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Necessary follow-up emails are even being halted. Critical meetings - on hold. I've talked to several friends across the company, various departments and the sentiment is the same - uncertainty and "waiting to hear if we have jobs."
It's not healthy and makes me wonder Dan's long term "culture" strategy that he claims is a priority, when the short term has gone south so quickly.
I genuinely thought the environment couldn't get worse than what H created, but it def has, in a quick way :-/
Mr. Stankey, it’s clear you care deeply about rebuilding AT&T’s culture and driving results. But the 5-day return-to-office mandate is not delivering those outcomes. It’s quietly draining productivity, eroding morale, and accelerating the loss of high-value talent, particularly among younger and mid-career professionals.
In the year since the mandate began, the data tells a stark story:
• Voluntary attrition among under-40 employees has risen dramatically across the industry where rigid RTO policies persist. AT&T’s own attrition rates mirror that trend.
• Stock performance has lagged both Verizon and T-Mobile since the RTO push, suggesting Wall Street isn’t buying “butts in seats” as a business strategy.
• Office occupancy metrics nationwide show that mandated presence rarely exceeds 60% compliance. Employees comply on paper but disengage in spirit.
More importantly, the promised benefits of RTO (collaboration, innovation, culture) simply aren’t materializing. Employees report fewer in-person meetings, more hybrid video calls, and a deeper sense of distrust toward leadership. You can’t rebuild culture through compulsion. Culture is earned through empowerment.
Meanwhile, competitors are winning talent with flexible, hybrid models. Companies like T-Mobile, Verizon, Google, IBM and Microsoft have settled on 2-3 in-office days because the data supports it: productivity, engagement, and retention all rise when employees have agency over where they work.
AT&T has an opportunity here. Not to follow the trend, but to lead it. Imagine the signal it would send if AT&T were the first major company to publicly admit that five-day RTO was the wrong call. Reframing it as a “Return to Trust” would instantly shift perception from rigid to visionary.
You have the chance to show that leadership is about listening, not doubling down dictator style. The workforce is ready to deliver. They just need to know their leaders trust them again.
Revisit RTO. Shift back to a 2-3 day hybrid model. Watch what happens when respect replaces resentment.
That’s how AT&T becomes a company people are proud to work for again.
These people gave each other the leg up and none know what the other is doing! I was impacted and frankly I’m relieved! I know the workforce is hard and we all need our jobs but a couple of months paid to figure it out sounds better then the BS Ive been dealing with! I wish you all the best and my prayers go out to all impacted! But since this new leadership has taken over over it’s been a disaster and the ones who laugh at the ones impacted, the ones who were kept, undeserving if based on metrics and performance, your time will come! You survived not for being a leader but for kissing the right butts!
Stop posting to this manipulated "anonymous" board. It's clear that Dell HR admins (trolls) are up voting/down voting at will and deleting comments they don't like or reflect negatively upon Dell.
What’s the point of these celebrations when the very people that made this happen are let go? No meaningful strategy when it comes to these layoffs. Those at the top are coasting while those who do the actual work are treated like cr-p. Trust, confidence and motivation to drive is lost and they really expect us to be excited about these “celebrations”?
I’m seeing a culture of if you are a manager who is not interested in college football, other selected store managers, RVP’S and GvPs are not interested in talking to you. Has anyone else noticed this? # Bizarre
Seriously. Go to another bank. Find the strength of racism that exists no where else only at our finest USAA. even more odd, most employees are actually supportive and help one another at other banks. We have a deep rot here. its why we only attract the most d-list leaders.
long gone is the morally, ethically right culture of Transunion. Say hello to layoffs for thanksgiving.
Pearson continues to decline year after year, I’m shocked they are still hiring people. Every 8-12 months it’s time to layoff a group of people and start over again next year. I spent 7 years watching this disaster before finally leaving. The lack of leadership and pi-s poor planning in this company is ridiculous!
TLDR: me, another person on this site, ranting about Fidelity’s agile, and my potentially useless prediction.
If they’re cutting agile roles, then I hate to say it but they’re cutting in the right place. Frankly, they should have laid them off last year.
I used to want to position myself into an agile role myself. Frankly, as a tech person, I was lazy, and decided to try to weasel my way into an easier role. Eventually, I fell in love with the art of software engineering, so I’m not gonna transfer into Agile. Plus, I’ve met (countless) scrum masters and agile coaches in and out of Fidelity who told me that it’s not a good time to be in the craft.
Frankly, Agile just isn’t done right in so many roles. There’s not enough actually good scrum masters out there. Fidelity is also not a good place for agilists to grow. The way Fidelity is set up, there are many non scrum masters that play as the scrum master. You have scrum masters in Fidelity who glorify things like “it’s a made up job”, and “I just do this to get the easiest way into management”. That culture is rampant especially in FI. You don’t need a scrum master unless the scrum master is damn good at their job, and we’re gonna need those that operate about higher than Fidelity’s EP standards.
It’s just the way Fidelity is. Fidelity isn’t doing agile. They’re doing their Fidelity Fragile. Which, hasn’t worked. Fidelity in 2025 is about networking to the top. Scrum masters are a program dedicated to networking to the top. Respectfully, the way Fidelity does scrum is to have the scrum masters be the ones that the upper management blame and speak with when things go awry. The scrum masters report to those higher up people. They’re viewed by Fidelity as Fidelity figure heads. It’s disrespectful to those who are actually good at their jobs.
My prediction is that a good chunk of scrum masters will definitely be laid off. Potentially, 1/3. I don’t have someone high in ranking “in the know” like many anonymous people on this website claim they have. I just have my experience in tech and my experience with how Fidelity mucks things up. I could be wrong. I hope I am wrong.
This is the rest of my prediction. A few months after the layoff, remaining scrum masters will be reorganized to manage more teams. Usually, they manage up to 2 teams. That’s just how it’s supposed to be in agile anywhere. But knowing Fidelity, they might try to extend that to 3 or 4. Upper management will realize that many don’t really have any real functionality outside of hanging out all day (not an agile fault, it’s a Fidelity fault), so they’ll pile more teams on the surviving agilists to manage. Job opportunities for agility is scarce, so the remaining scrum masters will stay at Fidelity. The good 1% (not even the good 5%) will leave for better opportunity elsewhere. The remaining will probably not have much hope outside of Fidelity. Unless they want to uproot their lives. Many have been in tech as software engineers in the past, but once you cross that bridge from software engineer to Scrum, you ain’t going back. Which is a shame since some are passionate about code.
I don’t know if I’d be happy to be proven right or wrong by this. If you’re gonna lay off the scrum masters, I mean… majority of them deserve it, many are lazy, have no motive other than themselves, and capitalize off Fidelity. Those scrum masters should be out, rather than other positions that don’t obviously offer no value. But then, you could lay off the good scrum masters that make people realize why they’re useful. And that would be sad. But then again, that’s Fidelity’s culture anyway. And Fidelity will still survive since the company is a historic cash cow.
I’m genuinely sorry to passionate scrum masters at Fidelity that you’re in this position. None of this was meant to disrespect YOU. You don’t deserve to be dealing with these other people who do not appreciate you. When I was researching becoming a scrum master for the wrong reasons, I talked with 10 scrum masters/agile coaches. There were only 2 that were actually passionate about agile. That’s just my personal experience, but you may see something different. As for the scrum masters that don’t add ANY value and are only jaded to get a paycheck, please just add some value. They probably won’t take my request seriously. They’ll sit around being like “hi team, look at this chart I made of your guys work, it has a squiggly line that shows how many stories you finish, so now I can make money, derp”.
Thank you for reading. I’d be happily proven wrong, and like to hear back from other people. Especially people who have seen how agile unfolded at Fidelity over the years, and (good) agilists at Fidelity themselves.
When you say you work for Humana all providers Roll Their eyes! It
Is not the same!!! I do not see Humana a provider in 5 years! This UM centralization has totally messed Humana up!!
Times are tough. Changes are coming so fast we can barely keep track. Don’t be discouraged. It is so easy to stay in that mindset. Everyone has moments or seasons, but there is a way through and we will band together to find it. Within TRP or somewhere else. The journey is often difficult, but we will find our new normal, adapt, and flourish. Bad leaders will be exposed eventually. Bad business process too. Unfortunately at the expense of great people sometimes, but that is just the nature of business at this level and in this climate. Care for each other. Check in on one another. The greatest assets are the people, and when we look around at each other, there are far more good apples than bad.
With this new system, and unattainable goals: how can a goal be set if management doesn’t allow you to meet it? It seems like a very complicated way of saying gotcha!
People keep talking about compensation in the town hall thread. So please what was said about compensation? Because they way people were talking it sounded bad.
Just look at the view counts, no other company has so many views and we are much smaller than other banks. I am suspecting they are sending bots to monitor everything that's being said here and they are reporting this up. It's sick just like everything else this exec group does.
All these layoffs su-k. They absolutely su-k. But I think in time for those of us still here, it’ll eventually be OK. I just hope these layoffs don’t start to tear away at the culture.
Forced on-site work for most teams, useless middle management, directors/VPs getting to switch shoes and retain/upgrade their salaries despite abysmal failures in the orgs they preside over, corporate leaders throwing out dead and played-out initiatives that also fail constantly (because they are all outdated, obsolete, and largely ineffective), morale in he-l, frustration across departments boiling over from increased workloads and decrease team sizes causing burnout. I'm sure there are others to add to the litany, but I'm wondering, when does the straw break across the camel's back and we take back power as employees. Do we continue to drink the koolaid or speak up and pushback on these incompetent leaders and processes? Please, if you feel or deal with any of this, it is time to start writing letters or something. This cannot continue. We're in the age of modernization yet things feel so artificially dystopian. Do not play the side lines. Make your voices heard!
How does the culture/pay/benefits compare with TIAA? Is it easier ti transition to one of these companies being a TIAA employee?
Specifically in tech
Start by listening, because -- "newsflash" -- you probably know less than the team you just inherited, so ask questions, find the real blockers, and do your actual job.
Also, stop hogging credit when things go right and then unloading blame when they do not. Happens all the time. Stop now... that routine is stale.
Keep micromanaging and you get 0 loyalty on day one, act professional if you want professional output... treat me lke a child and you will get the bare minimum.. your choice.
If you are a corporate climber (probably are) using us as a rung, expect minimum effort from me in return... no tip, no extra mile.
Respect is not a free perk of your title, the bigger the title the harder you have to work to earn it, and since I cycle through a new manager every 12 mo, you are on probation until you prove otherwise.
stop the pointless mtgs that could be an email and stop spamming me on chat, that noise is not productivity.
Say AI like it is magic fairy dust and you owe the swear jar, pay up unless you bring budget and real use cases.
And cut the passive aggressive nonsense where everything is fine all year and then at review time I am suddenly the worst employee in history, give straight feedback when it matters or save the performance theater for someone who buys tickets.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskMarketing/comments/1nydv68/publicis_exposed/
Recently on Reddit (/r/AskMarketing), a former Publicis employee shared a LinkedIn post describing alleged discrimination, retaliation, and poor management at the company. The whistleblower claims these issues worsened after disclosing her autism, and named clients like Stellantis and Campbell’s as being involved.
Other marketing professionals chimed in, saying similar problems are common in big agencies and rarely confronted openly. Many applauded the whistleblower’s bravery, while some expressed concern about the risks she faces for speaking up.
A number of ex-employees shared negative experiences about Publicis’s workplace culture and management, with some hoping she’ll take legal action. Most responses were supportive, but there’s a shared skepticism whether anything will change, as people think the agency system shields bad practices unless big clients act.
Has anyone else experienced, seen, or heard of issues like these at Publicis or other large agencies? Do you think public posts like this make a difference—or will things just stay the same?
Good luck to us all.
New Paramount Skydance Senior Management (DE/JS) made a big stink of saying that they want to be one and done. The next thing we know this has now turned into another round of 1,000 layoffs. Maybe the next cycle is a focus on International, maybe it something else. It would truly be wonderful if the Senior Leadership of this company could enlighten us a bit since they were the ones that put the "one and done" out there. Don't really want to have to be thinking about this 24/7 as we approach the holidays. Maybe someone can tell the new Head of PSKY Human Resources to truly do the "human" thing and provide some guidance here. They set the expectations on this in August, not us. And now here we are again...
The messages on this site are making their way to HR. Apparently the RTO discussion is making some headway and was brought up on their early Monday morning call.
To HR: push back on this mandate, no one likes it and it has no benefit over 4 days.
I heard a lot of fellows retired this year. Any tips on shortcuts to fellowhood? I heard it is a pretty sweet setup, sort of like tenured faculty - free to do you own thing. I'd like to be a fellow before I'm 40 so I can sort of get off the treadmill.
it’s all of our fault for picking up the mistakes, flaws or fundamental errors from the BTC. stop, Stop, Stop before they take all our jobs. If it’s wrong, send it back and ask for the rework. Don’t fix it for them and unless it’s dangerously wrong, go ahead and let the plants feel the pain.
I don't want to dive into revenues or actual layoff numbers here, but curious are you guys actually upset being here? The culture still feels great on my team, I'm happy and my manager keeps me challenged and is focused on growing my role here. Does anyone here not feel the same?
No matter how long you stay or how hard you work, promotions just don’t happen. I don't know if this is just my group or a company-wide issue, but we're losing great people due to that.
So what's with macys Ap following customers into the bathroom opening up all the stall doors as the customer goes to the bathroom then talks on the walkie that everything is clear... i just witness this... is this a new protocol?
So many people cut on this last round and many have been with the company for over 5 years and they are the people who built how we do things today! Rivian sent them all packing! Don't believe all the positive messages you see on LI about those impacted I hear they paid employees extra on their packages if they wrote something positive.
This place is hopeless. To much politics going around. Managers are firing local employees and recruiting people in India. This is such a shame.
I wasn’t laid off but I’m over Target. My 7 year old could run the company better than their current leadership team at the moment. Everything feels messy and too much uncertainty. It doesn’t align with my values and I almost wish I was laid off. How do I continue to work for a company that operates as such?
Over the last year or two, this place has gone way off track. Morale’s at rock bottom. People are grating on each other mercilessly. We’ve got RTO mandates, turf wars over desks, and middle managers acting like it’s a contest to see who can show the least empathy. It feels less like Ford and more like the opening scene of Anyone But You - chaotic, tone-deaf, and completely detached from reality.
Executives talk about “transformation” but can’t seem to manage basic humanity. Families are being disrupted left and right child pickups, elder care, medical needs, nanny arrangements, all brushed off with the corporate equivalent of “we don’t care.” Instead of solving problems, leadership doubles down on punishment, turning “accountability” into cruelty. Somewhere along the line, we turned into a bad sequel to Office Space only this time there’s no stapler to steal, just another RTO badge swipe to prove you exist.
Yet here’s the thing: there’s nothing broken that can’t be fixed if your heart’s still in it. The people who post here, the ones who still speak up even through the noise are the same ones who once believed in this place. We cared. We showed up. We tried to make Ford better for our coworkers, our community, and the future we were building together.
If you’re having a rough time, I’m here for you in spirit. You’re not alone. At least one person at Ford is rooting for you, hoping you find your footing again, hoping you remember what it felt like when this place still had soul. We used to laugh here. We used to smile. There was a time when people genuinely looked out for each other. Now it’s like everyone’s trapped in The X-Files: trust no one.
All of us “perfect” people with the “perfect” lives seem to be locked in this quiet war, trying to survive, trying to look strong, and sometimes tearing each other down in the process. Still perfect-looking, maybe. But far from perfect, me included. I’m anxious, nervous, a little bitter at times. I don’t trust people the way I used to, even the ones I probably would’ve been friends with if the company showed a little heart.
I’ll be honest, there have been moments where I’ve cheered in the face of others struggling, not out of cruelty but from my own exhaustion, my own hurt. When you’re fighting to survive, you start finding light in the grimmest stories, just to remind yourself you’re still standing. And for that, I’m sorry. We’ve all been there. We’re all driven by love of this place, even when it’s buried under layers of anger and frustration. Sometimes we’ve inappropriately found cause for celebration in someone else’s pain because it meant our own survival. But no one truly hates you. No one here wants you to fail. That love is still there, even if it’s quiet.
We can all be cruel at times. That’s what makes us human. What matters is that we move forward, making the best of bad situations while still offering support to the people who need it most.
There’s still a chance to fix the vibe in this palce. But it starts with empathy, not metrics. Maybe we all need a little more Ferris Bueller and a little less Fight Club. Remember when we built things instead of tearing each other apart? Yeah. Let’s get back to that.
It is concerning how the company is handling remote work and RTO rules. In the same team, some people are working 100% remote while others with the same job have RTO. This is not fair or consistent. If people in the same roles are treated differently, isn't this discrimination, especially if any protected group is affected.
No problem with RTO, but the rule should be the same for everyone, including those hired remote. If not, everyone should have the same choice to work remote or RTO.
It is also unfair that remote employees get same pay while avoiding commute time and costs that RTO employees have to deal with. If this difference continues, pay should be adjusted to reflect it. Remote employees are tone-deaf in setting meetings when RTO employees are commuting.
This setup feels unfair and is causing frustration among many. The company should apply RTO fairly and equally to all employees.
Back in those days…
It was rare to get called over weekends..
We all had a fixed lunch time, time to start day and end day..
We rarely carried work home…
Work never felt stressful..
Whereas now..
Day starts very early, ends way late.. even sometimes have to work on weekends.
With offshore have to accommodate their time, their holidays and the then manage work.. stressful..
Have to communicate with offshore over crying children, noise of television, or honking noise.
With mobile and laptop we carry work with us all the time.
I feel this is due to the cultural differences between the massive foreigners in the workforce who do not follow the same holidays and are willing to work anywhere anytime and however much.
Nothing against foreigners and I am a liberal but still, there are several red flags here with corporate greed and SHE making 25 millions every year. Work life has changed drastically, my work life is almost over but I fear for what kind of America do my kids get to live in.
This site seems to be a colorful mix of teammates. With that, what do you dislike most about this bank? On the other side of the coin what keeps you coming back each day? Will RTO push you to leave?
How is morale at the office? My team has lost so many people this year it feels strange to go into the office and have basically no one around. How is everyone doing?
For those of you that are holding out to be displaced. You got to look at what the cost to yourself and your family is of staying there. The money even at the end of your long career is not going to be worth the time that you lose away from your loved ones. The leadership doesn't care if you were single parents they don't care if you have children they don't care if you have a loved one you're caring for they don't care if you have parents that you are monitoring. This is all stuff that can be done with you working at home and every now and then just checking on your kids your spouse your parents. But management has decided that is not important prioritize your life based on the most important things which is not your career.
The Seven Species of LinkedIn
A field guide for the modern professional jungle. Bring your coffee and your sense of irony.
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“Achievement unlocked: updated my email signature.”
Celebrates everything — from finishing a webinar to surviving Monday. If self-promotion were cardio, this one would be marathon-ready.
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“So humbled to announce that I’m basically amazing.”
Masters the ancient art of bragging while pretending not to. Their posts start with false modesty and end with 1,200 likes.
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“Innovation is just passion wearing a tie.”
Part philosopher, part buzzword generator. Communicates exclusively in abstract nouns — synergy, authenticity, disruption — as if they’re paid by the syllable.
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“I spilled coffee on myself — and learned a valuable lesson about leadership.”
Turns every life event into an inspirational parable. A broken laptop? A metaphor for resilience. A delayed flight? Proof that patience is a skill set.
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“Proud to be part of a company that’s making the world slightly better — at least in our press release.”
Their posts are indistinguishable from the HR department’s. They clap for every culture initiative like it’s the Super Bowl halftime show.
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“Brilliant insight, boss! (Please notice me.)”
The algorithm’s most loyal servant. Likes, comments, and reposts with the precision of a political campaign. Never misses a chance to congratulate management for “inspiring leadership.”
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“Just here for the sociology experiment.”
Never posts. Never likes. Knows everyone’s promotion history and engagement stats by heart. The digital equivalent of the person at a party who stands by the snack table quietly judging everyone.
… during this time? Weird looks from HR, snarky comment from your boss, IT folks wandering around counting docking stations and monitors?