Who are the true “bad apples” at Wells Fargo?

The employees?? Please.

I think it’s fascinating that Wells is putting so much time, effort and money in to “changing the organizational structure and building a framework to ensure deviant employees are following the rules …yada yada yada…”

Come on now. The problem is NOT THE EMPLOYEES. The problems have always stemmed from our high-level leaders, who are responsible for the largest share of Wells Fargo’s violations. Sure, some of the Board was replaced: by more of the same. They brought in Charlie Scharf and a new management team: more of the same. Actually, worse in so many ways.

As I write, increasing profits is still encouraged, measured and rewarded over increasing ethical behaviors. There is your problem.

Employees model the behavior and tone set by their leaders. Shine a bright unfiltered light on the day-to-day of our leaders. Due to our history of violations - I say the Feds need to build a framework around ensuring our high-level leaders are following the rules. How are the C-Suite’s organizational goals and objectives being monitored for promoting the exploitation of customers?? Record and document every closed-door meeting between them. Record their phone calls (like they record ours). Have our leaders document and explain the methodology behind each decision and what they will do to prevent and monitor negative downstream effects. Have those meetings and documents reviewed and signed off on by lawyers.

Who is the Head of Compliance, Derek F.? We need to get a bulldog in there who isn’t afraid to dig in to the “profits above all else” philosophy here, which is not going to be solved by annual compliance training and a check- the-box approach to monitoring minutia.

As an example, let’s take a look at Compliance’s focus on preventing Conflicts of Interest:

24 year-old Bob, who makes $40K/year working in our back office, is NOT ALLOWED to purchase a home that is a short sale offered by Wells Fargo. But…
Our CEO, Charlie Scharf, IS ALLOWED to serve as a member of the Board of Directors whose job it is to oversee Charlie Scharf. How is that possible for a company who has been consistently fined for “lack of oversight”?

As my grandpa used to say, “That makes about as much sense as a b-a on a snake.”

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This thread is incredibly lame

1 or 2 trolls wasting time upvoting their own Garbo

@dkv+1oekskJB My manager asked me how to do something. When I told her my suggestion, she said "Don't make it too detail oriented because you may not be here to run/maintain it." Charm is not one of their strong points.

The scripts thing is real.

@1fuv+1oekskJB

We are not talking about project managers here.

My manager, as nice as can be, cannot answer a question or solve a problem on her own, and our team really suffers. Manager is 100% remote and has been for a long time. Time to go!

The managers just read scripts they are given. Anyone could do it. I saw it with my own eyes when we were acquired by Wells Fargo. It’s like the Wizard of Oz — there is just a random man behind a curtain telling people what to say, and they do it.

The problem with managers at Wells Fargo is that they are not managers. They are facilitators. I suggest all put into ChatGPT or bard this prompt: "What is the difference between a facilitator and a project manager?"
All the so-called "managers" at Wells build their fiefdoms on shaky LOB silos. There is no banking platform with built-in risk management.
When recovering from the Wells displacement the first thing I learned is that things are vastly different in the real world. The first thing to shake off is being a peon for a facilitator.

Yes, the executives are the worst apples. But the managers being their puppets are equally bad. Many hardworking employees underneath are the victims.

Victim mentality is strong on here

Why are people talking about managers as if they make any substantive decisions? This company is extreme top-down authoritarian. Your manager is just rolling the corp BS down hill.

I have been in the room with Hudson Yards directors and they are very flamboyant. They think they are the smartest people in the room. They take the ferry just like the rest of the room thought. Second would be the San Fran crowd.

Managers job description at Wells Fargo:

Don't need to do actual work
Don't need to understand how his/her team functions
Something goes wrong, just throw somebody under the bus
Get paid more salary and more bonus
Enjoy being called "boss" by his/her team members
Attend many meetings every day, just say something positive
Remind his/her team members to take compliance training
Brown-nose his/her bosses, expand the political network
Feel powerful by writing bad performance reviews
Make sure to take vacations

@nxp My current manager was a part of our team, then the lead for years before replacing the former manager. If you ask them a detailed question about what we do, you're gonna get a generalized overview and then a referral to someone who actually does the day-to-day work if you need more detail.

It's not because they don't know or understand what we do. In fact, it's actually because they understand that their low-level knowledge of it is likely outdated and unspecific due to the tools and processes we use being constantly updated and life-cycled.

Does that make them a bad manager?

The problem I see is managers promoted to their position yet so not know how their department even works.
I’ve been in meetings when I have specifically asked the manager a question, yet he always shifted the focus to a member on his team.
How can someone like this know less but make more than his team if he is incompetent?
Imagine being on a team with a manager like this, you just ruined morale for everyone under that manager.

I agree that the company's leadership shoulders more blame than the employees. I don't think the leadership is any less ethical than you'd find in any other company with a quarter-million employees and a $150billion+ market cap. And, I don't think our problems stem from a profit motive.

It's the lack of cohesion among our leaders that has created a toxic work environment for everyone. They've replaced the top 2-3 layers of executives at the company and brought in a bunch of hand-me-down "leaders" from outside the organization. They're all trying to stake their claim and make their mark. That conflict and disconnect trickles down through the ranks.

Loving the b-a on a snake analogy 😂 .Good post, OP.

Thread regarding Wells Fargo & Co. layoffs

Who are the true “bad apples” at Wells Fargo?

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