#productivity

I just got assigned a new manager. He is based in a different location to me, as are almost all of the team. He only comes to my office once a month.

Me and one colleague are the only ones out of the 16 team members based in our location, and we both prefer to work from home, and perform much better. This new manager being in a different location seems like a great opportunity... Can I just lie about being in the office? Can he track key card swipes, or WiFi logins to see how many days per week I go in?

I know this info is logged, but does direct managers have access to that information? I'm wondering if maybe some gdpr data protection would prohibit them from being able to casually keep track of office attendance?

Are my dreams doomed?

Forcing employees to worry about their jobs nonstop is a perfect way to destroy morale and crater productivity. You can see it playing out in real time.

Trying to concentrate in that environment is impossible. People talking, interrupting, moving things around... I got more done in a quiet hour at home than I do in a full day at the office. To say my productivity has plummeted would be an understatement. This RTO experiment is failing.

Would be curious to see company wide numbers on this. Certain divisions have suffered under the low morale. There is little incentive to perform. It's only a matter of time for the rest. The C Suite does not care at all. When will their customers wake the f up?

Today I am excited to share a proven framework for completely destroying productivity while looking extremely busy. This system works in every industry and scales beautifully with headcount.

Let’s get started.

Step 1: Internal meetings

Schedule as many recurring meetings as humanly possible. Daily is good. Multiple per day is better.

Rules to follow:

• No clear agenda
• Same topics every week
• Zero decisions made
• No action items
• Invite people who have absolutely nothing to do with the subject

If someone asks why they are invited, say “just wanted to get your thoughts” and move on.

Step 2: Daily one on ones

Have a one on one with every team member every single day.

In these meetings:

• Ask them to walk you through work they already explained
• Ask questions you could answer by reading one message
• Encourage long explanations of things you already approved

If you catch yourself thinking “this could have been an email,” you are doing it correctly.

Step 3: Busy work

Assign nonstop busy work at all times.

Best practices:

• Create urgency even when nothing is urgent
• Make sure the work does not meaningfully affect outcomes
• Ensure it pulls people away from their actual jobs

When they finish:

• Assign more busy work
• Or tell them to redo it because “we need to rethink the approach”

If they ask what changed, say “alignment” and end the conversation.

That’s it. Follow these three steps and you will successfully convert a capable team into a meeting-attending, task-refreshing machine with no time to think.

Thanks everyone. Notes will not be shared.

I spend half my day in meetings that accomplish nothing, and somehow the rest of the day is supposed to cover actual work. It’s ridiculous how little time is left to get anything done, and it’s exhausting trying to keep up like this. It almost feels like a freaking joke.

It really makes me mad that you have some PepsiCo employees who work really hard, get no recognition and/or they get laid off. Then you have those PepsiCo employees who are constantly on their cell phones, Facebook, etc. Get off your phones/Facebook people!! You’re being paid to do a job not to express your political opinions, etc., during work hours!!!

MMWB Inc. Helps Firms Prevent Layoffs Via System Fixes

MMWB Inc. helps companies prevent layoffs by fixing operational systems. This approach eliminates waste that drains productivity and morale. Founder Ben Klaiber notes employees spend 25% of time fighting bad systems. Fixing these issues recovers lost capacity and improves performance. The Toledo firm works closely with a limited number of clients.

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/press-release/story/25438/toledo-firm-prevents-layoffs-by-fixing-systems-saving-jobs-and-profit-margins/

Toledo, Ohio

SF and KB talk up Copilot all day long, its the reason we can rif so many people. But then they took away the ability to record meetings and get transcriptions. One step forward four steps back

I just keep refreshing this page on my phone. Productivity this morning is zero.

Who the he|| designed a new support page?!

Unreadable.
Data needed hidden.
Favourites lost.
Productivity decreased

I was reading this Wharton article about how small slights from employers cause a loss of productivity. link to article: https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/penn-wharton-when-employees-feel-slighted-they-work-less

PNC better get ready for this on a grand scale. Obviously, RTO increases costs for employees (parking, gas, additional child care, loss of time because of the commute, the list goes on). But we’ve also lost our personal day out of nowhere, HSA wellness contributions have gone down significantly, and rumor has it that bonuses will leave a lot to be desired. All in one year. This company is ran by CLOWNS. I encourage everyone to use every second of every occasional absense day in 2026. Don’t work a minute past 5pm. Don’t even think about logging in on the weekend. They take, take, take and only give back to the C Suite. Don’t give them anything more than the bare minimum, because PNC sure isn’t going to give you anything.

Laser focused on customers vs laser focused on spreadsheet metrics:

Sorry Mr. Customer, I have to take a break on your install you've been waiting months for, to complete out my install dispatch, and open another install dispatch so my managers numbers look good.

Why can't we just do the install on a real-time dispatch you ask? That is a great question, Mr. Customer. It's because we will be scrutinized and questioned as to why it took more time than what the useless, non-experienced bean counters say this job should take. Yes, I know thats ridiculous. Everyone knows its ridiculous, but no one can SAY its ridiculous.

This company can't lay off these levels of waste fast enough.

Purge it.

Recently, senior executives at Salesforce have admitted, both internally and publicly, that they massively overestimated AI’s capabilities. They have found that AI simply can’t cope with the complex nature of customer service and totally fails at nuanced issues, escalations, and long-tail customer problems. They even say that it has caused a marked decline in service quality and far more complaints.

But the problems go far deeper than that.

Both employees and executives have said that the company is wasting countless resources on firefighting to stabilise operations since the mass AI layoff. Employees have to spend so much time stepping in to correct the wildly wrong AI-generated responses that AI is wasting more time than it saves. In other words, this AI reduces productivity, not increases it.

But there is also a huge problem here with expertise and skill debt. On top of the firefighting to correct the AI, executives have also highlighted how they are also having to firefight to stabilise their systems from problems that were previously easily solved by staff who had the required experience and skill. However, these staff were fired in the AI layoffs.

https://www.planetearthandbeyond.co/p/reality-is-breaking-the-ai-revolution

https://www.axios.com/2026/01/14/ai-jobs-productivity-workslop

"The big picture: CEOs and employers are super eager to reap the productivity benefits of AI — particularly so they can bring down labor costs.

But for now, AI is mainly being used as an excuse to conduct layoffs that are due to other factors, says Rob Hornby, co-CEO of consultancy AlixPartners.
In a survey from his firm, also out Wednesday, 95% of CEOs said they expected to conduct layoffs in the next five years because of AI. That's likely more hope than reality. CEOs aren't yet seeing productivity gains from AI, he says."

Sounds like LHX. He's probably referring to LHX Next!!

For those who are managers what is being said about the absolutely dismal state of rhe company and the rock bottom morale? Productivity will be at an all time low as no one cares at all anymore.

I really thought that I would have gotten the ax by now, but nope, I'm still here. Guess I have to up my game in 2026 and do even less if that's possible.

Why even bother wasting PTO? I consistently never take off during this time of year and also never care to do much other than move my mouse.

My calendar’s full, my work isn’t getting done, and half these meetings could’ve been emails. Who’s benefiting from this system, because it certainly isn’t any of us who actually have things to do?

Nothing’s changed. Offshore more work, thin out US teams, stack roles, and squeeze productivity. The direction of the new leadership is obvious - same ol' same ol'.

Root Causes:

1. Forced ranking
2. PIP % goals to reduce headcount
3. Sponsorship and false high ranking of sponsored id--ts
4. Continued degradation of employee treatment and reduced benefits
5. PIPing competent 50+ HC10 employees to replace with low cost/low quality 3rd world cheap labor
6. All productive work only happens so can put on PDS to avoid PIP

Results:

1. Loyalty approaching zero
2. Pride in EM already zero
3. Employees treat each other like competitors hoping to avoid the PIP
4. Teamwork only occurs if employees think their contributions will look good on PDS
5. Supervisors and coworkers constantly and falsely claim successes of others on their PDS
6. Most employees advise college graduates not to interview with EM
7. Sponsored id--ts given easiest assignments for very short durations, and transferred at the slightest indication their stupidity will be traceable to them. Leads to dangerous false confidence, zero skills attained, and inflated arrogance.

Bumping it up so it’s not lost in replies. This deserves its own thread. OP: @cq+1kcsvj34s

As a union represented tech my job entails turning sc--ws and mounting various sized/ colored boxes on customers houses and buildings. I’ve been doing it for several decades. When I’m unhappy or getting the shaft ( which is more frequent recently) the sc--ws get turned much slower and the boxes don’t go up as fast. Productivity? That’s a hilarious concept. Pride? Gone years ago. Loyalty? A concept for corporate cucks mo--ns. It’s a business transaction - I turn the sc--w and you compensate me.

Can we just work harder?

Ah yes, the latest RTO decree—marketed as “structure,” experienced as punishment with better lighting. It’s the corporate equivalent of saying “We care deeply about your well-being” while handing you a cage and a feathered costume.

Associates now shuffle back like coal-mine canaries, expected to chirp cheerfully while inhaling the fumes of hollow empathy. Leadership insists this is about “connection” and “culture,” but the only culture anyone feels is the petri dish of distrust spreading across every floor.

The irony? The very employees they’re chasing—the masters of remote camouflage—will simply relocate their hiding skills to cubicles. Instead of dodging Teams calls, they’ll dodge eye contact in open-plan seating. Mission accomplished, Executive Committee.

Meanwhile, the rest of us lose the flexibility that actually fueled productivity. Remember that quaint concept? It thrived when associates weren’t commuting two hours to sit in meetings that could have been emails. But optics matter more than outcomes. Nothing screams “strategic leadership” like forcing everyone to show up for the illusion of collaboration while trust remains missing in action—buried alongside the latest batch of layoff casualties.

And empathy? It rings so hollow it could double as an empty Christmas stocking. Every memo drips with “we understand” and “we value your contributions,” yet translates to “we don’t trust you unless we can watch you suffer in person.” Associates have cracked the code: empathy here is garnish, sprinkled on punishment to make it LinkedIn-ready.
BNY Mellon has perfected optics-as-strategy. The Executive Committee beams about “rebuilding culture,” while associates quietly wonder if culture is just another word for surveillance—or HR justification for not paying severance. HR and PR polish the fantasy, posting glossy updates about “thriving together,” while employees mutter, “thriving where, exactly?”

So yes, structure without trust is punishment. Punishment dressed up as empathy is satire. The Executive Committee may think they’re leading a renaissance, but associates know the truth: they’re just the canaries, feathers ruffled, waiting for the next puff of corporate smoke.

And now, the holiday “grace period.” The EC retreats to lavish resorts and second homes while commoners aka associates are told to recharge, believe the theater, and stop chirping about RTO.

Spoiler alert: the canaries aren’t fooled.

Do you foresee the stock price to rebound with the last investment acquisitions but slow productivity?

1- cut guidance for remainder of the year and into 2026
2- seasonal slowdown. Lot of ppl out on people
3- org restructuring tolls which is happening now and it causes confusion often times, cutting projects half way through or affecting productivity. Even with the AI roadmap it brings conflict (overlapping across different orgs)
4- morale is down knowing incentives are poor. Usually 2% raise or maybe rsu worth 2k or less.(if you are eligible)
5- consensus for eps is already lower meaning that even good catalyst news wont help much.
6- our sheets are showing debts and lawsuits coming

I dont want to be pesimistic but Do you guys see any catalysts helping to rebound? Please tell me things to give us some hope about the tomorrow here.

Hadn't thought much about RTO in last few weeks. I didn't get hit and neither did most who I work with directly. We're all pretty spread out, so not near one of the offices where RTO has happened so far. But sat through a client call this morning where the person leading the call was in office. It was horrible. That person is trying to have an important discussion with the client and we all hear people in the background the entire time. They weren't particularly loud or whatever. Sounded like they were also on a work related call based on the stuff you could clearly hear them talking about.

Poor colleague knew it too, clearly. They tried to use mute to mitigate the issue, but that only led to them being muted when they were trying to talk and not muted when they seemed to think they were. And for what? I know this colleague is not interacting with anyone at the office site that is involved at all with any of our work.

So stupid.

. . . was the mentality behind the execution of RTO, forced relocation at employee expense, and seemingly random surplusses?

Are we a leaner, more cohesive and productive work force? Did it create a brighter future for AT&T?

You've had 2 years to experience and observe. Would you have executed it differently? Share your observations.

With all the uncertainty, my productivity was lower than ever. It wasn't even intentional, I just couldn't concentrate on work.

I'd like to start next year being able to focus on my work (if I'm still here, of course). I have been half-productive since this whole thing started. It's not intentional, I just can't concentrate properly when all I can think about is if I'm next and what I'll do if I lose my job. Can we just get this over with?

How would you feel if you multiplied your output in the same amount of time by removing all that’s extraneous?

Early in my career, I learned that if you don’t treat your time as a valuable, finite commodity, others won’t either. When meeting with Allstate employees this past October, I wanted to take this learning a step further by focusing on making the most of the time we have. So, instead of thinking more time is needed to get things done, focus is on efficiency. Think shorter meetings, less distractions, concentrated time blocks, clarity in conversation and feedback.

With this mindset we give ourselves the gift of recovery time. Time to breathe, time to recharge, time to ideate.

Let’s spend our time and energy on achieving greater outcomes. Exponentially multiply the outcomes, not the hours—a concept I’m calling output squared or O2. This is about more than working smarter. It’s about making room for excellence, not exhaustion!

So far, I've spent 2 hours going through my inbox. I've only gotten 1/3 of the non-filtered emails I received in the past three days cleared.

Now I've got a teams call that will eat up 30–60 minutes, then I can get back to reading and deleting emails.

This is what it takes to avoid the downtime I, as a technology worker, regularly have due to the nature of my work being reactive. I'm not getting anything of value done, but at least I'm not gonna show up on a non-activity report, since I've been working non-stop for over 2 hours. Just think of how good my metrics will look.

It's amazing how productive I feel!

I thought managers were supposed to manage, and that all our bloated procedures supposedly served a purpose. Out of all the meetings we had lately, maybe one or two were actually useful, the rest were a complete waste of time. Most of us actually know how to do our jobs. But I guess some managers still need to justify their existence somehow.

Seems no changes to VZI yesterday. What’s happening from that front? Anyone know Dan’s POV on outsourcing?

I can tell you from my experience that the onshore GTS developers are far more productive and skilled, but you can get 4 offshore for the price of 1 onshore.

Because I certainly didn't.

Why? Why is that needed? Most of those meetings are nothing but people repeating things that were said many, many times before just packaged another way. It's not like something positive or new comes of it. So what's the point, other than to keep useless people busy?

Thanks goodness for RTO. My productivity is way up. So much so I wanted to share my successful office routine:

9:00am: Well actually 9:23am because you know, traffic. Roll in sit down. Get that laptop out and for it up.

9:32am: Laptop is logged in open email and Teams so it looks like I'm here. Time for coffee. Let's go to the break room. Taking the scenic route.

9:52am: Got back with my coffee and snack. Time to look at my calendar. Okay first meeting at 10:30am. Time to check Fox News and trade some stocks.

10:30am: First Zoom meeting glad I'm in my cubicle to talk to everyone on Zoom.

11:00am call is over. Was intense. I need to walk around and think about it.

11:20am: Walking around and time to take a dump.

11:45am: Made it back to cube after walk and dump. Check emails. Buy something on Amazon. Trade some stocks.

12:00pm: Lunch time. Let's drive somewhere.

1:30pm: Back from my long lunch. Let's check Fox News again. Trade some more stocks. Next call at 2:00pm.

2:00pm: Next Zoom call. Super productive now that I am in the office. Vibe is way different than taking a Zoom call at home.

2:30pm: That call was intense. Time to go for a walk. Bathroom break, break room break and outside break.

3:15pm: Back at the desk. Trade a couple more stocks. Work on an excel for 10 minutes. Getting tired. Time for another coffee..

3:45pm: Back at desk with coffee. Check eBay and look at emails. Traffic probably bad. I need to leave early.

4:15pm: I'm out of here. Kids home from school. Bye.

We can easily save money by freezing hiring, freezing travel, and penny pinching spending.

Oh wait... But we did that already.

But why are projects delayed???!!

I'm the VP of inflated egos and I don't understand! I hired two 3rd world contractors to take the place of that principle engineer. According to my advanced calculations... 2/1, we should have twice the productivity!

Well I've got a solution...

I'll create a new corporate team of VP's, give it a cool name, and our meetings will save money!

Winning. Too much winning!

I have been bad mouthing DXC Technology for some time , since before I retired for the lack of annual merit pay increases.

But reading all the blog posts about some DXC employees do quite quitting, quite striking I see why DXC margins are so high, if the employee's would work to the best of their ability (as they still are being paid a salary), the work would get done faster, the margins would go way down and the company might be able to retain more clients and also grab new ones.

When I was employed, I complained but always worked my butt off, as I have pride, ownership and didn't want to let my team mates down, or most of my supervisors/people managers and directors

Say you get RIF'd on 11/20 and have to work until end of Dec. How productive are you expected to be during those final 3-4 weeks?

If you had projects you were planning to finish before end of year, do you still complete those? How much effort do you put into offloading your work to another employee? Are you still expected to follow the 3/2 hybrid?

Or are you basically just doing minimal work during this time, and not coming into office?

What have you seen from lame duck employees in prior RIFs?

Customer service and technology employees differ significantly from shopfloor workers, rendering the principles of Scientific Management and productivity gains through motion studies irrelevant and ineffective in these roles.
However, Truist, as a service-oriented company, places undue emphasis on the Sapience tool to measure productivity. While this highlights Sapience’s success in marketing and selling its productivity tool to large corporations, it raises concerns about its appropriateness for evaluating service and technology roles.