#culture

Everyone needs to stop giving Level 2 IT a 5-star rating, when unwarranted, on the customer feedback surveys. This is not helping the cause and will not lead to any sort of change from vendor management. This is just showing they can continue to get away with sh---y service with no repercussions. Give them the true score they deserve. Tell them how they are rude, how it took 2 weeks to get a power cord shipped to you, how it took 3 days for someone to intially call, and how it took dealing with 4 people before you were finally fixed. Enough is enough. Stop sugar coating the problem!!

I noticed an opening in this department. Does anyone have experience or know anything about working for this department? Do they use Verint? Do they micromanage the heck out of you? I presently work for Humana , just trying to get away from the horrible management I have presently.

What happened with the coin toss? People are saying it was botched but I didn’t see anything that indicated it went poorly? In a strange video she said she trained for the coin toss….and I don’t think she was joking. Lastly, it has been reported that PP was crying a lot signing the new partnership agreement - is that true?

The overall atmosphere, the way teams are managed, and the direction from the top just keep declining. There's no big, single event to point to, but the slow grind of it all is wearing. You notice it in every new policy and in every decision that seems disconnected from the actual work. This place has changed so, so much in recent years, and none of it for the better.

While Verizon has a long history of failed execution from go90, aol, yahoo, hum, finance transformation, VGS, blue jeans, plus play, and even something as simple as RTO - Verizon does succeed at empty catch phrases. Better matters! Change energizes us! Go beyond! I’m anxious to learn what catch phrase our overlords will rally us around next.

If you could pick the next CEO, who would it be?

From what I see, Juniper’s leadership team looks sharper than HPE’s. Antonio hasn’t really stood out to me. HPE has more women in senior roles and quite a few European executives, it almost feels like a European company.

https://www.asugsvsummit.com/video/the-magic-of-thinking-big-reaching-edtechs-massive-market-cap-potential-with-chip-paucek

Every time I open LinkedIn, I see the same pattern: former employees of a certain global sports brand publicly declaring their love for the company, met with warm, performative gratitude from those still inside.

It’s a strange phenomenon.

I know plenty of people who work—or have worked—for excellent organisations and somehow manage to move on without a public love letter. What makes this different is that many of these posts come from people in leadership roles.

It makes you wonder:
Is public adoration a prerequisite for belonging?
Is gratitude now a loyalty signal?
Or is this just corporate theatre dressed up as authenticity?

The tone often feels forced. Like a ritual. As if saying the right things, loudly enough, might keep you in favour—or at least signal that you were one of the good ones.

Let’s be clear about something uncomfortable:
You don’t need to be grateful to work for a company.
You were hired. You were paid. That’s the deal.

If anything, companies should be grateful that talented people choose to give them their time, energy, creativity, and years of their lives.

Gratitude is meaningful when it’s genuine.
When it’s compulsory, it becomes performative.
And when it’s performative, it stops being honest.

And please—no more staged photos outside head office, smiling beside a corporate statue, as if it were a religious site. We don’t believe you!

Careers don’t need altar calls.
And loyalty shouldn’t require applause.

If you worked at IBM (or were a customer or business partner) you may have visited this IBM Palisades Conference Center which was amazing. This 33 minute aerial drone video made me cry as it shows the inside and outside. Like a science fiction movie (Aliens) where the humans just disappear. SO SAD!!!!! Like far too many former great IBM sites and buildings as IBM leaves the USA and declines into oblivion. DID NOT HAVE TO HAPPEN! Read about King Louie (Lou Gerstner The G Man) "having a treadmill reserved" just for him. SO ARROGANT!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXwgHWfR_b8

Bunch of Hy-Vee Executive planning on living it up at the KC Game. Just like usual. Maybe they can rub elbows with Swift. Won't do the company any good but hey if they can take advantage of that hefty Hy-Vee sponsorship do you blame them?

Then why make the employees miserable rather them treating them as assets. This shows we have money, just not to spend on employees welfare and salaries.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-09/exxon-boosts-2030-cash-flow-forecasts-on-permian-guyana-lng?srnd=undefined&sref=NqTCpwwa

Do you know if only extraordinary ratings will qualify for legends of possible or do meaningful ratings employees can also qualify?

If you deliver for this company they reward you. But a lot of people are just well meaning dead weight, and they should have been axed years ago.

Maybe stop crying about your misfortune and and go make your own fortune.

Deep cuts need to happen in tech even though that won’t fix sales.
The problem is that any survivors will have no motivation to work if the same tech leadership is in place. AC, ES (all vp down to sr managers and in some cases managers. None of them talk to each other and no root cause tech issues are ever fixed.
Truly weak leaders that micro manage or are completely checked out and no, a manager 101 course will not fix that.

Are we winning son?

All of GT may be a dumpster fire, but CP&I somehow manages to be the main attraction. At this point, logic has officially resigned. JS’s directs and their teams are sprinting in every possible direction like headless chickens, enthusiastically throwing work at the wall with zero business alignment and even less clarity.

My engineering manager now treats strategy like a daily horoscope - every morning comes with a brand-new “priority,” allegedly inspired by whatever whim floated down from JS overnight. Meanwhile, CP&I is aggressively hiring engineers for teams where absolutely nothing is happening… while simultaneously loaning people out to PLM because, surprise, that’s where the work is.

In a truly impressive feat of leadership gymnastics, JS laid off all contractors, declared a noble shift to a 100% FTE “engineering excellence” model, and then - plot twist - brought in external vendors to help with engineering development. One can only marvel at the cost of this enlightenment.

As for ITC, it’s probably best described as a very expensive travel club. A leadership group of about ten makes frequent pilgrimages there, producing no visible outcomes except invoices. Rough estimate: ~$200K burned for vibes and frequent-flyer miles.

All in all, CP&I remains a fascinating social experiment. With VA now inheriting Technology, I’m genuinely curious to see whether this saga ends in transformation… or just a bigger, better-funded mess.

Or is Office First policy being quietly ignored now…seems so many folks have reasons not to come into the office that the whole policy is not really being enforced

Last day is today, every single person I have spoken to has asked me for something. “Hey where do I get this?” “What happens if I see this error?” “Where is the code for this process?”

If you need those questioned to be answered, then you were saved for the wrong reason. You’ll be next.

Hey Y'all!

To celebrate the upcoming Holidays and our new ad campaign, I wanted to share with you how I found my rich in 2025:

• Aggressive outsourcing of labor outside of North America
• Enacting policies to encourage employees to quit to avoid paying severance
• Investing in custom attire that reflects my humble accountability to our clients and associates
• Removing associate access to anonymous feedback. After all, are you really rich if you are surrounded by anything other than a captive crowd of syncophants?

How will you Find Your Rich?

I never realized how evil this company was but I just spent all morning reading this board and it all makes sense

I love knowing I will be getting a raise that doesn’t keep up with cost of living while she’s here wearing about $100,000 worth of jewelry to wish us a happy holidays

I was on a meeting earlier where open revolt over the performance review process broke out due to the Director on the Spectrum's inability to not irritate nearly everyone on his team due to his inability to think big picture versus dot I's and cross t's just so he can say it's done while trying to claim that TB reviews 1500 performance reviews personally and that's why we all needed to rush. Way to try to pass blame for his own control freak issues A lot of people are suggesting they are looking to exit or switch roles internally, resulting in a likely derailment of the initiatives underway.

First, I want to acknowledge that I am grateful to currently be employed at HCSC, especially given the broader economic climate. That said, as a 25+ year employee, this is the first year I can recall not receiving any form of holiday acknowledgment. In past years, this has included something modest, such as a small gift card or approval for a team lunch.

This year, there was no recognition at all. I’ve heard that some departments may have still had small lunches or gift cards, so I’m curious whether this reflects broader financial constraints, departmental differences, or if others have had a similar experience.

Fido has made it clear it will not go the extra mile for employees. Acting accordingly seems fair.

Has anyone actually looked at an org chart recently? DDAT has more directors, VPs, lead directors, AVPs than they know what to do with.....yet they push the bottom feeders to do 4x the work for a 2016 salary. Its becoming simply gross. Ive also noticed some teams where the entire team is "away" all day long, yet here i am a loyal ethical employee being micromanaged l. Nothing makes semse in this company at all.

Leaders in past did not consider location and noisy office of its head quarter was the problem in turning company around. My advice sell it and build a nice office convenient to all. Even if it can only house 55% capacity. We can take turns going to office. They forget their ultimate goal of turning company around and instead get entangled in RTO. Without adding another location, now they are shuttering OPO.

Looks like the next few months are going to be a slow-motion collapse. Leadership might bail, CSG will keep bleeding out, and the AI server sugar high won’t last. When the bubble pops, the stock could crater below 70. RevOps won’t save us, and the new tool launching in May might just choke what’s left of the org. Meanwhile, certain leaders will keep shouting confidence while everything burns behind them.

As you know, many of us in the Symantec and Carbon Black divisions are in a resting-and-vesting mindset. We don’t care whether the division performs well; we only care about the RSUs going into our pockets.

Either you are delusional or clueless about what to do with our division, but please keep us and continue granting us more RSUs.

Looks like next year will kick off with the merging of BFS into AFO. This is aligning with the one title tech as mapped out earlier. As a previous DT I hate to hear this because AFO does not treat people well. If I was a DT still I would move to construction asap. Otherwise be prepared for a lot of residential work and a whole new set of guidelines you will NOT like.

It is worth reflecting on what it means when positivity is met with hostility. When someone expresses gratitude for their work or appreciation for the people they work with and that expression is dismissed or downvoted simply because others are hurting, it reveals the depth of collective pain rather than any fault in the person sharing their experience. Disagreement is valid but silencing hope is something else entirely. Suffering does not grant permission to diminish another person’s reality.

This space exists because uncertainty is real and many are navigating fear and loss. Acknowledging that truth, however, does not require rejecting honesty or resenting those who are in a different season of life. Sharing stability or fulfillment is not an act of dismissal but a reflection of where someone is on their own timeline. Empathy is not conditional and compassion is not a limited resource. We can hold space for hardship without turning on one another. Growth begins when we stop pulling people down to match our pain and remember that understanding must extend in every direction.

Why are some employees consistently protected, no matter what they do?

2 Hours! That’s all you should be in there for. Doesn’t anyone follow instructions anymore. It’s the same people everyday using the same focus rooms.

Have you noticed that the constant volunteer harassment has ended. Maybe Verizon is turning a corner.

It’s not bad, but it’s nothing special either. Still, after months of searching for alternatives, it feels like a win. And I really, really need to leave Dell behind. This past year has been something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. Fingers crossed it works out. I’ll be keeping them crossed for all of you as well. May we all eventually liberate ourselves from the twisted parallel universe Dell has fallen into.

Adding to the Walmart orders again before Christmas when they said they wouldn’t be doing it anymore. All my orders jumped by 50-70 cases, locked in. Who’s doing it? There’s a mystery right there. Everyone prepare to be miserable sorting through pallets of 250-350 cases, working in crowded stores and leaving a cr-p ton of backstock

Middle managers should be clearing paths, growing talent, and preparing teams for the future. Too many here do none of that. Here, problems always get ignored, issues mount, and nothing ever improves. Sometimes I wonder what’s the point of having them at all.

Sounds familiar?

Starbucks did not lose $30 billion because of bad coffee. It lost it because the company
mispriced what actually created its value.

When Starbucks appointed a McKinsey-trained executive as CEO, the mandate was operational discipline. Costs were scrutinized. Processes were standardized. Stores were pushed to behave like efficiency machines rather than community spaces.

On paper, the logic made sense.

Consultants optimize margins by removing friction. But Starbucks was never a pure efficiency business. Its premium pricing depended on brand emotion, store experience, and cultural loyalty. Those are intangible assets, but they carry real monetary value.

As efficiency initiatives rolled out, customers noticed. Service quality declined. Stores felt
transactional. The brand lost its emotional moat. Foot traffic softened. Growth expectations reset. Markets reacted quickly. Over 17 months, Starbucks shed roughly $30 billion in market capitalization. Not from insolvency risk, but from a reassessment of future cash flows tied to brand strength.

The board reversed course. The CEO exited. Strategy changed.

The wealth lesson is structural. Consulting frameworks work best where value is mechanical and repeatable. Consumer brands compound wealth through trust, identity, and habit, not just margins.

When leadership optimizes the wrong variable, scale turns small misjudgments into massive losses.

Starbucks did not fail at execution. It failed at understanding what it was actually selling.

Do something about it. Make yourself heard. Drop specific names and hold them accountable.

https://publicportal.eeoc.gov/Portal/Login.aspx