Can not talk about this at work

People call it a culture mismatch, but it is basically a non-hurting way of saying, "Yup, we just do not like your vibe." Harsh, but this is the reality for most of us who are just trying to do our jobs.

Average performance, decent metrics, and zero visibility. This was my coworker. He had no major expectations from leadership, wasn't fighting for promotions, and avoided office politics. Even when he was let go this past Monday, people forgot his existence by today, Wednesday.

He got pushed out for nothing. During town halls, he never asked forced questions but later management complained he wasn't visibly engaged. Pretty average corporate behavior. Though his deliverables were solid, he got zero recognition, whereas our mates just post about organizing virtual fun events or talking about their weekend with the director, and they get the highest ratings. No one looked at his actual output. He was just a silent worker.

It is better to be at the incompetent end of things than stuck being quietly competent. In the middle, you do most of the work, but loud seniors take away the credit. You fix the bugs, but the other ends enjoy the praise. People barely consider your effort. There is no major respect from management, and no one really cares about your actual deliverables. So, you lose out here too.

But why are companies like this? Didn't he work when required? Didn't he deliver quality? He did both, but only without the performative clapping. Then management brought in a new VP, and that is where he lost.

Just doing the work, without the corporate cheerleading, led him to being fired. And why is it called a culture issue? Because the majority are faking it. Anything genuine loses value, just like him.

The problem with this place? We know all this, yet we still do not speak up, and then complain about unfairness.

I do not have a solution for this, and I will keep crying over the fact that hard work means nothing.