From this job, my team, my boss, and the constant fear of ending up jobless. It’s just bad news everywhere and this relentless anxiety that never lets up. I don’t know how the rest of you are dealing with it, but I feel like I’ve used up every reserve I had. When you’re this physically and emotionally drained, it’s hard to even help yourself. I just wish something out there felt genuinely good or supportive, something to lift us up even a little.
14 replies (most recent on top)
@OP Honestly this stress and worry will make you sick. Exercise, find things that will shift your focus away from work. What is the worst thing that can happen. You lose your job. Guess what. You will now seriously look for a new job and you will find something and don’t look back. The upside is that WF has a good severance plan to help glide to a new job. In the end you will look back and say …”why did i wait, i should have left sooner”
I have never felt married to my job but i treat it as a mutually beneficial relationship however I think the same think of marriage. I don’t think anyone wants to lose their job but this is where i would encourage the younger people to move on within 5 years. You have learned enough and time to get a pay bump and new fresh skills and experience elsewhere. You will remain marketable also. If you are older than all is not lost and you may have to go into the consulting world as external. I have always underspent my budget knowing that if there is one certainty in corporate America is layoffs.
Just be smart. dont get anxiety but if you are not planning then that could be the anxiety part. Take action
@OP, you’re not weak—you’re human in a machine built to grind humans down. This isn’t burnout; it’s survival in a culture that still runs on the same fear that created the fake-accounts scandal. Nothing got fixed; the abuse just turned inward.@cb (four dysfunctional managers in one year), @cy (still in love with the company that cheated on you), @d2 (trying to detach), @ar (already escaped)—you’re all saying the same thing: this place is poisonous. Here’s the hard truth ex-WF folks learned the hard way:
WF managers don’t fare well outside. HR engines now track placements for years, and the data is brutal—many don’t survive their first or 2nd job post-layoff. The muscle memory of motivating through fear doesn’t translate anywhere decent. So stop “winging it.”
If you’re a Business Execution Consultant or business-side manager: Learn real system design (Grokking the System Design Interview)
Get formal BA skills (CBAP, BPMN, UML)
Build a portfolio of requirements, user stories, process flows
Master prompt engineering + AI tools (your next boss will expect it)
Let go of the love affair with this bank. Good boss today? Reorg tomorrow and you’re reporting to a bully again. Boundaries aren’t optional—they’re oxygen. Make escaping your second job. One hour every night. Use the tuition reimbursement before they cut it. Document the toxicity (dates, names, impact).
When you’re out, you’ll breathe again—like @ar and the rest of us who left.Read what leadership here never did: The Fearless Organization.
My mission: fearless workplaces. There is life after Wells Fargo—and it’s so much better. Keep going.
The best thing you can do for yourself is to increase your saving/investing. Make it your number one priority. Cut back on all unnecessary spending. Keep your life simple as much as possible. Spending will never bring you the peace that having a safety net will. Also you do need to take action which can be as little as updating your resume, upping you 401k contribution or signing up for some job board notifications. Keep taking action.
"I don’t know how the rest of you are dealing with it"
Well, let's just say it does help that wacky tobaccy is legal in my state...
Fire up ‘Office Space’ and remember that you don’t directly benefit from any profits. Do your job and go home. It’s purely transactional at this point. Therapy might also be a good option, and/or a leave of absence. I know it’s hard, but try not to care. And save as much as possible.
People need to remember that one thing that Wells Fargo is is a very large bank. Remove some of your angst and place smaller regional and mom and pop banks on your target list of possible employers. Your salary will most likely suffer some but it will keep you in the business for when hiring times are hopping again.
Assuming you are losing your job and not doing a career change, whatever main skill you're performing for Wells, if possible, try to hone it even more in your spare time. Talking here about your prime skill that you'll sell to the job market. Read a few articles on your current skill and related other skills currently used. Read up more to find what your industry peers are doing and watch their trends. Maybe download a trial version of the software you use as well as other tightly related softwares used by others using your skill. Link in with a few more associates. Have a lunch or two with associates. Be creative, as looking for word demands that of you to a point. You'll need to be able to stand out a bit for interviews. Doing these things will also lessen fear as time moves on. Yes, because you are ready to be fired. Once hired elsewhere, you'll want to be at least as good as those around you in an expected time frame. Yes, chit chat will revolve around you and more importantly your performance. You'll want them to use the word "good" for the latter. Things run much smoother that way. I've been there, and in many different capacities and environments.
Remember when we believed if we all worked hard and helped put the regulatory issues behind us, that things would be great on the other side? It seems worse now.
Probably not the best advice but try to remember that everything in this life is temporary and that besides your and family’s health, nothing else matters. Stressing about the workload, missed deadlines, horrible managers - all that should be put in perspective. Every single time. Try practicing the mentality that you are doing your best every day, you are giving 100% of your effort. So if things still don’t go the way they should and it stresses you out, at least you know you did everything in your capacity. This helps me a lot in my daily life. Stressing out about losing the job and not being able to support it is a different thing. The only thing you can do is make peace with the fat that you will likely have to settle for less pay for sometime. People do “bridge” jobs - getting whatever they can while looking for a more stable and long term option.
Just remember that in 2-5-10 years no one will even remember what you did or didn’t do in your job. So don’t let bad managers get to you.
There've been studies, books, seminars, and literally millions made giving people advice on how to not be “married” to your job and move on. Unfortunately that doesn’t fly with everyone. Some of us have pride in the company we’ve built - but just like a cheating wife that found a new yoga instructor we feel hurt, trying to salvage our existence while the new “Charley” minions reap the benefits of what we’ve built
This post sums up my everyday life for all of 2025. I have had FOUR uteerly dysfunctional managers this year (although I haven't changed jobs) and I struggle to make it through every single day. I love the advice of making finding another job your second job. The job market IS very tough right now, but I'm doing my best to stay positive and be diligent about finding something else. Good luck to you, @op -- sending positive vibes.
I recently left Wells Fargo for another job because it had become so poisonous, it was affecting my health. I know the market’s bad, but there is hiring. Make escaping there a second job—devote an hour or two every evening to it. Be persistent, see it through, and never look back (except to help others leave, as I’m doing).
I just smoke a bunch of weed and play solitaire while coding python. “It helps my glaucoma” for anyone that is gonna be a karen