#workload

Headcount keeps dropping but the work never does, so you just keep piling more on your plate. Meanwhile, your manager couldn't do your job if their life depended on it, so good luck getting any real support. It is exhausting and completely unsustainable. This is a nightmare and I'm sick of living it.

Many people post on here about where is all the work going to go with layoffs? None of this has been addressed since VSP 1.0.. We were wasting so much money of useless “projects”, meetings, reviews, slide decks, paralysis by analysis, that the thousands and thousands of people RIF’d have made no significant impact to progress. VZ is changing and those useless projects will all cease once the gutting is done. It’s unnecessary work and those doing to work will not be replaced. The end of VZ as we knew it is happening in front of us, daily. Su-ks, but that’s reality when you are up to your eyeballs in debt and only answer to analysts and shareholders.

I would rather just stay understaffed than keep watching new people come in, fail to learn a single thing, and leave after a few months. Every time I end up explaining the exact same things over and over, doing their work and mine, and then starting all over again when they quit.

So much work suddenly come altogether, and the leads are expecting us to handle 2x 3x (only workload, not $$$) work with AI.... lol, and the layoff never stops.

https://www.thelayoff.com/post/@c2+1krw8vj36

I'm kind of sick of my department, it's a constant rush to new ridiculous deadlines every day all with the threat of being offshored, it's exhausting

Given recent townhall. The idea of shifting from engineers and managers to AI Builders as a blanket term to cover both engineering and managers as one. How are others feeling about this? Shifting team sizes to teams of 2-4 with a goal of trying to get code to production in 5 days. Does anyone else think it’s problematic? Team size changes meaning more layoffs to come? Anyone feeling as if there is a big disconnect from what upper management envisions and what goes on a day to day? Do we see quality control dropping and heavier workloads that will be “solved” because of AI? Anyone feeling let down by leadership?

The leadership is hoping you will. They're hoping they'll get fewer people to do more. If you know what's good for you and all of your coworkers, you won't play into their hands.

Or will this continue throughout the week?

Does anyone have a general idea when they think AI will start taking over work/employees jobs. the more and more they talk about I feel its around the corner...like in 2 years tops.

These id--ts remove remote work and expect software developers to work a lot for 75% of the average pay. They also expect you to do POCs and come up with all the solutions and lead new efforts like a software architect at a director level pay lol.
The expectations are delusional and ridiculous.

Stop telling me what you watched on Netflix last night.

I don't care what you watched on Netflix last night. I don't care that you're behind on Severance. I don't care that you're rewatching The Wire. I don't care that your wife made you watch The Bear and now you both have opinions about it.

I am at my hot desk. I have headphones on the desk in front of me and on my head. My calendar has a red block on it that says "deep work." My Slack status is the little do-not-disturb moon icon.

This is not subtle.

I worked from home for four years. I had three real conversations a day, all of them with people on my team about work things. I have been back in the office for nine weeks and last week alone I was told about a podcast, a documentary, two restaurants in the financial district that "everyone is talking about," and a guys daughter's recital. I do not know this guy's daughter. I do not know this guy.

Stop coming up to my desk. Stop hovering near my desk. Stop sliding into the hot desk next to me when there are eleven open ones on the other side of the floor.

The office is for the people who don't have anything to do. I have things to do.

My department has been told the goal is to “run out of work,” and that we should not be concerned with this. Today we “ran out of work.” Concerned?

And now after many failed attempts to do an upgrade that’s been in works for months and months, they are entering a hard freeze since it failed, yet again. SMH.

Why is it always on the survivors to absorb everything from the people who got cut? If there's suddenly so much extra work, maybe those people shouldn't have been let go. But there's never any real planning afterward, just an expectation that we'll do the jobs of three people, including things we have no idea how to do.

It's a mixed bag in my team. There are a couple who contribute fairly. I've stopped checking their work because they've proven reliable and knowledgeable. The rest just create more work for me. Everything they do needs to be reviewed and often redone. I can't shake the feeling that many of them aren't as invested in keeping their jobs. Which is counterintuitive, but still.

I guess that confirms a higher paycheck puts a target on your back. Fine. But why never any follow-up? There's a reason those people were paid more than the rest of us. It boggles the mind that management expects us to pick up work none of us actually knows how to do. I'm not acquiring a whole new skill set just to work more for the same pay.

Heading into the weekend, reading through these comments is either giving me a migraine or a comedy special. Let’s get real: layoffs are completely out of our control. Personally, I’m already buried in work so deep that the Hubble telescope couldn't find me. And if anyone is about to ask about moving at "3x velocity"—I've already been doing that since the last RIF, and frankly, I'm currently moving faster than the atmospheric entry of the recent Artemis mission.
Sitting here spiraling won't change who gets the short end of the stick. Go touch some grass, enjoy your weekend, and actually disconnect.
I say this as a seasoned survivor of multiple RIFs. Honestly? Every single one of them ended up being a blessing. It either pushed me into a better position, or it finally forced the company to clear out the dead weight, the Olympic-level smooth talkers, and the professional "delegators" who haven't touched actual work since the Obama administration.
Control what you can control. For everything else, log off and pour a drink—we’ll see who survives the snap on Wednesday morning, May 20.

I was already a 10x engineer. Now I'm 3x10x. I think next week I'm slated to up that to 9x.
In a few more quarters, I figure I'll be outputting more PRs than atoms in the universe.

I work so hard, 16 hours a day on average. Work on weekend. On call duty. Why am I being laid because of stack ranking? This is not fair!

No other way to really explain it.

There were so many cuts lately that every person on my team now does the work of two people - if we're lucky! Some are doing even more. When will this end? When we start keeling over?

I have no idea how we're supposed to get anything done.

This wasn’t a mass layoff like the one in January, but a few one offs occurred today. My manager and our 2 leads had their roles eliminated today, we were told the news at 4:30pm. Only thing the AVP said was their roles had been eliminated after a thorough review of everyday duties. As if we weren’t already short handed, now the rest of us will be drowning.

Everyone in the office is talking about looking at other jobs bc they’re stretched thin. Critical team members openly talk about interviewing elsewhere.

I used to be so proud of my work ethic. I always stayed late, took on extra, really cared. Now I feel like a total fool. The workload after the layoffs didn't decrease. It increased, because the people left are burned out and the lazy ones are still lazy. So those of us who still try are doing even more. I love what I do, I really do, but I'm so tired. Tired of working my butt off every day for a place that doesn't value me. And here's the thing. I'm probably getting cut in the next few months anyway. So why am I still doing this? Why am I not just coasting like everyone else? I'm starting to think that's the smarter move.

Looks like employees manager level and below will have to start logging their activities for a “time study.”

VZI employees reduction and cost cutting is in peaks. A lot of work load been observed in every domain.

Anyone else is experiencing longer VPN connection times these days? The tool we used to have took no more than 30 seconds to connect to the corporate network but now with this GP thing it routinely takes 3-5 minutes.

Metrics, work flow, policies, changes, fear tactics. Nothing is adding up. I am starting to see this Industry in the same light as a consumer.

And cripple teams in the process? You can only spread so much work across so few people, especially when specific roles require specific skills. It's pretty clear that efficiency and morale aren't even on the list when they're making these decisions.

Wow, this article triggered me! Why? For decades radio measurement was exclusive to Arbitron. Much like Nielsen, they were considered a monolopy. The thought of Nielsen one day buying Arbitron thus hoarding both TV/Radio measurement was unheard of...until it wasn't. As digital became pervasive, and the TV landscape started to change at a drastic rate with streaming...somehow the gov't was convinced Nielsen buying Arbitron would be a good thing. But for who? Not us employees, either Arbitron or Nielsen. I was on the TV side during this buyout and basically overnight we were ordained radio "experts" with full responsbility of managing all client contracts and relationships. Middle mgt and finance didn't give a cr-p how you pulled it off...as long as you kept that money coming in. Basically double the work for the same compensation. It was a nightmare One of the reaonons I eventually burned out. I can only imagine how hard it was as well for the Aribtron folks now having to listen to Nielsen mgt BS. Anways, seems none much has changed. Read the article.

https://barrettmedia.com/2026/05/11/nielsen-ceo-karthik-rao-radio-promise/

What are you even "managing"? It's ridiculous.

The TOP companies are getting the message yet this dinosaur is not excelling but just managing.

It costs $2.2B–$4.0 Billion a year for this.

• people managers
• program managers
• product managers
• project managers
• engineering managers
• sales managers

So 7,000–13,000 people managers

And another 4,000–9,000 program/product/project managers

.......do you REALLY need >20,000 managers managing to manage?

Are these 20 thousand even technical?

If not, what do they even do?

No energy. No details.
Just work faster and harder.

I'm carrying the team while three people next to me do nothing. Hard work isn't rewarded here. So why am I still ki-ling myself?

This is how I am understanding it:

• much larger teams with fewer leaders
• mgrs w/ more direct reports
• Scrum master, Agile coach, program, project, and squad-lead roles being reduced
• More expectation that engineers and ICs manage execution themselves
• Fewer meetings & ceremonies (well, @ least in theory)
• More pressure on us remaining, we'll need to deliver w/ less support
• Reorgs is masked with fake terms like "efficiency," "simplification," "flattening," or "new op model"
• the layoff goes beyond cost cutting (they are trying to change how work gets done)
  Am I missing anything or something here?

It’s must be the DEF MET of the office world what a bunch of fu-k wits can they be laid off please so I can work?

Has anyone else had a problem with Cigna not scheduling your legally entitled rest breaks? I have had many conversations with my manager about this, and they continue to not give me rest breaks. I have filed a complaint with my state's BOLI 6 months ago, and they have not investigated yet. Am I the only one?