25 Employees No Longer Bound By An NDA Spill The Deets

Certain jobs require employees to sign NDAs or non-disclosure agreements to work with them. The sensitive nature of the job usually makes this a requirement in many places, so it’s not uncommon to encounter one.  Recently, folks whose NDA clauses have expired got on a Reddit thread inspired by Redditor u/iam_saikat, to talk about the biggest corporate secrets they were privy to. If you’re curious to learn more, scroll down to the gallery below to find the most interesting stories about what goes on behind the scenes. 

#1 Was never bound to an NDA somehow, but sat in to oversee the technical aspects of Herbalife meetings. We’re talking meetings with the highest level sellers and their board. They spoke about how to manipulate low income and “unintelligent” people to make them millions of dollars. How to teach others to scam others to make them more money. .

Image source: Babylon4All, Christina Morillo

#2 In a tech support role, one manager used to boast his team's average call-times were the lowest in the company.

Image source: gaqua, Ron Lach 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 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!" 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 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.

#3 I did SEO for Leapforce.

Image source: HonoredBrotherZobius, cottonbro studio Google is always listening. Always. Listening. I had to listen to a ton of recordings and identify if they were “accidental” and if what I heard was a command. I’ve heard everything you can imagine.

#4 I worked for a company the overseas and enforces (self) regulation for one of the power grids in the United States. My job was to help secure it against cyber attacks and to help write the regulations that enforce those protections...

I had panic attacks on Sunday nights because I knew at work the next morning we'd go over the list of everything not compliant and the lawyers would argue they were, and nothing would get done. Many times the lawyers would tell me that I wasn't "interpreting what was written correctly.", then I'd remind them that I WROTE IT with a committee and if they didn't believe me they could go look at the minutes taken in the meetings. Instead, they would just document their "justifications" for being compliant and not actually secure anything... The US power system is now so vulnerable to cyber attacks that it is only a matter of time before millions of people have their lives thrown into complete disaster and potentially hundreds of thousands that will die. I just can't even think about how bad things are now. Image source: sovamind

#5 I was never under an NDA but the hotel is under new ownership so I guess I can say it now.

Image source: blackmobius, Justus Menke 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). 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.

#6 Walmart corporate office puts a screensaver on all their workers' computers with a message urging them to donate to an emergency fund for their FT or near-FT warehouse and retail workers. Instead of giving them healthcare or PTO.

Image source: BatFancy321go, Erik Mclean Walmart retail nd warehouse workers are kept just below FT so they can't get benefits, and the vast majority receive government benefits. Your taxes are subsidizing millions in benefits for the richest company in America so the richest CEO in america is richer. Everything in the second paragraph of this post is public knowledge

#7 I worked for a website creation company back in 1999, managing the website for a big brand / large bank that was sponsoring a round-trip paid ticket to the Superbowl. I worked on the website that collected all the entries, and I posted the rules that the company's legal department wrote to describe the rules of the contest.

Image source: midnitewarrior, Jakob Rosen A random winner was to be selected for the prize, and I wrote a software tool to randomly pick the winner to be used when the contest was over. When the contest ended, I was told to forget my tool, forget the rules, just look in the database and find someone in South Florida (where the Superbowl was in 1999) so the company wouldn't have to pay for airfare.

#8 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 of $15,000. I believe Pam knew or heard what the lay of the land was and helped me out. Appreciate you, Pam! Image source: tamammothchuk

#9 I worked at a grocery store, we had lots of prepackaged produce and other baked goods. I was told to pull off all the expiration date stickers and replace them with new dates because "they still looked good". There were so many things they did that probably could have gotten them fined heavily if I had known better and reported them. They were a local chain that had like 10 stores, apparently they only have one store left now and are very close to going out of business for good according to my parents.

Image source: pops992, Franki Chamaki

#10 One surprising secret is how many products marketed as "handmade" or "artisanal" are actually mass-produced in factories overseas. Brands rely on clever wording to sell the image of small-batch craftsmanship, but behind the scenes, it's often a far cry from what’s advertised.

Image source: Valuable-Local5650, Havvanur

#11 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 my injury.

Image source: Fornico, cottonbro studio 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 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 it play out in court. I obviously quit soon after.

#12 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.

Image source: redpaloverde, Julia M Cameron

#13 Tesla and Rivian electrical components are made in the same facility by a large electronic manufacturer and even share personnel.

Image source: -DictatedButNotRead, Craig Adderley This once caused Elon to throw a fit and threatened to take the contract somewhere else. The solution? For the next visit the company separated the lines by a wall and told Elon they had ended the Rivian contract. They still produce both and also the components for the new Ford electric models.

#14 I worked at a startup that tracked employee happiness, supposedly so they can make employees happier, but in practice it seemed they were preemptively getting rid of unhappy employees. No need to wait for them to quit...

Image source: MiyagiJunior, Yan Krukau

#15 My wife used to be an "associate" in a well known multilevel marketing company. I won't say which one.

She dragged me along to one of their "how to get rich in this business" seminars where someone way up in the pyramid was speaking. The speaker at one point was advising the audience on how to commit tax fraud by deducting everything imaginable and then some on your taxes as "business expenses." Some of it was borderline, but a lot of it was just straight up tax evasion. My wife was still in her true believer phase at that point and thought the secrets of the universe had been revealed to her. We argued about it for a couple weeks afterwards, until she finally agreed to ask our tax guy about it, and he basically said "LOL that's totally fraud. I hope you like the color orange." Worst part was the reason the speaker was advising everyone to commit tax fraud was "so you can invest more back into your business," which translated from MLM-speak means "Keep pumping money into the pyramid and making us rich, suckers!". Image source: justwhatever73

#16 The private school I worked for was for students identified with giftedness... The owner of the school administered the giftedness test...

Image source: Snuffy1717, Pavel Danilyuk 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!

#17 Early 2000s I worked in the clothing department at Walmart, and one night I was handed a memo that I was to secretly cut out all the tags on a list of product that said "Made in Myanmar" because the brand was suddenly trying to hide that they were doing business there. I believe it was Hanes.

Image source: FaeShroom, Rachel Claire

#18 I worked for a healthcare facility that started collecting private patient information to share with insurance companies in order to secure better contracts. This wasn’t diagnosis data; it was lifestyle data, including spending transactions (they were trying to find ways to obtain that information when I was leaving). When I asked if patients were aware, they always gave a vague answer, which essentially meant no.

Image source: Objective_Regret2768, cottonbro studio

#19 Fortune 500, Real Estate, long time ago:

Image source: FrisbeeVR, satemkemet 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. That was not a great work culture.

#20 Danny Devito has a long time agent/manager who unbeknownest to him is a racist. She apparently doesn't realize all the calls are recorded, so there's *years* of her saying some f****d up s**t to people in a certain office. He, on the other hand, is a really decent chap....

Image source: happyhedonist, Photo By: Kaboompics.com

#21 The lady who owns Columbia sportswear neglects her animals to the point of death. And then she just buys more.

Image source: P3pp3rJ6ck, Manny Moreno I was supposed to be a caretaker for them but there weren't even basic med supplies like Bute and swat or vet wrap. She wouldn't call the vet for almost anything. Two goats died of malnutrition, another its entire hoof fell off, 12 chickens died, two mini donkeys died, the Guinea pig was keep alone in a hamster cage, and she kept her late husband's dog Monty locked in a dog run. Her dogs were permitted out but not Monty, even on leash. Initially he was allowed out and I got with him great shape taking walks everyday. But one day she stopped allowing even that. I quit when she started talking about getting 30+ sheep and pigs. It was a miserable place, her mansion. I only worked there a year and brought in my own supplies to treat what I could but it'll always break my heart I couldn't do more. I called animal control multiple times and they never helped, even with the goats who looked like walking skeletons. Rich people can do whatever they want to living things.

#22 Intel Corporation used to go around to colleges and hold programming contests, and to the winner they'd give a mid-grade laptop and a gaudy trophy. back at Corporate, some of these winning code bases would get tens of millions of dollars poured into them in attempts to get them to product release.

Image source: theuniversalsquid, Christina Morillo

#23 I worked at Verizon and we were told we had to use special offers to try and “save” customers. And elderly man called to have his wife’s phone disconnected after her death and I didn’t do any of the “saves”. Got called in for QA overview and got written up.

Image source: KuchiKopi-Nightlight, Marques Thomas

#24 I know of at least three major (and I mean MAJOR, superfund level pollution of very toxic materials) environmental disasters that are completely unknown because they took place on private property and the companies that did it are covering it up. Often, this means that the company owns a tract of land that they keep fenced off and empty. As long as they don't sell it, nobody needs to test the soil.

Having a good understanding of what happens to whistleblowers, regardless of NDA, I won't name the companies. I don't need to get forcibly suicided. Image source: Dangerous_Rise7079

#25 The Victoria Secret Fashion show in Shanghai in 2017 was an absolute s**t show of corruption, kickbacks, and f**k ups. The Chinese government took VS for an absolute ride for so much stuff, and that's not including all of the middlemen who wanted to get their beaks wet as well. The amount of money that VS spent to have their fashion show in China was astronomical and got them, at a minimum, investigated by the US government for the amount of bribes they were paying.

Image source: lordbearhammer, GoToVan