As a more conservative person with more traditional values, I do not feel comfortable bringing my "whole self" to work. In fact, I try to hide my views from the more liberal leadership team at Teradata. Surely they must realize that when they take a hard public stance on some of the issues that are dividing our nation, it alienates thousands of employees. It feels like the opposite of diversity to me. I hope we can get back to where people can disagree respectfully and not assume one side is right and the other side is wrong. There are smart, good people on both sides of these issues. We need leaders who can unify people, not divide people. And right now bringing political discussions into the workplace creates an uncomfortable environment and detracts from us winning customers and growing revenue.
31 replies (most recent on top)
I agree. Good people don’t treat employees like these people do. Smile and then stab you in the back.
For the record, I have to disagree with the post below that claimed HA, KCC, SA, etc were good people. Good people wouldn't let others take the fall for their mismanagement, let alone reward themselves for doing so, which is what happens every time there's a round of layoffs.
Go woke, go broke. This ELT has driven the company and employee morale into the ditch. They should be embarrassed but they are not self-aware enough to know how poorly the employees think of them.
I really cannot believe what some people feel they are entitled to in the name of wokeness. It comes down to a Britney Spears song: "You want a Maserati? You better work Bit*h!" Don't expect to be coddled - just WORK.
Where has all this social re-engineering left the company? More divided than ever with the lowest employee morale. If they did a real survey without tracking specific groups and employees they would uncover all this, but they don't really want to know. They feel like the are part of fundamentally changing America, which they see as an evil country. KCC has been in charge of HR while all this has happened. It should upset all the loyal employees who have kept the company alive.
If this is true, there should be an investigation. I see all kinds of stuff on Zoom calls and our ELT member HA has worn numerous political statement shirts on company-wide meetings. So why would Teradata ask an employee to take down an American flag? I guess that explains why you don't see any celebrations or LinkedIn posts on the more patriotic holidays. I can't work for this company much longer.
Why would they ask an employee to take down an American flag in his or her home office?
One employee was asked to take down an American flag that was visible on a Zoom call? Why? I rarely see any posts from our company on Veteran's Day, Memorial Day, or 4th of July. Are our leaders ashamed of our country? People from all the other countries want to come to the US. We are not perfect and have made many mistakes, but we are the most tolerant and progressive country in the world. And we are the first to help other countries when they have disasters or are under attack. It would be good if TDC's ELT showed more PRIDE in our country.
Look at the corruption within some of the organizations our ELT members have openly supported and you have to scratch your head. All the more reason they should stick to managing our core business, not our personal morals or values.
Someone please post a link to this thread on Yammer. SM, KCC, NC, and HA need to see this. Who knows, it may make a difference. I believe they are good people, they have just been so far on on side they can't make their way to the middle. But the middle is where most TDC employees are.
I like this thread since for the most part it is respectful. The OP is clearly trying to wake up people who can not tolerate ideas other than their own which have probably been inflamed by social media and cable companies trying to maximize viewers. Ironically the left was the party of free speech and now many have tried to shut down speech from the right. If someone can't understand how some of these social changes are controversial, they need to be aware. It may surprise some, but all conservatives are not racists. Most are just trying live in peace and take care of their family. And corporations are the last we need trying to dictate social norms and values. Good to see how many up-votes this is getting. Maybe there is hope that we can get back to a more healthy dialogue in our country with less hate.
Nah - plenty of examples of hard working and smart employees who still got canned despite giving TD all that they had and then some. The only way to guarantee you won't be laid off is to join the ELT cheerleader squad.
Bringing your "whole self" to work sounds like a warning for layoffs. Managements is trying to say work hard so you can escape any upcoming layoffs that they are planning.
Exactly. "Bring your work self to work" is no longer acceptable in the brave new woke world because "silence is violence". The bullies will not leave you alone until you kiss their ring.
Whoever re-posts this on our Yammer channel will be gone in 2 months. The ELT expects conformity and if you disagree with their social engineering ideas your "diverse" opinion will not be tolerated. They will probably label your views as hateful. When senior leaders wear political t-shirts on company meetings and post political social media messages, it sends a clear directive to employees to conform or face the consequences. This makes for an intolerable work environment for hundreds of employees who do not want corporations to attempt to change or shape their moral or religious values. Treat everyone with respect and value their differences. Period. But do not try to make everyone conform to a new value system just because you adhere to it. If you truly value diversity, then practice diversity.
Bringing your "whole self" to work has never been acceptable. If highly religious people bring their "whole selves" and start having prayer sessions at work, the atheists will freak out. Try wearing apparel of a political nature, and see what happens especially to conservatives. And most people do not want to know what happens in other people's bedrooms, that is private and should not be discussed at work. And excessive talk about kids, soccer games, vacation plans, food, etc. is a productivity drail. So yeah - Bring Your Work Self to work and stop all the other nonsense. It's a distraction and negatively impacts productivity. How about we talk about how to keep Snowflake from taking what customers we have left?
The ELT is focused on social re-engineering rather than our core business since they don't really know a way out of our competitive quagmire, and it makes them feel like they are doing something. If you made E Musk CEO and stuck him with the legacy Teradata database, late to cloud, brain-drain, and no other business units to make up for the dying on-prem data warehouse market he would look mediocre at best. He would sell at a discount to a PE firm and move on. TDC is on life-support. The part that angers me is that there has been a revolving door of clueless ELT hires and departures making a ton of money while our business has been struggling and average employees barely get anything. There is nothing that ties revenue growth to executive compensation. The Board is apathetic and unable to guide the ship. No real corporate governance exists since they are all getting excessive compensation. SM will cash in as he turns out the lights.
TD's adoption of a more progressive environment isn't the problem, the toxicity goes miles deep from bad managers over the years and across the board. Start pushing back, requiring boundaries and a cut-off at 8hrs and I guarantee no matter how "woke" you think TD has become, they WILL let us go no matter our "politics" (liberal or otherwise).
How about we bring our "Work Self" to work, and focus on driving revenue and winning customers. Your personal time is where you do your other stuff, and some of your other stuff is so personal and sensitive I don't need to know about it. Stop all the social re-engineering and leave your politics out of the workplace cause you know you will upset 50% of people if you take a stance. Are you good with 50% of people not wanting to work with you? If you are, you have issues. Treat everyone with respect. Our business is in the toilet, Snowflake and other cloud customers are taking our customers, and our ELT is focused on social causes? Why?
All radicals are bullies. End of story. How about we now focus on the subject matter and stop trying to veer into politics?
I see my response to this thread from a couple of days ago calling out the radical left as bullies and censors has been deleted, despite being completely on topic and not violating any rules. Pretty sad when you can't complain about being bullied and censored without being bullied and censored.
People can not really choose what is "good" for them. Some things are good and will lead to positive life outcomes or improved mental or physical health. And other things are bad for you and will lead to negative life outcomes or declining mental or physical health. We are all free to make our choices, but we are not free from the consequences of those choices. Too many buy into the "if it feels good do it" culture and it leads to depression and many other issues.
It is good to see the negative posts being down voted and the positive votes being up voted. Maybe things are starting to move in the right direction. I am so tired of the negativity and division in our country and in our company. Social media plays a huge role. It is draining and depressing to see all the arguing from both sides. Look for the good in people and you just might find it. Look for common ground and what unites us and stop having your strings pulled by media companies who want views and algorithms designed to divide us.
@2hxk+1hsSAAad you are proving my point about how big tech and the media are dividing us. Nobody said anything negative about minorities, you just jump right into a race theme in your response. You must assume all conservatives are racists. That is what the media feeds you and you eat it up. Try thinking of race as the human race. We are all unique no matter what color our skin is, or our gender. Why group millions of people into a mold and think they all think and act the same? Treat everyone with respect and don't assume that you are so smart that all your viewpoints are right and everyone else is wrong. If you really value diversity, then that means you have to be comfortable with people who have diverse viewpoints. Start showing some respect. #StopTheHate
I think you are just jealous of the minorities who are finally receiving the visibility, representation and respect they never had before.
Maybe your whole self is no longer acceptable, and your "world" is part of the reason why minorities are marginalized in the first place.
Like it or not, we live in a world where the only constant in change, so embrace it.
Also what exactly bothers you? allowing people to love other people? Or allowing people to worship whoever/whatever they want to worship? Or is it allowing people to decide what's good for them?
I can choose to be angry at all the wokeness. Or I can choose to help be a part of uniting, and teaching. We get more holidays here than anywhere else and is interesting to see what people think. Amazing how different we all are…
Personally, I’ll listen to everyone’s story. What if for 1 month people would take part in an experiment of loving everyone regardless of how unlovable they are to you. Maybe we would all be happier, less stressed and more joyful. What would we have to lose by trying an experiment?
I’m going to try it just to see if it helps to
Love more than hate. Today is day 1. Will you join me? Please report back on July 30th what
If you're not comfortable being the real/whole you, maybe you should ask yourself why? Are you embarrassed some of your beliefs? Are you ashamed if others learn about the causes you support?
I fa-t a lot, crack bad (dad) jokes and moan and groan all day long on how the young generation is wrecking the world. That being said, can I bring my whole self to work? I think it's a very bad idea. What about this - put on a shirt and maybe a jacket, straighten up and only allow to surface the better part of me which still yearns to be what a professional is supposed to be.
Is anyone bold enough to put this on our Teradata Yammer channel so the ELT can see how people really feel? It may not do any good, but at least this respectful thread would be made broadly available and who knows, maybe things can improve. I would love to work for a company that truly valued diversity and respected all people and viewpoints. I think our ELT has fallen into the trap of virtue signaling and jumping on the bandwagon of whatever seems popular. I still need a job so I admit I am not going to stick my neck out. Maybe someone who has one foot out of the door already....
Not a chance. I keep work and personal completely apart. I work to support my lifestyle. I have no interest in outside team building cr-p. I’ll do my job. I’ll do it well. And no more than 45 hours per week. If they don’t like it, Snowflake is hiring.
Agree. It is a balancing act. You want to respect people and their differing viewpoints and not create an environment that makes people uncomfortable. Treat all people with respect and dignity. Extreme viewpoints are not healthy especially at work. Thanks for posting this - maybe it is a step in the right direction for all of us...
This thread has been archived. Posting is disabled.