The culture is absolutely abysmal, especially in Pittsburgh. When I was there, I would look around and see people everywhere suffering from emotional exhaustion. These were barely functioning human beings. The longer the tenure, the more the employee exhibited the symptoms of burnout. Employees at BNY Mellon act overwhelmed and hopeless without the energy to cope or respond to anything! People are just callous. No attempt at positive interpersonal interactions. Complete distrust of everything and everyone. Constant feelings of fear, helplessness and despair. No interest in functioning in society outside of work. Social avoidance. Lots of people I interacted with at BNY Mellon had sleep issues, because all they do is think about work and how negative it is. The physical symptoms that BNY Mellon employees showed while in the office was unbelievable. Physical shaking and tremors. The constant feeling of being cold even when it was 85 degrees outside. These people would actually have mini space heaters running under their desk in the middle of summer. People were suffering from chronic fatigue, chronic headaches, clearly not eating right, not exercising, poor hygiene. I knew people at this company who clearly had depression, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, problems socializing normally with other people.
The amount of physical and emotional illness that I witnessed at this company was truly truly sad. What's even more sad is that BNY Mellon is just one snapshot of what's going on at all companies throughout corporate America right now.
I think a good starting point to improve this culture is that everyone needs to learn how and when to say "no" to their supervisors and to their peers. That would go a long way towards preserving your physical and mental wellbeing at a place like this.