Leadership direction feels disconnected from both customer feedback and the day-to-day challenges employees face. Instead, priorities often have a sudden shift toward initiatives that appear driven more by trends or technical interests. The quantity and scale of these initiatives pull resources away from impactful work, create widespread setbacks due to little testing upon rollout, and ultimately result in something that feels like a step backwards. While there is no shortage of negative feedback on this direction, leadership often presents these initiatives as successful. As a result, providing candid feedback can feel risky and opportunities to do so seem to have decreased over time.
The compounding number of contentious initiatives, combined with the difficulty of providing feedback on them, has left the company feeling divided. Newer employees, who have often joined specifically to execute on this direction, tend to be aligned with it but often lack context on the field. Meanwhile, more tenured employees often appear quietly critical of the direction, as their earlier concerns went unheard and are excluded from shaping it.
As these sides grow further apart, it increasingly feels like large changes and disregard for issues are pushing tenured employees out, whether intentional or not. Attrition in existing teams seems high, and it appears that little is being done to address it, all while a large number of new hires are dedicated to the contentious initiatives. Regardless of which team you’re on, either the relentless push for new initiatives, limited resources, or increased expectations from AI appear to be driving longer hours and adding pressure. Furthermore, there is a sense that an RTO is coming, as employees close to offices are now heavily encouraged to go in and many new hires are no longer remote. Finally, pay and promotion opportunities feel limited, with compensation that feels below market. As new, more senior hires are brought in, I expect this problem could get worse.
