#corporateculture

How could you trust anything that this board is doing to the firm !! Never mind a trust officer. Let’s line somebody else’s pocket with options and bonuses

So I have been wondering since this all started who they consulted to come up with this bright idea. You take an already understaffed and burnt out workforce, who is constantly being told to do more with less supports and people. Then you notify them on a dime that they’re offering VSP and all may face layoffs. They do know this is the perfect recipe to send thousands of employees out on long term stress leave. Leaving management responsible for billions in insurance payouts as you’re unable to separate that employee due to medical reasons and would face wrongful termination lawsuits from every direction. Like I don’t even understand…. Has no one even heard of risk management anymore or common sense. Like everything else here I am watching a top bloated organization unwilling to cut its own C-Suite pay or make real sacrifices, instead claiming AI is the answer. What about the jobs that AI can’t do or the ones that will be horribly mismanaged due to a machine replacing real eyes. The ghost in the machine here isn’t AI it is corporate greed just like everywhere else. I am so discouraged in the place I work, are no words.

Is anyone fed up with the rampant stupidity of this group? Forget diligence because that would mean they would need to actually work but what loser approved cerevasc? That company is a scam and these mo--ns in corp dev are clueless who keep repeating the same old tricks again and again to drive the company into the ground

IBM celebrated its 115th anniversary with a global campaign focused on continuous reinvention. Instead of massive public fanfare, the company marked the milestone internally and across social media with its employees, highlighting its evolution from early tabulating machines to modern AI and quantum computing.The company and its community celebrated through several focused initiatives:Digital Employee Campaigns: Current and former IBMers (often called "IBMers") across the globe shared stories, trivia, and corporate pride on platforms like LinkedIn using the hashtag #IBM115.

So all they could do was Blue Washing to celebrate 115 years in business?

The current patent and "white paper" landscape is a farce. It has nothing to do with genuine innovation and everything to do with corporate vanity and resume padding.

Most of these filings are complete junk,technical jargon engineered specifically to game the system and bypass patent examiners. The only real "innovation" happening is in the art of writing applications that look novel on paper despite lacking any substantive value. It is a massive, expensive circus that produces nothing of merit.

It is time to be honest:

It’s pure marketing: Companies and individuals are using patents and AI-generated white papers as shallow promotional tools to project an image of expertise they don't actually possess.

The system is broken: The patent process was built for mechanical hardware, not software. Applying it to modern tech is like trying to use a horse-and-buggy manual to maintain a jet engine—it doesn't work, and it's obsolete.

The "Defensive" Reality: Major players know the system is a waste of time. Companies like Google often skip the patent process entirely, choosing to publish findings as a defensive move simply to prevent others from clogging the system with garbage patents.

We are wasting millions of dollars and thousands of man-hours on a system designed to protect ideas that aren't even worth protecting. It is time to stop pretending this serves the industry; it only serves the ego of the people writing the applications.

I did my interview almost 6 weeks ago and I haven't heard back. This is for a role in their corporate office in Charlotte.

https://truepointwealth.com/viewpoint/three-questions-to-ask-about-your-voluntary-separation-package-offering/

https://www.themuse.com/advice/when-to-take-a-buyout

Sharing so everyone has the resources and information to make the right choice without the cloud of corporate manipulation.

Woodside employees are freaking out the their nice supportive environment and prospects are going to be severely impacted and if the XoM deal goes through substantial cultural adjustments will need to be made. Most Woodside employees not ready for the treacherous work environment at XOM Spring campus. HR hosting a teddy bear 🧸 and blanky crying session next week.

UnitedHealth Group managed to squeeze $12B in pure profit out of the healthcare system last year solely through value extraction. Like Sears, Circuit City, and other notable companies that found themselves in the trash bin of history, they are relying on their size to keep employers, providers, and members with them. At a time when healthcare costs are skyrocketing, they could be creating value in the healthcare system and — gasp! — earning some profit for themselves. Instead, they push out anyone who wants to innovate or question the dirty tactics and legally dubious actions. Hemsley was supposed to make it better. Instead, he’s made the company culture worse and is putting short term gain above not only UnitedHealth Group’s interests, but the already strained healthcare system.

Know this, there is an avoidable trajectory here; but persist down this road and some startup will eat your lunch just like Amazon — a nobody at the time — did to Sears and Circuit City. Change course before it’s too late. Hire some technology people that actually know technology. Hire ethical business leaders that will follow the law. UnitedHealth Group could be the reason the healthcare system gets better or the reason it crashed. Choose wisely.

Making your boss look good is a time-tested strategy for climbing the corporate ladder at all companies not just Verizon.

It doesn’t matter if they’re incompetent, or dishonest, or a je-k. Try to accomplish whatever goal they’re being graded on in a highly visible way. Don’t worry about the consequences of poorly thought out plans. That’s not your job. Pay lip service to whatever they’re paying lip service to.

This advice also applies to the Pulse survey. The correct answers are always everything is great.

I’m not being facetious. This is 100% real advice!

The U.S. Justice Department has reportedly sent subpoenas to several of the country’s largest banks, including JPMorgan Chase JPM and Bank of America BAC, over allegations of politically motivated account closures.

Other banks under investigation include Wells Fargo WFC.

Some of the subpoenas were issued to the banks last year by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., led by Jeanine Pirro. The probe is focused on claims that these banks have “debanked” clients, meaning they have inappropriately closed customer accounts due to political reasons, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/news/jpmorgan-bofa-wells-fargo-subpoenaed-by-doj-in-trumps-explosive-debanking-crackdown-report/ar-AA25nPc6

Imagine getting 10-percented, losing your job with no severance package, after working hard for a multi-billion dollar company for decades, just so the executive team can save a little money and look good to their investor overlords. Smh

Today I learned I am going to the bench in the US. Been a manager with IBM/Kyndryl for 18+ years and also forced to tell at least 6 of my employees so far they will also be moved to the bench. Bridge has to cut >$5m from the budget, overall CTO much more. Employees impacted in the US, India and Costa Rica as I know currently. All while they hire more VPs and pay huge stock dividends to the execs and tout the company has made the top 100 most loved workplaces that prioritize respect, care and appreciation for employees at the core of their operations..... I don't think so

Verizon Business Group is riding its managers until their legs fall off. They’ve turned this department into the USSR. Every call is monitored down to the second, including time between calls.

At this point, Verizon Business should be viewed as a stepping stone to your next career move. Since taking the B2B SAM title, my LinkedIn inbox has gotten a lot more attention. Even R2B titles are being converted to B2B.

Get the experience, build the resume, sharpen your skills, and leverage it into your next opportunity outside of Verizon. Corporate America will use you if you let it. Make sure you’re getting something out of it too.

not even subtle anymore just straight up cutting staff to post lower paying jobs (lvn vs rn), using vendors to take risk loss, cutting anything social work and replacing with an AI resource handout and most gross of all: eyes only on patients just out of the hospital. More to upcode, test, bill. Poor elderly...easy target. But lets have another townhall and discuss values. karma will eventually follow these strategy team vultures.

So, finally, it happened.

First, I want to thank Piotr S. for doing what almost nobody else had the courage to do — breaking the silence and speaking the truth. In that moment, you showed more humanity, more integrity, and honestly more leadership than an entire room full of executives combined.

But maybe expecting anything else was naive.

What can you really expect from a CEO and a C-Suite whose success is measured by stock price and shareholder applause? When your stock-based compensation is worth $7.1 million, finding ways to squeeze another 5-6% out of the stock probably feels more important than the lives of the people behind the numbers. And apparently, one of the easiest ways to do that is simple: sacrifice employees. Works like a charm.

And just like that, a 10-12 year organization disappeared.

3M GSC wasn't perfect, but it was built by thousands of hours of hard work, dedication, late nights, friendships, shared struggles, and people who genuinely cared. Overnight, it was dissolved. Why? Nobody really knows. We were told it's a "transition."

God, these people love transitions.

I'm already imagining the next shareholder presentation:

"Expanding AI capabilities."
"Driving efficiencies."
"Transforming the operating model."

Corporate bingo at its finest.

Then came the management communication. Pre-recorded videos. Carefully scripted messages. Smiling faces. Words that somehow lasted several minutes while saying absolutely nothing.

People left those meetings still wondering:

"Am I staying at 3M?"
"Am I moving to Genpact?"
"Why me?"
"Why not someone else?"

No answers. No transparency. No logic.

Just confusion.

The most impressive achievement of the day was probably making thousands of people more confused after a communication session than before it.

A place that grew, evolved, and achieved things people were proud of. Today, we're left with leaders who seem more interested in protecting themselves and pleasing their bosses than protecting their people.

The irony is almost painful.

Some of the people being pushed out today are literally in Warsaw representing 3M at Women in Tech.

Others are leaders in Pride communities.

Others spent years building Employee Experience programs, WLN initiatives, Belonging Teams, clubs, events, volunteering activities, engagement campaigns.

They were the smiling faces in the videos.

The people holding the 3M logo.

The people proudly telling everyone that this was a Great Place To Work.

Seven years in a row.

LOL.

What a joke that slogan feels today.

Many of those same people are now being told they no longer belong.

Years of effort.

Years of loyalty.

Years of believing the company values.

All erased by a spreadsheet.

Management keeps telling people what they think their managers want to hear. Managers tell leaders what they think leaders want to hear. Everyone protects themselves. Everyone avoids uncomfortable truths. The cycle continues.

And the people at the bottom pay the price.

Today many of us feel less like employees and more like livestock being traded between corporations. Packaged up. Sold off. Handed over. No ownership. No accountability. No one willing to stand up and say:

"Yes. This was our decision."

Just another transition.

Another restructuring.

Another corporate success story for the next earnings call.

So with that, goodbye GSC.

Goodbye to the friendships.

Goodbye to the memories.

Goodbye to the culture that thousands of people spent years building.

Whatever happens next, nobody can take away what this place once was.

May the memories never fade.

❤️ Goodbye.

Team,
​First, I want to commend everyone on how beautifully you’ve adapted to our Personal Waste Ownership Initiative. By removing individual trash cans and requiring everyone to carry their own garbage three flights down to the central loading dock, we saved $4,200 annually in plastic liners. More importantly, I’ve noticed a real sense of pride as you carry your banana peels around all day. That is the grit that makes us a family.

​However, Q2 margins are still looking a bit "soft," and frankly, my bonus shouldn't have to suffer for it. To ensure we remain a lean, mean, profit-generating machine, we are implementing the following cost-cutting measures, effective immediately:
​1. The "Breathable Air" Optimization Program
​We’ve noticed a lot of erratic, deep breathing during stressful client calls. To reduce wear and tear on our HVAC filtration systems, the office oxygen levels will be dialed back to a crisp, simulating a productive high-altitude environment (roughly 11,000 feet).
​Action Item: If you feel lightheaded, please utilize the corporate-approved hyperventilation stance (head between knees) on your own time.

​2. BYO-Electricity (Bring Your Own Juice)
​Leaving monitors and laptops plugged into the company grid is costing us thousands. Starting Monday, wall outlets will be locked.
​The Solution: Employees are encouraged to bring their own fully charged power banks from home. For those looking to gamify their wellness, we have installed two Stationary Power-Bikes in the breakroom. If your laptop is dying, you may pedal at a minimum of 85 RPM to generate your own electricity. (Note: Pedaling time does not count toward billable hours).

​3. Micro-Tiered Restroom Subscriptions
​Frankly, the restroom has become a hotbed for unbilled leisure time. To counteract this, we are introducing Tiered Toilet Paper Access:
​Standard Tier (Free): 1 ply, single square per visit, sandpaper grit.
​Premium Tier ($4.99/month): 2 ply, quilted. (Billed directly via payroll deduction).
​Add-on: The Fluorescent Lighting Pass ($1.99/visit). If you choose not to pay, the motion-sensor lights will remain off, allowing you to reflect on your KPIs in total darkness.

​4. Caloric Efficiency & Mandatory Fasting
​The complimentary coffee machine is gone. In its place, we are installing a single, lukewarm Corporate Nutrient Spigot dispensing a gray, flavorless caloric paste. It contains 100% of your daily vitamins, eliminating the need for long, unproductive lunch breaks.
​Bonus: Because chewing is a known distractor, this will strictly be a liquid-diet initiative.

​5. Blinking Quotas
​Studies show that the average human blinks 15–20 times per minute, resulting in roughly 4.8 minutes of total darkness per employee, per day. Across a department of 50 people, that is four hours of unearned sleep daily.
​Please try to synchronize your blinking with your teammates, or better yet, practice the "sustained focus stare." Optical lubricant eyedrops will be available for purchase at the front desk.
​"Efficiency is doing things right. Total corporate austerity is doing things so right it hurts."
​I know change can be uncomfortable, but remember: every penny we save on lightbulbs and toilet paper is a penny that goes directly into securing the company's future (and my new yacht, The ROI).
​Let’s get out there and crush it!

Should be exactly what its always been, "The Fleecing of Lumen Humans" . She might as well tell the truth while she lines her pockets.

This morning's memo from SK is effectively confirmation of everything we have been discussing. In corporate communications, an executive letter like this is called a "Pre-Announcement Framework."

When a CEO writes a long, weirdly emotional, metaphor-heavy letter (the fishing analogies, "caring family," "peace of mind") to the entire continent, it is designed to soften the blow for what is coming next.

Strip away the awkward language ("gently turn," "beautifully evolve") and look at the cold corporate math, this letter lays out the exact roadmap for the upcoming RIF. And it was painfully obvious.

The calls to stop spending money and the pain continues..... our customers and our network continues to suffer, let's not get into how much the employees are suffering. What is Stinky doing to AT&T...?? We are told to save a dime, but then he spends millions on stupid cr-p.

Why is he still around?
Why hasn't the board asked for his resignation...?
Are the stock holders and board members as blind and as stupid as he is..??

We are definitely in a spiral downhill... sad to see how much the company and upper management continue to fail us all.

So I heard that we’re not retaining any non tenured Rosemont employees except for one of the Veeps. How is this a merger? Sounds more like a real estate transaction.

Common (and Sometimes Nefarious) Practices with LLC/Entity Changes
Changing an LLC—through formation of a new entity, asset sales, mergers, conversions, or “successor” setups—can create separation from prior liabilities. Legitimate uses include limiting personal exposure (via proper formalities like separate finances and operating agreements). However, abusive tactics include: 
• Forming a “new” LLC or shell entity and transferring assets: The old entity is left with debts/liabilities (sometimes leading to bankruptcy or dissolution), while the new one continues operations with a “clean slate.” This can attempt to evade contracts, judgments, or union obligations. Courts may “pierce the veil” if there’s commingling of assets, undercapitalization, fraud, or treating entities as alter egos. 
• Asset sales vs. stock sales: In asset purchases, the buyer may argue they’re not a “successor” bound by the old entity’s union contracts or liabilities (unlike stock purchases, where the entity identity often continues). Nefarious versions involve structuring deals to minimize continuity while keeping operations, workforce, and customers largely the same. 
• Using shells or related entities: Creating multiple layers (e.g., holding companies) to obscure ownership, fragment operations, or shift liabilities. This is sometimes used in union contexts to claim no bargaining obligation. 
• Rebranding/restructuring to reset terms: Announcing a “new company” to pressure renegotiation of wages, benefits, or seniority.

Our favorite minister of people and culture is still proving herself adept at survival and sorcery. Taking out and clearly eviscerating a Chairman of the Board with allegations of misconduct is pure corporate Hunger Games! Is KD’s on borrowed time? Or at this juncture a useful pawn?

1. IceBerg is getting groomed to take over as CEO, multiple moves to get experience, but huge gap in how the actual operation works
2. CPDO turned EVP of Innovation turned into a Car Sales headpiece finally given his golden parachute. Golden boy of investors didn't move the needle for Sandeepsht
3. New CIO announced outsourcing most technology to India.
4. Failed workforce planning department thought they were getting better by Israeli Palantir, but were off and now field ops is on a hiring freeze.
5. New HR sends more emails, but hasn't fixed the negative culture, banking on Miss Ditz in the communications team to spin the ugly truth.
6. Gillybean spends more money on cigars in a week than all of the money toward capital improvements at the field locations for the year.
   To be continued - comment with big items missed

The chatter surrounding Verizon's workforce changes has been a major point of anxiety and discussion across the company, especially following the major structural realignments that began late last year.
Here is what is currently happening on the ground and what is projected for July:
The July 16th Outlook
While Verizon's executive leadership has not issued a formal, public press release detailing a specific number of cuts for mid-summer, internal communications and widespread industry grapevine reports have consistently pointed to July 16, 2026 as the next major milestone date for localized headcount reductions and structural adjustments.
PhoneArena
Rather than a single, massive sweeping announcement, these upcoming cuts are tracking as part of a "rolling" optimization strategy. This next phase is expected to heavily tie into:
The "R2B" (Retail to Business / SMB) Shifts: Wholesale changes to Small and Medium Business sales structures are scheduled to fully take effect in July, leaving internal groups bracing for localized role eliminations or commission structure realignments.
Network & Field Engineering Pressure: Field operations have already taken massive hits over the last two quarters. Staffing discussions on internal forums indicate severe strain on the remaining field engineers, who are carrying an unprecedented number of cell sites per person to keep up with break/fix backlogs.
Reddit
The Broader Multi-Year Blueprint
The July activity isn't happening in a vacuum; it is the continuation of the aggressive cost-reduction mandate set by CEO Dan Schulman when he took the helm in October 2025.
Wireless Estimator
The Mandate: Achieve $5 billion in annual operating expense savings and reduce capital expenditure down to the $16–$16.5 billion range by the end of 2026.
Wireless Estimator
To put the current trajectory into perspective, the operational shifts follow a clear timeline:
Timeline Action / Focus Area Operational Impact
Q4 2025 The Initial Wave Verizon initiated the largest workforce reduction in its history, cutting over 13,000 corporate positions (roughly 13% of total headcount) and taking a $1.8 billion severance charge.
Early 2026 Outsourcing & Contracting Leadership aggressively squeezed third-party expenses, renegotiating cell tower construction vendor contracts well below 2021 pricing and moving heavily toward automated customer service tools.
Mid-2026 Retail Franchising & AI Shifts Ongoing transition of 180 to 200 corporate retail locations into outsourced franchise models, removing store employees from the direct payroll.
July 2026 & Beyond Rolling Departmental Audits Expected targeting of overlapping management layers, marketing, and the newly restructured SMB sales organizations. Total 2026 role impacts are projected to hit closer to 15,000 total roles as automation tools scale up.
The "Age of AI" Pivot
A significant piece of the narrative coming from the top floor is that these cuts are "inevitable" to free up capital for core 5G network innovation and subscriber acquisition to fight off T-Mobile and AT&T. Management has leaned heavily into framing these transitions as preparing for an "AI-first" operating model—even establishing a $20 million skill development fund for departing workers.
The HR Digest

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  However, the internal reality remains incredibly challenging for the staff left behind, who are absorbing massive workloads, navigating altered corporate reporting structures, and managing the friction of a leaner, highly consolidated organization

Everyone quit your crying 😢 about RTO and get back to the office five days a week. If the complaints don’t stop you will required to work seven days a week on 12 hour shifts. Oh and no holidays off either!

Welcome to corporate America 🇺🇸!

If you put on your blinder and look down and support the company like they’re your own flesh and blood, you’ll do well. But at what cost?

Not sure if this is company wide or just certain departments, but it looks like they’re going to start cracking down on hours in office for salaried employees. Last month a girl on a neighboring team was placed on “administrative leave” as she was being investigated for hours spent in office. Then earlier today, a guy on my team received an email titled “Corporate Investigation - RTO”, but he was able to come back to his desk and continue his day. He said he’ll talk to me off campus about the meeting.

Is this mainly focused on the groups in the “corporate functions” overhead org or all of the embedded functions in the businesses as well? Been hearing the overhead groups already found out last week or week prior not sure about the others.

Here are some new words for our friends at Corporate CommsGPT:

• Macroeconomic atmospheric turbulence
• Strategic velocity dampening
• Opportunity realization drag coefficients
• Enterprise momentum asymmetry
• Dynamic value-capture friction
• Market digestion oscillations
• Revenue-adjacent gravitational forces
• Go-to-market viscosity

Feel free to add your own.

If you think Shell is messed up…it’s actually a fine running Swiss watch. Enjoy what a near peer is going through…Any time you hear energy transition and BP beyond petroleum…

After 20+ (mostly hellish, but somewhat productive) years at Centene, I had the misfortune of being re-orged under a Sr. VP that had no idea what anyone's background and contributions had been over the decades, so I and some others were shown the door in layoffs a couple months ago. I came across this article today that lays out perfectly how the last 20 years have been for a lot of us:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/gen-x-doesn-t-want-to-work-and-their-reasons-actually-make-sense/ss-AA1VYmbT?ocid=msedgntp&pc=W069&cvid=6a1dd379fcb443ba814542eb7b86d0fe&ei=107#image=1

Slides 16 (Corporate Culture Prioritizes Appearance Over Measurable Results) and 19 (Performance Reviews Emphasize Arbitrary Metrics Over Actual Contributions) really hit home, especially this from slide 16 - "Elaborate presentations mattered more than project outcomes. Workers who delivered results efficiently got overlooked while colleagues who mastered workplace theater earned promotions."

I have never seen a company waste so much time and money on worthless slide decks that are forgotten immediately after they are delivered. If you totaled all the wasted manpower in terms of the salaries of the people that had to drop everything they were doing to work on a deck for some muckety-muck that was coming to town or wanted an update on something, I would venture it is in the hundreds of millions of dollars in wasted salaries over the life of the company.

Anyway , time to get back to figuring out how I want to spend the rest of my career. I promised myself it would be doing something that provides meaningful, measurable, tangible results, so going back to Centene is off the table.

No time to think…just Go!

At some point, layoffs at SAP stopped being a last resort and started being a standard business tool. Instead of exhausting every other option first, cutting employees is now the main go-to move whenever costs need trimming.

Oracle is reportedly undertaking its largest-ever layoffs. A report on Blind alleges the company exploits loopholes. Internal systems show hybrid workers reclassified as remote. This reclassification aims to avoid the WARN Act's 60-day notice. The post described this action as 'morally bankrupt'.

https://inshorts.com/en/amp_news/oracle-exploiting-loopholes-to-avoid-staff-benefits-amid-its-largest-layoffs--report-1780299406240

I've worked at several companies over the years, and I have never seen anything quite like the culture of secrecy that exists here. Management hoards information, doling out tiny scraps only when absolutely necessary. They don't trust any of us to handle bad news or make decisions, so they treat us like children instead of empowering us to do our jobs well. The result is a workforce that's disengaged, frustrated, and constantly in the dark about where the company is actually headed. It's frustrating, to say the least.

At some point, there needs to be real transparency around bloated administrative layers and whether they are creating proportional value. The people building, selling, supporting, and moving the business deserve a fairer share. Every company is flattening. If Cisco does not do the same, it is only a matter of time before employees, customers, and the market start questioning Cisco’s relevance.

Well said, @cp+1kr4j9r3b.

There has been a noticeable and disappointing shift in leadership culture within the Quality department, moving away from collaborative corporate values and toward an authoritarian, military-style command-and-control structure. A prime example is the expectation for staff to use artificial, forced scripts and mandated pleasantries during casual daily interactions, mimicking a rigid military hierarchy. This level of forced conformity completely invalidates the deep institutional knowledge and dedication of long-tenured employees who have spent years building this company.

Furthermore, the communication style from leadership in this department is deeply unprofessional and counterproductive to a healthy business environment. Meetings are frequently disrupted by leaders bringing aggressive military briefing tactics into the corporate world, cutting people off mid-sentence if they do not receive an immediate, hyper-concise answer. This dismissive behavior shuts down open communication, erodes psychological safety, and shows a blatant lack of respect for the team's expertise. Employees joined a corporation, not the armed forces, and they should not be subjected to this type of combat-zone impatience.

What is most concerning is that upper management has completely failed to address or call out this unacceptable behavior. By allowing these toxic, drill-sergeant leadership tactics to go unchecked within the Quality department, executive leadership is actively damaging employee morale and driving away top talent. This company used to thrive on mutual respect and professional dialogue, but the current lack of oversight and acceptance of rigid, disrespectful behavior makes the workplace culture unsustainable.