Thread regarding Wells Fargo & Co. layoffs

Yeah, people are starting to realize the damage to the USA that Jack Welch and all the wannabe Jack's have done.

Running a comany for shareholders first, instead of customers first, employees second, and shareholders third, has warped our economy into a weak system that does not support the people who do the actual work.

It's just a big ATM for the wealthy and when it goes south, which it does every now and then, the people who do the work get hurt the most and the people with the money get richer.

See how many new billionaires were created during the pandemic, and how fast existing billionaires made even more billions.

How can that possibly be good for America?

Unregulated capitalism, or more accurately, poorly managed capitalism, will eat itself.

It's too bad, too, because a well regulated system creates a good standard of living for everyone, not just the 1% of the 1%.

Jack Welch methods.. which our leadership follows, says to fire 10% each year.
This destroys companies. JPM and Boeing are two companies still suffering from this "leadship" style. Management by fear. Low morale. Unable to attract good talent. Working hard etc etc doesn't matter if your department needs to meet the 10% numbers.

So what happens to an otherwise good employee when they're arbitrarily given a "needs improvement"...?

The worse thing you can do is tell somebody who is doing a good job that they're "not doing a good job". That good employee will turn into a not-so-good employee.

So…. the performance ratings are arbitrary, aka fake, the customer accounts were fake, the job interviews were fake… what else?

When you hire a CEO from another company and the pulling execs from that company is still ongoing 3 years later, well, hey, Houston, we've got a problem.

Cap casualty in Bay Area cali too expensive and the d bags who run this garbage bank thought somebody in the Philippines who doesn’t understand English would be better fit.

these are by far the most depressingly candid responses I've seen here. If I wan't so lazy and complacent I'd get aggressive about finally jumping off the stagecoach.

IMO, the management bloat is the greatest ever. Look at Consumer Lending engineering and architecture, the agile coaches, the PMs, so many layers. And very few ground workers. Unless the herd is hiding overseas ... for all we know, Alpha and Beta have a herd of zombies waiting to take over ... as in, Powell and Vanbeurden are the former and latter, the herd is amassed in Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Manila.

The worst case is if you're a Straight Married White Christian Father. Definitely the first group to get the pink slip.

@uur+1hhg4xpw honest post, thank you

Who can fill in the blank in the least # of words/characters?: "I provide value to customers and/or shareholders by "

What a logical way to see who should be scrutinized, one can only dream.

Recently went to an end of school year party where newly introduced parents were talking about their jobs. It was pure roundabout, nonsensical gibberish about incentive plans and internal consulting and process excellence and blah blah. Afterward a neighbor commented, "I don't think any of them do any real work, huh?"

I submit all of them for layoff candidacy. And include me because I'm one of them with 6+ degrees of separation from customers and shareholders.

"A manager can think his/her employee meets expectations, but since Schart took over you are rated not on just your performance but against your peers.

Ratings now are forced where most are meets, a few above and a few below.

Managers hate this because it forces them to rate some below who don't deserve it.

If they rate everyone on their team as meets, higher ups will force some below."

and this is one of the reasons co-workers will not praise or give 'shared success' awards. in dog eat dog, no boosting of others to your detriment.

My first IT job involved creating/deleting accounts, so when we had a layoff HR worked with me.

In that case, the CEO of our little 1,200 staff semiconductor company had a spreadsheet with all of us list and basically played darts.

I'm not kidding, more than one HR person told me the story.

Yeah, he was a famously bad CEO.

You may get let go for a million reasons, the best defense is to be good at your job, make sure someone knows you're good at your job, be nice to people, network with current and former peers, and once a year or so update your resume.

I just focus on making myself marketable in general using the skills and experience gained from the job, rather than the job itself.

During the last recession, I saw someone hired and then laid off only two weeks later. You never really know how long a tenure will be.

Yup - you are right. @ybo+1hhg4xpw

I even saw a slide deck that I don't think managers were supposed to share but it indicated that 30% inconsistently meets was the expectation. This all comes from the top at the Charlie and HR level. This assures smaller bonus payout and leverage to cut people when the time is right financially. It used to be a company that I was proud to work for but no more. I refinanced (thankfully last year) my mortgage to B of A, I moved my 401K to my new employer. Got a non-WF credit card and am working on moving my checking and savings to B of A. Done in and DONE with that mess.

People stating they were rated Inconsistantly meets in their review, the system at WF is set up regardless if the manager wants to rate you higher or not. According to my manager, they are forced to place some in Exceeds, some in Meets, and others in Needs Improvement. This is by design. They cannot have every employee in Meets and that right there is why this company is a JOKE.

@dup+1hhg4xpw
Before this I considered my manager a friend - I had worked with her as a peer for many years. And yes, she was telling me the truth when she said she was forced to add the Inconsistently Meets rating. She became a non-friend and a liar when she didn't have the guts to confirm to HR that it was, in fact, her boss's boss who forced the poor rating. She had already moved on to another department when I disputed and the HR investigation went thru, so she would not have been in jeopardy had she simply told the truth.
I'm still happy I left - I just wish I had moved on years before. What a waste of time and energy working for an organization, just to F'd in the end.

I was also given Inconsistently Meets in Mid-Year review by the manager. He fooled me, by saying is still good rating. He gave me cuz I wasnt doing automation as QA, even other people in my team were not doing either. I was hired as manual QA, not automation engineer. Its wf way to reduce people. If you working somo on project or somework. You are safe.

Middle manager here:

It depends on the department. Some whole teams go regardless of performance, others your work has an impact. My advice:

1. Do good work, ask your manager for special projects, make yourself irreplaceable

2. Your past two years matter, if you’ve receive “inconsistently meets” on a mid year or end of year that’s a hit

All you can do is increase your chances of staying, but even that isn’t full proof

@ofr+1hhg4xpw

Your boss was probably telling the truth.

A manager can think his/her employee meets expectations, but since Schart took over you are rated not on just your performance but against your peers.

Ratings now are forced where most are meets, a few above and a few below.

Managers hate this because it forces them to rate some below who don't deserve it.

If they rate everyone on their team as meets, higher ups will force some below.

Based on what I have seen over the last year, it helps if you aren't white, straight and male.

If you are going to stay, you should join the union.

https://www.bankingdive.com/news/wells-fargo-employees-seek-to-organize-union/624884/

Yeah - true @xdy+1hhg4xpw

Before I quit I got an Inconsistently Meets and I challenged my manager to provide specific examples because her positive comments were specific (because I wrote them in my year end feedback) but her negative comments were high level. She came back and said it was not her decision to rate me Inconsistently Meets. In fact, it was her boss and his boss who insisted they rate me this way. Neither of them had ever witnessed ANY of my work in the previous 24 months, much less 6 months. I started looking for a new job as soon as the HR rep. told me that even though my manager told me she didn't make the decision on the rating - she told HR that it was her decision. So, because they F'd me and because she was a liar, I quit. New job - better pay - no RTO - better benefits. Jumping ship was the best move I ever made. F Charlie and the cr-p factory.

Completely depends on the department and management. Typically there are some HR criteria, but otherwise just depends on how you perform in comparison to your peers and if your boss likes you. Sometimes it's full departments. Also HR determines how many to let go so sometimes you just happened to be below the line even if your boss likes you and you're performing. Trust me it's not easy for managers either! It's just a bad spot we're all in due to this cr-p economy!

Have you been there for a long time? Have you started getting negative feedback and has your boss unexpectedly reduced your rating from Meets with all positive comments at mid-year to Inconsistently Meets at year end? Why even stay with that company? They have reduced benefits so that you only get a 401K match once per year (if you last until Dec 15) and they are clear that telework is not happening, so F your work-life balance. Trust me, its all about the dollars and what you do and what you contribute are not on the radar at all. They would rather you quit though than pay out a big severance if you are a long term employee.

In the climate today if you previously worked at JP you are good, legacy there is a clock ticking.

Been in groups where people got laid off. Often they just take the entire group out. Doesn't matter what the individual did. You might have worked 60 hour weeks and was in the layoff group, while the guy sitting across from you comes in late, leaves early and takes long lunches and stays. Someone higher up looks at the bigger group and decides this or that part will be cut.

The answer is you can't protect yourself from it. Sometimes it's just time. I know some here will say they go after the ones who were here a very long time. I was only with Wells a short time. I worked hard. Never was late. Never took off for any reason. Work was done on time. Got along well with others. Hard to say why it happened. Maybe my scorecard on my performance review wasn't as high as others. I was ranked as "Meets". Still don't know.
All I can say is it stung, because I wanted longevity, but it wasn't to be. I had been laid off before from another company, and I had the same attitude as you when I came here. I'm going to work hard to protect myself from it happening again, but guess what? It happened.
It didn't ki-l me. I landed elsewhere, but I can't 100% say it won't happen again. You never know.