#morale

More layoffs today as part of "reorganizing" aka send more jobs over to India. Laid off some long time key players. Not sure how that will help with their tech consolidation. This place just continues to tank morale. Sad.

To anyone in executive leadership who may read this. It's important that you understand the climate that is being created at FIS. I'm not going to argue in this post for having less overall cuts, but rather to get them over with next time.

I believe we've had 11 RIFs this year. What could have been a couple rounds has been spread out so every month or so, folks are seeing their peers or leaders getting cut.

It may seem like doing smaller cuts is easier for teams to manage, and keeping a key individual for another month or so may seem like a good idea to allow better transition, but here's the effect.

Very few people feel secure in their career here. Most people are unsure if they will be next. This is shared for most ICs up through many people at the VP level. People are less productive, engaged, and less passionate.

We're starting to see top talent look elsewhere (the most marketable and skilled people are the ones who can land another job).

Teams and leaders are spending a lot of time discussing the impending layoffs, rumors, and overall morale, which is more hidden waste.

Lastly, delaying these leadership RIFs has prevented any real communication about the future org structure. So the orgs have not been able to set clear direction for the rest of 2025/2026. This is still pending because there are leaders yet to be cut.

We are already under investing in our products relative to our competitors, but if we're going to have cuts, they should be larger and less frequent. These decisions will have ramifications.

Those of us still hanging on to the sinking ledge with the few fingers we have left, the Voice Survey is available. Please be very brutal about this company but of course be honest. Don't make it up. They really need to hear how terrible moral is. Most of the new hires will likely have a false sense of positivity at Nielsen, but those of us here for more than a year know the truth. Last time we did the Voice Survey, many of the results were higher than the company deserved, so they didn't panic. Now they need to be.

SOOOOO sick of explaining this so please try to follow along … it isn’t the commitment to sit at a desk 5x8 (even though the guarantee of an actual desk would be a reasonable expectation in that case) it is the forced moves and policing under the guise of collaboration as we sit on Teams with employees in different hubs and the unspoken few who have somehow skirted RTO and remained virtual. It’s a LIE and the only standard this form of RTO aligns with is the new corporate standard of mistreating, overworking, and violating employees, taking advantage of at-will employment terms for gains that only those influencing policy will enjoy.

If you are fortunate enough to live in a hub, celebrate the toxic T culture, and are somehow benefiting from being in the office, great. But the people who were adversely impacted have a right to be pi---d. Leave it at that and stay off these forums.

400 Summer street.

Suuuuuuper.

How fu--ing done deaf could he be:

"For many, especially those in Rhode Island, the move brings real changes: I want to acknowledge that some of you will now have longer commutes and more daily complexity for you and your families"

No - ALL of us in RI will you donut.

From what i'm hearing, there will be minimal if any promotions this cycle. In December the ELT said that performance / merit based reward. Doesn't seem to be the case does it?

As September rolls in and the scent of cinnamon wafts through the air like a passive-aggressive performance review, BNY Mellon’s Executive Committee has declared its Q4 strategy: transformation through seasonal beverages.

Forget earnings calls or client retention—this fall, the path to corporate greatness is paved with pumpkin spice and chai foam.

The CEO’s latest social media post, hashtagged #SeptemberScaries, reads like a motivational poster taped to a severance packet. It opens with nostalgic musings about back-to-school season and ends with a rallying cry for “refocusing energy” and “embracing change”—which, in BNY parlance, means layoffs, offshoring, and a new seasonal drink menu.

“Change happens in big ways, but more often it’s the small moments—the turning of a leaf, the brewing of a latte, the quiet hum of analysts sipping espresso in the halls…”

Translation: Your job may be gone by Halloween, but at least the chai is free.

The Rise of the Pumpkin Spice King
In a bold rebranding move, the CEO has unofficially crowned himself the “Pumpkin Spice Latte King,” complete with a LinkedIn banner featuring latte art shaped like a hockey-stick growth curve.

His followers—mostly bots, interns, and one confused VP from Compliance—have responded with emojis, endorsements, and one brave comment that simply reads: “Sir, is Pune hiring?”

The EC insists this seasonal shift represents “micro and macro innovation.” Macro: offshoring 40% of U.S. roles to Pune. Micro: adding nutmeg to the breakroom menu.
The CEO now opens town halls with a steaming PSL in hand, declaring, “This isn’t just coffee—it’s culture.” Meanwhile, the culture team quietly updates the org chart to reflect the new “Pumpkin Spice Transformation Office,” reporting directly to the Chief Beverage Officer (formerly Head of Strategy).

Perks That Feel Like Punishment: Corporate Actions Edition
To celebrate the season, the EC has rolled out a new perk package under the banner of “Corporate Actions for Corporate People”:

• Free seasonal beverages—but only for those who badge in before 7:45 a.m. and survive the daily stand-up without clueless whining.
• Chai & Change Workshops—where employees learn how to reframe layoffs as “growth opportunities” and “strategic pivots.”
• Corporate Action Loyalty Points—redeemable for branded mugs, not job security.
• Pumpkin-themed performance reviews—where feedback is delivered via latte foam art and your bonus is replaced with a cinnamon stick.
  There’s even a new Teams channel called #SpiceUpYourCareer, where HR posts inspirational quotes over latte photos and ignores all questions about severance eligibility.

Transformation, One Sip at a Time
The EC’s fall strategy deck, titled “Brewing Brilliance: Q4 Acceleration Through Seasonal Rituals,” outlines a bold vision:

• Reduce U.S. headcount by 25%
• Increase Pune hiring by 40%
• Replace exit interviews with pumpkin spice surveys
• Rebrand layoffs as “seasonal transitions”

The final slide features a latte cup labeled “Culture,” with steam rising in the shape of a dollar sign and a tagline that reads: “Transformation is a beverage best served warm.”

Analysts are encouraged to “lean in” to the seasonal shift, which now includes mandatory “Latte Alignment Sessions” where teams brainstorm ways to synergize chai with compliance.

Conclusion: The Brew Before the Boo
With Halloween just eight weeks away, the EC is already planning a “Spooky Synergy” campaign. Rumor has it the CFO will dress as a giant orb (surprise!) —yes, a glowing sphere of transformation—complete with a disguised "five-head cranium" and chainsaws in both hands, symbolizing “cutting inefficiencies” and “slicing through legacy processes.”

Middle managers will be encouraged to wear costumes that reflect their Q4 goals: ghost of billable hours, zombie of deferred bonuses, or the ever-popular “Agile Werewolf” who sprints but never delivers.

But for now, it’s September. The air is crisp, the layoffs are brisk, and the new analysts are buzzing—mostly from caffeine and existential dread.

So dear colleagues ... grab your corporate chai, brace for transformation, and remember: at BNY, change is brewing. Whether you’re sipping from a branded mug or packing your desk, it’s all part of the seasonal strategy.

Off we go…

Just a reminder to get up, take a break, get away from your computer regularly. Take 5 or 10 minutes every hour to focus on yourself. The clown Robin can afford it, and they're going to mark 25% of us as not meets anyway :)

Wow, everyone, stop the presses! Apparently the entire future of AT&T hinges on whether you can beep your badge at a turnstile. Forget customers, forget results, forget innovation… it’s all about that sweet, sweet swipe. Truly world-class leadership right there.

Nothing says “cutting edge” like forcing people back into cubicles to sit on the same Teams calls they could’ve taken from home. Genius move. Productivity? Down. Morale? Dead. Attrition? Through the roof. But hey, at least the parking lot looks full!

And the relocation ultimatum? Chef’s kiss. “Move to Dallas, Atlanta, NJ or else.” Brilliant way to show your employees how valued they are by treating them like disposable furniture you can just drag around the map. Who needs decades of experience and institutional knowledge when you can hire cheaper replacements who live within badge-swiping distance? Or better yet, hire them overseas and let them work from home. Collaboration only matters domestically I guess.

“Working from home is a privilege.” Yeah, so is still having a job after Stankey’s email circus. Remote work kept this company afloat during Covid, but now suddenly it’s “lazy” and “entitled”? Please. The only thing lazy here is leadership’s inability to manage without breathing down people’s necks.

So congrats to all the cube warriors out there. Keep flexing those badge swipes, the rest of us will be busy actually producing results while you polish your chair indentation.

The worst my manager ever did was ignore a serious issue I flagged for weeks, then acted surprised when it blew up and blamed me. It was infuriating to watch someone dodge responsibility while making my life harder.

What used to feel like a really collaborative, upbeat place is completely gone. Now it’s all awkward silences, people looking out for themselves, and meetings where nothing gets done. I can’t believe how fast the culture just…evaporated. I hate working here now, and I used to like my job.

I just got a rejection after what felt like weeks of interviews. I have to admit, it’s crushing my confidence when I keep getting so close and then I end up falling short. It makes me question if I’m even doing something wrong or if it’s just the market being brutal.

Corporate life can drain your enthusiasm, no matter where you're at. I joined from a small company and even there, the experience of cursing bosses and endless bureaucracy ki-ls your excitement. You’re basically always choosing between two unpleasant extremes.

You can’t settle into your role before everything shifts again. It’s exhausting trying to stay productive when nothing stays the same long enough to get comfortable.

Four years here is what it took for me to be done. The toll this place takes isn’t worth the paycheck anymore. I dread logging in every single day, and I can’t imagine ever feeling any different. The whole system is built to grind people down until they finally break, and I guess I did.

It is obvious they do not see us as people. I wish everyone here could leave at once because none of us should settle for this treatment.

I’ve been watching things slide downhill here for a while, and it makes me wonder if there’s any way back. The cuts, the constant churn, and the lack of direction are really showing. Feels like we’re on borrowed time unless something drastic changes.

Our job volume is about to increase significantly with no corresponding increase in pay. We’ll have to cover the work left behind by those who were laid off, even though some of us already have more than we can handle. I swear, I’d almost rather have been laid off.

People are dragging themselves in, barely speaking, and you can feel the frustration in every meeting. Everybody hates being there. If leadership keeps ignoring it, I don’t see how the company makes it long term. Low morale always comes back to bite you in the a-s.

This past week took everything out of me mentally. It drained me to a point where I can't even think about work without feeling anxiety and dread. I have no idea how I'm supposed to be productive going forward feeling like this. These layoffs destroyed much more than jobs, they broke down morale and left many of us questioning how much longer we can keep going.

I have a haunting suspicion this week we will get another RIF in TMG. Our all-hands meeting was delayed an entire month with no explanation. Morale is very low at our fab and everyone seems a bit rattled, even mgmt.

But if I do stay, what’s the point of getting invested in my work? Hard work and skills aren’t rewarded here. They’re punished. Because in the end, they just come with a higher price tag.

https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/job-hopping-is-out-job-hugging-is-in-for-fearful-workers-338fe1e6

Employees reluctant to give up job in today’s rocky job market

By: Callum Borchers
Sept. 3, 2025 9:00 pm ET

They don’t seem happy, they don’t give 100%—and they don’t quit.

Cranky workers are clinging to the jobs they have instead of moving on because, well, what’s the alternative in the current economy?

The extra pay that typically comes with joining another company has practically vanished. Disengagement is so widespread across the U.S. and global workforces that cheerier pastures are hard to find.

And resigning without a plan feels more reckless now than in the good old days (2021). Back then, you could get by on pandemic savings and stimulus money, live the #vanlife for a while, then watch your inbox fill with interview requests from businesses on hiring sprees.

How times have changed in just a few short years. Today, employees are unwilling to risk change and simply go through the motions. The number of Americans quitting their jobs, and the openings available to people looking for work, continue to decline, according to federal data released on Wednesday.

The trend of staying put out of fear is known as “job hugging,” a sharp turn from the job hopping of recent years.

Like a bad penny

This is a new headache for employees, bosses and the economy writ large.

Go-getters hankering for promotions might lose out if mediocre co-workers refuse to vacate the next rung on the corporate ladder.

“When people were moving during the Great Resignation, that allowed others to get promoted, perhaps ahead of schedule and have a stretch job,” says Alan Guarino, vice chairman of consulting firm Korn Ferry. “Now people can’t move up and they potentially get demotivated because of the lack of opportunity.”

Managers, meanwhile, were only a short time ago complaining about low retention rates. Now, there might not be enough healthy turnover to reinvigorate their teams.

Leaders usually have ways of managing out unwanted employees. There’s “quiet firing,” basically sidelining someone to underscore the writing on the wall. Another favorite tactic is a performance-improvement plan.

“Truthfully, being put on a performance-improvement plan means, ‘We do not want you here,’” says labor attorney Kim Cramer. “That sounds really harsh, but in my experience, performance-improvement plans are not meant to help the employee.”

Instead of taking the hint, though, more people are riding out their employment as long as it lasts. In recent weeks, Cramer has had a surge of clients ask her to review their severance agreements after being terminated. She estimates 60% to 70% of them knew they had fallen out of favor a while ago but didn’t leave.

Exceptions to the rule

The prototypical job hugger is a drag on the team, but not all are like that. Some are average contributors or even high achievers.

Doug Yakola, a former McKinsey senior partner who is now an independent consultant, notes many workers no longer take an up-or-out approach to their careers. Instead of leaving for a bigger title and greater responsibility when they hit a ceiling, more people are willing to remain in neutral if the pay and work-life balance are decent.

A tech worker I’ve known for 20 years is in this position. He sees no upward mobility and resents his employer’s rightward political turn. But he earns well and has a sweet, hybrid schedule that affords ample time for hobbies. He keeps putting in a good-enough effort at work because the job, though unfulfilling, serves its purpose in his life.

B-teamers like him can be valuable to companies that can’t realistically expect everyone to be an all-star, Yakola says. This is especially true at businesses like the ones he advises, which often need turnarounds and aren’t exactly magnets for top talent.

“I actually like job huggers in a weird sort of way because I can’t replace employees very easily, and I need to keep the experience,” he says.

There is also a strain of type-A job huggers. They reached the upper echelons of their organizations but feel blocked from the very top. They are disillusioned yet too risk-averse to break away. And it’s not in their DNA to slack off.

“I work with somebody who hates being a lawyer but she’s amazing at it,” says Alisia Gill, a former corporate HR chief who coaches midcareer women. “She cries in her car every morning before she goes to work, and then she goes in there and does her job because she doesn’t know what else to do.”

Gentle shove

In cases where a company wants someone to leave, but the person keeps hanging on, firing seems like the obvious solution. But managers say they would much rather have an employee leave voluntarily.

It’s often cheaper, since businesses might owe severance pay to people they let go. A resignation spares the boss an awkward conversation. What’s more, it can preserve relations with the rest of the team. It’s easier to manage people whose friend took another opportunity than it is to lead employees whose pal you just canned.

Research by University of Chicago economist Virginia Minni suggests a relatively simple strategy can help nudge job huggers toward the door: reflection.

She and colleagues studied roughly 3,000 white-collar workers whose employer put them through a series of exercises to suss out their sense of purpose. Overall productivity increased for a few reasons.

“This actually encouraged some people to leave on their own,” Minni says.

While others found better-fitting roles internally, being forced to confront the drudgery of their jobs was enough to make a bunch of low performers quit.

So, if you are hugging your humdrum job and your boss strikes up a philosophical conversation about the meaning of life and work, you’ll know what’s going on.

Allstate sounds like the same useless sh-t hole that State Farm has become! Used to be a great place to be but has turned into an unbearable h-ll hole! Same Execs just different place as they all run in the same circles and listen to the same Consultants. Progressive will pass us to become the #1 auto insurer in the 4th quarter or at the latest, first part of 2026. Not only that, if they write 8 million new autos again they will be almost 9 million ahead and SF or anyone else will ever catch them. Everything the play they call fails they call it again and again at SF! It's always the employees fault, never them and their plans. During in-office weeks over the last several months, we have ambulances pulling up because someone has stroked out at their desk due to al the stress. The whole industry has just become toxic! Best wishes! Go Progressive is out motto at SF! Serves the right!

If the degenerate SVP, EVP and C suites actually scan this board, you have been warned. If you thought you could continue terminating Americans and replacing us with cheaper resources in India, Phillipines...think again. We will make sure you will live in the limelight you deserve.

Did RV seriously just post on LinkedIn with a picture of his free cup of Starbucks?!!! Seriously an out of touch leader while he makes those of us at non growth centers suffer. Talking about non growth centers… what was the point of shuffling everyone around in Wilmington for the start of 4 days in office? Weren’t we all supposed to be coming in 3 days a week so there would’ve been at least 1 day of overlap. How didn’t everyone have a seat? Are they working on closing floors now to reduce rent?

I hope everyone reading this knows we were set up for failure. I was someone who was so successful in this company. Hit every objective but once mission 1 came i couldn't do anything right. I recently left and I am so happy. You beautiful people need too know it's not you it's the corporate greed. Love you, good luck.

Sad. There was a day when it would have never missed such a ranking over companies like Lowes, Bank of America, and Duke Energy.

My whole team has banded together and not a single one of us showed up to the office.

Go ahead and fire two dozen people who make the wheels on the bus go round because you’re mad ELT has su-ked at its job for a LONNNNNG time. How very Intel that would be.

We write the code, MFer. We know the inner workings of the tangle of databases, data flows, who to go to to remove blockers. We’re ONLY here because we can do this job in 6 hours a day. Make it more, and we’ll go work somewhere that will pay us for full output.

Been here for years and I don’t know that I’ve seen real change come of it - certainly nothing in our favor. Senior leaders do not hold themselves accountable to the results, at least not to us. They present on the quantitative data, say they’re carefully reviewing it, then it’s crickets. Rinse and repeat for the next round.

Does the survey just exist to give us an outlet for grievances? To claim they give us the ability to share our thoughts? It certainly doesn’t feel like our voices matter. I’m at a loss.

The founders of EJ (including Ted himself) knew this and used that understanding to build a virtuous cycle of success that became Edward Jones. Trust built commitment, commitment fostered ownership, ownership supported loyalty, loyalty fueled business results…and so on…

At the hands of the abhorrent leadership in place today, EJ is now fully in the throughs of a vicious cycle. To be clear, enterprise reimagined is a symptom of a disease that started when Penny (who has to be among the worst judges of talent) appointed leaders to her exec team who were entirely incompetent to lead the firm forward in a new competitive landscape. Some were homegrown incompetents who Penny was foolishly loyal to (eg Cella, Dolan), others like Chubak were opportunists who actually have sophisticated firm experience but weren’t on the c-suite track in their former companies, usually due to leadership flaws or excessive levels of ego/self interest.

As the firm began to lose market share in core midwestern strongholds, those leaders in turn appointed other weak GPs (with preference to good “order takers” who wouldn’t provide constructive challenge to their insecure superiors). This had the effect of further shielding the realities of the day to day field/HO experience from senior leadership.

While GP returns grew largely due to cost cutting, underlying business performance (net new assets, new clients, FA retention) deteriorated. Leaders who have no track record of successful business transformation responded by pushing change even faster, eroding trust and confidence. Field turnover spiked, more panic set in, assets slowed further…and a vicious cycle had begun by 2022/23.

Enterprise reimagine is hatched in 2024 by the same leaders to mask their own failures, secure GP earnings and further consolidate “control” which these leaders felt they had lost. Similar to other changes, this was slapped together “loose and fast” by ELT members who have never led a restructuring and informed by 30 something consultants who can see the vicious cycle with dollar signs dancing in their heads.

Trust, confidence and loyalty is now even further eroded, effectively destroying the foundation culture Ted established the firm on. Tenured and some newer EJ leaders who challenged the path that brought us here were shown the door.

The culture that was the root of the firm’s virtuous cycle is now gone, the victim of bad leadership starting at the top. Replacing it is a vicious cycle that will now be nearly impossible to break without a sea change of leadership at the top - and an enormous rebuilding effort.

Clients, Associates and Partners, you deserve so much better.

Heard from a colleague today that 4 or 5 people with 20+ years experience turned in resignations this week in CASC? Has anyone heard the same?

It’s no secret inside or outside the company: Stankey is on thin ice. The board can only cover for him so long with stock price smoke and mirrors while the foundation crumbles.

Under his watch we’ve had massive outages leaving customers furious and regulators circling, along with embarrassing data breaches exposing millions of people’s personal info and destroying trust in the brand. On top of that, his tone-deaf RTO mandate tanked morale, drove talent out the door, and turned AT&T into a poster child for corporate arrogance. And how did he respond? Not with solutions, but with ultimatums in all-hands emails.

This isn’t leadership — it’s a slow-motion collapse. Employees know it. Customers know it. Shareholders are starting to realize it too. Stankey’s “commit or quit” email didn’t motivate anyone; it broadcast desperation. And with every outage, every breach, every resignation, it’s clearer that he’s not the guy to fix this mess.

Don’t be shocked if the board makes a move. At this point, the only real question is whether they’ll act in time to save what’s left of AT&T.

Whenever we hear someone is leaving the firm, the first question is always “leaving on their own?” It is not right that our brains have been trained to think this way.

The impact of poor mental health from a toxic workplace can last a very long time.

Synaptics saw a 29.4% revenue decline in fiscal year 2024 compared to 2023, likely prompting layoffs that hurt employee morale. Meanwhile, execs continue to sell RSU stock, funded by stock buybacks, potentially eroding trust further. This raises questions about how many engineering jobs were cut to support these insider stock trades.

The only real motivation at this company is to not totally sc--w over the counter workers you actually like. If not for that I would do nothing and wait 6 months for this garbage company to fire me.

I don’t post often, but I can’t stay quiet anymore. RTO is breaking this company, and it’s breaking the people who’ve held it together through every storm.

We’ve already endured layoffs, outsourcing, constant reorganizations, and a revolving door of “strategic visions.” Through it all, employees adapted. We stayed. We worked harder with less. We found ways to keep this place running even when leadership gave us little in return.

And then came RTO.
• Long commutes rob us of hours that could be spent with our families or serving customers.
• Overcrowded offices are unsafe, stressful, and do nothing to improve collaboration… we’re still on Teams all day with coworkers in other states and countries.
• Morale has collapsed. The message is clear: loyalty doesn’t matter, results don’t matter … only badge swipes.
• And the best “younger” people? They’re leaving. They’ve found remote jobs at companies that trust them and respect their time. AT&T is bleeding talent it will never get back.

Please, stop this before it’s too late. Remote and hybrid work worked. Customers were happy. Productivity was high. Employees had balance. The only thing RTO has delivered is frustration, attrition, and despair.

AT&T doesn’t need to be the company that dies on this hill. End the forced RTO. Trust the people who’ve carried you this far. Give us the flexibility we’ve already proven works.

Because if this continues, there won’t be anyone left to carry it at all.

For those who don't currently work at Ford, you may think the posts about having a chair taken, restrooms in disrepair, parking lots on overflow, and people camped out in cafeterias that were not made for working are all an overstatement. As a current employee I'm here to tell you they are absolutely true and being reported by our coworkers on an increasingly frequent basis. I have personally witnessed each of those things in my building in Dearborn.

Current employees, I encourage you to join the viva engage channels where folks are sharing their experiences from around the world. You can share your experience, you are not alone.

In Mexico, they are commuting 1-2 hours each way due to the traffic congestion around the location where the Ford campus is located. In Dunton, a 20 mile drive can take 1-2 hours with traffic.

These are not employees looking to complain for the sake of complaining. These are employees who have done what was asked and showed up to their assigned location, only to be continually failed by leadership and Ford Land.

Someone posted about occupancy limits and fire code violations. They are cramming so many people into spaces that were not meant for people to be sitting at. Cords are draped across tables and the floor since there are no power outlets on tables that were meant to eat lunch at.

It doesn't have to be this way and it shouldn't be this way. Please speak up. Use the onsite feedback site that I'm sure has been shared in your channels. This is not healthy, it is not productive, and for those of us who truly want to see the company succeed, it is accomplishing nothing but tearing us apart.

The wider we share our experiences, the more chances we have to put some real social pressure on those who made these decisions.

To all of those showing up, hang in there and know you're not alone. And also, I'm sorry, we used to be so much better than this.

My manager has a team meeting scheduled tomorrow for all of us.

It's going to be like that scene in Animal House with Kevin Bacon.

Utter chaos and our manager will be screaming "stay calm all is well!" F it I'm taking Monday off.

EH is a charismatic leader who is adored by the Nike Staff. After all he had pretty bad boots to fill. Post this re org we need to see Nike rebound otherwise it’s just a constant annual thing which will make people just exhausted from their battle scars and leave on their own accord. Best of luck Nike