#culture

Morris Plains is bad. Horrible management employees are looking over their backs. It’s not a good environment. The future doesn’t look bright here

Growing up AT&T was the behind company everyone arrived to work for and make the big corporate bucks for life including excellent lifetime pension starting at age 50. GE was the other favorite, immense company excellent funding and salaries for every walk of life. No one could ever imagine those companies would get broken up and career growth and remuneration could be scaled back so much. Now it's ExxonMobil's turn. That seems to be the end game.

How many people does it take to prop up the sth dept to the detriment of everything else? Newsflash. If truck doesn't get unloaded and merchandise sits on the dock because all are propping up the lazy sth dept who walk around waving rfid all day how does that deliver good results?

I just need to vent. I still have to go into the office four times a week, while some people moved out of state and never even show up. I know there are many in other groups who honestly wouldn’t make a difference if they got laid off, but no one seems to care. It’s so frustrating. At first, I didn’t really care and even felt sympathetic toward them because they had no choice but to risk being laid off, but now management is just enforcing stricter rules on those of us who actually come into the office, and I have no words.

Love to hear your thoughts.

https://youtube.com/shorts/-c0gCVXOV1M?si=yAUdaJAbXiNaz-Xl

I thought this was funny. All I did was ask is Stephanie Farris liked?

— here’s the unfiltered version of why a lot of people dislike Stephanie Ferris at FIS:
• Worldpay Disaster – People feel she was part of leadership that massively overpaid ($35B) and then sold it at a huge loss, destroying shareholder value. Many see this as one of the biggest fintech blunders ever.
• Wall Street First, Employees Last – She’s viewed as prioritizing appeasing investors (stock buybacks, dividends, “cost savings”) while cutting thousands of jobs and gutting teams, leaving employees demoralized.
• The “Future Forward” Spin – Her transformation program is seen by critics as corporate jargon masking layoffs and cost-slashing, without a real growth strategy.
• Reactive, Not Visionary – Instead of leading with innovation in a fast-changing fintech/payments space, she’s seen as patching leaks, restructuring, and spinning failures as successes.
• Trust Issues – After major service outages and technology failures, people blame her for not modernizing systems fast enough. Customers and partners feel burned.
• Culture Ki-ler – Former and current employees complain on forums like Glassdoor and Reddit that under her leadership, morale has cratered, communication is poor, and talented people are leaving.
• Poor Communication & Accountability – Investors and staff alike feel she dodges responsibility, blames “market conditions,” and leans on vague optimism without real transparency.

In short, the harshest critics say: she’s a cost-cutter, not a builder. Instead of driving innovation in payments and banking tech (where FIS desperately needs it), she’s focused on financial engineering and PR spin.

I know its been said here many times and I know people do not have enough gumption or unity to do it but the only thing and I mean the only things that brings these useless ba----ds to their knees is a union. It is what they were designed to do. I hate them but I think the time is coming again for them to start gaining traction. The workforce today does not have any say or a fair shot at decent treatment by their employer. I hate it when people on here say go find another job. For most that is not an option because the system has become so rigged and it's all the same scam regardless. Age discrimination, AI screening job applications, DEI, and just all the other barriers they have put up. All the Execs work together in step...the worker just hasn't gotten smart enough to do it in places like SF, AT&T, Chase, etc... Amazon workers are trying and so are Starbucks but face hurdles with the big shots trying to subvert them at every turn. I think if only a handful of people would genuinely approach it with co-workers most would get on board. I know just wishful thinking. It would bring an end to their reign of te---r on the American worker.

any news on utensils @F8 since I left? LOL I still laugh thinking about that. What a joke that place is...

I just got a job offer in bank, but I’m a little hesitant after reading here and a couple other sites. What’s the culture like in the bank? The recruiter really stressed the need to be in office minimum of 4 days a week and expect for it to shift to 5 days soon. (My current company has a very relaxed 3 days). It seems like the bonuses here are potentially good as a lead? He said to expect 20-25%? Any thoughts?

For a company that hates its own American workers to celebrate a national holiday honoring them is ironic .

Our team is a mess because no one is keeping things in line. Personal drama takes over, but we still scramble to meet goals by working extra hours just to stay off the radar. People are tense, worried about job security, and it is draining to walk into this every morning. Proper management could fix so much, but no one steps up.

Now that it's public, perhaps the post won't be taken down!

Why are we treating him with kindness internally and saying he retired?? He was ruthless and never showed one ounce of respect for anyone in FIG. He was fired, relieved of his duties... Whatever. Retired gives him the dignity he never gave any one else. DISAPPOINTING announcement! We were clear on Jenn and the others. Why not him?

Does anyone actually get promoted for their work, or is it always about who you know?

There are so many people here with big titles who barely lift a finger. They cover for each other and make it impossible to clean house. If they ever got out of the way, we could probably fix a lot of problems in no time.

Speaking up about issues just makes things worse. People who try to raise concerns always end up with even more problems, and HR does nothing to help (anybody but the bank, of course). Nothing ever changes because everyone has learned to just stay quiet.

New or old, I can't think of one good leader here.

I’ve watched good people suddenly get nitpicked to death, with every small mistake magnified and every project second guessed until they finally give up and leave. It always feels personal, not professional. Nobody turns from an exemplary employee into a bad one overnight, even though management sometimes tries to make it seem that way. I’ll be honest, I’ve been walking on eggshells to avoid the same thing happening to me.

Exxon seems to have a grudge against every employee equally. No one is safe, no matter how hard you work. There’s this pervasive sense that management actually enjoys playing games with people’s livelihoods. Whether you’ve been here a year or twenty, it’s all the same. I swear there’s just a bunch of sadists at the top.

Let’s be honest, how much worse can it get than it already is? I don’t know about you, but for me, it can’t. Things can only improve from here. I’m willing to give this a chance before deciding the world is ending or whatever else.

Need tips.

Layoffs are something that happens everywhere, we're not special in that regard. And I still think this is a decent job if you're lucky to have a good team and a good manager. Just my 2 cents.

Over the past few days, we have been hearing about quite a few people who had dedicated their lives to Juniper. These people spent upwards of 80hrs a week in supporting the organization grow and deliver.

As this acquisition is taking shape, we are being informed that these folks do not have a place in the new organization. This is beyond comprehension. How can our SVP's EVP's make such decisions and completely ignore these individuals in favor of the new team. Some of these people let go have a resume that's longer than the age of these new members.

I'm beyond stunned today as I hear about a specific individual who worked tirelessly in delivering the results, appreciated repeatedly and making our SVP/EVP successful in the eyes of our CEO. If this isn't betrayal I don't know what is..

Today, I can say that I no longer have any respect left for this person's previous supervisor.

Apart from CEO.

I really thought that after this phase that I would find reason to believe in the firm again. The opposite happened. It’s clear to me that this is not a place I want to work.

Even though I’m safe, my faith and trust in leadership is broken forever. The way they kept demotions/grade drops under the radar intentionally and their handling of the six-month layoff process generally is inexcusable and riddled with unforced error after unforced error from the disastrous, word salad, tone-deaf firm town hall to the callous superficially transparent corpo comms.

The results are also a complete failure. I don’t see any efficiencies gained, just unnecessary confusion with all the middle management boneheads still around bloating the org chart. And the people they decided to promote? Nearly all are brown nosers or obviously unqualified.

On top of that i no longer feel any job security. What’s to stop the firm from arbitrarily dropping my pay a year or six months from now? Now that leadership has the taste of blood, it seems they like and will return for more. I don’t want to be here when that happens and I don’t have to be.

I didn’t think it would come to this but I’m going to start actively looking. The firm can do what it wants and I am sure will be just fine but I want no part of this new culture where employees are seen as less than human cogs to be broken, switched around internally or cast aside on management’s whim. No thanks.

Hey y’all! Hoping you had a relaxing Labor Day weekend - I hope this Labor Day allowed you what I call the “3 Rs” - it brought you time to recharge, reflect, and reconnect with what matters to you most. My fourth “R”? “Remember” to sign your severance or demotion package today by 11:59 pm CST.

Enough about a holiday that celebrates the American workers contributions. It was Women’s Equality Day last Tuesday so I wanted to celebrate a few of my favorite heroines in “Herstory” (aka History). But before I do, I need to address a question I keep getting. You all know I didn’t take the last name of my husband. That would not be progressive. Many of you ask, “Penny, why hasn’t he taken your last name?” Well…I’ve been championing this change for years but he’s a stubborn man!

Let’s look back in time to a few females I respect:

Marie Antoinette - she is famous for saying, “Let them eat cake”, when the French people were starving, and living in inflation, and many in squalor. For some reason the French citizenry didn’t like the royal coffers being filled at their expense. What? I call that “Penny Economics” or what some of you may call trickle down theory - demote and take away the current peasants earnings and use those funds to pay people’s severance. Oh…I’d be remiss in not saying this…”Cake” means “Crumbs” so when you are trying to put a Christma…I mean a Holiday dinner on the table, you can tell your kids and spouse, “Let them eat cake!”. One foot note - I’m not a fan of how the French people treated her. She was a visionary.

Catherine the Great - ahhh…now let’s talk about humble swagger. She was the empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter III. Talk about moxy! And I like the ring of her title…”Penny the Great”. I digress, apologies. She is often included in the ranks of the enlightened despots…like me! But, just like me, an evaluation of her foreign policy was completed and it was considered a dishonest one. Catherine failed to reach any of the initial goals she had put forward. And just like me - Catherine lacked a long-term strategy and from the very start was characterized by a series of mistakes. She imposed a comprehensive system of state regulation of merchants’ activities. It was a failure because it narrowed and stifled entrepreneurship and did not reward economic development. Catherine called in “Russia Reimagined”.

Those are just two women I wanted to celebrate since we missed recognizing last weeks holiday. Next week I’ll highlight Amelia Earhart’s exceptional aviation skills.

As I wrap up and focus on business, I wanted to share a few more changes in 2026:

• The “Toast to Ted” will be retired and there will be a mandated “Toast to Penny” at regional events.
• We are working on standing-up a BRG for the Demoted.

Enjoy Labor Day today as you reflect on your years of service and don’t forget. “Qu’ils mangent de La brioche”

Ignore Ipulse, let's tell them what we think here, no holding back.

And why? Layoffs happening this often shouldn’t feel so acceptable. We hear about them, stress through them, move on for a month (or two if we’re lucky), and then rinse and repeat. How did we let things get so very, very wrong?

The recent CEO and Board are a bunch of cowards plain and simple. Total lip service and many even bought that lip service. Look what has happened. Beyond a sad day for many people. They say the only constant things in life is change and paying taxes. But change doesn' t mean to sell out to VULTURES. You FAILED as leaders ...but what do you care. You get a lot of money..That is what is it all about right. But also many of you voted for this. You RUINED a respected... what was once a pretty good company. A fact is a fact. Just terrible.

A bad sign?

It's an older podcast interview with Richard Davis.
https://www.bankdirector.com/article/a-second-act-for-richard-davis/

3 minutes in he gets to US Bank culture and how he put employees first before even customers and shareholders and how employee satisfaction drove customer happiness which drove shares up making the shareholders happy.

That all seems to have disappeared quickly after he left. It's time to go back to that philosophy. If anyone in the C Suite is reading this, pay attention. Richard Davis was the golden era. Learn from him.

If the job market weren’t as bad as it is, I’d honestly consider those laid off the lucky ones. I’ve worked at several companies in this industry, and this one is, hands down, the worst managed, most impersonal, most dehumanizing, and least efficient by far. Funny how all those negatives always seem to come together. The worse you treat your employees, the worse the company itself becomes.

Thanks for dedicating your life to ntap. I just got here and am going to sc--w you without even buying you dinner. thanks for your pto, what used to be an amazing place to work is now awful. Your awesome Wissam, gfyourself from everyone at ntap that made this company great.

I wish they'd offer voluntary exit to all depts. Remember all that put in won't get selected for it. This would get older employees out of here. Leave more jobs open for the ones that need to stay. Just because it's offered in your area don't mean all will be selected for it. They can't let everyone leave that wants too or they would not have enough employees left. Sad but so true. If it's ever even offered to any area I'd be surprised. This place is all about sc--wing over it's employees. No pension for new hires is a better deal they can move jobs and roll it over no pension building tieing them here. Unfortunately SF doesn't contribute as much as a lot of employers. And our pension is not that great.

The idea of being laid off, or being stuck at Nike in this culture and environment for years to come? There was a time when this would have been a no-brainer. Now, I honestly can’t tell which I dread more. If the job market were any better, I’d embrace layoffs in a second.

State Farm here! Come over and read our posts about what this sh-t hole is doing to its people! Your CEO has set the pace/tone for all the other CEOs to fall in line! They attend the same meetings, talk to the same consultants and run in the same circles. I've been at SF 30 years and need a couple more to retire. If you happen to have SF insurance cancel that cr-p, it's too expensive, service su-ks and all you are doing is giving 10-15% of your premium to a SF Agent. I'm about to move all of my internet and cell away from AT&T after your CEO sent that letter to employees basically telling them we owe you absolutely nothing and we expect absolute conformance and loyalty to AT&T! Same sh-t hole people no matter where you work in corporate America.

Hey Penny Pincher Pennington! The thin veil you put in front of every HO associate’s face will most certainly backfire! Hiring a ton of offshore associates for cheap won’t magically fix your problems!!! We tried it in the past! It doesn’t work!!! Ever heard of the law of diminishing value?? Welp, too late now!!!!!!!

Low Point: Being told to stress how amazing Walgreens Cash is and to turn ourselves into a marketing mouthpiece if/when asked by family&friends how the latest shift in Walgreens is panning out for us all. Ew.

Concept of an executive chairman also seems spooky in practice with that much punching power over a standard board member. To be determined though if that’s ever leveraged too casually.

High Point: I’ve rarely ever heard Stefano pop in for one of these. But he came off the most genuine and straightforward out of anyone who spoke. Everyone else was sweating bullets, meanwhile Pessina’s all “bibbidty bopiplity, I Italian man, we used to be American only, that worked before, so welcome back.” Maybe it was just the language bit that made his simplicity seem that mindful? Half fell asleep for everyone else’s segments.

Left the dump recently. Took me a few months to get an offer. After a month, I cannot think of a single thing that is worse about new company. Very eye-opening.
This makes me wonder: has anyone else left U.S. Bank and realized just how bad of an employer it was?
The bank also appears to have slashed the salary range on the backfill listing.