>basically everything was exactly the same as it had been
I disagree. Although I would characterize the behavior as far more hands-off than the typical acquisition, it's clear that the acquirer here couldn't resist the temptation to Fuck With the little things. Even the little things matter, but, as other commenters have pointed out, something like timesheets (arguably a very little thing in deed) are a symptom rather than a cause.
>we had to switch to their email system [...]
>basically everything was exactly the same as it had been
I disagree. Although I would characterize the behavior as far more hands-off than the typical acquisition, it's clear that the acquirer here couldn't resist the temptation to Fuck With the little things. Even the little things matter, but, as other commenters have pointed out, something like timesheets (arguably a very little thing in deed) are a symptom rather than a cause.