Feeling the pressure to do the work of three people

It’s the classic Lincoln corporate playbook: cut the headcount to boost the margin and then gaslight the survivors by calling it 'agility' or 'optimizing resources.' Everyone sees the cracks in the foundation, yet they keep pushing these ridiculous 'innovation' initiatives as if we have the spare capacity to actually build anything new. The truth is, they’ve gutted the support staff and left us to drown in technical debt. If you’re spending your weekends working, you’re already giving them free labor they don’t deserve. Start setting boundaries or start looking elsewhere, because this culture isn't going to change from the top down.

I’ve been watching the turnover in my department for a year now, and it’s become clear that management has no intention of backfilling those roles. They are perfectly happy to watch the burnout rates climb as long as the quarterly numbers look decent on paper. It’s infuriating to sit through those town halls listening to leaders brag about efficiency while we’re manually fixing broken processes that should have been automated years ago. Don’t feel guilty for letting those reports slide or for not picking up the slack. They’ve made their choice to understaff us, so let them deal with the inevitable backlog. Protect your peace and stop giving them your weekends.