#favoritism

I haven’t been here very long, but have had nothing but issues since I started here. The ageism, cronyism, favoritism, nepotism, s-xism is off the charts. Sprinkle in widespread ineffective management who do not give a sh-t about developing out your career if they view you as a challenge…yep, this is corporate he-l. Suggestion for survival is to completely disconnect your identity from what you do here, if you haven’t already. Good luck.

Over the past year, I’ve watched some of the most hardworking and impactful people on my team be let go. At first, I didn’t understand why morale across the organization felt so low... but now I do (sigh)

It’s hard to stay motivated when it feels like merit and dedication don’t matter. The people who consistently overdeliver, who take ownership and push projects forward, are the ones being cut. Meanwhile, others who do the bare minimum remain and often get the credit.

So if performance and impact aren’t the criteria for layoffs, then what is?
Is it tenure? Favoritism? A random lottery? Because from where many of us stand, it certainly doesn’t look like the decisions were based on contribution or capability.

MST home dispatch tech use and abuse company assets. They drive 100K-200K bucket trucks to their home and back to their home garage everyday. Big V8 6.3 L engines use a lot of gas and insurance on top. Also, with MST high pay and only have .5 job per tech a day per tech how is that saving company money and liability.
There are rules to follow when joining home dispatch program. Following the rules helps save gas and time and wear and tear on a vehicle used to drive to work and to home. But MSTs abuse this program from driving to the garage every day and dispatching at the garage. Making a stop at the grocery store to grocery shop in the company vehicle before driving home. Not closing your last job at the job site and instead, drive home and being still dispatched on your work ticket and then closing the job when you arrive home. I follow the rules, and I do not want the home dispatch program to go away because of MSTs taking advantage of the abuse. Also, MST managers are favoring many MSTs and letting the home dispatch MSTs do what ever they want. STOP ABUSING THE HOME DISPATCH PROGRAM YOU MSTs. You know who you are...

Politics over work
Preferences over people
Too much favorism

Such mind set allowed to grow Arista

All DC leaders should be fired in next layoff

I want to understand how much control a Sr director or above has when it comes to saving their favorites over people who actually work?

I know atleast 5 people in my org who got hired because they are related to so and so leader in one way or another. You can tell how bad they are at their work.
They could not even get hired based on their own capabilities.

"Posting here on behalf of an employee who is working at Fid India (as this website only allows posts from within the USA)."
I am an L6 Principal Engineer in India and have spent the last 12 years at Fidelity, working across three different BUs. Over time, I’ve noticed a steep decline in the caliber of senior leadership at levels L7-8 and above. Their primary concern seems to be hosting “visitors” from the U.S.; the moment such a visit is announced, they go into “alert mode,” preparing PowerPoint slides, arranging floor walks and roundtable sessions, and coaching employees on exactly what they should or shouldn’t say. Most of this preparatory work is pushed onto individual contributors like me (L6 and below), but when these visits are deemed “successful,” managers usually receive all the credit—often in the form of a single congratulatory email or LinkedIn post from the visiting executive.
In prioritizing these presentations and visitor-focused activities, actual project work suffers. Those who create slides, manage schedules, or organize events are favored for promotions, while employees handling core technical tasks remain overlooked. Compounding this issue is that most senior leaders sit in Bangalore, leaving those of us in Chennai perpetually at a disadvantage.
Many of the managers in these tech teams either lack technical expertise or have allowed their skills to lapse, preventing them from contributing meaningfully to real project needs. Instead, they rely on strong presentation and communication abilities to secure positive performance reviews. This system rewards non-technical individuals, resulting in a leadership structure that is often incompetent and self-perpetuating. As a result, genuine technical contributions lose value, and the focus remains on “partner visits” and superficial, India-specific initiatives instead of substantive, technology-driven goals. This pattern holds across all BUs, with some business units experiencing even worse conditions.
I respectfully urge visiting executives to encourage senior leaders to focus on more meaningful work instead of devoting excessive effort to superficial presentations. Many of these orchestrated events offer minimal benefit and consume significant time that could be better spent on genuine product or project deliverables

This is a passionate expression of frustration stemming from discussions with colleagues who have either been encouraged to seek new positions at SAP or are anxious about facing such a situation themselves, particularly within our European context.

A visit to the internal job portal reveals that most job postings seem to cater to specific individuals rather than genuinely opening opportunities for all. Common issues include unnecessary educational requirements, irrelevant experience criteria, location restrictions despite team distribution, and a requirement of very high German language skills or travel demands. It often appears that hiring managers have predetermined candidates in mind, using the recruitment process merely to appease the Betriebsrat, which leads to a cycle of favoritism and inflated salary increases for those already in the loop. This situation leaves little hope for our European colleagues who are being pushed to find new roles, as many of these misleading job ads will likely force them out of the company instead.

In my own area under MA, we've seen several individuals rapidly ascend the ranks or switch teams multiple times, often with significant salary boosts, highlighting the disparity in opportunities.

What can we do to improve this process for those facing job insecurity at SAP, especially when the available positions seem to favor personal connections over merit?

Hopefully this is for the best as I have seen first hand that they are laying off people with years of service to keep their family members hired. Human resources really needs to be investigated for hiding the truth with NDA's and not letting people speak.
#NYPCORRUPT #NEPOTISM #DEI #RETALIATION #FAVORITISM #HARRASSMENT

https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-executive-moves/newyork-presbyterian-ceo-to-step-down-after-14-year-tenure/

But we all know none of them will be affected. You all know who I'm talking about. People who barely do anything but are really good at a-s kissing and yes manning. I'm sure every team has at least one of them, and they've been here forever despite contributing the bare minimum. And they'll still be here after this round is done, while some great employees will be gone. Sad but true.

How is it team gets favored nation and can work from Guam and its Hunger Games fort rest of us for parking and desks? My team drown in first wav and lost quality but these headfaker harbors deadweight wearing Hawaiian shirts and drop sand from there flip flops for monthly checin?

It’s very sad that you have workers that actually work and then you get team leaders that benefit from their work. Families that work there and cover up their mistakes and blame others because wrong or right family is first in this work place. Investigate who works or not and who should get promoted.

You do your best, put in the hours, deliver results, and still get ignored while someone who spends lunch gossiping with management gets promoted. It’s disgusting. I’m done wasting energy trying to prove myself to people who reward bootlicking over competence.

I left that job shaking my head. Worked my tail off with a master’s, got crumbs for pay. The person who replaced me had no degree and got a huge bump just for being friendly with the boss. Makes you wonder why you even bother doing things the right way. Education means nothing when favoritism decides everything. I'm glad to be gone. It took me a while to find something else, bit now I actually like my job once again. That place nearly destroyed me.

MST home dispatch tech use and abuse company assets
MST home dispatch tech use and abuse company assets. They drive 100K-200K bucket trucks to their home and back to their home garage everyday. Big V8 6.3 L engines use a lot of gas and insurance on top. Also, with MST high pay and only have .5 job per tech a day per tech how is that saving company money and liability.
There are rules to follow when joining home dispatch program. Following the rules helps save gas and time and wear and tear on a vehicle used to drive to work and to home. But MSTs abuse this program from driving to the garage every day and dispatching at the garage. Making a stop at the grocery store to grocery shop in the company vehicle before driving home. Not closing your last job at the job site and instead, drive home and being still dispatched on your work ticket and then closing the job when you arrive home. I follow the rules, and I do not want the home dispatch program to go away because of MSTs taking advantage of the abuse. Also, MST managers are favoring many MSTs and letting the home dispatch MSTs do what ever they want. STOP ABUSING THE HOME DISPATCH PROGRAM YOU MSTs. You know who you are...

BEHIND DOORS DEALS MADE JOBS GIVEN TO OL BUDDY SYSTEM AGAIN AND AGAIN , THEY GOING NEED HELP AND WONDER WHAT HAPPENED NOT BASED ON CAPABILITY !!! THANKS FOR GIVING US A OPPORTUNITY LIKE THE REST! Ol Well

Leadership acts like they can't be bothered and then if you point out any inconsistencies. It only matters if the right person points out something. They play favorites constantly.

Just have to share how a talented, skilled associate with a stated goal of promotion was passed over for someone with far less talent, skill set, respect among her peers etc.

Why - 2 reasons - She speaks her mind and doesn't blindly agree to every stupid idea and process ( not in line with core values as you may know). And her recent failure to meet ridiculous metrics - due to mentoring a new hire. Meeting metrics - the sole gold standard to MEET expectations

Just found out this site existed and had to get this off my chest - what a weak leader we are stuck with. Choose a lackey, anger the majority of the team, and prove to everyone how sickeningly toxic this place is. My notice is coming - I can't stand it anymore and neither can my peers.

As a mid 30s product lead I am tired of watching the same lifers get promoted while teams drown. If the company wants to move forward they should stop protecting folks who add nothing and hire people who actually know modern tools and care about outcomes.

Is favoritism by your manager common in your teams? Its happening in mine, and is very frustrating because the manager decides to defend this one team member by taking their side all the time. How do you navigate such situations?

After quarter over quarter of underwhelming performance for the last couple of years (often spun internally as positive performance or intentional, i.e., "pausing to propel" or "slowing down to speed up"... insert corny cliche here) and stalled hiring demands, Gartner execs made the decision to lower their prized TA capacity. Mind you, this is a function they always yammered on about keeping well above the demand as their competitive edge -- clearly, that's no longer the case.
Like others have posted, the layoffs impacted roughly 10% of the current TA team globally - from talent sourcers and recruiters to some in middle management. I believe more are coming if performance doesn't drastically improve in the quarters ahead.
The round one layoff selection criteria are arbitrary at best from the names of individuals I know who were impacted. I speculate they used the talent "9 box" (google it - lots of employers use this tool) that leaders were asked to complete earlier in the year to identity who got the axe, but that's purely my speculation. In the future, if additional mass layoff rounds need to happen, I believe they will eliminate those outside location strategy (don't worry I'm sure exceptions will be made for Obert and his directs).
Favoritism runs rampant across HR and the TA space. Have you seen the movie "Mean Girls"? Then you know what Gartner HR is like at the top -- Robin's executive leadership team doesn't get along at all. Same goes for Obert's direct reports -- all backstab each other and talk sh-t any chance they get. Hand to God.
What concerns me for the remaining TA team is the company's future outlook. For anyone still there, you know how difficult it is to get anything innovative done -- hoops to jump through, politics, etc. Like others have shared on this platform, there are MANY senior leaders who have been in role for YEARS that need to be able to innovate and quickly pivot. At this point with AI and other resources available for free or at a fraction of the cost of Gartner, it's like turning around the Titanic. They need a quick, effective reinvention and ability to differentiate themselves on the market. It's going to be tough to do -- not impossible, but tough -- and will take time which is not on their side.
For those able to do so, here's an exercise: check out how many across the company are showing as "open to work." It's staggering.
All the best to those in TA impacted as well as current survivors. Godspeed.

It was asked if Imperial would consider work from home arrangements for those who are not able to relocate. The answer was a resounding NO - as the Company values collaboration which is most effectively achieved through face-to-face interaction. What a LOAD of crock!! Collaboration can be achieved in many diverse forms, Imperial just wants to micromanage because they don’t trust their employees! Everyone knows they allow that set-up on select people (the “favorites”)

While I’m sadden to not have gotten a role in my selection, I have learned that in round 2 a job has been saved outside of being applied. It hurts to learn the favoritism of upper management to save those that didn’t actually apply to their roles…take that HR!

Is the us upstream, specifically production obviously, the only division where working hard and going above and beyond gets you nowhere and the worthless/lazy employees and contractors that do nothing get rewarded/promoted on whose b*lls they kiss? I wasn’t sure if this was a global plague or not.

I heard there will be an investigation into the placement decisions. Specifically, those who were demoted, received or pay cut or ISP'd. The investigation will be focused on them being replaced by others who were less qualified and/or based on favoritism. There is also the issue of those placed into "undefined" roles. When challenged, HR denied the existence of undefined roles. Why? Because they would need to admit there was favoritism and bias in the selection decisions. For example, one leader campaigned for a new role in a specific department all summer despite being unqualified. They were initially placed in an "undefined" role in that department and then displaced other more qualified people to secure their target role.

The investigation is supposed to be with lawyers - so it's important for everyone to speak up. It won't get ISPs their jobs back, but the pay out could be greater.

Assume you have a manager who seems narcissistic, only caters to ones who su-k up to them, gives opportunity to grow to only those associates who are "teachers pet".

The "pets" end up getting all the recognition, accolades while the truly deserving ones get more work and no reward.

Now imagine Fido is filled with such managers....

Everyone puts in the hard work but only ones who su-k up to their managers / leads get the limelight.

I used to feel confident but now I doubt myself every single day because of the favoritism and gaslighting here. Even as a top performer I’ve never felt so low about my work. It’s utterly exhausting trying to hold it together and I don’t know how much longer I can.

There's no nice way to put it. People are upset. There's a lot of hate for favoritism, nepotism, and even a racist culture going on. Maybe it's built-up tension from all the layoffs going wrong; going wrong, I mean management saving their family and pets, but letting go good engineers.

I feel myself needing to watch my back and also becoming more pessimistic. This culture really came to light after returning back to the office and the atmosphere is toxic.

Many of the impacted employees are rehired as contractors and silently offering them to full-time.
Many teams have no projects no work they were enjoying the paychecks with no revenue coming from those teams. Heavy favoritism and lobbying going on which teams to retain and teams to be notified to retire. No place for High performers. Junk and people who dont know basics are driving projects they will eventually fail

There are rules to follow when joining home dispatch program. Following the rules helps save gas and time and wear and tear on a vehicle used to drive to work and to home. But MSTs abuse this program from driving to the garage every day and dispatching at the garage. Making a stop at the grocery store to grocery shop in the company vehicle before driving home. Not closing your last job at the job site and instead, drive home and being still dispatched on your work ticket and then closing the job when you arrive home. I follow the rules, and I do not want the home dispatch program to go away because of MSTs taking advantage of the abuse. Also, MST managers are favoring many MSTs and letting the home dispatch MSTs do what ever they want. STOP ABUSING THE HOME DISPATCH PROGRAM YOU MSTs. You know who you are...

My boss is all in on using H1Bs, even with citizens and green card holders on the team who have the same skills. He’s literally taking work from U.S. employees and putting an H1B's name on it. The H1Bs aren't even doing the real work; they're just shadowing and secretly managing us.

This was never an issue for me before, but with layoffs happening everywhere and U.S. workers being the target, I'm worried. I already know HR is a dead end. I tried complaining to my second-line manager, and it just backfired. Now they just see me as a complainer and not assigning much work at all.

Any advice on what I can do at Oracle? Is there any way to report this H1B fraud to USCIS? or Silently move-on is the best solution ?
The main cause of this H1b fraud is an asian manager sitting at top and showing bias.

Did your org protect managers by turning them ICs, and their RnRs remain almost (or) the same?

While good engineers doing the job are seeing the exit doors, there's still room to protect the friends

So many posts about managers stealing credit.

But what no one talks about these days is why managers are ONLY giving opportunities to individuals who are in the same region as themselves to show off while pushing high performing associates into oblivion??

Is this some some toxic tactic to frustrate associates into quitting?

Anyone find that sr directors and VPs in their org were protected while everyone else suffered losses? How is this ever the right approach to a company re org? Hard watching the same lifers play musical chairs every year and then we all act surprised when the company struggles bc of no innovation

Ford’s crawling with shameless a-s-kissers who couldn’t do real work if their lives depended on it.

For the past four years, I have poured myself into my work—showing up every day, giving my best, and hoping that my dedication would eventually be recognized. But no matter how much effort I put in, the promotion I’ve been working toward never seems to come.

What hurts even more is watching my manager make frequent trips to meet with a newly hired employee. The closeness between them feels personal, and it makes me question whether hard work really matters if recognition is tied to something else entirely.

As a woman, it breaks my heart to think that gender or personal favors could weigh more than years of consistent contribution. It makes me feel invisible, like all the nights I stayed late, all the problems I solved, and all the energy I gave have been overlooked.

I want to believe in a workplace where growth comes from talent, dedication, and integrity—not from personal ties. All I ask is for fairness, for my work to be seen, and for opportunities to be given on the value we bring, not on relationships behind the scenes.

I am done with this manager. Leaving fidelity. Thank you all.

The regional and store manager are so lazy. They make it so hard to come to work everyday. They have their favorites and treat others so bad.

Glad they continue to show favoritism for in office folks when they created separation amongst staff. Lets pretend wfh staff doesn’t exist on any level except to pick up the dirty work, But lets continue to ensure in office staff get goodies , parties and recognitions. Great job making everyone feel part of the team

There’s been some chatter about internal roles being posted with a ‘preferred candidate’ allegedly already in mind. Supposedly, certain leaders have a reputation for giving opportunities to people in their inner circle, and many employees feel it creates an uneven playing field.

On top of that, the culture in parts of the firm (some say CRM and even more specifically compliance supposedly) is described by many as having ‘mean girl energy.’ If you don’t play the game (feed egos, camera on head nodding in agreement, don’t mention the fake glamour headshots), you risk getting up blackballed often times with the support of HR (supposedly).

Some have said there is one specific leader who stands out in this regard, allegedly she gets worse every year because she’s been getting away with it for so long. Apparently, she’s great at managing up, but for those in her world that dare challenge her perspective, the experience has the potential to be miserable (supposedly).

The running joke that helps get many of us through the day is pulling up the Schweb and laughing at what appears to be a heavily AI-filtered glamour headshot. It’s hilarious and also perfectly on brand for how fake the culture feels these days. And with layoffs and constant uncertainty hanging over people’s heads, we all need a good laugh!

Dear colleagues,

I never imagined I’d be writing an email like this. After almost 20 years with Edward Jones, I’ve been told I no longer have a place here. While I was encouraged to accept the narrative that our leadership team “cares” and that none of this should come as a surprise, I cannot leave without speaking my truth.

This firm is not what it once was. I remember sharing coffee with Jim Weddle and even his predecessor—leaders who embodied stability, integrity, and care for associates. What I’ve experienced in recent months is the exact opposite: a process that has been dehumanizing, disheartening, and nothing short of a debacle.

On more than one occasion, I was thrown under the bus to “save face” for our department, taking the heat for situations that were not mine to own. Work that should have been properly regulated by others was instead pushed onto me, leaving me to answer for nonsense that should never have been allowed in the first place. Carrying those burdens silently was one of the most demoralizing parts of my time here.

And then, with less than an hour’s notice, I was pulled into a meeting with a general partner—someone who had already announced her own exit from the firm—and an HR representative. In that moment, after nearly two decades of loyalty, I was told my job was gone. No warning, no dignity, no appreciation for the years of sacrifice. Just a cold, abrupt ending.

To add insult to injury, my most recent leader—the best leader I have ever had in almost two decades at this firm—was demoted. Make it fu--ing make sense. I am so angry, and I will never understand why this happened.

Meanwhile, we’ve watched Penny take home almost $30 million in bonuses in the last year. We’ve watched ALT members hired who don’t even live anywhere near St. Louis—the supposed heartbeat of the firm. We’ve watched David move to BACA and his New York high-rise. And months ago, we were already told we should just be “thankful we have jobs.” How tone deaf can you get?

Even worse, I literally trained someone who came in with no relevant background — a former shoe store manager — and watched as she was fast-tracked into senior leadership. Today, she’s untouchable as a general partner. That’s the kind of favoritism and politics that has replaced merit, hard work, and decades of dedication.

To those who think their jobs are safe, I urge you to think again. I was targeted long before this outcome, despite years of service and dedication. I’ve had colleagues tell me my communications were authentic, my work was valued, and that my exit is a mistake. Yet I’ve learned firsthand how quickly perceptions can be twisted, and how little “receipts” matter when people in power decide otherwise.

I’ve poured my heart and soul into this place. When my mom was dying of cancer, I worked 65 hours a week—balancing the phones, managing 14 contractors and interns, and carrying the responsibilities of multiple roles—all while being her sole caregiver. I gave everything I had to this firm. To now be told I wasn’t “good enough” is something I cannot accept as truth.

What pains me most is knowing Ted would be heartbroken by what’s happening. His vision was one of partnership, people-first values, and building something greater together. That spirit feels lost.

I know many of you have seen what’s happening on places like layoffs.com. I won’t hide behind an anonymous username or light up threads online. This is my story, and it’s just one example of the human cost behind these decisions.

To those who reached out with genuine kindness—thank you. Your words reminded me that my worth isn’t defined by a firm that has lost its way.

I leave not bitter, but resolved: to speak my peace, to hold my head high, and to remind you that no one is immune.

— A fellow associate

If only HCSC cracked down on nepotism and favoritism the way they are cracking down on RTO and the ridiculous 3 days average in the office.