#toxicenvironment

I left Qualcomm back in January. The toxicity was just way too much, and I had to get out. I posted about my experience here a couple of times.

I started a new job two weeks later, and honestly, it’s such a breath of fresh air. People here aren't "warm and fuzzy" or anything, but they get the job done without all the drama. It’s nice to actually feel productive and professional again in a normal work environment.

The pay here is also higher.

Make sure everyone knows.

You don't see how that place consumes you and warps your perspective until you're on the other side. I don't care what comes next. I'm taking time off to reset, then I'll job hunt. Best of luck to all of you still there. Leaving Oracle isn't a blessing in disguise - it's just a blessing, plain and simple.

It is, without question, the most toxic corporate culture I have ever experienced. people spend their entire day pretending to be busy, yet no one actually values high-quality work or individual contributions.
The biggest bottleneck is the "management" layer. Need to clear out these stagnant leaders who have been sitting in their positions for far too long. They have become comfortable, out of touch, and resistant to any modernizing influence. They don't manage; they just occupy space and block progress.
OP: @17e+1kmn211dn

We all know this, but it's worth repeating.

I’ve never seen a company quite like Staples that LOVES to promote and retain toxic individuals. It seems a requirement now to be an AVP is to be a full blown narcissist. Glad we are bringing in 2026 by sending a message to the hardworking employees that not only are we going to pay you pennies but your leaders will be some of the rudest and hateful people we can find, cheers!

This site is loaded with comments of actual and observed layoff behaviors. Check the new and active discussions if you are new to this site. BNY does not announce layoffs since their goal is to circumvent federal and state WARN Act notification requirements and to avoid employer payments to State Unemploument Insurance (sUI) in the event layoffs are publicized. BNY is very unusual and would never admit to layoffs. Instead layoffs are referred to as strategic realignments. They are continuous, systematic and calculated to support cost reduction and location target goals, eliminating experienced workers without severance, sending non-client facing jobs offshore. BNY also “we-ponizes” RTO policies and uses mandatory performance rating targets and forced below expectation ratings to expunge workers using PIPs. To add insult to injury, the company now has flatter or-a, changed the VP/SVP/Director pay structures, capped annual wage and merit increases (with 0 to 2 percent increases being the norm), created labor pipelines with state colleges and universities to maximize state and local tax credits, closed real estate holdings, increased the number of days required in office, and accelerated the reduction of all work from home associates. While these behaviors are not technically considered layoffs, they are designed to promote voluntary attrition. This company has created a place where there is a toxic culture and no psychological safety for anyone to speak up. Senior leadership and EC is highly scripted and does not promote an environment of openness, trust and transparency. Sure there are posts on LinkedIn from EC and chapped lips supporters singing praises, but that’s mostly to protect their positions and personal brands on social media as “hands on leaders” or “emerging leader wannabees.” Again, if you are new to this site, suggest you read through the comments to learn more about the layoff topics and comment history. The picture very clearly describes what’s going on here. The EC goes out of their way to create false optics of rainbows and unicorns. This site is for truth telling in a psychologically safe environment that the EC has intentionally, consistently failed to develop and maintain.

This deserves its own thread. OP: @ar+1kmt70t6q

Only a company that doesnt care a bit hospitality would bring Bridget back into the fold. There were parties when she left! O well glad im gone. Good luck to those still at macys. Watch your back.

You can push yourself as hard as you want, but the expectations just keep changing and you’re still left feeling like you missed the mark. And it’s not isolated, it’s the same story across multiple departments. It's astounding how much this place has changed in the last several years.

I can't believe I put myself into this position. The environment is toxic, we have extremely poor people managers, most of them are micromanagers, and tools and processes are broken or ineffective. There is massive burnout not just in my team, but anywhere I look. Getting out of here is my number one goal.

I started my career at a startup, then joined EM, and after a few years I moved to Amazon. I see a lot of comments claiming that big tech companies are just as toxic as XOM, but that hasn’t been my experience. Amazon is competitive, sure, but it’s a much healthier kind of competition. At XOM, people would take credit for your work or try to humiliate you if you weren’t part of their internal “cult.” My experience at Amazon has been nothing like that. I’m not saying everything is perfect, but the benefits, pay, and overall environment are significantly better, and the competition feels more professional rather than personal. For me XOM culture was way too toxic.

Over the course of the last year, I watched as my friends were blasted away. A feeling not unlike sitting in a trench, the sirens begin, foxholes are filled, and some unlucky chosen never make it back. While dramatic, this is the feeling I get with every announcement, email, and report.
Today, my friends were sold like property. Some spent their lives here, only to be told the work and time they put in is worthless, that they’re no longer with us. Offered up like it wasn’t their lives being affected. For what? So some disgusting rich pig can get fatter? So some greedy corporate demon can keep feasting on us?
I know this place is he-l, but I pray we aren’t so godless that justice goes unserved. Imagine sacrificing people just to pad your pockets.
I have nothing to say about what happened today, no news, nothing. My words are gone, and every day here is filled with apathy.

I thought I was done with PepsiCo, but apparently my former manager and his cohort aren’t done with me. They’re still dragging my name around. It takes a special kind of toxic to stay obsessed with someone who’s already gone. I feel so bad for all of you who're still stuck there.

Not that we weren't one before, in a way. Now it seems to be the actual vision.

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.

Too many old timers in powerful positions just playing game of chess with their resources, shameful. Destroying lives.

I'm out right now because of this place. The stress got to me. Pressure every day, more tasks piling on, never knowing if I'll be laid off. I already deal with depression and anxiety and this job pushed me past what I could handle. My blood pressure hit over 170. Chest pains started. Other physical stuff I won't list. It's real. If you've never felt it, I'm glad for you. Just be kind to those of us who have.

Things were okay until about six months ago, when a new manager showed up and everything shifted. He has clear favorites, people he protects no matter what, while the rest of us get nothing but criticism and constant pressure. The atmosphere has turned toxic in a way you can feel the moment you walk in, and people who used to talk and help each other now mostly keep their heads down and try to stay under the radar. When layoffs first became a probability, I was petrified, but lately I catch myself almost hoping for it, because at least then I would have a reason to leave without it feeling like my fault, and that is honestly where I am now.

I'm an id--t for staying this long. Now I desperately want out, but there are no jobs. I'm stuck, thanks in part to my own laziness.

I left in 2020. Been out six years. Best decision of my life. I have a 25-year professional life and I can easily say Honeywell was the worst company I have ever worked for.

I now make SUBSTANTIALLY more and have so much less stress.

It won't get better. Your work environment won't improve. No one is going to fix it for you. They don't care. Leave. They will simply hire another su---r to fill your spot.

Anyone else noticing how many contractors in Brand are acting like leaders or even hiring managers? Some seem to be leading parts of the business and directing creative work within the agency structure. It’s confusing when contractors appear to be overseeing other contractors, and it’s often unclear who is actually working for who. The dynamic can feel pretty toxic.

When a contractor in the agency positions themselves as a department or team lead, or even a creative lead over others, it raises questions about who actually has a seat at the table and how those decisions are being made.

Curious how this became the model.

Has been the biggest joke of my life. And some of these managers are quite literally the slimiest. I can’t wait to see their sappy LinkedIn post when they lose their jobs, it’s coming.

If there was a class on destroying mental health, this place would teach it. They've got every technique down. The pressure, the uncertainty, the constant moving targets. It's impressive in a horrible way.

It's been three weeks since I walked out with zero notice and zero backup. People thought I was crazy. Maybe I am, who knows. But you know what? I sleep now. I don't wake up with that dread feeling. That place was destroying me and leaving with nothing was still better than staying one more day. I'll figure the rest out later.

I came to AT&T believing in things. Hard work, learning from sc--w ups, helping my team. This place broke all of that out of me. When you make a mistake here, they don't use it to teach you. They use it against you. Teamwork means watching your back while management races you toward deadlines. Initiative isn't welcome. You do what you're told and nothing more. There's no real culture. Just constant watching, constant correcting, and always the sense that they're looking for reasons to cut people.

The top people here don't actually do anything. They just collect checks while toxic behavior runs wild. It's changing everyone. You watch people turn into versions of themselves you don't even recognize. It's honestly frightening.

I came here proud and now I'm just a shell running on fear and threats.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUHvLaqBZgA

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!

Meeting after meeting after meeting dealing with that one loud mouth bully abusing employees and contractors alike, and the "leadership" here does nothing. Watch the rest of the talent dip once those aip checks get cashed...

I’ve worked in tough places before, but nothing this openly dismissive of basic respect.

I might be out of a job right now, but being let go from that toxic dump was honestly a gift. The culture was so fake and draining. I'd rather struggle financially than ever go back to that atmosphere.

We have to deal with extremely poor management, and you have to belong to their circle, or they turn your life into a living he-l! Don't get me started on so many gossips going on behind the close door. You're expected to know everything and do everything but if you want to be recognized for your work, tough luck. Horrible, horrible place.

It’s simply not worth it. Don’t let this mismanaged menagerie put you in the ground. While they shove more work and a 1% raise at you (while the CEO cleared nearly 30mm in 2024 per the 10k published). You’re doing time here that’s it. There is no future any longer working for PepsiCo - it’s just a name on a C.V. that looks good. When the economy picks up - they might as well just leave the exit door opened.

I keep showing up and pretending it doesn't bother me, but the gossip and pettiness here is next level. It's so unprofessional that I'm starting to wonder if every corporate job is like this. Makes me want to find something completely different just to escape this mess.

Stack ranking has everyone watching their backs instead of helping each other. A buddy was laid off six months ago and still can't land anything, so I'm terrified to leave. The only bright spot is the friends I've made across different teams. The rest of it is just showing up and wondering if today's the day they cut my access.

It happened about a year ago on LinkedIn. Everyone was up in arms about it. A year later, nothing changed, and I’m betting most of you don’t even remember it.

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.. :)

I had a target on my back and hung in there the whole time. Actually succeeded and exceeded in the complete he-l and misery a few (managers) made my life for years.

We are talking years.

YEARS.

My marriage, family life, and social life were all deeply affected in the worst ways possible.
These truly rotten to the core managers who are hallowed out without a trace of their sole left really ruined my life. Do they know or care? I doubt it. Would they probably find some kind of satisfaction in it? Probably.

It took being diagnosed with the worst to escape.

I won’t say it for confidentiality reasons, but I don’t know how much time I have left.

Was the years of misery worth it? No.

At the time, during the most miserable period of existing, I couldn’t swallow letting 1-2 people (managers) people push me out of the company I have worked so hard and had so much dedication to for years.

I suffered all of it. The whole playbook. What were meant to be Impossible workloads that I made possible, 0% merit increase, 0 recognition from direct management, (although I would get praises from other business lines because of my work ethic which of course is non existent in my year end review), isolation, rumor spreading, manipulation, sabotage, out right lying in my reviews and grading my work. It’s all there. Not going to say everything here. But it’s all there.

I stayed true to my work ethic the entirety and that brings a mix of emotions. On one hand I feel good that my intentions were always pure no matter what, and I truly hope I made a difference for someone else in my work even if it was only the slightest. On the other hand, I feel incredibly sad that it was to the overall benefit to managers who gave me he-l on earth.

I am sorry for everyone here. Please take a step back if it gets overwhelming and put yourself first.

If you can’t put yourself first, because you have to take care of business then remember to NEVER lose faith and always hold it close.

The dysfunction here got so bad I had no choice but to leave. Best decision I ever made. Found a place that actually respects its people and pays decently. So weird to say thanks to Waters, but the push was exactly what I needed.

Nothing about how EJ is run makes sense anymore. It's all reactive panic moves and politics. If you're not buddies with someone in charge, good luck getting anywhere. Meanwhile the actual work gets ignored and benefits keep shrinking. It's exhausting.