Dear readers, binaries, non-binaries and hexadecimals, engineers, or any other job you may have,

On the day 23/08/2024, there was an information leak from Critical Software - a software house with great reputation in Portugal.

The content of this leak is an e-mail, which tells us the following:

Following the announcement made by our CEO, João Carreira, during Q2's All Hands meeting last July, we would like to share with you the main changes and updates to our Hybrid Model. We understand that change is always difficult, and that moving towards a hybrid model on the last couple of years has been challenging and demanding for everyone. We are conscious that this new change may also be met with some resistance - and that's ok.

This decision is not a whim: unfortunately, the adherence to the Hybrid Model was not as transversal as we hoped for; also, we do feel that we were lacking collaboration, innovation and even team cohesion in some moments. We truly believe that this was the necessary response to those challenges.

For those of you in Leadership positions and in Support functions, whom will be impacted the most, please do not see this as some kind of punishment, but rather as a natural consequence of your crucial role in the Company. Your presence in the office is essential for setting the tone, promoting collaboration, mentoring, driving key initiatives... we hope that you can see this not as a burden, but as a recognition of your impact and contribution to the success of our company, and for making sure that our community continues to thrive.


Here are the updated outlines of our Hybrid Model:

    1. Compliance to Hybrid
        a. 2x a week at the office minimum applicable to everybody.
        b. 3x a week at the office minimum applicable to:
            Support areas (FM,FIN,INN,MARCOM,PPL,QUA,SUST)
            Seniors C4+
            All Team Leaders (CEO,MB,LB,DD,DOD,CTO,APM,PM,SPM,PGM,PMA,PMSA,PTO,TM,TL)
            All newcomers during the onboarding/ 6 months' probation period
        c. Accountability for team compliance applicable to:
            Senior team leaders: CEO, MB, DOD, PTM, Support Area Directors.
    2. Information
        a. Information on individual compliance provided monthly to each employee
        b. Information on team compliance provided monthly to senior team leaders
        c. All existing dashboards and exception lists adapted and still available
    3. Non-compliance of individuals
        a. Depending on recurrence/severity the implications of non-compliance will be as follows:
        b. During initial onboarding/contract trial period (180 days)
            Any non-compliant, unjustified week will trigger termination of the contract
        c. From then on, within a 6-month moving window
            At 2nd non-compliance week
                1. IPA set to "Partial Contribution" and compensation review frozen
            At 4th non-compliance week
                1. Initiate formal unjustified absence and potential dismissal
    4. Non-compliance of teams
        a. Senior team leaders are fully accountable for the compliance of their team
        b. Within a 6-month moving window
            Minimum 92% of compliance of the team, otherwise IPA is set to "Partial Contribution" and compensation review frozen
    5. Clarifications
        a. Technical Managers (TMs) are defined for every project in Pulsar
        b. Technical Leads (TLs) will be flagged manually by the PtM on Pulsar
        c. For Tomar and Vila Real local hubs, when co-work is available, 2x at the office means 1x office + 1x co-work, and 3x at the office means 2x office + 1x co-work
        d. Tolerating 1 non-compliant weeks per 6-month window means 25 of 26 weeks = 95%
        e. Tolerating 2 non-compliant weeks per 6-month window means 24 of 26 weeks = 92%
        f. Tolerating 1 non-compliant weeks per 6-month window means 35 of 26 weeks = 88%
        g. For team compliance we consider 92% to be a realistic target since there's factors that prevent compliance to reach 100% related with the timely registration pf absences, exceptions, travel, visit to customers etc. in a group of people. Beyond 2 non-compliant weeks per 6-month period, a discussion over the fir for the role of the team leader should take place.
        h. Non compliances to the policy discredit the policy and discourage those that follow the policy
        i. Team leaders, seniors and support areas have a special responsibility in building solid and vibrant teams, culture, community, create trust, integrate, teach and mentor younger colleagues
        j. On the other hand, the successful integration of newcomers into the company culture and its ways of working requires additional availability to interact, learn and be mentored and coached by team members
        k. Regarding mroe junior leadership roles and responsibilities (such as TL) the additional time required at the office is not only to support, coach and mentor the people they lead but also to lear, be coached and mentored by other leaders in the company, accelerating the development of people leadership skills to build better leaders.

_This Hybrid Model updated policy is effective from September 1st, 2024 (even if systems and/or dashboards may not be fully operational)._


Feel free to reach out with any queries or suggestions.


I wish you all a great holiday season!


#making_the_world_a_better_place

Amongst the several grammatical errors and acronyms, let’s try to deconstruct this e-mail. But before that, some context:

  1. When the COVID pandemic happened, the remote work model started being adopted en masse due to its inherent advantages for workers in the IT industry. I won’t list them here since it’s not what we should be concerned with.

  2. With the tides changing, many companies embraced this change (others had already been surfing on the remote work sea) and workers rejoiced everywhere.

  3. Other companies (looking at you Google, Apple, Tesla, Critical Software and Critical TechWorks) were upset in giving more freedoms to their workers. This is due to several reasons, amongst them, the money that was suddenly lost by renting out office spaces. However, we do recognize that even inside the IT world, there are some jobs which have to be performed in-person. This isn’t what we’re trying to reject.

  4. In onder to avoid exodus of their work force, these companies reached a halfway point. The hybrid model, where the workers work at home and at the company’s offices.

  5. Naturally, the success of any work model will depend on each team, each culture, each company. It’s not something that we reject either (we aren’t in favor of fully remote extremism). Any opinion regarding this subject that is extremist, should be politely ignored.

  6. During the pandemic, these same companies hired people en masse, which would later transform into shooting your own foot because they had to fire them all during the last 2 years.

And now, we arrive at the leaked e-mail, with all the possible acronyms and hashtags of wanting to build a better world. I don’t know which world they are making better except the worlds of Critical Software’s executives, because the world of its workers has been shut down today.

Let’s go bit by bit.

This decision is not a whim: unfortunately, the adherence to the Hybrid Model was not as transversal as we hoped for; also, we do feel that we were lacking collaboration, innovation and even team cohesion in some moments. We truly believe that this was the necessary response to those challenges."

So, you completely failed in changing your paradigm. And instead of making structural changes to the company (and possible send some dinossaurs away), you decided to make your workers’ lives worse. Critical, Critical, that’s not how you embrace change!

For those of you in Leadership positions and in Support functions, whom will be impacted the most, please do not see this as some kind of punishment, but rather as a natural consequence of your crucial role in the Company. Your presence in the office is essential for setting the tone, promoting collaboration, mentoring, driving key initiatives… we hope that you can see this not as a burden, but as a recognition of your impact and contribution to the success of our company, and for making sure that our community continues to thrive.

A tip for your HR department… When you write to people that they shouldn’t see something as a punishment, generally that’s what will happen. What were you expecting from your workers when they read this? For them to say “Oh, what wonderful news! We’re getting punished! Derek, pass me the whip and the salt would you?”

And now for the juicy part. The specific changes that, as we read before, are, not, a, punishment. Don’t tell us we didn’t warn you!

1. Compliance to Hybrid
    a. 2x a week at the office minimum applicable to everybody.
    b. 3x a week at the office minimum applicable to:
        Support areas (FM,FIN,INN,MARCOM,PPL,QUA,SUST)
        Seniors C4+
        All Team Leaders (CEO,MB,LB,DD,DOD,CTO,APM,PM,SPM,PGM,PMA,PMSA,PTO,TM,TL)
        All newcomers during the onboarding/ 6 months' probation period
    c. Accountability for team compliance applicable to:
        Senior team leaders: CEO, MB, DOD, PTM, Support Area Directors.

So far so good. It’s perfectly normal and acceptable that in a hybrid work model there is a minimum number of work days where you have to be in the office. Just a side note: I really doubt that the people at the top are going to be forced to abide by this system. After all, how would João Carreira (their CEO) install pianos across Portugal’s public transport stations if he has to go 3x per week to the office?! Unnacceptable. First they take away our remote work, then they take the amazing art of hearing a piano at Trindade or Entrecampos Stations!

3. Non-compliance of individuals
    a. Depending on recurrence/severity the implications of non-compliance will be as follows:
    b. During initial onboarding/contract trial period (180 days)
        Any non-compliant, unjustified week will trigger termination of the contract
    c. From then on, within a 6-month moving window
        At 2nd non-compliance week
            1. IPA set to "Partial Contribution" and compensation review frozen
        At 4th non-compliance week
            1. Initiate formal unjustified absence and potential dismissal

“Hello, ACT (government entity in Portugal responsible to enforce labour laws)? I’d like to report Critical Software for imposing new dismissal conditions without updating my contracts.”

So, whoever doesn’t “clock in” to abide by the minimum requirements (which by the way, for an IT company is very modern and progressive!), is fired. People who read this and might be considering joining Critical Software, RUN AWAY. There are better places for you to work. This strategy is perfect for those managers who don’t do s*it. “Hey boss, I clocked in, I’ve done my job for today.”. How unaware and ignorant do you have to be to understand that productive people in a team don’t need micro management to be successful? João Carreira, careful! If you don’t clock in at the office 3 times a week you’re out on the streets! It doesn’t matter that you’re the CEO, because I’m sure everyone will be treated equally.

4. Non-compliance of teams
    a. Senior team leaders are fully accountable for the compliance of their team
    b. Within a 6-month moving window
        Minimum 92% of compliance of the team, otherwise IPA is set to "Partial Contribution" and compensation review frozen
5. Clarifications
    a. Technical Managers (TMs) are defined for every project in Pulsar
    b. Technical Leads (TLs) will be flagged manually by the PtM on Pulsar
    c. For Tomar and Vila Real local hubs, when co-work is available, 2x at the office means 1x office + 1x co-work, and 3x at the office means 2x office + 1x co-work
    d. Tolerating 1 non-compliant weeks per 6-month window means 25 of 26 weeks = 95%
    e. Tolerating 2 non-compliant weeks per 6-month window means 24 of 26 weeks = 92%
    f. Tolerating 1 non-compliant weeks per 6-month window means 35 of 26 weeks = 88%
    g. For team compliance we consider 92% to be a realistic target since there's factors that prevent compliance to reach 100% related with the timely registration pf absences, exceptions, travel, visit to customers etc. in a group of people. Beyond 2 non-compliant weeks per 6-month period, a discussion over the fir for the role of the team leader should take place.
    h. Non compliances to the policy discredit the policy and discourage those that follow the policy
    i. Team leaders, seniors and support areas have a special responsibility in building solid and vibrant teams, culture, community, create trust, integrate, teach and mentor younger colleagues
    j. On the other hand, the successful integration of newcomers into the company culture and its ways of working requires additional availability to interact, learn and be mentored and coached by team members
    k. Regarding more junior leadership roles and responsibilities (such as TL) the additional time required at the office is not only to support, coach and mentor the people they lead but also to lear, be coached and mentored by other leaders in the company, accelerating the development of people leadership skills to build better leaders.

Leaders become bosses. “Hey you, don’t work remotely all week long otherwise I won’t get a career advancements and I might even get fired!”. Do these people know anything about leadership? It doesn’t seem like it, with these attitudes. A leader is suppose to inspire and colaborate with their team, not be a Grinch and ensure nobody misses work. This just shows a severe trust gap between people. Without trust, a team won’t live long. And if anyone’s upset at the boss, they just need to organize, work remotely all week so that the team doesn’t clock in at the office enough times and bam! Another person fired. Wait a minute, I’m starting to notice a pattern…

I wish you all a great holiday season!

Open the wound a bit more would you? Lack of sensitivity from companies? What else is new…

#making_the_world_a_better_place

No comments. The joke writes itself.

I don’t know if you noticed a pattern. Anyone that fails to click in gets fired. Suddenly, the full remote or hybrid model, full of flexibility for workers, becomes rigid and restrict. Why is that? Do you remember when I mentioned above that during the pandemic companies hired a lot of people unnecessarily? That’s the answer.

This is just a completely horrendous tactice from Critical Software to fire people without having to pay severance (and we’re lucky that Portugal has decent labour laws!).

This is the most disgusting part about it. It is an absolutely intelectually dishonest play. Does Critical Software think people don’t realize what’s going on? Come on, just be honest for once and tell us the truth! People are used to being run over by companies! Want a hand? Here it goes:

Dear employees,

Our flexible remote/hybrid model didn’t work because our intermediary managers and our executives are all fossils who still believe micro managing is the most effective way to handle jobs that require a great deal of critical thinking. We also hired way too many people during the pandemic, and now our investors are mad that we’re losing money left and right. So we have to fire a bunch of you.

But hey, at least we installed some pianos along the way right?

#making_the_world_a_better_place

UNCAUGHT_EXCEPTION: Exception “CriticalSoftwareIsNoLongerAGoodCompanyToWorkAt” thrown at line 345 of intelectual_dishonesty.cpp. Want to play some piano?