Really felt like I hit the jackpot after graduating and I worked hard building my skills and contributing. It felt like “they take care of me, so I will do my best to make that worth it” Was an EP for several years.
9 years later and I don’t recognize this company. No transparency or empathy. Maybe it was always that way, and all the corporate buzzwords just don’t work anymore. They really do not care how much this impacts their employees at all. I just hate it here, it’s sad man.
@d3 pocket change for Abby but they make their money off of the funds so if people rollover after terminating Fidelity loses those fees and revenue - AUM. It’s not pocket change.
@ef Exactly. This is the way to succeed in the current company culture on the inside. Personally I'm moving on to a better place in January but everyone gets to make their own choices.
Fidelity will eventually figure out that they've squeezed 75% productivity out of everyone instead of encouraging 90% out.
It’s a job people. You do work, they pay you. They set the rules as to if you work from home or remote. I don’t like it either but I also have choices. I can choose to go somewhere else but right now, I like my work and my team so I won’t. I do choose to put in 40 hours and not a minutes more. I do choose to not care as much about spend, what’s best for me is largely what I go with. I do choose to not proactively look for efficiencies or reduce costs unless it benefits me in some way. I do choose to work remote on days if needed without worrying about it.
They can set the rules and you can abide by them and still do (or don’t do things) that work out best for you rather than what’s right for the firm. If everyone did this, it really adds up.
@dx - Preach! I don’t want to hear that sh1t about empathy. Just leave me alone and don’t have any meetings about it if nothing is going to change. But of course they will be starting up mandatory fun activities to say they are doing something to improve morale. If we could just use profanity in meetings that would improve my morale.
Do you want empathy or do you want change? Coming out of the pulse survey you're going to hear a lot about empathy...but no change in policy. Without meaningful change does fake empathy really do anything other than having a sense that the company can empathize with disfunction and unhappiness?
The company has always been in it for themselves, and has always spun whatever it is they wanted you to believe or adopt. Ned understood the value of having a positve work environment where people were motivated, well compensated and treated with respect. Things changed with this leadership and COVID. COVID changed everything because once people had more flexibility and better work life balance they realized there was a better way and after getting a taste didn't want to go back to the old out-dated way of working. Sometimes you don't know how unhappy you were until you get out of that environment.
With RTO specificially leadership thought they could spin and coerce as usual and this time it didn't work. After several years of this now they're p1ssed and showing who's boss and have a take it or leave it attitude. It's not just RTO that is the issue, but i think a lot of the mistrust and loss of respect for the firm stems from that and how people were treated. We have a lot of other problems too.
With empathy you're going to see more benefits for mental health and things like this. If that's what you want then go ahead and ask, but for me you can keep all of that...i'd rather see actual policy change (which isn't going to happen and they've pretty much said so)
@c5 Employee 401k balances are pocket change in this situation. Almost zero weight in decision making.
@a4 same - I can’t be fake with my team. It’s su-king any remaining motivation away
@bs she forgets that we have very large 401k balances and can take our money elsewhere when we find new jobs externally
@bs interesting take from that leader. I know Abby has been posturing for RTO for a long time, and the resistance she got on it from her last inner circle ended in many of them "taking a leave" or moving on entirely. What I don't think current "leaders" realize is the escalated burnout of the new to mid career crowd, who already absolutely does not aspire to climb the ladder and suffocate in responsibility like the current guard did when they were coming up, thus leaving a lot of future positions either unfilled or forced to be filled by picking a warm body instead of someone adequately qualified. Shenanigans like forced RTO and the current morale draining going on will just hasten that process, and I'm ready to watch it all bite them in the @$$.
Over two years ago I was told by one of the leadership team that Abby openly voiced wanting everyone in the office full time again. When they joined one of the characteristics they thought got them hired was their own negative views on how remote work was slowly ruining American organisations. Their advice to me was to get my a-s in the office and secure promotion asap before I ended up a remote outsider.
I'm not a bootlicker so stayed where I was and I'm moving on instead.
This post made me feel sad and nostalgic for the good times. It’s not what it was. It’s hard to find a company that cares about its people. Miss the days of shrimp at the Christmas parties and the follies. It’s never going to be the same. Ned would be pi55ed if he saw what has happened to morale.
@ad I posted once about how filthy the offices are and it was removed. HR probably paying the site to take down posts, honestly.
I'm completely in agreement. When I first joined Fidelity the place was built on strong human relationships and empathy. We expanded without regard for physical locations or timezones, built a dysfunctional structure full of middle management busy work, and made everyone so busy that human relationships took a back seat.
To keep on top of my job I need to skip all non-mandatory meetings, ignore all non-priority team collaboration, limit my learning strictly to my personal objectives, and have very limited social contact with other associates. That and exit in January to look for a long-term functioning role elsewhere.
I think leadership have recognised this but their "fix" is to make things a lot worse before they get better. In a few years Fidelity will probably have reorganized for physical colocation, dropped some of the headcount bloat, and re-introduced some of the old soft hybrid approach that gave people flexibility. Until then everyone is in the meat grinder.
Same. This place has driven out all motivation and passion I had. I feel bad even trying to motivate my team since they all are feeling the same pain. Refreshing my resume over the next couple of months.
I'm also an ep and right with you. Looking externally because that's what they want us to do. Happy to oblige and take my abilities and knowledge elsehwere.