#toxicleadership

Oracle employees always seem to conveniently forget that Oracle is run by a malignant narcisist. Narcisists enjoy the chaos created by pitting their underlings against one another. This is a behavioural fact.

So stop with all the questions of why management does this or that. The answer is that this is Oracle's company culture; derived directly from the sick individual at the top.

Furthermore, it isn't just the hand-wringing of the poor ICs that he enjoys, but the same reaction is taking place through all ranks of management, with almost no exception.

From time to time I feel disgusted reporting to the current management structure. Unmotivated, blame shifting, self-important, lacking basic manners in communication and the list goes on and on. Three layers of unmotivated and uninspiring management chain, they just come in to cash checks. Wish I could put my name to it and call out these mo--ns on LinkedIn.

A fond memory from corporate Aramco. A few years back, right after COVID, we were overworked and understaffed and had unrealistic goals assigned to our team. When trying to discuss this situation with my Team Lead and finding a proactive solution, he lost his cool and threatened me by saying "we can take this outside if you want?" I was shocked and didn't respond. Just another day in the sand pit.

talking to friends in several departments and noticing a trend of some managers and directors using the current uncertainty and fear and they are taking advantage of having a longer leash than usual. i.e. the difficult ahole you try to avoid has somehow become an even bigger ahole and its going unchecked.

Accountability feels like it's going one direction lately when it comes to professionalism and borderline workplace abuse. to make things worse, some "leaders" are aware that it's hard for staff to even flag these management behavior issues when the company is already in crisis mode and we are all just trying to keep our heads down so we can keep paying rent and put food on the table.

I saw something that never would fly in any other workplace setting and people are either too concerned to cause issues or they are so beaten down they dont bother.

Hard to stay focused as it is. Some of these people in leadership roles are past professional training and need to be held accountable. if you're in a role where you can report things without getting into trouble, do it. that problematic and unbalanced dipsh-t becomes weakened when people come forward together.

Will it be below 14$ by the end of the week? It’s a sinking ship while Executive’s are being fed grapes.

After 15 years of time at State Farm, 3 CEOs, COVID, work from home, hybrid, and whatever comes next - I can safely say that this company is absolutely sc--wed. I dunno who in the chain: Farney, some random VP, or that consulting firm they hired last year thought it was a good idea to push us back to office more frequently - but at least be honest when you give us the reason. It’s micromanagement. Pure and simple. Don’t tell us it’s ‘collaboration’ because if that was truly the case they’d open operation centers again and push the former ops center employees into office.

I thought when Tipsord retired, we could go back to what we had under Ed Rust Jr. A State Farm where you were treated well, trained better, and could build a future towards a good retirement. Boy - did that not happen.

Farney has made it clear he portrays one heck of a down to earth boss but the truth is closer to a Hallmark movie villain. June 1 (in the middle of summer) parents and grandparents have to find people to watch their kids. And the company’s response ‘we got you a totally sweet discount - go check out this page in the intranet’. On top of that let’s talk about the costs of coming into the office. Virtual employees don’t pay for gas, don’t have to pay to go to work, don’t have to waste time commuting - but sc--w the rest of us. Worst career decision I ever made was leaving the ops center for a HUB for opportunity that never happened.

I genuinely hope Progressive pulls away, Geico passes us, and honestly Allstate (because they do 100% virtual). Maybe Bloomington will pull their head from the advertising backside and listen to employees again. Knowing this regime they’d pay a consulting firm who hires Arnold Schwarzenegger (at our expense) to tell them to be a good NAY-BUH to tell them we don’t like it - only to make us come in more.

Company is one of the worst on the street. I’ve been talking to numerous recruiters and had interviews and they all mentioned how toxic the environment at WF is from others. The stock is also taken a beating which is what I want to do to DF, that DB.

There is one KY manager that is incredibly toxic. They bully their employees by grill them about their decisions, one ups them, and makes them second guess themselves. If I wanted the college studying and "exam" 1:1 life, I'd go back to college. This person is just plain mean and seems to get their jollies off of making employees flustered during 1:1s. I want to report them but am afraid that I would be found out and fired instead. So as of now, we are all just waiting for the hub strategy to mitigate "the problem". I'm tempted by "fight or flight" response to either "lay into them about their bad behavior on their last day" or conveniently "call in sick". That person is a human piece of trash and the second choice may be my best choice.

In addition, I'm very sorry that you all got laid off. You didn't deserve it and I hope you all get better jobs than your previous ones.

Managers here have one talent. Protecting themselves by destroying other people's careers. You'd be better off doing construction than working here.

Something changed. Managers used to be fine. Now they're toxic, yelling, pitting us against each other. Six years here and the last two have been awful. No idea how some of these people still have jobs.

It has never been this clear. The constant stress, the worrying, the intentional withholding of information, all of it feels designed to push people to the edge until they finally say fu-k it and quit. If they can get enough people to simply walk away, it saves them a lot of money. At this point, it is hard not to think that this is part of the plan.

I am so sick of the absolutely toxic disgusting leaders that work here. I just spoke with my manager and I got 0 for my yearly raise, and only a minor stock bump. I am working harder than I ever have, and yet all they ask for is more. Is anyone else planning on quiet quitting? Why should I strive for excellent when my pay is mediocre?

If we’re talking honestly to our younger selves, the conversation might include warnings about corporate messaging that talks about empowerment while employees feel undervalued, overworked, and unheard. It might include advice about spotting organizations that talk about people-first values while quietly prioritizing executive egos.

Ba----g on about courage and “seeing yourself bigger,” but anyone who’s actually worked there knows the reality is burnout, bureaucracy, and Accenture-rejects that couldn’t manage their way out of a paper bag.

It’s the usual corporate fantasy written by out-of-touch suits who love the sound of their own inspirational waffle while the people doing the real work get ground down. There's not a single member of M&C SLT that wouldn't gladly stamp on their own mother if it made them look good on LinkedIn

Maybe instead of publishing this smug nonsense, the prickgoblins running the place should try fixing the toxic culture they’ve created. Until then, spare everyone the sanctimonious wa-k.

Let me explain how it works here. First, actual performance is irrelevant. The people who work the hardest and produce the most are seen as threats, so they get cut, while the mediocre ones who keep their heads down and do not rock the boat stay. That is the goal: mediocrity across the board. Second, if you refuse to bow to a manager who has no business leading, you are done. They will find a way to get rid of you, and when there is no legitimate case, they cheat. They will lie, plant stories, and turn your own team against you. I have seen it happen to three people, good people who simply would not accept abuse. This is not an exception. This is the entire system.

Some managers here know exactly what they're doing. They tear at you until you're too tired and too unsure to leave. They make you feel lucky to have the job so you'll keep accepting low pay and bad treatment. It's a strategy.

When your CEO states, "If you don't buy into our strategy, go work at another company" - you are, indeed, working for a toxic company that has ZERO respect for its employees. Truly unbelievable that BE made it to the CEO position!

I think what’s worse than the tangible changes being made is the culture and environment it’s creating. They lack actual leadership competency to know that with any change comes a far and wide ripple effect you have to LEAD through! In the absence of that you create irreparable chaos that flows all the way downstream. Your next level leaders fear their jobs so they start throwing down hammers, those leaders isolate in fear cause they don’t know how to cascade those messages. Employees then feel the weight of all of it knowing something is going on and watching their colleagues disappear like it’s a reaping. The stress causes people to act in ways they normal wouldn’t and it’s not good! Unethical behavior takes shape, employees suddenly view their colleagues as threats - he-l even leaders do. You create a culture of every man out for himself trying to essentially save their life while dying on the inside.
Whatever your intended outcome is, congratulations MC, you effectively destroyed your workforce in the end.

Welcome to the "AI-First" masterclass, where our CPO and his merry band of visionaries have finally cracked the code: why pay for actual human expertise when you can just sprinkle some AI dust on the office and hope for a miracle? In this brilliant new company math, one prompt-wielder is magically expected to do the work of four seasoned professionals. It’s not a "layoff," everyone—it’s AI-powered efficiency optimization. Of course, the performance ratings are pure comedy; it’s a truly impressive feat to make KPIs impossible to achieve by simply moving them every time someone gets close. It seems the only thing "scaling" around here is the leadership's delusion that deep product context and institutional knowledge are "legacy baggage" that can be replaced by a stochastic parrot that doesn't even understand the roadmap.

I’m sure they’ll have a fantastic realization right around the time the production server catches fire because the code checked in by an "elite" hire who doesn't know the internals couldn't scale, and the IIM Product Manager’s slide deck isn't enough to rescue the business. There won't be anyone left who remembers how the system actually talks to itself, but hey, at least the PowerPoint decks looked sleek, right? It is incredibly draining to watch a leadership team systematically dismantle the very infrastructure keeping the company afloat, like watching a captain celebrate "weight reduction" while tossing the lifeboats overboard.

By the way, there’s a fascinating trend where every new "Director and above" hire seems to share the same IIT (from India) pedigree, while any existing veteran—PM or Engineer—without those specific credentials is being ushered toward the exit via "carefully crafted" negative feedback and impossible goals. Yes there are a couple of hires who are not from here, but watch the broader trend. If it happened to one person, it’s an exception; when it happens across the board, it’s a blueprint for a lawsuit. What these visionaries don't realize is that the momentum for a class action is already building among those who’ve been pushed out. I’m just waiting for that legal spark to materialize so I can join in and sue the heck out of these "geniuses" for wrongful termination. I have every single Workday feedback and "Connect" saved to show exactly how the narrative suddenly shifted the moment the new regime walked in. See you in discovery.

Machiavellian...

Management loves to brag about perks and post about balance, but ignore a late night message and suddenly you are the example in a meeting. The whole wellness message rings hollow when the expectations never switch off. You can see who gets protected and who does not, and it is not subtle. I would take blunt and direct over this polished version of pressure any day.

This is the "woman" who went MIA when her workforce was being gutted with 15,000 layoffs. Now she is holding up post it notes suggesting that employees should love their employer to make the company successful.

Are other employees so delusional they buy into this nonsense? Is she that far removed from reality? Is she still smoking the same stuff that made her think employees said they wanted to return to the office and stated that in their employee surveys?

Do these executives do this stuff and then meet to laugh at how gullible their employees are?

Last Tuesday my toxic manager called me rambling about job opportunities in a certain group I should look at but when i asked her job numbers, titles etc..she just said look out there and she said not even sure there are openings in your hub but you know them so reach out. This manager also gave me my first ever IM in 29 years with no real reason so I know she targeted me because she does not like me. The last 2 1/2 years since she became my manager due to a reorg has been miserable. When she gave me IM, I told her at that time I would be looking at internal jobs but do not think she was trying to help me when she called me because there were no jobs even in the group she told me about because i asked around. She told the team a year ago she cannot tell us when she knows person will be laid off but will try to give a hint. I am going to be mad if it is the case but on the other hand will be a big relief to escape her and toxic environment. Big fear at 49 is i will have hard time finding something external. Do u think she is giving me a hint?

The level of chaos and misery that I am seeing in Irving is off the charts. I've been in corporate America for decades and I've never seen anything approaching this level of cruelty-- unfortunately I think that's the point.

Just wondering what the goal is of McKinsey and co to destroy employee good will as much as they can.

Every person who takes pride in their work learns to not only stop giving a sh-t, but extract as much as they can from the company out of pure spite. Every department has people deliberately making mistakes and slowing procedures down out of PURE SPITE because they hate this company.

When you first start, you wonder at the incompetence of literally every team around you, but then you are adopted into the culture. The culture is: Smile while doing everything possible to make the company worse and the people around you’s jobs harder. This a joint effort, and eventually you fall in line.

Senior leadership is involved in this joint effort, they pass down initiatives that they know will fail with a smile and a song, and everyone nods enthusiastically, with the same smile, and the grunt employees smile a painful grimace as they purposefully make the process even worse than it would have been initially out of pure spite. But they are still smiling, that’s the important part. Their middle managers get their bonus, the senior leaders get their bonus, everyone smiles and money flows, wasted on infinite vanity projects and processes that don’t work.

Had you asked employees who do these processed day in day out if they might work, they could have told you from the beginning. But these employees likely did express concern at one point, years ago, and learned that that is NOT the Schwab way. The Schwab way is to keep your mouth shut and smile. Everybody knows they don’t work, but that is not important. What is important is that you smile some that whichever C-Suite gets applauded for fudged numbers from their vanity project.

I don’t know how clients think our customer service is wonderful. Everyone I talk to hates their job and is confidently incorrect. It takes me, on average, 10 hours of extra work a week to fix simply mistakes made by other department. I can call five different departments and receive 5 different answers. I don’t blame them, Schwab provides no training (too expensive) and no motivation. Hurting the customer and internal business partners seems to be the only way to lash out at the company that clearly hates you.

I have overheard the supervisors and managers talking about the posts and disgruntled employees posting on this site. It truly scares them and they don't want the new hires knowing about all the dysfunction and toxicity. Some covered up safety violations and firings have been exposed and posted. I loved in a town hall the then CEO of exxon mentioned that employees were posting they were year to year contractors and that this was eroding morale. Some exxon sites operate on intimidation and fear tactics. I attended a meeting where my stupidvisor threatened everyone with insubordination and retaliation for complaining. The stupidvisor said I don t want to have to fire anyone as they had the power to do it. They took pleasure in firing several contractors in the section. It talked so bad about the terminated employees and said they just were not excon material. One employee was fired to cover up the mistake of an employee friend of the supervisor. The supervisor would go out to lunch with this protected employee. There are some real evil snakes in exxon management. Several of the safety incidents should have been reported to OSHA but the employees are to scared and intimidated to do so.

Three years ago today I was released from the bondage of a toxic, unhealthy labor environment…. Yes I choose to work there for 20 years with the mindset that it will get better. IF you’re not appreciated financially for what you do then LEAVE! They don’t deserve your talents.
Next step… to make sure the public knows that they were found guilty on three charges of Military Discrimination… yes you heard me!!! Maybe a Presidential Complaint (that is where you file a complaint against … fill in blank) is on the horizon.. :)

This is the first weekend in god knows how long that I've spent completely carefree and relaxed. I know it might come back to bite me if I end up jobless for months, but I intend to enjoy this brief moment of freedom to the fullest. Yes, I felt like cr-p when I was told. But the feeling didn't last long. I realized quickly how much I'd lost perspective while being su-ked into TD. I deeply appreciated some of the great teammates I had, and definitely did not appreciate my most recent manager, the bad leadership that set the toxic culture, or the badly designed job. Anyway, I wish all the best to my now-jobless fellows and to my former colleagues.

Pros: a few decent coworkers who aren't management.
Cons: everything else. Bad management, zero work-life balance, toxic politics, no growth, no security. The list goes on and on. Says a lot when the only good thing is some of the people.

The way some of these managers treat people is disgusting. They tear you down like it's sport. The atmosphere is thick with anxiety. FIS has no future if this is who's running the show.

Just trust what this leadership team tells you. Look past the quarter-zip smiles and forced enthusiasm and you will see a mountain of corporate spin. CP called out “incredible collaboration” this week...People at desks were not collaborating they were talking about how bad this place has become and looking to duck when you walk by. At least two leaders on this panel are openly planning their exits and they are not invested in fixing anything.... like you they want out. Watch the clown show from yesterday if you think that translates into work-life balance for you ask yourself why. Here’s what this really means for you. Every keystroke is tracked. Independent thinking is gone even when you are right, you follow “Crown math.” Your work feeds leadership payouts, not long term stability. This ends the same way it always does. Leadership cashes out and another company gets stripped down. You deal with the fallout masked as 'goals' and “Clear” and “transparent” are just words here like PURPLE was... how'd that go. Their face and actions tell a different story. I have only 1 question. Are you listening to what they say, or watching what they do? Just look at each face even they can no longer play the game. Shame

Badge swipes, the president of SMS going desk to desk to make sure we are here, constant questions about where we are.

So glad I've given 10 years of my life to a company who thinks we deserve to be treated this way.

Public sector employees were told on Monday "don't get sick, don't take care giver days, don't take bereavement days, especially don't need surgery that will require an extended absense. Basically just work anyway.". Apparently they need to maximize charging to every contract and any illness by yourself, your family, or even death in the family minimizes the ability to charge a contract. And if you are so sick that you can't come in, were told to work weekends to make up the time. People were given a target of number of hours to charge in the year and it was basically calculated to be the total work hours in a year subtracted by your allotted vacation hours.

Also were told that if you do actually take too many sick days or caregiver days, your manager will be notified because they'll assume you really could have worked anyway.

That's on top of the other things the rest of the company is doing to make time spent in the office horrible (no assigned desks, etc). Apparently HR has no problem with this policy or was too weak to contest it being presented.

Hello,

I apologize if this is the wrong board for this post. I currently work for Verizon Business as senior account manager. I am considering transferring to t-mobile business as an account executive on the smb team as a req will be opening soon due to attrition. I am currently making about 120k per year but want to leave due the extremely toxic management culture I inherited from our recent round of layoffs. My question is mainly, can I expect to make around similar pay at 120k at TFB on the smb team or will it be a pay cut? I greatly appreciate any insight have a blessed day.

We work for a greedy, immoral company. I will openly admit that I am too nervous to move after 5 years. I am a coward.

This new comp plan is the final straw for me. And before you knock sales people, remember that 40% of our salary is at risk and we have no control
over what ships.

I never imagined working for a company that I now want to see fail so badly. I never thought it was possible to wish the worst on JC, MD and the rest of those pasty-faced, smug money-grubbers and their rubber-faced spouses.

I can always get behind a culture that pushes you hard to grow. I can’t deal with one that disrespects everyone and belittles anyone based on rank. It’s stupid. A job here isn’t worth any dollar amount. Bill is a creepy dude. Why work here? What does that say about you? I’m out of here.

Had a mid career experienced hire employee tell me he just likes to keep his head down and let his work speak for itself. He is on the fast track for a PIP. The psychos will notice and take huge advantage of him. I tried to warn him.

since when did USAA become so brutal. It's very traumatic and damaging mentally of someone escorted out with hundreds of eyes staring. Nobody wants to be shamed publicly.

Anyone?

Hi guys, JW here. It is now near the end of the transformation notifications and I just want to say that I am truly proud of everyone for showing up to work.

To those we severed and to those we are forcing to leave (in one form or another), I’d like to say thank you for maximizing shareholder value. Thank you for the long hours and free labour.

To those who chose to stay and were notified of fulfilling positions, the company isn’t done draining the life force out of you. We will eventually and in due time also cut you out. Extend our sincerest thanks to your family for uprooting their lives to move and support your ending career.

And just a reminder to please refrain from disclosing or sharing any confidential or proprietary information outside of the company you love and trust.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.