Rant

Feeling the squeeze: Performance reviews becoming brutal

0x317a…a7a2

·9d ago·2 comments

Has anyone else noticed how much tougher the performance review process has become this cycle? I feel like managers are being forced to find reasons to give lower ratings across the board. It’s almost like they’re trying to build a paper trail to make future exits cheaper or easier to justify without calling it a formal redundancy round. My team has seen two senior directors leave in the last month alone, and their roles were immediately folded into other departments. No talk of hiring replacements. The morale in my group is at an all-time low, and the lack of transparency from HR is deafening. If you’re at BNP, keep your head down and start networking outside the firm. Something is brewing, even if they won't admit it on the calls.

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Comments (2)

0x28dd…0833

·9d ago

It is definitely happening across the board at BNP. The 'optimization' strategy has shifted into high gear, and those forced-distribution curves are brutal this year. I have colleagues in compliance and operations who were top performers for years, only to be hit with 'meets expectations' to justify the lack of bonuses. It is clear they are aggressively thinning the ranks of senior staff to cut costs before the end of the fiscal year. Document everything you do, because they are clearly looking for any excuse to move people out the door without paying a full severance package.

0x1cd8…e6e5

·9d ago

I have been at BNP for a while and honestly, the mood is pretty dark right now. The pressure to downrank staff isn't even subtle anymore; it is coming straight from the top. When you see senior roles vanishing and being absorbed into existing teams, you know it is just a slow-motion layoff disguised as 'synergy.' My manager looked genuinely uncomfortable during our review, almost like they were reading from a script they didn't write. If you are feeling the heat, you are not imagining it—the culture has shifted from internal growth to purely managed attrition.