'It was ultimately one of the main reasons I ended up quitting': Former employees expose juicy company secrets they couldn’t share before their NDAs expired

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Isabella Penn
Oct 20, 2024 12:00 PM EDT

We've all wondered what kinds of shady things might go down behind the scenes at big companies—unethical practices, sneaky overcharges, or even just the questionable ways they treat their employees. But unless you're an insider, you rarely get the full scoop. Until now.

Recently, someone on Reddit posed the question: "People who are no longer bound by NDAs, what juicy secrets can you expose?" And these ex-employees did not hold back. Over 6.4k people chimed in, sharing some of the most juicy insider secrets from their old workplaces. From shady industry practices to the specific scenarios they were once gagged from talking about, these former employees are finally spilling the tea. Keep reading to uncover some of the top-voted, most surprising confessions from this thread.

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  • 01
    People who are no longer bound by NDAs, what are some surprising secrets that you can expose?
    via u/iam_saikat
  • 02
    • gaqua 19h ago • In a tech support role, one manager used to boast his team's average call-times were the lowest in the company. While average call times were in the 12-17 minute range, his team was constantly under 10 minutes. His team was awarded multiple times and his "strategy" was adopted company-wide to all customer
    via u/gaqua
  • 03
    service and technical support teams, including our internal IT teams. That strategy was under a strict NDA, as we did not want to allow competitors to emulate it. When our call center would go bid on contracts, it became an awesome metric. "Our Customer Satisfaction Scores are on-par but we have call times 20-30% lower than our competitors!"
    via u/gaqua
  • 04
    The dirty secret of the NDA that I was not allowed to disclose? Their "big method?" Just hang up on people. Straight up. Find a way to say "Okay go ahead and do that and call back if it doesn't fix it." Then hang up. Don't wait for confirmation. "Okay so reboot your PC and
    via u/gaqua
  • 05
    your problem should be solved! Thanks for calling!" click Eventually they came out with more useful metrics that tracked things like First Call Resolution which absolutely shredded this company and they went out of business a year or two later.
    via u/gaqua
  • 06
    Cloberella 19h ago • • Hasbro has tried to make the following two films: Stretch Armstrong - a gritty re-imaging staring Taylor Lautner (the wolf from Twilight) with a "Nolan's Batman" feel CandyLand - A LOTRs style epic for children staring Adam Sandler Both got pitch packets made before ultimately being shelved. Last I heard the Candyland idea is still kind of alive.
    via u/Cloberella
  • 07
    Barra Doner 23h ago • Manipulation of Data to give false impressions of reliability was something I saw quite blatantly utilised with little repercussions. My company was struggling to meet on time delivery schedules and for numerous years was as embarrassingly low as 40%... A new manager comes in and within months we are now boasting an on time delivery
    via u/BarraDoner
  • 08
    rate on a brilliant 95%. Turns out all he did was change what constituted an on time delivery: each time we knew a product would be late, we'd notify the customer of the delay and ask them to confirm they still wanted the order; if they still wanted the product, the on time delivery would be recorded against the new expected date as opposed to the original promised date.
    via u/BarraDoner
  • 09
    Company literature was being sent out boasting of our 95% on time delivery (now amongst the highest in the industry) when in fact we were by that point meeting less than 30% of initial delivery schedule targets. It was so simple that I'm sure numerous companies are getting away with such underhand tricks.
    via u/BarraDoner
  • 10
    Fornico . 20h ago • I once got hurt at work, a concussion specifically, on Camera. I have a history with concussion-like symptoms. I was 99% sure I hit my head but I lost all memory of the accident. I ended up missing a few weeks of work due to the severity. I wasn't 100% sure if I had some sort of mental breakdown so asked to see the video so that I could confirm
    via u/Fornico
  • 11
    my injury. They flat our refused to let me see the video and told me there was no evidence that I hit my head. I offered to sign away any rights to sue and I wasn't even asking them for hospital bills or paid time off. Long story short, I sued them, I won, and had to sign an NDA. I got my wages and hospital bills paid that I wasn't even asking for, and was finally able to get the
    via u/Fornico
  • 12
    video. It was a 100% no-doubt head injury complete with a loud bonking sound effect and me falling down and leaving a dent in the bulkhead that I hit. After the fact the office staff told me that they were under orders from upper management to lie and saw they didn't see anything on the tape. They said this was standard for anyone who gets hurt... to just lie about it and let
    via u/Fornico
  • 13
    it play out in court. I obviously quit soon after.
    via u/Fornico
  • 14
    FrisbeeVR • 22h ago • Fortune 500, Real Estate, long time ago: We know about the black mould problem. We always knew. We do not disclose it. We intentionally do not look into. We don't want to know exactly what kind it is, because if it's dangerous then we legally have to spend money to fix it. The only department that is allowed to talk about the black mould problem is Press and PR because only they know how to bury it correctly.
    via u/FrisbeeVR
  • 15
    this-guy- • 23h ago About 20 years I signed an NDA with a very large record company regarding their attempts to get into selling their catalogue online. Streaming, sales, etc. It was a minefield because they were still wary of J ☐ off high street retailers, and that's where the charts came from. These attempts were frustrated by their top level corporate
    via u/this-guy-
  • 16
    guys. One week they all went to a "what is an MP3" conference in Buenos Aires to get them up to speed. The thing is they spent so much time partying the only talk which seemed to stick was the scare tactics about how teens could scrape MP3s from the web, and they could be copied and redistributed easily. When they came back every item in the catalogue was
    via u/this-guy-
  • 17
    ordered to be scrubbed from the web. No 30 second previews, nothing should be audible. Not a hint of audio. Lock it all down. Put all the tapes in a chest and seal it with concrete at the bottom of the sea. That's gonna make everyone go back to CDs. Good old profitable CDs.
    via u/this-guy-
  • 18
    Snuffy1717 18h ago • The private school I worked for was for students identified with giftedness... The owner of the school administered the giftedness test... Can you pay the tuition? You're gifted! Can your sibling pay? Them. too! Your cousin? Neighbour? Kid you know across town? You're all gifted!
    via u/Snuffy1717
  • 19
    redpaloverde • 21h ago • I worked at a cancer charity and half the people would order things for themselves and charge it to the charity. An eye- opening job for a 16 year old.
    via u/redpaloverde
  • 20
    hellhound28 • 23h ago Edited 14h ago • I briefly worked at a university in South Florida in the late 90's and early 00's. I was chosen to be on an Academic Integrity team, basically reviewing claims of plagiarism and cheating and deciding between the five of us whether it is valid or not. We were made to sign NDA's when we accepted the invite to be a part of the team. There were three instances where an employee that was taking classes there
    via u/hellhound28
  • 21
    clearly cheated, and the issue was brought to our attention. Those three times, the cheating was blatant. All three times, we were told to let it go, as it would look bad for the university to have it get out. I'm not sure if this is common for other universities, but at the time, I was under the impression that it was common practice everywhere. It was ultimately one of the main reasons I ended up quitting. I was and still am disgusted by it.
    via u/hellhound28
  • 22
    tamammothchuk 16h ago • • At my old job, Pam helped me reallocate my client's ad scheduling so I can invoice out a little extra for the last month of December 2014, helping me hit my yearly budget. I got let go two weeks after that and I believe the original plan was to fire me under the justification of missing my yearly budget. Instead I got a severance
    via u/tamammothchuk
  • 23
    of $15,000. I believe Pam knew or heard what the lay of the land was and helped me out. Appreciate you, Pam!
    via u/tamammothchuk
  • 24
    blackmobius 19h ago • I was never under an NDA but the hotel is under new ownership so I guess I can say it now. The hotel had no internet connection starting around 1 am to 6 am. Like clockwork, every night. Idk if it was just a system fault or if it was cost cutting. But without internet, the security cameras didnt work or record anything. The fire alarm system doesnt work either (the alarms go off but it doesnt call for help).
    via u/blackmobius
  • 25
    So if we had a fire that started at 3 am for example, then unless someone else thats driving by calls it in, I have no idea whats happening. One night we had an assault happen in the parking lot. The police needed camera evidence and our cameras didnt record anything because the internet was out. So that was fun explaining to the detectives.
    via u/blackmobius
  • 26
    I'm not sure if this is common for other universities, but at the time, I was under the impression that it was common practice everywhere. It was ultimately one of the main reasons I ended up quitting. I was and still am disgusted by it.
    via Unsplash (Getty Images)

    This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

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industry boss secret employee fired job nda work shocked workplace reddit thread Reddit company quitting
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