The Best New Year Letter An Employee Could Ever Write You

Dear CEO,

I am one of your employees. I work in operations, I don’t have a fancy title, and my LinkedIn profile isn’t verified.

I like working here. I believe in what we do. But as we wrap up 2025, I wanted to write to you because the only time I see you is during the quarterly “All-Hands” livestream or on the sanitized news feed of our intranet. I’ve never actually had the chance to speak with you.

I understand you are incredibly busy navigating a volatile economy, integrating new tech, and keeping the shareholders calm. I don’t want to sound ungrateful—I’m glad to have a job.

However, I need to share what the view looks like from down here, because it feels like we are working in two different companies.

1. Corporate Strategy vs. AI Anxiety I know your executive team is obsessed with “Transformation” and “Efficiency” right now. But at my level, we don’t know if that means “growth” or “replacement.” When I asked my manager how our team fits into the 2026 strategic roadmap, they just shrugged.

• Read: Why your team fears change.

2. Company Values vs. Reality Our values are plastered all over our digital workspaces and office walls. We talk a lot about “Psychological Safety” and “Wellness.” Yet, the roadblocks to getting work done are worse than ever, and nobody feels safe enough to point them out. It feels safer to stay on mute than to speak up about a broken process.

3. Performance & The “Black Box” I’ve been passed over for advancement, and I still don’t know why. In 2025, we have more performance data than ever before, yet the human element of feedback is missing. I want to grow, but the path to promotion feels like a mysterious algorithm no one can explain.

• Read: How to fix your broken performance management system.

4. Town Halls & The Disconnect I know you want to connect with us, but those hour-long broadcasts are full of high-level jargon and last quarter’s EBITDA charts. You tell us we are “family” and “in this together,” but the presentation reads as if it were written for Wall Street, not for the people building your product.

• Read: Stop presenting to your employees and start talking to them.

The Bottom Line: The company you describe in your holiday message sounds like a dynamic, unified powerhouse. I want to work in that company. But down here, people are tired, confused by the constant reorganizations, and frankly, a little scared of what 2026 holds.

We don’t need another slick video. We need you to stop presenting, come down to the virtual or physical “shop floor,” and actually listen.

We are loyal. We want to win. But we were hoping you could help us understand how.

Sincerely,

Your Worried But Loyal Worker