#worklifebalance

So, for people that have now stepped into new roles because of the layoffs and people that left, are we getting salary adjustments? does anyone have any insight on this? or are we just "lucky to have a job" and are supposed to shut up and take it?

Many of us would just like to be done with CA. The constant layoffs create undue stress on the employees. The stress and the health effects are not worth a couple of dollars extra.
But I wanted the severance as many of us do. Afterall in the world of layoffs why should we get the severance when we leave.
So, this is how I did it.
1) Quietly back off on the work you do. Be less productive but not to the point where HR takes notice.
2) Throw in a couple of mistakes here and there.
3) This is key. Casually let your boss know that you are thinking about retiring or leaving the company. Nothing official and absolutely nothing in writing. Provide no solid date.
a. If you do this well, they will start planning for your departure.
4) Never quit. Just mention is casually here and there. Eventually they will plan for your departure but when you do not leave, they will be forced into a layoff.
There! Several is not many thousands of dollars in your pocket.

It's just the fear of the cr-ppy job market that's keeping me here, nothing else.

Fired? No consequence if they go for some days?

I actually like the work I do, but the conditions are wearing me down fast. We're constantly short-staffed, people leave every month, people get laid off all the time, and the pay just doesn't make up for the stress. It's making me seriously question if I should stick with this entire field. Does it ever get better, or is this just how it is everywhere?

Is CAT digital in Chicago 5 day RTO? Also how is the work culture and work life balance here?

How long do I have? Im in CTO. Never got that rating before. Basically the rating said I’m good at my job but don’t take initiative blah blah blah. I knew it was coming. Don’t care, ready to be done with this place. Do I have until summer at least?

Last year, I was informed that I would have to switch to a non-exempt contract because the salary limit had been exceeded with the last agreed increase. Has anyone else received this? It gave me the impression that they wanted to get everyone from the old collective contracts. Has anyone refused this?

well ONSEMI in hudson hit the iceberg lol, now it’s slowly sinking it will close people , But some will stay to the end because u are afraid of changed , plus where else can u go do errands , stay on your cell phone , sit the cafe for a hour , with out punching out lol. yes next job u have u will have to work for a living . anyways God Bless finish those puzzles

Do you still need to work and hand off all your projects while you're still on payroll?

It’ll be hard as pressure will be applied under the guise of “meet the goal or else” but just put in 8 hours per day…..ONLY. Let the days of 50-60 hours per week be a thing in the past. Those of you who did work like that last year, what did you get out of it? No increase in comps, possible layoff and if you survive more work to pick up the slack.

Don’t do it out of anger or spite. Just let the layoff set the pace going forward. Clock in, work, go home. 8 hours only, no more, no less.

If you grind hard, you get let go.
If you do just enough to keep from getting fired, you still may be let go but its not quite as bitter as putting in tons of extra hours and then getting the axe.

This is what I would say…respectfully of course.

Your employees have stood behind you helping PNC stay successful. Without us, it could not be done. Every single one of us contributes in some way. You are getting a lot of heat regarding your decision. Is this the legacy that you want to be remembered by? A CEO who didn’t care about his employees? I know you have heart, Bill. I’ve seen it.

You were so upset about not being able to reach several direct reports. If your directs can’t be reached, I’d be upset too. But hold them individually accountable, not the entire bank.

Your children are grown, I believe. If I’m wrong, I apologize. This company has alot of single moms struggling to support their children. In most families with two parents, they both have to work. Trying to juggle getting them to school and back home, daycare costs and keeping food on the table has become more challenging than ever. Most of us don’t make enough money to hire a nanny. We want to have enough time with our children to raise them well. Our children are the future businessmen and women of this country. Nothing can replace that valuable time with our children to help them grow into successful adults, make good decisions and always be open to other people’s perspectives. To always be respectful to everyone, because you never know what they may be dealing with. And when you can help someone less fortunate, you should. Be loving, be kind, be supportive.

Those that are happy with the return to office decision are ones who can afford to do so. We aren’t pushing back because we’re lazy people or big babies! Maybe there is a very small percentage that seem to take advantage. Hold those people accountable, not the employees who produce and do their jobs effectively.

Put yourself in our shoes for 1 day. Partner with a single mom for a day and see the challenges. Having to choose between paying the gas bill or putting food on the table. Do you know what that feels like? The cost of commuting whether by bus or car 5 days a week is expensive.

You’ve said how successful we’ve been before & after covid, now all of a sudden it’s hurting the company to work from home. It’s contradictive. We know there are other reasons behind your decision.

I’m asking you to consider coming out and saying you have heard how your employees feel, and maybe have us come in 3 days a week. Inform your management team not everyone can’t wtf mondays and fridays. It should be well coordinated for coverage purposes. For department meetings, everyone in person. That little bit of flexibility will go along way, Bill. Going back on a decision doesn’t make you a weak leader, Bill. It shows everyone that you are a human being who cares about his employees. That you recognized after the fact, this decision was going to cause more hardships than you anticipated. I guarantee if you did that, your employees would be much happier and so appreciative. When employees are happy at work, they tend to go above and beyond more.

You guys got it all wrong. It’s all about saving the youth from isolation. Fighting traffic, fighting for office space and waiting for the next round of layoffs is needed to save humanity! See and hear for yourselves. :-(

https://www.wsj.com/video/series/wsj-leadership-institute-leaders/why-atts-25-billion-plan-demands-a-new-corporate-culture/91BB8221-DDDA-49CB-B565-5356447B351F?mod=WSJvidctr__pos0

AT&T literally:
sells connectivity
sells remote access
sells cloud voice
sells VPNs
sells mobile data
sells collaboration tools
…while forcing its own people to drive 2 hours a day to sit on Teams calls in an open space with no assigned seating.

Add Stank - a tired, clueless, utility salesman, now targeting and trolling Tmobiles LinkedIn, begging for customers.

Add a stock thats dropping from 28 to now down to 23, it will keep going down.

Could you be more pathetic?

Here's one guy's take on this move vs. don't move.

ACCEPT:

If you are a L2 or L3 with little or no experience outside of AT&T. As in, you joined out of high school, military service, incomplete college, or an online degree
If you are in a role/job title in which you do not meet the minimum qualifications. As in, AT&T calls you a PM but you have never actually managed a project or if they call you an engineer but lack the qualifications to work on a L1 NOC.
If your role recommends an advanced degree but you never completed the undergrad.
If your 'industry experience' means that you are familiar with most of AT&T's products.
If you feel that your job at AT&T challenges your mental abilities.
Or, the inverse - If you feel that AT&T is a cake job and you feel like you get paid for doing nothing.
If you accidentally/purposefully took credit for work or ideas that weren't actually yours.
Finally, if you believe that losing your job at AT&T would make you unemployable at the salary that AT&T has shackled you with.
If you answer yes to any of those, you should consider relo. You are the kind of person AT&T wants.

REJECT:

If you have at least 1 prior position working in your chosen field with 3+ years of experience prior to AT&T.
If your supervisor has ever disparaged formal education or prior experience.
If you do not feel challenged by your role and consider that to be a 'bad thing'.
If the idea of fighting for office space reminds you of being back in kindergarten.
If you're tired of having to explain technology basics to your coworkers and managers.
If you feel that AT&T puts dividend checks before employees or customers.
If you're tired of hearing the story about that time your id--t director almost played a significant role in that billion dollar startup.
If you're tired of inept leaders who frequently remind you that Bill Gates, Michael Dell, and Steve Jobs didn't have college degrees all while they rely on chatgpt to make up for their 8th grade writing skills.
If you are competent, confident, and employable.
If you answer Yes to most of these, you should hit the REJECT button. Take the package, brush up on soft skills. Practice interviews without using "AT&T" in every answer. Don't talk to your leadership any more than you have to. You aren't under any obligation to train your replacement. "I support my team and my customers" is a perfectly reasonable answer. If your director or VP can't explain what you're working on, tough luck, buddy. Guess that's another thing you don't have in common with Dell or Zuck.

Just remember, if you are willing to let your employer dictate your very life, you are EXACTLY the person THEY are looking for. Make no mistake, you aren't valuable to them. Just the opposite, you are a peg to fill a hole. You are table stakes. And yes, you can be L3, L4, or higher and still be table stakes. Need I remind you of our engineering SVPs who clearly weren't technical but they fit a particular hole for a period of time.

I've made my decision. I hope this helps you make yours.

We've all been working our behinds off, so what this latest "warning" sounds like is more "now you'll do even more hours and skip holidays and work weekends and you'll be happy about it or we'll fire you for poor performance." They want more free labor, as simple as that.

I’m going to join the rest of you in Technology! PNC wants me in the office 5 days a week, no problem. Just to let managers know, when my shift ends, I am not available until the next business day at my starting time. I simply cannot make myself available during my commute into work or after work or on my personal time any longer. I have over an hour commute to and from work. I need to change my availability to be there for my family. It’s unfortunate because this is not something I wanted to do, but in order to accommodate my family I had to make some changes just like PNC had to do. As far as technology is concerned, I don’t think any managers should be reaching out after office hours when issues arise. It’s unreasonable to have employees come in the office every day and get home after 6 o’clock and then have managers calling you because online banking is down. My cell phone will be turned off.

People here are acting like something like this never happened before, to anybody. People will talk about it for a few days and it'll be forgotten. Move on, everybody.

I’ve been an employee for a long time. I honestly felt that I have been treated well and fairly throughout my career. I felt like management cared about me as a person. Having the flexibility and working in the office three days a week helped me to get a little more sleep as I wasn’t commuting every day. It helped me to balance doctors appointments for me and my family. I was able to take care of a chronically, ill family member. It made me happy to go above and beyond because I felt Pnc was going above and beyond with the work/life balance.

With the announcement today, I just can’t understand what is happening at PNC. With other employees around me being on calls all day long, I’m not sure what type of interaction they expect me to get. I can sit at my desk all day and not one person talks to me because they are on conference calls. I have nothing in common with any of them. We don’t do the same job. Not even close. The only thing that this is doing for me is costing me more money. Money that I don’t have. I don’t have the luxury of having paid parking downtown and although I appreciate the discount in the northside, it adds an additional 40 minutes onto my commute daily. (20 minutes each way, not to mention I’m getting up way earlier to come into the office to begin with.) I can’t afford to park downtown every day like some of the higher paid employees at the bank. I can’t afford to pay for someone to help a chronically ill family member. Through a program that is offered to us, It would cost me $125 a week. The chronically ill family member did not have an illness prior to Covid so I didn’t have to worry about this. Wtf 2 days a week helped me tend to their needs on my lunch time, and after work, but now I’m not able to do that as i’ll be downtown all day and will be getting home significantly later in the evening due to all the traffic for my commute home.

I’m honestly hurt by this decision and cannot believe we are not being given some flexibility for our families. We only have one life to live and we are just passing by on this earth. My family will always be my priority. Nothing will come before my family.

I've never been more productive in my entire career than while working from home. That's about to change. I have no intention of answering any more mails after working hours once RTO starts. Something urgent needs to be addressed as I'm about to leave? It can wait for the next day, I have to go home. And so on.

I’m asking you to message your director, your executive, your head of department to voice your frustrations. Let’s be real we have proven the remote model works very well. Acquiring BBVA and FirstBank, launching the new PNC website, onboarding over 11 million customers to a new user experience, beating earnings on a consistent basis, consistent dividend increases, record net income multiple times, becoming a top 5 national bank, and most importantly for the executives - a record high stock price less than a week ago. Let’s be real on another front, this announcement is driven by politics, power and greed. Don’t fall for the excuses. Well my friend Jamie Dimon did it, so why can’t we? Our shareholders don’t like empty buildings. Yea right our shareholders care about one thing only, ROI. (See above) Don’t fall for the corporate buzzwords that PNC loves to slurp on. “Being in the office fuels collaboration, sparks innovation, and helps us grow–individually and collectively.” In realty from someone who was five days in office, being in office fuels distractions, a longer commute, a reduce in W/L balance, and our carbon footprint (remember PNC loves the carbon footprint buzz-phrase). When a director or executive visited our floor, we were never approached or asked questions and if we tried to introduce ourself it was at the most a quick wave hi and goodbye. There was no collaboration. You took the time out of your busy schedule to come visit us and we couldn’t get a word in. Which is ironic because here we are yet again at a time where we are not given a chance to get a word in.

Long time FTE

In speaking to others during my lunchtime, we all agree that technology is going to be the biggest area that will suffer. And when technology suffers, the customer base will suffer. No one, and I mean no one is going to bend over backwards, work evenings, or weekends anymore without work/life balance. A lot of good talent will leave. And remember, even though we are replaceable, good talent takes time to find and bring up to speed. We are talking months! Who is going to pick up the slack? The managers? They can only do so much. They are already over stressed and overworked putting in so many hours.

The worst thing as well, is the media will get wind of this confirmation of a 5 day return to work requirement and PNC’s reputation is going to suffer. Mark my words. It will make them look bad. Why couldn’t we just be a leader in the banking industry and keep it at 3 days a week? Why do we always end up being the follower? Can you imagine the talent we could bring in with a good life/balance plan? At the end of the day, when employees are happy, they tend to go above and beyond for their employer. That’s a known fact.

So no flexibility for me??? Great, no flexibility from me when there are system problems. At 5pm, I’m off the clock. I will leave my laptop in my locker. That’s all folks!

Congratulations to the CEO for just destroying the work life/balance at PNC. Work/life balance no longer exists at PNC. Good bye to all the talent and hard working people at this business. He has no idea what he just did to his employees.

Typo fixed.

Let's wait and see instead of deciding this is the day or this is the week. It's not good for anybody's mental health.

Everyone is on edge, wringing their hands hoping that all will be well in regards to their employment.

Lots of naysayers out there. Lots off people who desperately try to sell that its not use to look for jobs elsewhere. Lots of people who try to tell you that if someone got let go “it must be because they got a deserved 4 rating”.

While both can be true, neither is exclusively always true.

The one thing that I know for sure 100% is that you are guaranteed to NEVER find a job outside of Citi if you don’t start looking. Many don’t want to take the leap out of fear of starting over and having to prove themselves. Ok, then all the stress you get from Citi going forward will be forever shackled to you. If you don’t like your world then change your world. Easy, no. Quick, usually not. Impossible, absolutely not. Worth it, for piece of mind, oh you bet it is.

As one other poster mentioned, many people NEED to believe that if someone got let go its because they were a sustained 4 in all areas for an extended amount of time. They have to believe that so that they can take themselves out of that bucket that it could happen to them. They need to believe that if they do all the right things, they are safe.
The actual truth is much uglier than what they can handle.

Work hard, keep your head down, sharpen your skills. Search externally for jobs and apply. Rinse, repeat until you find something and move on. Keep in mind that Citi wants you to move on. They are taking measures to encourage you to leave. If you survive this round, then congratulations, you get to take up the slack for everyone else. You get more work and with most assuredly shortened deadlines with a higher expectations to never make a mistake. Keep in mind all the while with no increase in pay. Its ok though because it’ll be summed up with “don’t forget about your work life balance” speech. To Citi “work life balance” is that your family needs to be ok with you working all the time.

Waters come in 75th on the happy place to work list and that's only in Boston.in ireland it didn't even make the list.

Verizon CHRO: Retaining Top Talent!!!

Mind blowing: McKinsey, high performers deliver 800% more output than average employees.

Proven tips to retain top talent:

1. Overpay to keep your top performers
2. Make recognition the default
3. Listen to what energizes your team and lean into it
4. Address toxic behavior immediately
5. Be soft on the person and hard on the problem
6. Trust people with as much autonomy as possible
7. Implement meeting-free days
8. Normalize frequent feedback
9. Remove friction to let your top people thrive

The age of pizza parties and ping-pong tables as retention strategies is over.

Use these 9 tips to invest meaningfully in your highest performers and they’ll reinvest in the business tenfold.

When we book travel through DXC’s preferred system, we’re treated to a delightful spectrum of hotel options — everything from “character‑building budget charm” to “I could accidentally spend £1,500 this week and still not find the minibar.”
But the moment you try to claim sustenance expenses, the system suddenly becomes the strictest accountant in the Western Hemisphere. The £50 daily allowance is perfectly reasonable (unless you’re in a capital city, where £50 buys you a coffee and the right to smell someone else’s lunch). Yet submit a meal that’s even 1p over and the system reacts like you’ve attempted financial treason: flashing warnings, red alerts, and a polite suggestion to pay for your own dinner like a naughty schoolchild.
Personally, I rarely hit the daily limit — unless the hotel decides breakfast is an optional luxury, but that’s a separate therapy session. Still, if you’re away for seven nights, that’s £350 total. It would be far more sensible if we could use that flexibly. Some nights you might grab a McDonald’s for under a tenner, and on others you might want to try a decent independent restaurant, or just eat in the hotel without feeling like you’re committing an administrative crime.
Anyway… I realise these are very much first‑world problems. But still — mildly entertaining ones.

What does everyone think of this ridiculous week of career expo training? My only goal at this point is to not lose my job - forget about all of this BS!

The pulse page shows that Carelon global solutions is one of the best place to work in India and Southeast Asia. Totally giving a middle finger to all those that got riffed to offshore work.

Im 2 years away from the magic number 75=years of service + age min 50. Is it worth it to stay at VZ if you have a good opportunity offer with another company?

Will these benefits even be around in the future? Ill be 51 in two years theres no way i can stay here much longer. I heard the pension maxes out at 30 years service.

The U.S. feels like it’s entering the late stage of capitalism.

The cost of living—housing, healthcare, and insurance—has gone through the roof. The government takes50% of your income before you even see your paycheck.

Wages can’t keep up with inflation, which has been over 5% for years. People are getting poorer even while working full-time.

The job market is broken. Entry-level jobs are being outsourced to India, while workers over 50 face constant age discrimination.

The corporate ladder is basically dead.

Corporate culture- What is that? Everyone is toxic af

What’s the point of all this? We are fu---d

Does anyone actually care about people with POT 34? What does this even mean? Feels like it’s a bait to keep the slave treadmill going. My sup. Just gave me few generic next assignments and said it will eventually depend on availability and performance. Then what are YOU doing for me?In the last 5 yrs I have one E, 3O and one OWD. How much more do I need to perform! Am I f*** and should I leave immediately?

The only thing he should’ve been impressed with was the enormous number of calories I managed to consume worth of free food along with the excessively large amount of chips and cookies and candy and bagels and muffins that I managed to smuggle out out of the office in my backpack.

(and yes, for all the trolls who will inevitably jump in here… this means I am a slacker who has never had a “real” job and definitely not just a normal hard-working employee trying to maintain their sense of humor amidst an admittedly shi**y situation.)

Peace out and congratulations to everyone who survived their first week back with their sanity intact.

https://x.com/gothburz/status/2009386221521244406?s=46&t=8PYOIs_oDhf5yp9H30hhiw

Last September I announced mandatory return-to-office.

Five days a week.

I called it a "culture-first initiative."

Culture means presence.

Presence means badge swipes.

Badge swipes mean metrics.

Metrics mean I can prove something to the board.

I don't know what.

But I can prove it.

The announcement went out on a Tuesday.

I sent it from my home office.

In Aspen.

I have an exemption.

"Strategic leaders require location flexibility to maintain global perspective."

I wrote that policy.

HR approved it.

HR approves everything I write.

By Wednesday, 340 employees had updated their LinkedIn status to "Open to Work."

I called it "natural attrition."

Natural attrition means they quit before I had to pay severance.

Very natural.

We lost 47 engineers in the first month.

I told the board it was "alignment correction."

The people who left weren't aligned.

With coming to an office.

That I also don't come to.

But that's different.

I'm strategic.

The office costs $4.2 million per year.

Empty, it was a write-off.

Now it's a "collaboration hub."

I measured collaboration.

Average daily Zoom calls from the office: 7.4 per employee.

They commute 45 minutes.

To take calls they could take from home.

But now they're "present."

Presence is culture.

I've never been more certain of anything.

A senior engineer asked why we couldn't stay remote.

She had metrics.

Productivity was up 23% during remote work.

I said, "Productivity isn't everything."

She asked what else mattered.

I said, "Serendipitous collisions."

She asked how we measure serendipitous collisions.

I said, "You can't. That's what makes them serendipitous."

She stopped asking questions.

Then she stopped showing up.

Then LinkedIn said she's at a company that's "remote-first."

Good luck with that.

They'll learn.

We installed badge tracking software.

It cost $380,000.

It tells me exactly when people arrive.

And when they leave.

And how long they spend in each zone.

I check it every morning.

From home.

The data is fascinating.

Average arrival time: 9:47 AM.

Average departure time: 4:12 PM.

I sent a Slack message.

"Core hours are 9 to 6."

Arrival times shifted to 9:02 AM.

Departure times shifted to 6:01 PM.

Productivity did not change.

But the metrics look better.

Metrics are culture.

We have a "hybrid" option now.

Three days in office.

Mandatory Monday. Mandatory Wednesday. Mandatory Friday.

That's called "hybrid."

Because Tuesday and Thursday are optional.

But there are "anchor meetings" on Tuesday and Thursday.

Attendance is "strongly encouraged."

"Strongly encouraged" means mandatory without the liability.

I learned that from legal.

The head of product asked if he could work from home when his wife had surgery.

I said, "Of course. Family comes first."

Then I said, "But let's revisit your Q4 performance targets."

He came to the office.

His wife understood.

I assume.

I didn't ask.

That's personal.

The CFO asked about ROI on the RTO policy.

I showed him the badge data.

"Presence is up 340%."

He asked if revenue was up.

I said, "Revenue is a lagging indicator."

He asked what the leading indicator was.

I said, "Badge swipes."

He nodded.

The lease renews next year.

Seven more years.

$29 million committed.

We needed bodies in the building.

Now we have bodies.

Fewer than before.

But present.

Morale is down.

Glassdoor says we're "hostile to work-life balance."

I told HR to respond.

They wrote, "We're a high-performance culture that values in-person collaboration."

That's corporate for "the review is accurate."

But it sounds like a rebuttal.

The CEO asked if RTO was working.

I said, "Absolutely."

He asked for evidence.

I showed him a photo of the office.

Full desks. Glowing monitors. Bodies in chairs.

He smiled.

"This is what culture looks like."

It looked like a stock photo.

Because I got it from a stock photo website.

The real office has 40% occupancy on a good day.

But he doesn't know that.

He's also remote.

We're both strategic.

Next quarter I'm proposing a "collaboration bonus."

$2,000 for anyone with 95% badge-in compliance.

The bonus costs less than the turnover.

And it shifts the narrative.

We're not forcing people to come in.

We're "incentivizing presence."

Incentivizing means paying people to do something they don't want to do.

It's different from mandating.

Legally.

The employees who stayed are "loyal."

Loyalty means they have mortgages.

And kids in school districts.

And RSUs that haven't vested.

They're not loyal.

They're trapped.

But on paper, it looks like loyalty.

And paper is what the board sees.

I've been doing this for 22 years.

I know what culture looks like.

It looks like butts in seats.

Butts in seats mean control.

Control means management.

Management means me.

RTO isn't about productivity.

It never was.

It's about seeing people.

So I know they exist.

So I know they're working.

So I know I'm in charge.

That's culture.

As long as the badge swipes go up and to the right.

You can build all the offices you want. The workforce you’re trying to force into them doesn’t want them.

Five day RTO is not culture. It’s wasted time, wasted money, and wasted talent. People commute for hours just to sit on video calls they could do better from home. There is no productivity upside and no data to support it.

The market has already moved on. Over 80 percent of companies offer hybrid or remote work. Younger talent will not choose a dinosaur policy when better pay, flexibility, and trust exist everywhere else.

As older workers retire, you’re forcing out the next generation before they ever commit. That’s not strategy. It’s self sabotage. Keep spending billions on offices no one wants while the talent pipeline walks out the door.

Welp, looks like another ‘rules for thee, not for me.’

‘Select’ leaders will have assigned spaces for ‘business continuity’

It would be bad to give them a widdle inconvenience. Poor babies.

I talked to someone at UP on another platform and was told seniority with UP only determined your shift and off days. Management will line up individuals on any job they want to and seniority does not matter.