Thread regarding AT&T layoffs

Culture wars don’t belong in the office.
HR should be ashamed but they’re not.
Strange times indeed.

I felt like I was watching the view!

The culture is fear and intimidation whether it’s layoffs, getting a large workload increase due to a peer being let go or having to pay for your own relocation with no guarantee you won’t be let go shortly after the move.

Senior leadership believes culture can be dictated via a Power Point and Town Halls showing culture pillars.

"Nark. If you have a problem with the culture, why not address it in broad daylight through the provided company channels."

You mean like answering truthfully on the annual employee survey?!

When was this HR Townhall? I don't recall seeing a webcast communication.

These townhalls are always bull sh-t. No one actually cares. They always have hidden filthy agenda and they just show off they are rich in culture, communication and take very good care of their employees

HR, better luck next time 🍀. We’re a huge corporation that acts like we’re operating in grandmas basement, selling junk on eBay. Where do they get these people?

When can we go back to just doing our jobs instead of hearing this rubbish?
Someone has paid some outside company big money to talk about culture wars.
That’s where this is coming from.
Keep in mind that overseas workers and contractors won’t hear this culture war cr-p. What a waste of money and time

Tbh as soon as she said culture war, I tuned out.
T1red of that sh1t because she doesn’t know me and she has no business telling me how to think.
It’s a job not a cult you stoopid dingbat

What I found so egregious was her use of PSYOPs which is short for Psychological Operations.

We don’t need psychological analysis or warfare to understand how to work.

Just plain d-mb.

Why would Human Resources wage a war on culture? Corporate culture isn’t something you lecture about.
The tone is wrong.

Another fine mess!

This place is making me hate my life.

I did watch and some of it was meh.
Just blah and rah rah.
I agree with other commenters that the Cultural War and Cultural Heritage War came off like propaganda. I can’t blame her for sounding like The Heritage Foundation.
She’s paid to say these things.

I missed it, lucky me.

It’s unfortunate that the new head of HR had an AI Bot write her speech on Culture.

I was hoping for a more human explanation and experience.

Darcie Henry had absolutely nothing to say on any topic of significance. It was all corporate fluff.

Like many town halls, it amounted to 75 forgettable minutes where we all could've been getting real work done, but instead had to endure some silly slides and leader worship.

I wasn't expecting any dramatic pronouncements, but I had higher expectations that the person they hired after a two-year search would at least have some decent executive presence, bit she couldn't have come across as more of an empty business suit if she'd tried.

Save the “culture” speeches for your AI bots and overseas workers.

How lame.

HR is trying to empty out the company so that they can start from scratch—- that was my take.

It wasn’t about retention, keeping great employees.
My two cents

Was this the new HR lady that was talking about culture ?
Wow, what a disappointment.

Looks like another bad Forbes ranking in the making.

Chairman Mao launched the “Cultural Revolution” in China and kept that country in the dark for decades.

We’re experiencing a similar situation

@a6
Yeah you’re right.
I heard a customer just the other day say “thank God ATT has RTO”.
Not too bright are you?

Nark. If you have a problem with the culture, why not address it in broad daylight through the provided company channels.

@OP You nailed it. The whole “culture” segment of the town hall was embarrassing. They talk like culture is something you can announce into existence, as if repeating the word enough times will magically make employees feel supported or valued.

Meanwhile the actual culture employees experience every day is fear, exhaustion, and total disconnect from leadership. You can’t claim to be building culture when the only consistent message people hear is “come to the office or else.” That’s not culture. That’s coercion.

There’s no strategy, no identity, and definitely no trust. Calling it “market-based culture” is laughable when the market has already rejected their RTO approach. And throwing AI at the problem like it’ll fix morale is just another shiny distraction.

Culture isn’t a slideshow. It’s not a talking point. It’s what people feel in their gut when they log in, or swipe their badge, or sit through yet another call from an office they didn’t need to be in. Right now that feeling is frustration, burnout, and zero faith in leadership.

Until they fix that, all the buzzwords in the world won’t mean a damn thing.

Dark Triad culture.

@a9

Cluelessness is a feature, not a bug

“ “Leadership” hates the employees.”

Truth…and we likewise abhor these bogus, mendacious, capricious, avaricious so called “leaders”.

Culture to not provide desks to employees, culture to terminate employees even knowing how uncomfortable employees are in office working on chairs.Great culture is being made.

@a2 Exactly. Market based culture is corporate gibberish. If they listened to “the market” they would know that companies that allow flexibility are more attractive to top talent. They would also know that constant layoffs only build a culture of distrust.

Finally, if they listened to “the market”, they would know that responding to negative survey results by blaming employees and taking half-measures like putting better lighting in open offices that people detest isn’t actually responding to “the market”.

The cluelessness never ceases to amaze.

@a6 5x8 RTO is resulting in less hours worked and less fücks given about the customer. When leadership doesn’t care about the employees and ignores their needs, then the employees feel the same about the customer. Isn’t it funny how that works?

What culture?

“I was OVER them talking about the customer.”

5x8 RTO is providing more consistent quality for customers.

The culture was fine before RTO. Since then… the last two years… the culture has never been worse. #567

Ah, yes, the culture of RTO 5 days, but we don’t have enough seats in your office to give you a dedicated desk, so play musical chairs each day is great! That must be what market based is.

The culture is toxicity. The culture is zero loyalty and zero trust. The RTO policy set and implemented by leadership reflects the culture. They’ve made it clear they have a lords and serfs mindset. “Leadership” hates the employees. If you want to improve the culture give people basic respect instead of treating them like a number in your headcount reduction spreadsheet.

I was OVER them talking about the customer.