#workload

Question for HouseCalls APCs — how’s everyone’s schedule looking for August and September? Curious if others are noticing a pattern of unusually few visits scheduled starting mid-August onward.

I've been at the bank long enough, and in enough different roles, to finally understand how the place actually rewards performance.

The reward for hard work isn't recognition. It isn't career growth. It isn't additional compensation. It's more work.

Not just any work, either. You get handed the complex, politically sensitive, high-risk initiatives that everyone else has quietly managed to avoid. The kind of work where failure has consequences, success is expected, and if you somehow pull it off, leadership thanks you by immediately assigning you the next impossible project.

Competence isn't rewarded here, it's exploited.

The irony is that the less capable you appear to be, the less you're expected to do. People who consistently fail to deliver, miss deadlines, or spend more time trying to hand off work than actually completing it somehow develop an impressive track record of failing upward. They become experts at managing perception instead of outcomes, while the people actually producing results are too busy carrying the organization to spend time marketing themselves.

Then there are the teams that seem to have won the organizational lottery. Small teams. Clearly defined responsibilities. Minimal scope creep. Leadership that actually protects their capacity instead of treating it like a public utility. Flexible delivery timelines. Dedicated administrative support. They get measured on exactly what they signed up to do.

The rest of us? Apparently our job description is simply "everything else." Need another critical program? Give it to the team that's already drowning. Another governance function? They'll figure it out. Production support? Add it. Executive requests? Sure. Regulatory deadlines? Why not? Twenty-four-hour operational oversight? Of course. After all, they've always found a way before.

Then leadership has the audacity to act surprised when capacity becomes an issue. The best part is pretending this is all accidental. It isn't.

Leadership has the reporting. They have the staffing numbers. They have the capacity plans. They sit through prioritization meetings. They review resource models. They approve organizational structures. They know exactly which teams have half the support and two or three times the responsibility. They know which groups are expected to supervise critical operations 24 hours a day, 365 days a year while simultaneously delivering strategic initiatives.

They're not uninformed. They're informed enough to know exactly what's happening and comfortable enough to let it continue. When you escalate the issue, you get the standard corporate script.

"Prioritize better."

"Focus on the highest-value work."

"Be more strategic."

"Challenge your assumptions."

As if no one has ever considered making a priority list.

You can spend weeks documenting workload, mapping every deliverable, demonstrating capacity with actual data, and proving mathematically that there aren't enough hours or people to accomplish everything being demanded. The response?

"We understand."

Translation: We have no intention of changing anything, but we'd appreciate it if you'd continue accomplishing the impossible so we don't have to explain the problem to someone above us.

The most frustrating part is that leadership often mistakes resilience for excess capacity. Every time a team sacrifices nights, weekends, vacations, morale, or retention to somehow meet another impossible deadline, leadership congratulates themselves on successful planning instead of recognizing they've just normalized another unsustainable expectation.

And so the cycle continues.

The competent become the organizational pack mules, carrying increasingly impossible loads because they've demonstrated they can survive them. The underperformers continue to enjoy manageable expectations because no one expects much from them anyway. Meanwhile, leadership points to another successful delivery as proof that the current operating model works, blissfully ignoring that it only works because a handful of people refuse to let the wheels come off.

At some point, you realize the system isn't broken.

It's functioning exactly as leadership designed it.
The people doing the work absorb the cost.
Leadership gets the credit.

And every year, everyone wonders why the people capable of carrying the organization eventually stop volunteering to do it.

They can't lay me off without severance, so they're making me want to quit instead. That's the only conclusion I can make after my workload got cut to nothing, my meetings disappeared, and my manager stopped including me in planning. I guess they're hoping I'll eventually crack and submit my resignation. Or they'll try to fire me. Whatever it is, I'm definitely not going to do them any favors and walk away on my own. They have no idea how stubborn I can get.

We're down 30 percent headcount and still expected to deliver the same output. With the VSP and probable subsequent involuntary layoffs, who knows how bad it'll get for those of us left behind. Can someone please tell leadership that people aren't infinite resources?

This place is on life support and has been for a while, and management keeps unplugging the machines. I've watched entire departments vanish, and the work just gets dumped on whoever's left. The collapse won't be dramatic - it'll be a slow, painful death by attrition.

They can't keep cutting forever, eventually there won't be anyone left to cut. But even if it does stop, is there any reason to stay? Whoever's left will just be expected to do the all the work of everyone who was cut, for the same pay. I don't see a happy ending here.

Why, as a leader in the field, am I now having to do the work of this team? The math is strange - I generate revenue, the firm allocates my revenue for this home office work yet I’m the one doing their work. From what I hear - the GP running it is inadequate and the directors are incompetent and have created a toxic environment where their staff left their area leaving us to do their roles. How are they still employed?

Ask around and you'll hear real frustration. With Gunjan/leadership, with direction, with a culture that's betting worse, high workloads, burnout.... But turnover is basically nothing. People stay for years, sometimes decades.

That's a weird combo. Usually when people are this unhappy, they leave. So what's actually keeping everyone here?

My guesses:

Golden handcuffs. Pension, benefits, tenure perks that are hard to walk away from
Grass isn't greener thinking. Assuming other places have the same problems anyway
Complaining isn't the same as job hunting. Sometimes it's just how people vent
Not a lot of comparable roles nearby to jump to

Anyone who's been here a while, what's actually kept you?

Quick question. We are salary employees, we have recently been required to work holidays with only a 15% diff, if the holiday fall on the weekend. If it falls during the week we get no additional money. Also we are required to stay late, people are missing lunches and breaks to get all the required work completed. However if there is no work in the queue we are still held to the same production metrics. Now we have recently found out that if for some reason we have a loss of power or internet access, we must flex the hours or take pto. It seems like the salary benefits only favor the company and leaves the employees with no work life balance.

Assuming we get notified 7/27 and that most people's end date is 9/4, that only gives 5 weeks for everyone to use up vacation and personal time. They don't want us taking PTO within 2 weeks of separation, so all vacation has to be used by 8/21. I don't know about everyone else, but I've got 16 days of vacation/sick time to burn, and I'm not the only one in my department who has admitted to applying for the VSP. If we all get accepted with the default exit date, my team will be running at 40% capacity. It will be a good preview of the sh-t show that they are about to walk into.

I've been working long enough to know that every job comes with pressure. What I've never experienced before is feeling this mentally exhausted all the time. The workload just keeps growing, the expectations never ease up, and it feels like everyone is running on empty. I've reached the point where I'm looking for something else because I can't imagine doing this much longer.

We have people carrying the team while others do almost nothing. Why don't the layoffs ever target the right people?

Months after my team was affected by layoffs, I'm still the one doing most of the work of those who were shown the door, with no extra compensation. If I'd been laid off, at least I'd have severance to live on while I looked for something else. This feels like a much worse outcome.

I like what I do, and I've always tried to give it my best. Lately, though, it feels like every time you prove you can handle something, you're rewarded with even more work and even higher expectations. At some point, even the people who care start wondering why they're trying so hard.

I was expected once again to take on tasks I've never been trained for, on top of everything else I already have to do. I said no. I told them if that's a problem, they can fire me because I'm done caring. My manager wasn't thrilled, but I'm still employed for now, so I guess they needed me more than they let on.

I really hope No RTMs work a minute over 40 hours. Don't let this company take advantage of you. Do you think any manager in this company works over 40? They don't even work 30 hours. Have you ever seen a DM or RMS come out and help when a merchandiser calls off on the weekend or any other time? I haven't so why should you now that you're an rtm?

You work your butt off every single day and what do you get as a reward? More work. No promotion, no raise, just more piled on your plate. Why bother?

Our manager has been saying we'd get two new team members for what feels like forever. It's been months and nothing. No new hires, no updates, no explanations. I don't know if there's an official hiring freeze or if the approvals just aren't coming through, but whatever the reason, we're drowning. We can't sustain this much longer and nobody seems to care.

They cut the people, but they don't cut the work. So the rest of us are left trying to do the same amount with fewer hands. We're now all stretched way too thin and I can feel people burning out. I'm honestly worried that some of the remaining team members will decide it's not worth it and leave, and then those of us left will be in an even worse situation.

Too much to do and never enough time now. Once all these changes happen I can’t even imagine this scenario.

And the quarterly bonus… I’m not getting one… So much work done… So disappointing!!!
I’m sure I’m not the only one not getting one..
So disappointing when you’re looking forward to it and it’s not there!!!

What exactly do supervisors and managers and above do everyday? My supervisor is either in a meeting or on a call almost everyday, and seems like every 3-4 hours they have to go to a meeting or hop on a call. So my question is, for sups or whoever is familiar, what the heck exactly do these sups do everyday? No way you will have so much to say if you go on a meeting almost everyday for 4-5 hours a day?

"Managing 100 calls a day—as required for care managers at Centene’s Sunshine Health—is an unsustainable expectation. One has to question the quality of both those interactions and the resulting documentation. Requiring such a high volume of calls, effectively placing quantity over quality and metrics over genuine member care, is fundamentally abusive to both staff and patients. Does CEO Sarah London truly understand the impact of the mediocre leadership culture that thrives on bullying those on the front lines? It seems unlikely, as she appears primarily concerned with her own $20 million annual compensation, regardless of the operational reality on the ground."

Laptops are being rationed and recycled. Yes, recycled. So that laptop you just got might be 3 years old and won't handle the windows 11 upgrade. Team members are going through three four and five laptops before they find one that can handle Windows 11.

smh.

They want you to come into the office but they don't want to give you a computer.

Meanwhile we have all these groups pointlessly tokenmaxxing.

Technology has always been pretty bad at Wells Fargo. This is unacceptable. How are we going to sell products customers without compute.

We need to fire a lot more people. Unfortunately we seem to be firing the wrong ones

I stand here on ashes and ember. Many colleagues impacted, particularly those I rely on to support and drive execution. I suppose someone will figure out how I can push any projects through without them? I will quietly and simply sit on my hands until then.

Fellow MBA’s what shifts do you normally work each week?

I now normally get stuck with 2 Closing Shifts , 3 opening shifts

I used to get 1 close and 4 opening shifts when I first moved out of being a CXM

Less closing Was supposed to be a perk of being
MBA vs CXM

And now having AYS , Jewelry and CXC’s added to my list of responsibilities is pushing my buttons

Just curious, any departments getting word of additional duties? If so, list your dept. and if comfortable, your additional duties.

I have had many great years working for Target but I think that Target is well past being able to return to what it was during its "glory" years. The culture has shifted in a negative way, well-respected leaders have moved on and there is more work than people. Target culture was always a bit of a double-edged sword. It could be difficult to infiltrate, especially if you weren't from the midwest, or weren't a Type A extrovert. That being said, the pride and positivity that people felt in working for Target consistently drove the team to go above and beyond to exceed requirements.

Yes, workload continues to be a problem but it is a symptom of a bigger problem. The biggest issue continues to be Target leadership. You have leaders within Target that (A) Don't understand the work that is associated with the roles on their team or (B) Do not know how to inspire/support their team to address workload or (C) Give the appearance of not caring.

Leaders have been hired from outside Target who did not have either the business skills or people skills to manage and inspire a team. For example, the VP of my area was an outside hire who previously managed a $25M business with 1-2 direct reports for a small, but aspirational retailer. Target put her in charge of a $6B+ business and she is ill-suited to lead people or strategy. She has been a failure and until recently, there was no accountability for bad team surveys or poor sales. The team was blamed and the ex-SVP allowed this to happen. There was finally HR intervention this year but guess what? She the VP is still here and sales are still declining!

My whole point in relating this story is that why should anyone work extra hard, beyond required hours and responsibilities, for a company where you aren't respected? I would have worked around the clock for a few of my past leaders who are no longer with Target because I respected them and they respected me. Hiring a "leader" who belittles her team in meetings, doesn't appreciate all the work being done and has driven team members to seek mental health treatment does not drive productivity or sales.

Bumped from @zy+1kx1vvht4.

We desperately need more people, we're dying over here, but we're being told nobody is being hired currently. Is this true? I haven't heard anything about a hiring freeze happening.

How about instead of mistreating the folks actually doing the work at the L1 level, we get rid of a LOT of the fluff at the L3 and higher level?....There are so many L3s who do nothing but host teams calls where they circlej--kand throw out "Insightful" quotes to try to sound intelligent before we spend an hour listening to something that literally could have been an email so they can feign "Collaboration". Someone mentioned that ja----s Louie Lewis earlier in this thread and he has these fu-k a-s "Jam Sessions" weekly where its just him hosting and playing his favorite music before trying to seem Insightful like we all don't have sh-t to do. I swear to god im just waiting to hear back from some roles I have applied to so I can GTFO out of Dallas for good.

I was trying really hard to get laid off as my EU severance was considerable. I managed finally to get my hard earned money. I do not know what to do with it, just sitting now in bank and ETF fonds. And I have new job with 50% more salary and 20 times more work. Instead of doing minimum/nothing and have 2 hours of meetings per week, one with indian team I lead and other with American manager (who was also laid off recently), now I have to do 40 hours/week and quite often I do few more hours in evenings and weekends. No time to practice guitar anymore, while I worked at dxc I spent my working hours playing... I wish I could again have such a nice work like I had in DXC. If they are hiring, please let me know..

Do you think we will see layoffs this year? Or is the only way out to quit? With all the work there is I can’t imagine there will be any layoffs. They’re even taking work from other locations and need to hire. Even AI is causing more work.

The week of July 6th there were a few resignations. Do not resign!

If you have not secured new employment and you are sick and tired of tedious daily activities like Salesforce. DO NOT MAKE IT EASY ON THEM... DO NOT RESIGN! Everyone's situation is a little different BUT USE CHAPTGPT ask how to negotiate a Severance and put in your exact situation and it will guide. you.

I know you are tired, overworked, feeling defeated, but that is part of their plan. Just MILK IT. If you need to enter Tasks, just make it up on the spot. If you have to enter a LOG a CALL in SF just interview CHATGPT. Say ChatGPT you are an Instructor teaching Biology what are your 3 biggest challenges? what are 3 things you wish Technology could do for you in the classroom,,,,,, and enter what it tells you. This will buy you some time and also keep the checks rolling in while you try to get Severance If they don't give you severance, Each check you receive by faking it, is basically Severance since you were about to throw in the towel and quit anyways. Good Luck!!

Too all MOW who work like dogs and all the sales reps and now RTM's who act like MOW dont do there jobs then how about you merchandise 400 cases daily and have messes left by lack of merchandisers at every store due to bieng understaffed, see what you can sell in, theres no time to even rotate or do backstock, the only way this company will ever be successful is if it hires enough people to do the job right, and they won't so the cycle continues. Get out and go to companies that respect hard workers. Tired of reps talking bs when they dont do half as much as most MOW on any given day.

We're all well aware of what's coming. It's an open secret with a thousand rumors that management has done nothing to dispel.

Cognizant is here to help. Cognizant just needs to learn your job so they can take over the boring day to day stuff and free you up for more important work; cooperate with the job shadowing. Cognizant is going to bring expertise and help us move faster, and they'll help lighten the workload.

Cognizant is going to take our jobs.

I lost count how many times ISG engineering would openly brag about overinflating estimates for work and intentionally leaving features partially finished as an "insurance policy" for future job security. How's that working out for ya'all?

I understand October 2 is the last day for sales reps if they didn’t get a territory, if I have that right. Other than that what is the significance of October 2 for this company? What is the purpose of October 2, why not finish the year out? Thanksgiving and Christmas would be so close. That doesn’t even make sense!!
Is it a $ thing? Seems like there wouldn’t be enough people to work!! Who’s going to work all this? There’s only SO MUCH one person can do!!

10's? 100-200?

HQ white collar. turning 50 in a few months.

recently my manager told me I'm needed for a task force to review internal work process. my monthly report would be done by a junior staff while I have to help/supervise him for first couple of months.

am I being separated?

I’m just gonna call it what it is.

When I was a SWE at Fannie Mae, the amount of bloat was crazy. Like actually insane. Half the work was straight-up BS. I’d get assigned something that was supposed to take two weeks and knock it out in a day. Then the rest of the sprint was just fake blockers, pointless meetings, status updates, and people yapping to make it look like something important was happening.

A lot of folks were basically professional calendar fillers. Sitting in meetings, dragging out stories, throwing around buzzwords, acting like everything was “blocked” or “high priority” when really nobody was doing much.

Fannie Mae does not need 15,000 employees. Let’s be real, a lot of us were payroll phantoms. Just collecting checks, moving tickets around, and playing corporate make-believe while a small group of people actually carried the work.

The amount of corporate theater in that place was wild.