#worklifebalance

I’m willing to take almost any other job, even one that pays less, just to be able to leave this place. Five years here have felt like ten anywhere else.

For the past decade, each year has been progressively worse than the previous one. And 2025 was already really, really bad. I don't dare think about what we might expect from this one. I've been praying for a new job, but having zero luck, so I guess I'll be forced to find out anyhow.

Crazy thing is it didn't used to be this way. In the days of yore when we were all happily remote little worker bees, we were content if not happy. Dell felt like a people-focused organization, at the very least. We were given latitude to do our own thing, expectations were normal and not overly ambitious, and the individual contributors had a certain degree of confidence in leadership.

Sure, Dell had the very-normal corporate issue of constant change, but the change was navigable. Then suddenly, everything began to change and the water began to boil. It started slowly-people being "encouraged" to use the office. The remote activities quietly disappeared. Does anybody remember the May the 4th Zoom AHOD in 2021 where a bunch of leadership dressed up as Star Wars characters? Stuff like that was objectively fun, and made work feel a bit less like work. That sort of fun just up and disappeared to be replaced with increased unreasonable expectations like suddenly everybody had to commute 10 hours a week to sit on zoom calls that they were perfectly content with and capable of sitting on at home.

Then, the layoffs began, as did a constant state of employment anxiety that has persisted to this day. Then we all received a total of 24 business-hours notice that hybrid was going away and we were all full-time onsite, or face the consequences. Except, there were none really. The layoffs continued to be completely random across the board, if anything affecting the in-office folks more than those that persisted with staying remote.

The result? Everybody who is left (and smart) has quiet quite HARD. I'm personally remote, and work maybe 2 hours a day and still get everything done. The rest of my workday is spent at the gym or with my laptop open while I play video games. And my numbers have never been better.

The thing that objectively takes the most of the time out of my day is trying to come up with 5 stupid questions to ask this stupid chat bot we're training to take over our jobs eventually, because if I don't that's the only thing that actually gets me in trouble with leadership. It's not my Teams' status being yellow for 5 hours a day, or my quote output, or my lack of desire to pursue cUlTuRe and CoLlAbOrAtIoN by driving 15 hours per week, it's my lack of desire to justify Dell's stupid investment into incompetent AI tools that add no objective value to anybody.

I know it sounds like hyperbole when you hear about folks talking about "Dell has changed." Though in reality, Dell actually has changed in a lot of ways, and every, single, one of those changes have been for the worse. And they get away with it because we flipped from an employee's market to an employer's market with the post-Covid tech crash in 2022ish that we still haven't recovered from.

It just really su-ks.

This needed a thread of its own. The OP is @ez+1kdne2h4c.

I am in my early thirties and have been here long enough to see how fast things shift. FIDO still opens doors when recruiters scan a resume, but that window feels smaller each year. I am focusing on learning what I can and staying realistic about how long the shine lasts.

I'm going to believe that we'll be spared layoffs at least for the first quarter of the year. It's better than being convinced otherwise and stressing over it nonstop. They'll most likely prove me wrong, but you never know. A little positivity never ki-led anybody.

2026 will be the last year of AT&T employment for many. Make the final weeks count.

Post below.

How do y'all deal with 5 day RTO, it must be brutal , no? I know qualcomm isn't the place for "work life balance" which is what I always hear from my peers at QCOM , but do y'all get extra holidays or something? Did they increase the leaves after the 5 day rto change ?

Curious about everyone’s New Years Work Resolutions.

You 4 day RTOers complained about not having enough parking and desk space. Well, all that is about to change. In the 1st quarter all of the inconsistents they've been handing out like candy will be used to cut thousands.

You heard that right. Thousands.

Then following that, the survivors will get the 5 day RTO or else threat. Those that violate the 5 day RTO will be PiP'd and fired.

The end game? As small of a SE Michigan salaried footprint as possible. And LCC replacements.

It's the new Ford. Where the vehicles will be assembled by American hourly workers, but designed by cheap foreign engineers. It's been moving that direction since 2019, and this will be the final blow to bring it all to reality.

Me? I'm retiring EOY after nearly 4 decades. I'm at a level that you can count on my knowing what I'm talking about.

GL2U all.

Work is supposed to be fun, but companies have made it so difficult that many Gen X and Gen Z employees hate going to the office and feel like they’re just following marching orders. The ’90s and early 2000s felt more enjoyable because we had people from other cultures who assimilated and didn’t treat the U.S. as merely an economic zone. People weren’t constantly worried about their jobs being outsourced to developing countries.

Everyone’s miserable at Dell. They come here looking for meaning, but all they find is confirmation of how trapped they are.

Is anybody else so fu--ing tired of having this as an expectation? Every time we ask for resources or support, it’s like talking to a wall. They just pile on more work and expect miracles without giving a damn about the people actually doing it.

My net worth since leaving. Frees your mind up to opportunity when leaving that soul crushing environment. Seems to attract nothing but Bill Lumberghs who get promoted. Seriously ATT Management are drips and blockheads.

Leave Nike. That's it. That's the only goal I'm setting for myself.

It's not by choice, trust me. There are a few good reasons why some of us are still here. The job market is tough right now, so it's not as if it's so easy to leave. Having a job, any job, is a big deal. I also appreciate the health benefits because I can't afford to be without medical coverage for a single day. Expecting that people who're not happy here would just up and leave is incredibly naive and not in touch with reality.

Just joking. It is not even equal pay and benefits. But it is a much smaller, cozier company, the people in charge seem decent, overtime is not really a thing (I made sure to check), they are not doing constant layoffs, and it is an entirely different role. A change of scenery and pace is more than welcome, and I wanted to get ahead of what is inevitably coming - more cuts, offshoring, and mind-numbing stress. It’s a win in my book. Wishing you all the best.

Any Bonus?

At least they had the class to wait until after the holidays.

Does anyone know if the in office reporting is working correctly for cloud users? Does it show 8+ even if you didn’t stay that long?

Supposedly Belk corporate is considering a support team re-alignment. There have been numerous complaints through the company about support associates working extremely early shifts when they are needed at all times during store hours. One store employee claimed that Human Resources was never in the building when the bulk of associates were working because they always left by 2 or 3pm, and therefore associates were left without Human Resource assistance if needed. Instead of these early morning (6-2,7-4,7-3) shifts support associates will work a mix of mornings, nights, weekends, mid shifts, similar to sales team managers, and regular associates. This includes Human Resources, fulfillment, cash office, dock/truck, merchandising, and housekeeping. You heard it here first, more to come in the new year.

I’m regularly putting in 60 to 70 hours a week, and by the time the day’s over, cooking just isn’t happening. I end up grabbing whatever’s quickest, usually fast food. I can tell it’s catching up to me physically and mentally, and it’s starting to worry me. I know this isn’t sustainable, but I genuinely don’t see how people manage to eat well when they barely have time to breathe. How are others handling this without burning out even more?

That's my resolution. No more giving more than I'm paid for. I do my hours and that's it. I'm done.

Having a job at DXC where I haven’t gotten a raise in four years effectively means that I’ve been taking a pay cut each year due to inflation, and my work has just been increasing. I can’t think of a single person outside of those at the very top who can be considered “lucky to have a job” here.

Is it normal to feel completely and utterly burnt out, to the point where even the thought of work gives you anxiety? I can’t find another job, I can’t afford to just quit, so I’m stuck, and I don’t know how much more of this I can take without seriously damaging my mental health.

The reality is Qualcomm doesn’t treat employees like people. If you get laid off, you’ll be off their radar immediately. If you stick around, you’ll just be expected to work longer, follow every rule, and stay quiet no matter what. Your well-being comes first. Start looking for a new role. Trust me, it’s worth the effort.

If you could continue WFH for a pay cut, would you do it? I'd be more than happy to accept such a trade, as long as the pay cut is reasonable.

To say I'm unhappy with how things turned out would be an understatement. I've been looking for the past few months and a few leads are looking promising. I'm worried though about leaving this soon looking bad on a resume. Is it better to switch now than stick around for a while for the future?

RTO is an antiquated strategy based on how the company was in 2010 not 2025. Our roles have changed as have the people, and their locations, that we all interact with. There will be no measure of success because it’s based on a belief in collaboration and nothing more. There is not a single metric that will support it. However I will lay money that sickness and absence rates will rise.

Well said, @a9+1kc3yqn6p.

I wish I had a job that wasn’t this draining.

ever since covid ive been doing the /r/overemployed thing but with target being j1 bc of health insurance since the layoffs in october my manager has been on my behind nonstop expecting more and more work to be done im slowly detaching from my role and pushing back sayin things like itll get done when it gets done i kinda want to get laid off on the next round and get severance but who knows when thatll be until then im gonna keep coasting and attend meetings i am required in and skip the ones im not and just have the mouse jiggler running do the IT computer ppl have anyway to tell that im not really doing anything for most of the day?

again just want to survive until next layoff with severance by doin bare minimum and cashin checs

A couple of days mean nothing. By the time you finally start to relax, it is already time to go back to he-l. I genuinely envy people who can switch off the moment they leave work.

I’m close to a breaking point and more exhausted than I’ve ever been. After this rush, it will just turn into anxiety about the job, the future of the store, and what happens next. I badly need real rest, and I doubt I’ll get any. I hope the rest of you are doing better. This time of year is absolutely brutal.

I thought I would fall off a cliff when it happened, but instead I’ve never felt so unburdened. It wasn’t just the relief after all that anticipation, but also realizing how much I actually hated my job and how completely I had lost perspective on what matters while constantly being on edge in a small, toxic team. I just hope I don’t reach a point a year from now where I feel awful and am still jobless.

I’m exhausted and nowhere near retirement. Leaving feels impossible after investing this much time, but staying isn’t easy either. Sometimes I wish the decision would just be made for me.

if you work at belk in a store. do the absolute minimum. they dont care about you. why should you bust your butt for them? these people that bend over backwards for belk are id--ts. they think belk cares about them and belk and corpoorate does not.

If you go to speak up for ethical misconduct by a cabal of leadership reinforced by HR and Speak Up covers is up, what is the next move? Email Farley’s CDSID? Looking for answers. Every time we have holidays I seem to get punished for enjoying time off so I know the worst is yet to come.

I've worked at a few other banks, and I have to say, this is the best place I've been. It's not perfect, there are real issues, but it's a good job compared to many others. That's exactly why I worry so much about layoffs. I don't want to lose this spot, and I'm truly thankful I still have it.