of view and take things with a grain of salt. Do not let age stop you from moving ahead.

Physical exercise has taught me:
• Discipline when motivation fades
• Resilience when the miles get tough
• Balance when life pulls in many directions

A few years ago, this career became just a job.

My only motivation is pay day, and putting food on the table.

No climbing the corporate ladder
No MVP photo op.
No spreadsheets.
No daily reports.
No metrics.

I do my job to best of my ability and go home. MY job. Not everyone else's.

I think this is how most of us see the job these days, @ct+1kpc62cbh. It's sad that it came to this. But seeing it as anything more is foolish.

Remember, at the end of the day everyone is replaceable. Never think you aren't. Don't ever work harder than you think you should. Just get your work done, go home be with family , take care of your health before any damn job. Sometimes less is more.

I thought we had great working relationships with some brilliant ex-colleagues, but I’ve been cut off after they left the company. It hurts more than I’d like to admit, and it’s happening more often. I genuinely value those people and would really like to work with them again. Why does it happen? I want to keep the relationship but they don’t.

I am paying nearly 30% more for my commute every week, and that’s in my econobox of a ten year old Toyota. I asked my boss if I could WFH one or two days a week. His response was su-k it up, “You don’t hear the people driving those 4WD trucks and SUVs complaining, do you?”

Too many people think complaining online means they have done something to fix a problem. It don’t. It will make you feel better for a little while, but not make change. Remember, rich people and shareholders don’t care about you. You’re a tool to be used until you are worn out and then thrown away. If you die, they don’t care. In fact, dying quickly is the wanted ending. So, how to protect yourself and other workers? Start forming a union. Google the communication worker unions. Google how to start a union. Google success and failure stories. Make contact with union reps. No rich person will pay you your value or respect you and the only way to get those things is to act as a large group. Remember, 5 day workweek, vacation, 8 hours a day are unions. And stop electing people who get paid by rich people to sc--w you.

Start discussing salary with other workers. Management hates it, but can’t stop it. You’ll find out how sc--wed you really are. Don’t get mad at people making more, get mad at management.

Do something. I am.

After seeing so may posts on here about for people getting fired for coffee badging now I’m confused. I understand people who would only swipe their badge and turnaround immediately, but si don’t get why people who stay here for 6 hours would be considered coffee badging. I try to stay at least 6 hours at the office when I go in, but sometimes I like to spend only the mornings there and come back during lunch. If I do this wouldn’t get fired?