The quiet, deep-seated exhaustion felt by a workforce that has endured too many corporate rebrands, new software rollouts, and executive transitions to care about the next one.
What they actually mean
"The staff are tired of our ideas and might mutiny if we make them use another app."
Heard in the wild
"There is a bit of change fatigue in the department, so we must be careful how we frame the new time-tracking software."
An acronym for 'Full-Time Equivalent' used to discuss staffing requirements while successfully avoiding the uncomfortable reality that employees are actual human beings.
"We have the budget for 2.4 FTEs to support the launch, so we need to allocate resources carefully."
Translation
"Two people who will work late, and a third who will be permanently stressed."
A theoretically flexible working window during which employees must be contactable, which inexplicably expands to cover their entire waking lives.
"Our core hours are ten to four, but most of the team finds it easier to stay until seven."
Translation
"If you leave at 4:00 PM, people will assume you have resigned."
The bureaucratic process of meticulously documenting an employee’s minor slip-ups to ensure the company is legally bulletproof when they are finally shown the door.
We've decided it's time to performance manage Gerald to help him realign with our expectations.
Translation
We are currently building a paper trail so we can fire you without being sued.