U.S. Bank’s culture increasingly feels built around one assumption: employees cannot be trusted.
Track IP addresses because people might not be working where they say they are.
Crack down on medical accommodations because someone might be abusing the system.
Centralize / eliminate Business Resource Groups because employees might be spending too much time on work that doesn’t directly produce output.
That is Theory X management: assume the worst, increase control, reduce autonomy, monitor more closely.
The problem is that policies designed around the small percentage of employees who might abuse trust eventually punish the employees who earned it.
And once people realize they are being managed as potential problems instead of valued professionals, engagement dies very quickly.
You can force compliance.
You cannot surveil people into caring.