#morale

I must admit I’m not really feeling doom and gloom right now. Should I be?

As a long-time employee watching our recent executive communications, I am genuinely terrified for the future of this company. We are being fed a steady diet of corporate buzzwords that sound impressive but mean absolutely nothing to the people doing the actual work.
When Chris constantly talks about building a "best in class" organization and launching "Crown 2.0," you have to ask yourself what those terms actually mean. The problem is that they are never defined. There are no specific metrics, no tangible benchmarks, and no honest roadmaps shared with us to back up the grand vision. It feels entirely disingenuous, like a pre-packaged Wall Street script designed to sound confident while obscuring the reality on the ground. When leaders hide behind vague catchphrases instead of offering concrete plans, it is usually a glaring warning sign that they are masking a much deeper lack of direction.
Nowhere is this disconnect more obvious, and more painful, than in the commentary surrounding the recent 20% Reduction in Force. Listening to Chris put a positive spin on such a massive cut shows a staggering lack of empathy for the people who built this place. Hundreds of families had their livelihoods upended, yet the move was packaged as a strategic triumph.
Then comes the inevitable, hollow compliment about the "resilience" of the remaining team. Let us be incredibly clear about what that resilience actually looks like. It is not a renewed commitment to a brilliant new vision. It is the sheer exhaustion of the surviving teammates who are now expected to maintain the company's success entirely on their own backs. We are absorbing the workloads of our departed colleagues, not out of loyalty to a new regime, but because the current job market stinks and people have mortgages to pay.
We are trapped on a sinking ship, holding the hull together with duct tape while our friends struggle to find a lifeline. The ultimate strategy seems painfully transparent to anyone paying attention. The goal is not to build a sustainable workplace. The goal is to slash costs, dress up the balance sheet with empty jargon, and sell the company to the highest bidder. Chris is gearing up for a meticulously orchestrated, cushy retirement, while the people doing the actual work are left suffering through a massive pay gap and unprecedented burnout.
I will, however, give Chris credit for exactly one thing. His absolute insistence that we integrate Copilot into our daily workflows has actually paid off. It was incredibly helpful in allowing me to research and compose this reality check.

Something about the c suite serving froyo for an hour as a humility exercise “for good” against the backdrops of layoffs isn’t quite landing.

Like everything else here, it's just performative nonsense. Complete time sink. And irritating beyond belief.

I'm actually grateful for that.

That's the whole story.

Not some. All of it.

This place is garbage. The employees are mediocre at best. I don't respect a single person I've worked with here. If you want no growth and endless politics for a decade, this is your spot.

Not the workers, not the managers. Why would we? Innovation isn't rewarded. Improvement isn't noticed. So everyone just does what they've always done and nothing ever gets better.

You survive one round, you breathe a sigh of relief and think it's over. Then a few months later, another round happens. And another. Layoffs at Gainwell are like those horror monsters that keep coming back no matter how many times you think you've ki-led them. It's never really over.

It feels like we've hit rock bottom.

Come to Intel if you want your career to flatline. That's what happens these days.

Hour long meeting full of insults. The idea that working in office will foster conversation and innovation is, as someone else has said, a fat load of kwap. There are SO many reasons for why this isn't going to go well on the 4th, but I don't want to beat a dead horse.

I'm just tired, man.

& it begins. Top talent, all stars, super studs, leaving the company for better opportunities.

GLTA that stay - I pray things get better for you. My advice, take the first step to see what else is out there. Resume, add the world on linkedin, don't just sit around waiting to see if you'll get RIF. The company is going down a path nobody can change, it just is what it is. Do what's best for you and your family, you owe this company NOTHING. Go make something of yourself

If your position is not moved to cognizant, then don't celebrate.
80% Chances are that you be let go by end of August 2026.
The company is deep in red.

Watching L3Harris Technologies lay off its strongest performers over the past few years—the very people who held the mission together—was a turning point for me.
Leadership continues to celebrate costly tools and strategies that never deliver, while overlooking the voices of their workforce and customers. Millions spent on buzzwords and consultants, yet the foundation—people, trust, products execution—was neglected.
Across the prime contractor landscape, instability like this doesn’t go unnoticed. Contracts may be won in the short term, but they erode quickly when customer confidence declines.
Why would employees stay fully invested when they’re operating in constant fear of losing their jobs? Performance isn’t consistently rewarded—and too often, those who stand out become targets instead of leaders.
This industry is demanding, but this outcome wasn’t inevitable—it was self-inflicted. The only thing disrupted was itself.
I miss the work and the people. I don’t miss a culture where talent is disposable and accountability is absent.
Morale isn’t optional—it’s mission critical. For the outstanding workforce there is better out there, it takes time but you will find a place where your voice matters.

Is anybody else really fu--ing tired of it?

This was a genuinely good place not long ago. The last three years have been a steady decline. Culture, pay and benefits, job security, all sliding. Now I've completely lost faith things will ever improve again.

Can they be so heartless to cut us after so many of us uprooted our lives to work here?

It kind of su-ks to watch several Disney presentations and see the company boasting of breaking so many financial records and then turn around to see thousands of your coworkers gone. Knowing it wasn't necessary but simply common greed makes it feel even worse.

Looking at this sorry soap opera called Expand one wonders.

Why filling the spaces left by a bunch of incompetent losers that got nothing to show for after 2 years of walking, meeting and sipping like mindless drones?

Why not buying a tent and make this sad show a travelling circus going round and around PA, OK and TX?

Give the investors something to laugh about instead of a truckload of excuses.

We used to have job security. No matter what, I knew I had some stability. I could buy a house or a car because I felt safe. Now my mortgage feels like a noose around my neck since I can't tell anymore if I'll have my job from day to day. It's really sad how much things have changed for the worse.

The pay increases lately don’t match how expensive everything else has become. Not that anybody at the top gives a damn, as long as their bonuses keep getting larger.

When layoffs were occasional, the culture and morale were good, and we were doing better than most of competitors? Good times.

Every month there's more to do. More work, less workers. The math doesn't work. Something has to give.

That's all I wanted to say.

If we don't change quickly, we're finished. If we change in the wrong direction, we're also finished. So either way, we're finished.

My group is small and kind of isolated from the rest of the company. And nobody here wants to leave. The pay is good, we don't work crazy hours, and leadership keeps telling us we're safe. Whether that's true or not is not certain, but it's enough to make people want to stay.

I get venting, but it's not that bad. Some people are being over the top. If it was really that bad, I wouldn't be here.

it's the days where nobody says anything that hurts the most

Especially if you hate it here. Leave this place to those of us who like working here. Everybody will be happier.

Stop scaring people for no good reason. When layoffs continue, we'll all know it.

Quit last year around this time and sorta forgot about EM, but thought I'd check in to see how y'all are doing.

I do keep in touch with a few EM folks and they all seem kinda sad or stressed out (though the BTC people on LinkedIn seem happy).

How's it going there these days?

It's always rush mode. Always stress. Always another thing due yesterday. I honestly can't remember what a normal day feels like anymore. Just starting work without that immediate weight on your chest sounds like a dream.

My team of registered field nurses has no work. Okay, we have some work but not very much, as in not enough to meet productivity. They hired new nurses last year just as things were slowing down. Now things are so bad- like the hunger games vying for appointments. Forget the bonus, it no longer exists. They are hiring yet again but we have no work! What the heck? What’s going on? My manager has no answer for lack of work, it’s almost like she is pretending the issue doesn’t exist. Any thoughts on what the strategy is here?

Org is hemorrhaging top performers who are choosing to leave rather than swim in this toxic cesspool or stay but continue to do the bare minimum. No one wants to work anymore and most don’t even try to hide their distain annd indifference toward management and every day is an exercise in misery. Legg once again injected ominous innuendo and gloom in his latest townhall with a message of AI up or leave or be ready to board a surplus boat and join the breadlines. Rather than profile the type of AI integration needed at an individual contributor level, he sees his work as done after giving us Ask AT&T and GH and a forward kick in the pants to go figure it out before our peers and better than our peers and don’t forget to crush our peers in using it along the way. Too bad it was his knee and not his mindset that got a recent upgrade. I guess we all have to hobble around and suffer as his campaign to crush and demoralize us continues. Retirement can’t come soon enough and I will do the absolute minimum in office for the handful of years I need and only what keeps me under radar on big brother reporting. Tomorrows surplus notification will affect mainly Product and roll them off on 5/5.

Stankey’s bank account isn’t gonna grow itself. Be sure to work hard today so him and the rest of the C suite can line their pockets.

You’re probably working for some menial reason, like paying for your families healthcare, or being able to afford living.

Never forget, the only reason you exist is to make the rich richer. Once your job no longer makes them richer, you no longer have a purpose

This is one of the most frustrating teams I have worked in at CIBC. There is a strong perception that hiring decisions are heavily influenced by personal connections with certain consulting vendors, rather than being fully merit-based. Many roles seem to be filled through preferred consultancies, which raises concerns about fairness in the hiring process and how corrupt these indian managers are.
Additionally, promotion decisions often appear to favor a close circle of internal contacts, which makes it difficult for genuinely strong performers to grow within the team. Over time, this environment has led to a loss of trust and has pushed talented individuals to consider leaving.
Overall, while the work itself can be meaningful, the lack of transparency in hiring and promotions significantly impacts morale and retention.

Not because I want them, but because I want the waiting to be over. Even if I'm the first one out. The suspense has been unbearable, and no one can focus on anything anymore. Either way, good luck to everyone.