MeetingPulse is already open and the first 2 questions are about WFH. Thoughts?
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@j0 yea bro. Like it’s total drop kicks being as loud as possible and only thinkin about themselves. Outsourcing their jobs can’t come soon enough. I’ve had enough of the whining. Eating into everyone else’s bonuses.
Leadership is full of people who look the part but actually can't do anything. Every single one of them is a bluffer. Has anything actually changed for the better? Even just looking at our data — it's still a mess. We're not even at the starting line for using AI properly.
@fh I don't want to diminish your enthusiasm but a few of us have seen the same story and rhetoric repeat several times in the last 5-6 years and the all-hands was more of an eye-roll only because we're hearing the commitment (again), and still waiting for the actions and the accountability that back it up.
The only good action has been Kimberly's departure, and a few others who were her around her level; and the Enterprise Change Management team and Architecture Team's have been re-treaded 3 times in this many years, which tells me someone recognizes they were not working and too ivory tower.
Time well tell.
@kp The few IT voices on this site don't represent the whole of Tech at the firm. It’d be like judging all of Britain based on a few loud hooligans.
@ke 100% correct.
BTW…currently two upvotes on this. IT folks will see it and you will have 9 downvotes by 10am on Monday.
Not ONE meeting pulse question about what can I do to make the business better. It’s all about your bonus your WFH privilege. Your job security. You have shown that this is a just a mercantile relationship for you. Why do you complain when the firm agrees and goes offshore?
@fh YES! The vocal minority is definitely alive and well here. While it’s true that morale takes a hit when work models change, the extreme conclusions people are jumping to are based on headlines rather than a depth of facts.
We should consider the source and be wary of both the 'keyboard warriors' and those poking them for amusement. The real call to action is to be a good human: if people need to rant, let them. If you don't feed the negativity, it dies on the vine. There have always been, and will always be, unhappy employees. A subset have gravitated to this site and use it as a sounding board for themselves. Awareness of the trends and themes in the feedback is helpful.
@OP "My gas price is up so can I have a raise?" So you going to offer to cut your pay when gas prices fall? Some of those questions had me p'ssing myself.
@fh 100% with you. There are a lot of cr--s here on the layoff who are just trying to drag us down. I suspect many of them have been comfortable at the firm for many years and don’t understand how good we actually have it. Those of us who have joined the firm a little more recently, from other organizations, understand that while we certainly have work to do and improvements to make, I’m very grateful to be able to work here and I count my blessings.
Asset management is the core of this business, so honestly, the investment team is the one that needs McKinsey advising them, not anyone else lol. Someone from the outside needs to point out how many logically incoherent practices have become normalized — and the way we message externally, too. No matter how hard sales grinds, you can't sell something that fundamentally doesn't work. I mean, no firm's gonna invest in a company whose executives just read their lines off a script.
@ew totally know what you saying. Resonates a lot.
@fh enjoy the “new” culture.
@fh I could not hear most of 8t.
@fh most posters here are just bitter. A vocal minority.
I am confused by this group. I have been at the firm for about 3 years and found the town hall today to be productive. It's the most transparent I have seen the leaders and I actually liked the strategy / plan that was laid out. It seems realistic and for the first time in a while, it makes me feel like their is a path that is exciting.
I have been at several other firms, many larger than TRP and I have found it pretty good here. They seemed open to answer most questions, even those that felt incredibly entitled. I hear the group on gas prices, it's mucked up my budget as well. I just don't expect the firm to remedy that. Have you tried calling your elected officials to share that concern and create action? it is actually their responsibility.
I am hopeful that we can influence some change to make the culture and benefits better, but if these are the requests, I have little faith.
I am sure that this will get downvoted, but I can't be the only person that thought that the town hall was helpful.
@f1 Sell the damn place and layoff more people. This is the BS direction we are moving in.
What is going to happen in 90 days? Any thoughts?
@ew No one’s attacking foreign workers—they’re getting squeezed just like everyone else. A race to the bottom on pay and benefits hurts all employees. The only ones who “win” are executives and shareholders, and even that’s short-lived before performance suffers catastrophicly. And framing it this way plays right into management’s strategy—keep us focused on each other instead of the decisions driving it
@em This isn't high school, management has better things to do than thinking up ways to pit groups against each other.
@e9 from where I stand, it’s the tech crew that play the victim while attacking foreigners and acting entitled. Sure not all tech employees are doing this but it sure is vocal on here.
One of the tech dudes in my local office acts like he owns the joint. He tries to cozy up to management, always wants to be notified of any important thing (even non tech related) in the office, makes decisions that he has no right making. Struts around the office like a peacock. I also think he reads associates’ emails and texts as well as phone call recordings. He knew about an associate getting laid off even before I think that person did.
@eh what looks “bloated” to someone who isn’t in the trenches looks like spread thin to those of us left to carry the load of those let go but also clean up the messes made by their replacements. But I agree. this disregard for other is intentional. the management strategy is clearly working. I personally would never presume to know if another team was bloated without walking in their shoes. this company used to be a place where most everyone respected the contributions of all teams and roles. sad.
@eh The problem is also I think the management is very deliberately trying to create resentment between different groups the way they handle things. Some amount of friction between certain groups is normal, but the way they've handled things has made it much worse.
@eh tech employs over 60 percent of total workers at this firm. An investment firm.
@e9 "Without them, there would be no modern T. Rowe Price.." - you could say that about many of the roles in the organization. Which highlights the problem of tech being pretty tone-deaf to what is going on in the rest of the company. Everyone knows tech is important, but it's also very expensive and currently somewhat bloated.
@e5 its just another magic show misdirection...
Presenting, the wonderful and ever talented, The Great Sharps!
" Greetings fine colleagues. Here is a small teaser of the work that we promised we would show you when we fired people a year ago.... and again 90 days ago, but it is pretty broad, doesnt highlight really anything we plan to do to fix things, but we need to get going on it REALLY fast --- we hope you love what we are doing here and are happy to take on work of multiple groups we fired while also reworking the company into something with AI . Please get started FROM IN THE OFFICE.... we will not listen to anything about WFH, but we will let many sr. execs live in different states as long as they fly in occasionally. We need.... uhhh 90 more days? before we can tell you anything else. Then, AND ONLY THEN, will I show you the 3rd act of this magic show... the PRESTIGE, where we either sell the company or give me a raise. "
.... at least they admitted that investment performance is a problem this time.
The disdain shown by some non-tech associates toward the affected tech associates is terrible. It seems acceptable to dehumanize a group of hardworking individuals based on personal grievances. For decades, tech associates have built and supported the systems that keep this organization functioning and for a long time a great company. Without them, there would be no modern T. Rowe Price..
What’s with the 90 days BS TRP? More layoffs? Some new brilliant plan?
@e0 I don’t think advocating for your livelihood is the same as acting like a child. WFH flexibility, job security, and compensation aren’t trivial topics, they’re core to people’s day-to-day lives. Most people just want to feel like their work is valued and that there’s some benefit to the effort they’re putting in.
@e1 Is it fair that one lady on my team is allowed to come in only once a week while the rest of us with kids have to come in 4 times a week?? Apparently it’s on me to find daycare but she is buddies with the boss so she has special wfh privileges. I am sorry but it is on her to figure it out just like the rest of us on the team with kids are forced to do!!!
@dx A blanket “that’s on you” ignores the reality that workplace expectations shifted significantly, and now they’re shifting again. It’s reasonable for employees to question how those changes are being handled.
@OP Thoughts...when the questions at every town hall are about the same 3 topics - WFH, layoffs, and bonuses - we look like a bunch of selfish, needy children, so that's how we get treated.
Working here is a privilege. So sick of the techies and their WLB issues. Management is trying to run a business not your daycare
@dx They make exceptions for Accenture workers. You don't see them anywhere "Collaborating" do you? I agree - parents can't work from home and watch kids under a certain age - the company suffers then. But giving people a little more flexibility does pay dividends.
@dw They also aren’t responsible for your kids and their daycare and school pickup. That’s on you. Maybe you need to adjust your living standards and payup for some daycare. Not an excuse to say you need to wfh because you have kids. Most people here have kids. Can’t keep making exceptions for people to wfh and then say someone else has to come into the office. Figure it out!
@dh the company is not responsible for commuting costs, you are. If you decided to move far away during covid bc you didn’t think you’d be expected to show up again, that’s on you.
@dt Thank you - I am in my final months here and your post gave me a bit of strength to reach the finish line.
@dq Speaking as one who waited to be forced out, the last year or so was a miserable slog, but the severance payout made it worthwhile.
Why give them what they want for free?
@dk Yep - it is obvious that morale is in the cr-pper here, and that many employees are interested more flexibility. But they ignore both and double down on the painful. I would bet that this toxic environment is by design as is the increasing in office days as they probably have "targets" for self-elimination for American T Rowe workers. Every Associate that leaves will either not be replace or that work will be taken by Accenture. It is the same double-standard we see so much in daily life - some people are treated with a different set of rules. Accenture Indian workers can work at home just fine. American workers in Baltimore - drive down to crime ridden Baltimore, hope a 12 year old doesn't car jack you, and try to work in an overheated noise chamber. Can't meet your goals with all of the noise? They'll replace you.
These people have no souls, indicative of people who could care less about human beings. Get out while you can before they force you out.
TRP has become a toxic cesspit where political and manipulative individuals are being promoted and given more power. These are the same people who, if you criticize them or offer to help improve workflows, take it negatively and make your life difficult because they are comfortable and see you as someone challenging their status quo. They ensure you are the only one doing the work, while others act as spectators, behaving superior and offering feedback. This issue is also evident in the business side.
I'm done with this bullsh-t corporate talk and a "townhall" that eliminates questions and it's just a bunch of dudes with Rolex watches talking about scaling. The boomers in global distribution don't even know what AI or LLM stand for, heck they cant even edit a calendar appointment. If I hear AI one more time, I'll flip.