I'm the id--t who kept hoping things would improve because it can't stay this bad forever. I was right that things can't stay this bad. I was wrong in thinking things would improve. Things changed but for the worse. I didn't think it was possible. Now I can't wait to leave this place.
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So you are fine with doing the work of four laid off colleagues, but the auto-changing wallpaper is the tipping point?!? LOL
The auto changing wallpaper is the last straw...so ridiculous, can't find my files and things I keep on my desktop for doing my work.
What company did you go to?
Things changed but for the worse. I didn't think it was possible.
This was exactly my sentiment when I used to work at Fiserv (I left a couple of years ago). It felt like every change that came through only ever made things worse; rarely was there a change introduced from leadership which improved my quality of life or my satisfaction at work. This feeling predated the pandemic, as well, so it wasn't just the RTO campaign that made me feel this way back then (although RTO was a significant contributor to my negative feelings toward the end of my tenure).
My manager at the time gave me some advice that ended up being pretty valuable: the company's leadership is not going to change their ways, so instead of getting frustrated at every negative change and hoping for things to get better, just focus on taking advantage of what you can. By this, he meant that, for example, if you know you can finish a task in 70% of the time which had originally been estimated for its completion, don't rush it — just work at a more reasonable pace, instead of burning yourself out going above-and-beyond for a leadership team that wouldn't take notice, anyway. In his view, if the company was going to take advantage of us at every turn and make our lives miserable, then we shouldn't prioritize loyalty to the company. Take what you can, within reason, and prevent yourself from burning out. That, in his view, was the only perk of working at the place.
I left weeks ago and I can't complain. Instead of 3% merit increase that fiserv gave me I managed to get 45%. Full remote position with laptop that is not infested with spying software tracking productivity. I even got admin permision so I can do almost everything that I want with it. The best of all no corporate propaganda with auto changing desktop wallpaper.