#culture

Discuss!

Do as i say not as i do. I will take your pay and with your money i will increase my salary by millions every year.

You deserve pay cuts every year for your hard work and delivering. This is all fair and ethical. I have different ethics to you, i deserve everything and you deserve 0.

The layoff plan was finalised in France and it’s a massacre that targets mostly engineers and surprisingly not too many corporate functions. Even products that are supposedly in priority has not been spared and people with domain knowledge have been impacted. In my 18 years at Ansys, I have never come across such levels of insincerity and misdirection.

AI is good but our core tech and management are managed by those old school people, non competent guys. Why?

Jon McNeill, the former president of Tesla, has released a new book, "The Algorithm," which outlines a five-step framework for Elon Musk's high-growth business operations. Which is not applicable in OpenText.

Step 1 | Question Every Requirement
Answers like "department regulations" or "it's always been this way" are not acceptable. Even safety or regulatory requirements must be re - examined for their necessity.

In OT, permissions are limited and prevented us from doing things.

Implementation method:

• Ask: Is this requirement mandated by law, safety, or physical laws?
• Find the name of the person who initially proposed this requirement.
• Requirements with no clear source are assumed to be deletable.

—————

Several managers have been resigning at the EFK site over the past few weeks. What do they know that the rest of us don't know?

"Grow up, get over it, baloney, you'll find another job!" Everyone's circumstances, obligations, etc., are very different. No one can know what someone might be facing in the news of a layoff or rebadge. If you disagree, say so, don't be a je-k about it.

Always remember: All those executives and management people at State Farm did not get where they are at by having a strong work ethic. They got there by hurting, stepping on, and disregard for their workers. They do not believe in a strong work ethic and loyalty. The exact same is for their customer which is a direct violation of the company mission and vision statement. Everything is negotiable for them but not for you.

Great article in Politico today on Frank continuing his work style and Brooklyn bully boy tactics at the IRS.

🚨 Introducing Our New Senior Leader Management Guide 🚨
“If you can’t lead… just list.”

Why waste years developing leadership skills when you can simply do the Optum method, rules for thee and not me.

Step 1: Lead with Lists
Not sure what your team does? Perfect. You’re exactly who this guide is for.
Just make a list. Lists = leadership. It’s basically the same thing.

Step 2: Stop Meeting Your Team
Historically, leaders wasted countless hours talking to employees, understanding workflows, and building trust.
Thankfully, we’ve evolved and are 100x
As a leader, you already know what’s happening. Why verify?  That sounds like work.

Step 3: Need More Collaboration? Easy.
Create a list of people who don’t come into the office, don’t worry you don’t need to fly into town to check we can use AI to send you.
Bo-m—collaboration problem solved.

Step 4: Eliminate “Old Leadership” Habits
In the past, being effective required showing up, engaging, and making hard decisions.
Now? Just update the list, you never need to come to town, or if you are low level leader you can just stay in your fish-tank office, no need to actually meet the team.

Step 5: AI Adoption Strategy
Becoming an AI-first company is simple:

• Say “we are an AI company” in every meeting
• Tell your team you don’t computer but they will make us an AI company and AI is the future
• Add anyone who doesn’t “AI” to a list
• Do not define “AI”

And don’t worry if you can send an email or use AI to write a sentence you are the leaders we are looking for!  —
true leadership is about vision, not ability or knowledge .

Step 6: Performance Management
Forget nuanced feedback.
Just categorize people into:

• On the List
• About to be on the List
• Doesn’t know they’re on the List yet

Step 7: Communication Excellence
Why overcomplicate messaging?
Every announcement can be summarized as:
“Per my last list…”

Step 8: Strategic Planning
Q1 Goal: Make a list
Q2 Goal: Refine the list
Q3 Goal: Make a new list
Q4 Goal: Wonder why nothing improved (add self to list, just kidding leader don’t go on these lists)

Remember: leadership isn’t about people, context, or outcomes.
It’s about maintaining a clean, well-organized list.

Leaders stay safe in your offices or if we care about you remote.

Coming to a country near you. Stick that in your RTO pipe and smoke it, stank.

And Mark Barrenechea is back!

Happy April Fools Day!

Yeah, right. There’s no way he didn’t know or wasn’t at least involved somehow. I can buy that he wasn’t the final decision maker, but I call bullsh-t on him not even knowing.

Let the Hunger Games begin!

Your constitutional rights — they apply to you regardless of immigration status. Period.

What to do if ICE knocks on your door. What warrant to look for. What NOT to sign. Word for word, what to say.

Your workplace rights — your employer cannot bench you, cannot threaten you with deportation, cannot charge you the H-1B filing fee. If they do, we tell you exactly who to call.

How to document hate. How to report it. How to archive online harassment before it disappears.

The numbers that prove this guide is overdue:
— 300 million+ views on anti-Indian hate posts on X in 2025
— 1 in 4 Indian Americans called a slur since 2025
— 48% encounter racist content regularly online
— 31% now avoid speaking up out of fear

We built this guide so you don’t have to be afraid. You have rights. Learn them. Use them.

Save it. Screenshot it.

READ HERE : https://drive.proton.me/urls/1ZEG9P75D4#qvMOIwA5G5ZV

This is one of the worest way address your financial issues you don't know how Runa company as nd to save your a-s you are effecting the lives of employees. You are not even calling them employees you are saying resources like a chalk if you re done writing handing over to other person to use. WE ARE PEOPLE NOT CHALK SO TREAT US LIKE ONE. If you have problems tell us upfront and be a human and tell us on the face rather you made our lives LIVING HE-L. Constantly laying off reshaping rebadging riffing people ( sorry resources) and playing with them. YOU ARE NOT ONLY EFFECING PEOPLE YOU ARE EFFECTING FAMILIES YOU ARE RIPPING THE DAMILIES APART.

I made best of belk this time! I get an extra 10% off and a secret lunch with the store manager at The Golden Corral! Those people who didn’t make best of belk can kiss my butt! I am somebody, I knew this day would come!!!

My favorite is #12. What is yours?

The Corporate Culture:
1 I've Been Moved (A classic, referencing constant reorganizations)
2 Id--ts Becoming Managers
3 Inertia Builds Mediocrity
4 Inside Bureaucratic Maze
5 Insecure Business Machines
6 International Boring Machinery
7 Incompetence By Management

The Work Experience:

1. I Buy Macs
2. I've Become Mediocre
3. Incredibly Boring Meetings
4. It's Been Miserable
5. Incredibly Bad Managers
6. I Bring Misery
7. Internally Blocked Motivation
8. I Basically Mess-up

The Technical Aspects:

1. It Barely Maintains
2. Invisible Backup Modules
3. Incompatible Blue Machines
4. Intentionally Buried Mainframe
5. It Bluescreened Monday
6. Input Bad Material

The Sarcastic Sales Pitch:

1. Incredibly Blue Monopoly
2. Invest By Mistake
3. Inherently Bogus Marketing
4. Infinite Business Memories

Maybe its a culture change. Every Sun employee who was not be retained by Oracle received a live phone call from the direct manager. "Oracle will not be offering you a job". Then you received correspondence about the separation arrangements, which, for directors and V.P.s were consistent with the "change in control" provisions. Maybe the numbers here made personal calls difficult, but feels pretty cold.

Which is exactly what they want. Only the most desperate will relocate to Texas cookie cutter he-l. RTO and FTW is ki-ling a once great American company.

Why is that something that's considered not just normal, but a quality that represents a hard worker? How did we allow it to get to this?

I’ve been here for over a decade, and I’d be lying if I said it was all bad. There were good times too, even if the bad has been more prominent in recent years. I’ll miss my coworkers, and I’m hoping we’ll still grab a drink now and then. I’m ready to move on. Good luck to everyone else, I hope life treats you well.

Just received an email for a sales blitz for Alpharetta, Irving and Temple Terrace. I'm not sure about Alpharetta, but I know for a fact Temple Terrace is being decommissioned within the next two weeks. Items are already being auctioned on ASI 3 auction catalog lmao. This is how bad our leadership is. They sent an email for a sales blitz for a building that won't even have any furniture within the next few weeks lol

Energized — or at least pretending to be — by the first global People Team town hall of 2026, the leadership proudly announced it was “hosted live from 240G.” What they didn’t mention was that 240G looked like the cafeteria equivalent of a pep rally held for a team with a losing record: rows of empty chairs, a few confused junior staffers clutching branded notebooks, and a camera crew desperately angling shots to make the room look less… vacant.

The official recap described it as “electric.”
The broken elevator nearby disagreed.

A handful of interns were strategically scattered across the room like decorative houseplants, nodding enthusiastically on cue. Their job was simple: create the illusion of engagement, clap when leadership paused and avoid asking any questions that might accidentally require honesty or Non-Disclosure Agreements.

Then came the fireside chat — minus the fire, the warmth, or the chat. Leadership spoke passionately about “leading with empathy,” which was bold considering empathy hasn’t been spotted anywhere near the Executive Committee or People Team since the last time someone accidentally turned on their camera during a reorg meeting.

And here’s the part that truly captured the spirit of the event:

Even the universally likable Jose Minaya, or the company’s designated empathizer James LeGrand, or Eliza — our glitchy, ever‑smiling Employee of the Year — couldn’t generate a single watt of real or AI‑curated warmth in that room.
Not even a flicker.
Not even a screensaver‑level glow.

Still, the script marched on.

“Trust and empathy aren’t soft skills,” the speaker declared to the echoing cafeteria.
Correct — they’re missing skills.

The narrative continued:
“We must 'lean in' as one team.”
A curious statement, given that half the team was offshored, a quarter was interviewing elsewhere, and the remaining quarter was refreshing this website forum like it was a stock ticker.

The part about “keeping the human experience at the center of everything we do” landed especially well with the three employees still awake. Nothing says “human experience” like a mandatory town hall about empathy delivered by leaders who haven’t made eye contact with an employee since the last compensation cycle.

But the finale was the real masterpiece:
“Grateful for the dialogue, the challenge, and the continued partnership as we build what’s next — together.”

'Together.'
A beautiful word.
Almost poetic.
Especially when spoken in a room where the chairs outnumbered the humans 12 to 1.

In the end, the event achieved something remarkable:
It was the symbolism:
A leadership team preaching trust and empathy to an empty room — the perfect metaphor for a culture where the words are loud, the actions are quiet, and the audience has already left — truly and metaphorically.

What happened to this place? We used to collaborate, now it’s every team for itself. No one shares anything, everyone hoards information like it gives them an edge. Do people actually think that’s going to protect them or get them ahead? Is this seriously where we are now?

The constant changes and workload is getting out of hand.

Hey, here’s an idea! How about we stop giving the pinnacle award to the same people year after year?! This is a massive expense for the company just to send the same people on a weeklong vacation every year.. and it’s terrible for morale. Why are they not checking the reports for previous years to see who has already received this? At the very least they should have a five-year waiting period before they could be nominated again… but to send them just about every single year is very frustrating, incredibly unfair, and lazy on the part of senior leadership responsible for selecting the pinnacle winners.

—Ensure they are putting in 8 hour days, 40 hour work weeks
—Ensure they are doing more than just attending (unnecessary for them) all day back to back meetings and not any real work
—Ensure they are not favoring some of their employees while harming others. Giving growth projects to some while starving work for others that work for them (unfairly).
—Make sure they are not just protecting their own careers but not their staff
—Check and see if they were the cause of pushing out some excellent employees within the last couple of years that had excellent work ethic.
—Check to see if they stood up for employees being pushed out that asked (even begged) for their leader’s intercession and advocacy but those same leaders would not lift one finger or one word to help.
—If these Directors and Associate Directors are not properly doing their jobs , then cut them loose!

Thread regarding Builders FirstSource Inc. layoffs

G-yatri's Reign of Te---r Continues

Paradigm was the best job I've ever had. In about a years time it was turned into the worst. It's depressing.

Paradigm didn't rely on layoffs for quick number pumping. Even during the great recession, Covid, after the incident, my understanding is we never did actual layoffs. Our old leaders would hustle, try to drum up work, dig into the war chest, to make sure we kept operating and innovating and that its people were taken care of.

But we were told, times are tough. Housing is down. We have to tighten our belts to make this work.

A few weeks ago another round, only three people, but all well respected leaders, unceremoniously gone on a Friday. Then, only a few weeks later we have an all company meeting where we meet like 10 new executives and hear about their favorite condiments. Not a good look.

Now we’re told 2% raises company wide.

Meanwhile, all the actual people doing the work are seeing a dozen newer executives running around, making confusing decisions, contradicting each other, stressing people out. They pitch projects but don’t tell anyone the goal. We don’t know who the persona is, how these projects are supposed to make money. I struggle to understand what benefit they actually add.

It just seems like a huge nepotism tree. G-yatri hires all of her old friends, get the band back together. They are all yes men/women. Just do the thing, don’t ask questions.

I’m not an accountant, but they have to cost more than all the people laid off this past year.

And that expense is on top of the probably expensive AI licenses we’re paying for. Tools, that as far as I can tell, aren’t helping us. Hushed conversations in the hallway or at happy hours about how much extra work all these new “tools” are causing. But everyone is too afraid to speak up because they don’t want to be in the crosshairs for the next round of layoffs, so the concerns only bubble up so much.

And then we have to see our company’s LinkedIn page being a shameless commercial for Blitzy. Did we get a deal on our license with them? Where is the 4X development that was bragged about? Their site looks like a marketing guys idea of what AI might be able to do, but I haven't heard any of the product folks saying, "wow, Blitzy really made things better."

Maybe it is. Maybe this is making us so much faster. But we have no idea because communication has been terrible since G-yatri took over.

We’re now extremely top heavy. I don’t know what value these new executives bring. It feels like they are slumming it with us, looking at s-xier tech startups, wishing they were there instead.

And when the market crashes, and it will soon, the do-ers are going to be the ones sacrificed on the altar of “Shareholder” value. Most these AI companies won't exist and the ones that remain are going to start charging the real prices for their licenses instead of the venture capital prices they currently are at.

I don’t know if BFS and Peter Jackson know the level of talent that they have/had at a discount because the Paradigm culture was worth getting paid a lot less for. Well the culture is dying. Everyone has updated their resumes. And if the job market were any better, there would be a mass exodus happening.

We all sit here, on the eve of the financial quarter end, anxiously staring at the all company meeting on our calendars for Thursday. Never knowing what reorg, layoffs, or new executives will be announced. These used to be fun meetings where people got together, saw each other in person scheduled happy hours for after work. Now, the meetings are met with a mixture of dread and disgust.

How many of you all are having associates go to lunch and not come back? It’s been a tremendous problem this year

How sweet is it that Union Pacific is the only railroad that investing to bring history to life! Proud to be a part of a company that cares about our American heritage and the future of rail! So many people are being blessed with the hard work and dedication of the steam shop guys and the money poured into the program by the company. Thanks UP!

🎪 Step Right Up: The Traveling Fad Circus 🎪

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back—
where the lions are tired, the tricks are recycled,
and the real spectacle… is management chasing whatever just left town.

First act! The EV extravaganza!

Wall Street packs the tent, dims the lights,
and quietly slips out the back door.

The music stops.

The crowd is gone.

The confetti’s wet.

And just then—
right on cue—
Ford bursts through the curtain:

💥 “WE’RE ALL IN!” 💥

$20 BILLION (yes, with a B)
launched into a party that ended three quarters ago.

Fast forward—
the hangover hits. Hard.

Write-offs. Shrugs. “Market conditions.”

The trapeze artist misses the bar—
but don’t worry, folks…

Second act! The AI spectacular!

“Algorithms will save us!”
“Competitive advantage is now… vibes and compute!”

And again—perfect timing—
Wall Street starts backing away.

Quietly. Then quickly. Then all at once.

“Maybe… we overdid it on AI.”
“Maybe not every company needs to be a tech company.”
“Maybe… just maybe… build something that works.”

But the band keeps playing.

Because nothing says strategy
like arriving late, spending big,
and pivoting just in time to miss the next one too.

And off to the side, in a glowing crystal ball,
a cheerful voice reassures the crowd:

“Don’t worry—AI will be revolutionary!”
“Today!”
“…well, tomorrow.”
“Okay—next week.”
“Fine—next year.”
“Look, the point is—it’s definitely happening.”

Meanwhile, the acrobats are still falling,
the elephants are still expensive,
and the audience is starting to notice.

So stay seated, folks—
the show goes on.

New fad, new costume, same act.

🎪 Next performance: whatever just peaked. 🎪

Maybe then they wouldn't need to spend so much energy controlling us. Old concept, I know. But today's corporations seem to have forgotten it completely.

I was offered the move to Cognizant last week and will be allowing the offer to expire EOD tomorrow. I wanted to put this out there as encouragement for others who are deciding to do the same that you are not alone. To those who are taking it, it is completely understandable and I wish you luck.

Nothing I have received from either Cognizant or FIS in the last week has given me any confidence in this "plan". The whole rollout and execution was dystopian. Clearly well rehearsed for many months, but horribly executed. 10 min to get questions answered with a 3 min notice. A portal to submit questions to that spits back out legalese answers, and does not offer the opportunity to schedule a 1-1 with an HR representative as was promised on the calls. Quite frankly, even if I made the move I would anticipate being back in this same position before the year is out.

There is nothing that I want to do less than work for another company while simultaneously working my tail off for FIS who could not have been clearer that my services are no longer required. Years of service , knowledge, and loyalty lost because of a poorly thought out executive level deal. The existing workloads are already out of hand, and now they will only get worse. The increasing reliance on AI and India gives me no confidence in either company.

It is obviously a risk to simply walk away, but the known alternative is not appealing. I hope this is not FIS' "Titanic" moment, but it's hard to believe otherwise.

What is going on with GP&T Enablement lately? The team leads and managers basically won’t answer emails, they bail on meetings and when any responsibility comes their way, they immediately say their team aren’t the right ones to handle.

They’ve been using the “we’re at capacity” line for like two years straight… while their headcount has gone up. It’s like the more people they hire, the less anyone is willing to actually do.

Every inconsiderate or illogical move, including pushing people close to retirement over to Cognizant, or making seemingly d-mb decisions about who to cut - it's all intentional. It's all about savings without one iota of respect or gratitude toward us. If they can save a minor buck by sc--wing you over majorly, they'll do it.

It would take a miracle worker to turn this ship around.

No matter what happens, remember that you are the best. If you go, if I go, doesn't matter, we made great things happen. Wherever you land, take these friendships and experiences with you and make great things happen once again. Until we meet again.

Paradigm was the best job I've ever had. In about a years time it was turned into the worst. It's depressing.

Paradigm didn't rely on layoffs for quick number pumping. Even during the great recession, Covid, after the incident, my understanding is we never did actual layoffs. Our old leaders would hustle, try to drum up work, dig into the war chest, to make sure we kept operating and innovating and that its people were taken care of.

But we were told, times are tough. Housing is down. We have to tighten our belts to make this work.

A few weeks ago another round, only three people, but all well respected leaders, unceremoniously gone on a Friday. Then, only a few weeks later we have an all company meeting where we meet like 10 new executives and hear about their favorite condiments. Not a good look.

Now we’re told 2% raises company wide.

Meanwhile, all the actual people doing the work are seeing a dozen newer executives running around, making confusing decisions, contradicting each other, stressing people out. They pitch projects but don’t tell anyone the goal. We don’t know who the persona is, how these projects are supposed to make money. I struggle to understand what benefit they actually add.

It just seems like a huge nepotism tree. G-yatri hires all of her old friends, get the band back together. They are all yes men/women. Just do the thing, don’t ask questions.

I’m not an accountant, but they have to cost more than all the people laid off this past year.

And that expense is on top of the probably expensive AI licenses we’re paying for. Tools, that as far as I can tell, aren’t helping us. Hushed conversations in the hallway or at happy hours about how much extra work all these new “tools” are causing. But everyone is too afraid to speak up because they don’t want to be in the crosshairs for the next round of layoffs, so the concerns only bubble up so much.

And then we have to see our company’s LinkedIn page being a shameless commercial for Blitzy. Did we get a deal on our license with them? Where is the 4X development that was bragged about? Their site looks like a marketing guys idea of what AI might be able to do, but I haven't heard any of the product folks saying, "wow, Blitzy really made things better."

Maybe it is. Maybe this is making us so much faster. But we have no idea because communication has been terrible since G-yatri took over.

We’re now extremely top heavy. I don’t know what value these new executives bring. It feels like they are slumming it with us, looking at s-xier tech startups, wishing they were there instead.

And when the market crashes, and it will soon, the do-ers are going to be the ones sacrificed on the altar of “Shareholder” value. Most these AI companies won't exist and the ones that remain are going to start charging the real prices for their licenses instead of the venture capital prices they currently are at.

I don’t know if BFS and Peter Jackson know the level of talent that they have/had at a discount because the Paradigm culture was worth getting paid a lot less for. Well the culture is dying. Everyone has updated their resumes. And if the job market were any better, there would be a mass exodus happening.

We all sit here, on the eve of the financial quarter end, anxiously staring at the all company meeting on our calendars for Thursday. Never knowing what reorg, layoffs, or new executives will be announced. These used to be fun meetings where people got together, saw each other in person scheduled happy hours for after work. Now, the meetings are met with a mixture of dread and disgust.

Serious question: is this an actual leadership change… or just another episode of “nothing to see here, carry on”?

Because if you’ve been here longer than five minutes, you’ve seen this headline before. Big announcement. Big promises. Same results. Now we’re being told the MM exit is happening in July.
July??

So we’re just supposed to sit tight for a few more months and pretend everything is fine while the same dysfunction keeps running? That the damage they did to people didn’t happen? At this point, it’s not even skepticism, it’s pattern recognition.

Let’s recap what employees have actually experienced:
• Constant churn
• Strong people walking out the door
• “Transformation” that somehow makes things worse, not better
• Leadership narratives that don’t match reality on the ground

And now we’re supposed to believe this time it’s different?

I think the real internal reaction is:
“I’ll believe it when I see the calendar hit July… and even then, I’ll give it a week.”

Also—genuine question—how much did this last year of “strategy” actually cost the company in lost talent, momentum, and dollars?

Because that’s the part no one ever addresses. If this is real, great. Long overdue. But respectfully… employees aren’t celebrating yet.

We’ve learned, we have the scars, the damage has been done and we will pray for the future org they fake their way into.