Unwelcome, risky changes in leadership's attitudes are afoot at work
- sciart0
- May 12
- 2 min read
Key Points
Companies are demanding more from employees amid economic uncertainty and a shift in power dynamics.
Some CEOs are taking a tough stance, expecting more work and less complaining from their staff.
Advances in AI are also influencing the tone, with some leaders warning staff to adapt or face job losses.
Excerpt: "Corporate America’s long-running war for talent sounds more like a war on the talent these days.
Not long ago, bosses routinely praised workers as their most prized asset, so much that some hoarded new hires before having enough for them to do. Today, with a giant question mark hanging over the economy, executives are pulling no punches in saying employees need to work harder, complain less and be glad they still have jobs.
“Work-life balance is your problem,” Emma Grede, co-founder of the shapewear company Skims and CEO of clothing label Good American, said this month. After recently cutting more than a 1,000 jobs, Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol said remaining corporate staff needed to step it up and “own whether or not this place grows.”
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, in a profanity-laced internal meeting, told employees lamenting a return-to-work mandate that he didn’t care.
“I’ve had it with this kind of stuff,” he said. “I’ve been working seven days a week since Covid, and I come in, and—where is everybody else?”
The shift in tone marks a shift in power now that companies are shrinking their white-collar staff. With jobs harder to find, many workers are seeing perks disappear and their grievances ignored."