#worklifebalance

https://www.wsj.com/articles/ceo-pay-2025-d2885ea3

[Didn't quote entire article text, just extracted AK's info. from the interactive table in the article].

AK ranks 34th out of 392 CEOs on the list:
Total pay: $38M
Pay Change: +51.1%
1-Year Return: 38%
Median Employee Pay: $49,630

Waiting with bated breath for my 51% raise this year!

Try to print :-)

Obnoxious posts about drinking and eating on the company dime. Zero meetings

I don't get it. Just telling someone to do their work is now seen as aggressive. If you're not constantly praising people, you're being too critical. It's gotten ridiculous.

If you're planning to leave (and who isn't, right?) here's some advice from someone who's been around. Pay and title matter, but culture and environment matter even more. I focused too much on the first two and ignored the rest. Don't make the same mistake.

I've been thinking about this a lot. Working at BNY was like being in a bad relationship. Constantly stressed and unhappy but I stayed because it was familiar and the money was okay. Then one day I was let go and it was terrifying at first. But then the severance arrived and I had time to rest, to think, and to remember who I was before that place wore me down. And eventually I found something new where I'm actually treated well. In the end, leaving turned out to be the best possible thing for me.

They happened once in a while and for the rest of the time we were able to focus on our work properly. Can we ever go back to that? Or is that behind us for good?

"Our new research reveals that the objection to any work from home is more likely to be driven by something else entirely: ego.

"The only trait that consistently predicted objections to remote work was narcissism — the tendency to be self-centered and entitled. The higher the opinions of themselves leaders expressed, the more they coveted power and status — and the more they favored return-to-office mandates.

"Return-to-office mandates fail to increase financial returns. They succeed only in motivating star employees to quit, reducing the satisfaction of those who stay and discouraging new talent from joining."

I wonder how many of us is lacking motivation to be productive now. Personally I am just waiting on the outcome of the VSP. I have no motivation now since this has came up. I have tried to be productive up until this but I just can’t get motivated enough to go above and beyond like before. It’s a struggle to remain focused.

I'm not sure how they will have US layoffs when July 3 is a holiday. I checked in talent central. I work for SMBC and I think they are still doing financial projections or have a buyer that doesn't want to pay. I hate this company and hope I'm part of this round, but I will probably be spared because of financial year end.

SmartAsset, a financial technology company, released a new report. The report identified America's newest boomtowns nationwide. SmartAsset assessed over 400 cities based on economic output, housing, and labor force growth. Four California cities were ranked among these rapidly growing areas. Menifee, Rancho Cordova, Santa Clara, and Sunnyvale made the list.

https://www.aol.com/articles/four-california-cities-among-americas-180001216.html

I'm not only looking to leave EM, but the entire O&G industry. I can't find a single company that's better than this place, and I'm so tired of all the uncertainty, cyclical nature of the industry, toxicity, and everything else that comes with working here. I'm so done with it.

I stopped working overtime, stressing about deadlines, and caring about making my boss happy. And guess what? Nothing bad happened and I'm actually doing fine. I'm doing better than I have in long time, in fact.

The kiss-as--s, the sycophants, those with relatives and friends in high positions... Skill and experience need not apply. Wells Fargo was never the best place to work, but it was certainly better when we had some chance of progressing our career based on merit. We're nothing but a joke now.

The day just thinking about and waiting for the sh---y week ahead.

I know several people who were riffed in June, and there are still rumors of larger global RIFs coming in July and August.

For those who make it through these rounds, whats the outlook for the rest of 2026? Do these cycles eventually come to an end, or is this just the new normal?

At this point, I’d rather be included in a RIF now while severance packages are still relatively generous.

So tired of this, let me work or let me go

I’m finally admitting it. I should have moved.

Will Corp Risk eventually adjust back to 3 days in office once they get the numbers they need?

Software engineer - anyone negotiated notice period to less than 30 days?

Just don’t wanna burn bridge.

Not sure what all of you people are crying about. To add, converged service rep like myself just takes inbound sales/retention calls all day. One day a week we have a 30 minute meeting and that’s literally it. My friend in Lubbock does the exact same thing but now is permanent WFH as of July because of the surplus. It’s clear that our job does not need to be in office, I would be offline less time if I was conveniently at home. So unless you can answer my question, move. How can I not work from home but he can?

Has anyone heard what they are going to do about 7/3? The 2026 holiday calendar shows 7/3 as a holiday but we have never observed the Friday before when a holiday falls on a Saturday. We usually get a float day. The federal reserve, DTC and everyone else is open on 7/3 so wondering if we are really going to be closed.

Over 70% of AT&T employees are over 50 years old… Let that sink in.

This company is rapidly approaching a point where a huge percentage of its workforce will be eligible for retirement, taking decades of knowledge and experience with them.

Normally that wouldn’t be a problem. You’d replace them with the next generation of talent.

But that’s the problem.

AT&T has made itself deeply unattractive to many professionals under 40. Five-day RTO. Presence reports. Badge tracking. Relocations. Constant uncertainty. Policies that feel like they’re from 40 years ago, not 2026.

The people leaving aren’t the ones with no options. They’re the ones who do have options. The ones with the skills they want to keep around.

And the people choosing where to start or build their careers are increasingly choosing somewhere else. The applications here have never been lower.

Leadership seems convinced employees are interchangeable. They aren’t.

You can replace a body. You can’t replace experience. You can’t replace institutional knowledge. And you can’t force talented people to join a company they don’t want to work for.

That’s the real risk….

Five years from now, what does this workforce look like if retirements accelerate, experienced employees keep leaving, and younger talent keeps looking elsewhere?

The answer should concern everyone, especially you, Stink!

The solution isn’t complicated… end five-day RTO, ki-l the presence reports, and start making this company a place people actually want to work again.

Because right now we’re not just losing today’s talent, we’re losing tomorrow’s too.

This company is #3 out of the big 3 in telecom with no chance of ever becoming #1 again. Things are headed downhill fast and this company is circling the drain. Time to make a change before it’s too late. Your move, Stinky-Legg and Gerbil Jeffy McSelfish!

So we were informed that we need to have 7 hours of steady typing, mouse clicks and phone per day. After removing allotted lunch/breaks, that is 100% of time chained to a desk? So we are forced to drive hours to sit in an open plan sweatshop just to continuously type and click? Wasn't the "purpose" of forcing everyone into an office for COLLABORATION? Why does WF hate their employees?

https://www.businessinsider.com/worker-got-religious-exemption-using-ai-at-work-2026-6

My department’s leader recently sent a note to all staff with directions to update our “My Career Story” in the HR portal area. She said the “critical fields” to update were education, external work history, career preferences, and relocation/work preferences.

Seems kind of odd. Anyone else agree?

So I’m a converged service rep in Amarillo and have to work in the office 5 days a week. My friend in Lubbock who is in the same department as me but under a different center manager got a surplus and was offered to keep their same job and wfh full time. How is it fair that we do the same work but I have to keep reporting to the office? What’s the reason for us not being able to work from home?

When will ELT and Sr Leaders slow down the type and quantity of change they are shoving down our throats?! I understand that change is required in any organization, but for fcks sake give us a change to digest these changes and understand them before you dump more on us!

Change fatigue is real, and is the main reason I want to leave but probably won't because of the amount of $$ I have wrapped up in my LP. Plus, I don't want the tax hit from having to sell it if I leave and work for a competing firm.

But seriously... just fckng leave us alone for a hot minute.

Will there be any more layoffs before the month ends, or are we safe for a couple of weeks?

For all the people posting "just quit," I'm assuming you either have wealthy parents, a wealthy spouse, a trust fund, or simply don't understand that most American households rely on two incomes to keep the lights on.

The idea that people can "just quit" comes from a place of privilege. Many people can't simply walk away from a paycheck. They can't magically afford a maid, laundry service, extra childcare, or elder care to make RTO more manageable, or months of reduced income or no income on unemployment while they search for something new. And let's be honest—the job market isn't exactly making that decision easier right now.

What makes this especially frustrating is that many of us chose these roles over the last few years because they were advertised as remote or hybrid—not because we were specifically committed to one company. Changing the rules after people have built their lives around those expectations feels like a bait-and-switch.

So when people say, "just quit," what they're really saying is, "just absorb the financial risk and disruption to your life." That's easy advice to give when you have a safety net. Not everyone does.

The result isn't that people leave. The result is that you end up with a lot of frustrated, disengaged employees who feel stuck because they can't simply walk away.

And yes, it's hard not to notice that many of the people making these decisions have financial security and flexibility that most workers don't. It's a lot easier to tell someone else to take a risk when you're insulated from the consequences yourself.

Not to mention that the office setup, hot-desking, and commutes are terrible.

Am I getting paid for that commute time? No. Should I be? Probably. We all should be.

And let's not pretend there aren't real quality-of-life impacts. A lot of people use the flexibility of remote work to take a walk, go to the gym, attend a doctor's appointment, pick up a family member, or simply take a break that helps them manage stress and stay productive. When you're spending hours each day commuting to and from an office, that time disappears.

For many people, return-to-office doesn't just mean working from a different location. It means less time for exercise, less time for family, less time for errands, and less time to take care of their mental and physical health—all while doing the exact same work they were already doing successfully from home.

Global looks like their wages are dogshit, especially for the industry. Worldpay was not perfect but much more competitive, nd most of the new HR including the Head of HR are Worldpay folks not Global folks. A good sign for the future of employee benefits?

We were told all full timers are expected to work on 4th and holiday will be observed on the Monday the 6th in New Jersey- see once when do we push off a holiday until the following week- in all my years a Saturday holiday was in same work week not the next

Im sorry to say, this place is beyond cooked....and its not just BD, its the whole world.

Balance no longer exists. What remains is a world defined by imbalance so constant that it has become indistinguishable from normalcy. Excess and deficiency exist side by side, not in tension but in resignation, as though correction is no longer expected.

Across the public sphere, intelligent and coherent thought has grown less common, not because the capacity has disappeared, but because the conditions that sustain it have eroded. Attention is fragmented, discourse is accelerated beyond reflection, and communication is increasingly shaped by urgency rather than understanding. Conversations that once demanded depth are now compressed into immediacy, and in that compression, nuance is lost. The result is not silence, but noise without clarity.

At the same time, the natural systems that underpin life are under sustained stress. The ground, the water, the air, and the food supply carry the cumulative weight of industrial and chemical expansion, often in ways that are not immediately visible. These changes do not announce themselves dramatically. They accumulate quietly, persistently, until their consequences become unavoidable. What once could be assumed as stable now exists under conditions that are uncertain and increasingly difficult to restore.

Economic structures mirror this imbalance. Wealth and opportunity continue to concentrate, while access to stability becomes less predictable for much of the population. The idea that effort alone ensures security has weakened. Systems that suggest fairness in principle often fail to deliver it in experience. As disparity widens, so does the distance between those who can insulate themselves from instability and those who cannot.

Institutions that were meant to provide coherence reflect this fragmentation. Education struggles to reconcile its purpose with shifting demands. Governance often reacts rather than directs. Information systems prioritize engagement, leaving accuracy as a secondary concern. These structures continue to function, but their ability to produce alignment or trust has diminished.

On an individual level, the effects are less dramatic but no less significant. People remain connected through constant technological access, yet the sense of being understood does not scale with that connection. Productivity continues to increase, but fulfillment does not follow proportionally. Options expand, while direction becomes less certain. Activity grows, while meaning becomes harder to define.

None of these elements exist in isolation. Each reinforces the others. A decline in thoughtful discourse makes it more difficult to address complex problems. Environmental strain contributes to economic pressure. Inequality intensifies social fragmentation. The systems designed to manage these forces operate within the same conditions that weaken them.

This is not a moment defined by a single collapse, but by the gradual normalization of imbalance across every domain. It is a state in which strain is continuous, correction is delayed, and the expectation of equilibrium has quietly receded.

I have spent the last decade and a half working forty plus hours a week and I have nothing left to give. My health, my hobbies, my relationships, they have all taken a backseat to just surviving work. And I have several decades of this left. Is life really supposed to be like this?

A theory I have is this….if you want to go, you are more likely to NOT be chosen. If you are it sends the wrong message. “Look at that guy leave, he’s so happy. People will start to question as to why should they stay here like this guy.”

If you want or need to stay..the more desperate you are, you are more apt to be chosen. It sends a different message. “This could happen to you. Look how miserable he is to be let go, better buckle down and give give give more and more to the company. Really put in those hours, don’t be like Bob.”

Is this return to office in September an attempt to get moreee people to quit? Anyone able to get out of this?? How???

We can’t wait to get outta here….behind this trapped door

They can't keep people it is such a terrible company to work for and ever since the Rentokill mess, it's worse. The techs can't do their jobs efficiently since their planners clearly don't understand a map or distance. They schedule 6 8-10 stops that are 20 miles apart and mandate the amount of time you have to spend at each stop. The leadership are all the latest failures from unrelated industries like Burger King or some other cr-p job. The after hours work of calling customers and fixing the scheduling the planners can't get right reduce your hourly pay to min wage or worse all to work in cramped spaces in extreme heat and cold. Seriously, layoffs are not the issue, retaining people is their big problem.

I'm asking because I honestly can't remember what it's like to not dread Monday morning. If you actually love what you do, what's your job and what makes it worth it for you?

I think I speak for a lot of people when I say this: I do not give a fu-k about my 9-to-5 job. I don’t care about your KPIs, the company’s goals, or the team’s goals. I don’t give a fu-k about my coworkers, and I don’t give a sh-t about my boss. I don’t care how some director or VP feels about themselves, the team, or the company. I couldn’t care less about any of that.

The only thing I care about is how much money you’re paying me and how much bullsh-t I have to deal with to earn it. I don’t want drama. I don’t want politics. I don’t want unnecessary headaches. I want to do my job, get paid, and go home.

Over the years, I’ve had bosses and executives come to me talking about KPIs, metrics, performance targets, and company objectives. They act like it’s the most important thing in the world. Meanwhile, in my head, I’m just thinking, “Yeah, sure. I don’t give a fu-k.”

If we hit our KPIs, what does that actually mean for me? Am I getting a significant raise? Am I getting a bonus? Is my life improving in any meaningful way? If not, then why should I care? I don’t give a sh-t about what it means for management or what it means for the company. I care about what it means for me.

Unfortunately, when we’re at work, most of us have to pretend we care about those things. We nod along, smile, and act engaged because that’s part of the game. But the reality is that for most people, work is a transaction. We exchange our time and effort for a paycheck.

I think for 95% of employees, that’s the truth. They’re not there because they’re deeply passionate about quarterly targets or corporate strategy. They’re there to make a living. Everything else is just background noise.