BNY Used RTO, Performance Reviews to Cut Jobs: Ex-Staffers
The firm has consistently reduced its headcount for the last six quarters, regulatory filings show. Former employees told Ignites how they were pushed out due to unexpected poor performance reviews and forced relocations without benefits.
@an happens in the BNY EMEA too. People would literally disappear from the office never to be seen again. So glad I escaped that place a few months ago. Long serving member of staff too. Place was toxic, I will never work in Financial Services again. P-M was absolute chaos too.
Week of June 15th: BNY will be firing people in Boston and Everett. It’s a guarantee.
And you can best believe that only a few will get severance. And that severance for those luck enough will be 1 week per year of service.
See? At BNY, your well being matters.
I left about a year ago. Landed at a much smaller firm, which was fantastic and a breath of fresh air after being a long time BNY employee.
Unfortunately, my small firm brought in some executives from bigger banks and started a lot of restructuring, resulting in people at my level, losing their jobs, including mine.
It felt like a kick in the ba--s. That being said, I’m still glad I left BNY as I search for a new job in this tight job market.
@qe exact reason and only reason I haven't left yet. I busted my azz to get to the level and pay I'm finally at. Which has me atleast comfortable. This economy is awful and i hear so many who left willingly and even forced say they struggled to find jobs even remotely close to the pay they had here which is scary. Ive been busting my azz to pay off everything i can so i dont have to worry about that because its too toxic to stay here much longer
@n5 25% below expectations per division is pure lunacy especially for highly qualified, competent and experienced professionals.
Performance based layoffs are being stacked on top of RTO layoffs which are also stacked on top of P-O-M model changes, which also have forced numbers mandates. The emphasis on metrics, both collectively and under each scenario, has absolutely nothing to do with performance and everything to do with optics and circumventing state and federal laws and litigation.
People who know better are clinging to their jobs because the economy is tight and there are no better options. People who don’t know better are either clueless or recent new hires who may soon catch a clue.
Leadership is so disconnected and their arrogance is beyond disgusting.
For mid years we have been told it needs to be 25% below per division.
This is why they are looking for a merger suitor and will never confirm articles such as Northern Trust last year. If you eliminate costs, expenses and debt obligations, it is “almost” the same as turning a true profit. Except profits derived from new business, model efficiency and new products are long term. Cannibalizing a work force is very short term and the heat wears off quickly. It is why RV are huge on India. Poor and low level talent can fit the bill while eliminating high level talent for a while. All of this is unsustainable for the long run. It is also why many senior leaders are still holding on to their BNY stock. The high water mark is not there yet for this massive ‘pump and dump’ scheme despite being $144 a share now. And undeservedly so.
It is sorry to say but the Bank created by Hamilton which is a part of American history and helped be on the right side during two world wars and helped bank roll the Union Army during the war betwee the states, will soon be no more and lost to history.
All thanks to a diabolical board and its foreign Mephistopheles —- RV who will be rich beyond wild dreams after this. This is the the bleakest of the wrong side from a bank that used to tell everying to ‘do the right thing’
Anyone cut from Florida have any luck going the lawyer route?
@h3 yes. When I read the version sent to me in 2025, docs stated if I agreed to terms of separation, I was waving my legal rights and ability to openly discuss BNY.
As stated many time over the last 2-3 years. BNY does not have new business. Their increase of profits each quarter are from structured layoffs each quarter and out-sourcing.
Regardless of this firms AI investments, at some point there will be nothing more to cut and quarterly profits will tank. When the AI bubble bursts, I cannot see BNY existing in its current form. Sr leadership will exit by choice or through constructed excuses of forced removal.
It's interesting to see GS write glowingly about BNY's AI investment and how BNY is a leader in AI development / usage in fin tech. Talk about a circlej--k
@h3 Yes
Do you have to refuse to sign the paperwork if you want to engage a lawyer? Like once you sign you give up your rights?
@fy
What were your attorney’s fees? Was it 1/4 or 1/3 of your back pay? I would find it hard to believe BNY also agreed to pay your attorney above and beyond your entire year of back pay. Even if you have to pay the attorney it is still totally far and away worth it.
@fy please share info on the law firm you hired. Thank you.
@fy thanks for the detail we appreciate it and hope you are doing much better away from this toxic sh-t hole
@ch I pursued the legal route. According to the attorney I hired, BNYs falsifying ratings, games with office closures, violating their own severance policies, etc are not technically illegal. That said, if you did go to full blown litigation, these would all be mitigating factors in your favor. The way to do it is to hit them with a ‘protected class’ issue. Those are illegal. Any sort of discrimination or retaliation qualifies. You might think it’s hard to prove but you really don’t need to prove much. Simply allege a few. This worked for me. They paid me a year salary without going to court. Was settled within 2 months. They have no viable legal department left. Your attorney will be negotiating with an outsourced Junior associate from Reed Smith. For anyone who has been there id say 10 years or longer, I encourage you to fight their nonsense. If under 10 years may be more difficult to get much out of them. I wish you all the best. This happened to me a little over a year ago. I thought might be over by now but sounds like it’s not.
@e3 not when you have proof to support it. Falsifying performance that causes someone termination, no severance or causes them to lose merit is a very big issue. Especially when BNYs lies caused it
@e1 oh i’ll be reaching out to her as should everyone else . BNYs trashy practices need to be out in the light for all to see
@ch there have been posts on this site that suing for a bad performance review is not easy. It’s age discrimination that should be pursued.
@cs this is at the bottom of the article:
Contact the reporter: skharrazi@ignites.com or 212-542-1271
@cg it mentions those hired remote with no relocation option. There were also hundreds if not way more who were in office but forced home when they closed offices leaving them nowhere to go. Oriskany NY office is one example. BNY owns that building and its been left empty for almost 3 years while they terminate those employees forced home. Many other locations the same. Yet they think RTO should be used against these people when they put every single one in this position. Something legal needs to be done because if they cannot terminate now for RTO, they have turned to falsifying ratings, terminating them without severance based on the lie, those dropped but only to “meet some” had merit taken away due to bah status, they have been discriminated against by being blocked from being promoted and everything else. All For a status they were forced in to. it’s beyond disgusting. There are audit trails for anyone who wants to challenge it. It shows who changed your ratings and who wiped out your merit. Go after Them all because HR made changes too
Need some legitimate lawyers who would take up a wrongful performance related termination to release employees without sub pay. A couple of lawyers that I contacted did not respond, meaning there was probably no base for an actual suit.
@cb it does highlight that
@c7- it also needs to highlight the thousands forced to work full time bah due to building closures who are now also being terminated for not being able to go in an office. And they are forced to relocate or will be losing their jobs. Their bad decision and now everyone has consequences. Falsifying ratings and performance is absolutely happening and as a manager i have witnessed it be done after they were submitted and am aware of statements put out recently by the people team director that it will happen again come 3rd and 4th quarter. But the ignite authors articles are good but what will it do when RV is still pulling bs and everyone thinks hes amazing
@c6 good luck and fingers crossed because they cannot continue to get away with this
BNY has deployed stringent return-to-office policies and shelled out negative performance reviews to reduce headcount and eliminate severance and bonus payments, terminated employees say.
In September 2025, thousands of employees across several teams were required to comply with the firm's return-to-office policy, which requires most employees to be in the office four days a week, according to sources familiar with the matter.
But the company did not offer any monetary relocation assistance, even for employees who were hired as fully remote employees, they said.
Those who were unable to move said they were treated as having effectively resigned, making them ineligible for severance and other benefits associated with an involuntary departure, the sources said.
One former employee said she was asked to relocate to a "strategic growth location" in another state. She offered to report to a nearby office instead but was told that was not an option because no senior leader in her business line was located there.
Two other employees on the same team reported similar experiences.
More than a dozen former employees, who span multiple teams across the U.S., shared similar accounts with Ignites.
A BNY spokesperson said the firm's four-day in-office policy applies firmwide and that employees are expected to report to their nearest office location.
"Maintaining a high-performing organization is critical to serving our clients and executing our strategy," a BNY spokesperson wrote in an email. "To support this, we are committed to ensuring the right people and capabilities are in place to support our business."
"BNY takes a disciplined approach to talent management, regularly evaluating performance, skills, and evolving business needs throughout the organization," the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson declined to comment on individual employment decisions but said that the company does not require workers to relocate to specific hubs.
However, at least four former employees told Ignites that relocation expectations varied by team and, in some cases, were tied to where managers or senior leaders were based.
A BNY spokesperson said that relocation requests are considered on a "case-by-case basis."
The firm also faces several lawsuits alleging irregularities in how performance evaluations were used in employment decisions and its in-office work policy.
A former BNY employee, Zhaohan Hu, alleged the firm relied on a "fabricated" performance document as a pretext for terminating him. The document included inconsistent versions of the same review and inaccurate allegations about his work, according to the complaint filed in April in New York state court.
Hu claims he was not informed of the negative review until months into the review period and that the document mistakenly listed the review cycle as continuing through 2050.
Another former employee, Gibbs Kanyongo Jr., sued BNY on May 12, alleging he was wrongfully terminated under the firm's "Working Together" attendance policy, which spelled out how many days workers had to be in the office and subjected those with repeated attendance violations to termination. He claimed he had requested a remote-work accommodation that the firm never responded to before firing him.
A BNY spokesperson said that the firm has not yet been served in this suit, but is aware of the allegations. "[We] believe they are without merit," a BNY spokesperson said. "If the case moves forward, we intend to defend ourselves vigorously."
Litigation for both suits remains pending.
Bad Reviews, Big Impact
Five former employees described to Ignites another similar pattern leading to the end of their time at BNY: unexpected negative performance ratings after years of positive reviews, with little or no warning.
"I had never received a negative performance review in nearly 20 years," one former employee said. "Then suddenly, I was told I didn't meet expectations based on minor, one-off issues."
Another former employee said written feedback in his final review praised his contributions and described his work as having a "positive impact," even though the overall rating was classified as being "below expectations."
Those classifications carried financial consequences, the former employees said.
BNY's severance plan covers involuntary terminations unrelated to performance, meaning workers labeled as underperforming may receive reduced benefits or none at all, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Former employee Laurence Steller sued BNY last November for allegedly improperly classifying his termination as being performance-related, costing him severance benefits tied to nearly three decades of service.
Steller, who worked at BNY for almost 28 years, claimed he received a lower performance rating from a manager with limited oversight of his work and was let go shortly afterward without severance.
The case was voluntarily dismissed by Steller from federal court in February. Further details of the terms were not outlined.
A voluntary dismissal can reflect a variety of endings, including settlement discussions, a plaintiff's decision to correct deficiencies and potentially refile a case, the discovery of new facts, or broader strategic considerations, and does not necessarily reflect the merits of the underlying claims, said DeMario Carswell, an attorney at Miller & Chevalier, who is not involved in the case.
Steller was responsible for generating monthly product data reports for decades, and other employees had to rebuild systems in order to collect and compile the same data following his departure, according to a sources familiar with the matter.
Restructuring at BNY
BNY has spent the past several years reorganizing operations and reducing expenses under Chief Executive Robin Vince, who stepped into the role in September 2022.
BNY has consistently reduced staffing levels over the past six quarters, regulatory filings show. The firm had 47,000 full-time employees as of March 31, the firm disclosed.
The firm disclosed in May that it had cut roughly 4,900 jobs over the prior two years, lowering headcount to its lowest level since 2010.
In January 2024, company executives said the firm aimed to keep annual expenses flat after cutting $600 million from expenses the prior year. At the time, the firm announced plans to eliminate 1,500 jobs firmwide, representing roughly 3% of its workforce.
Though expenses have seen mild increases in recent quarters, including a 5% rise, to $3.4 billion, for the first quarter of 2026, staff-related expenses, including severance payouts for terminated employees, have consistently been the largest internal spend, BNY's earnings releases show.
Executives also outlined a transition to a "platforms" operating model designed to group similar functions together and streamline operations.
In March, the bank disclosed that 66% of BNY employees were working in new office spaces, following a wave of global renovations and relocations.
Some employees attributed the push to reduce employees to broader restructuring efforts at the firm, including shifts in operating models and staffing strategies aimed at reducing costs.
Such approaches can create risk if not handled consistently, said Rebecca Trotsky, chief people officer at HrAcuity.
Companies tightening performance management or requiring relocation during restructuring need to apply policies transparently and provide clear documentation, or risk hurting employee relations and potential legal challenges, she said.
Performance-based terminations and departures tied to in-office requirements can also help companies remain below thresholds that trigger WARN Act notice requirements, Trotsky said.
"By doing these waves of 'layoffs' or 'terminations,' the company is effectively skirting having to file a WARN notice," one former employee said.
Under the federal WARN Act, employers generally must provide at least 60 days' advance notice before a plant closing or mass layoff affecting a certain number of workers.
The law typically applies to employers with 100 or more full-time employees and is triggered when layoffs affect at least 50 workers at a single site of employment during a 30-day period.
Relocation requirements without support, such as moving expenses and flexibility, can be perceived as a way to prompt voluntary departures, Trotsky said.
In the past five years, BNY has filed only one WARN notice, which reflected a loss of 62 staffers in New Jersey in early 2024, according to an Ignites review of such filings.
'It's How They're Doing It'
The timing of separations added insult to the injury of unexpected job loss, five former employees told Ignites. They said they were notified of job termination late in the year, making them ineligible for annual bonus payouts.
The experiences reflect a broader shift across the financial industry, where firms are adjusting workplace policies and staffing models in the post-pandemic environment to reflect a full return to office, Trotsky said. Overhiring of remote employees during the pandemic and subsequent staff cuts have been a topic of consideration for many asset managers, she said.
BNY employees said the way those staff cuts and reorganization measures were implemented has raised questions about fairness and dampened morale within the firm.
"It's not the fact that jobs are being cut," one former employee said. "It's how they're doing it."
@ay I'm working with a good attny on a lawsuit against them in NYC. Hopefully it develops some traction
@bx its a very long article but I will give it a try
@bq me too
@OP eat sh-t Robin
Here is the link to the article. You need a business email for access which I do not have any more. If anyone can summarize it, we would appreciate it.
https://www.ignites.com/login?from=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ignites.com%2F
@at TYVM. I will reach out but am hoping someone can add the article itself to this site? Would love to read it. I, too was forced out last year after 30 years with a false rating and bogus PIP.
This article is accurate as it happened to me and many people that were remote based. BNY failed to realize the impact that providing zero severance in one of the worst job markets was detrimental to some of our finances. Even months later, some of us are still struggling to secure a new job all because they wanted people back in an office like it's1997. It's a shame for a firm that promotes "innovation".
Even the senior leaders aren't in office 3-4 days a week because they are too busy posting on LinkedIn about a golf tournament, the NYSE, Davos or even while on vacation. I feel horrible for the Interns that just started this week because they will quickly see the corruption.
I hope that BNY gets exposed for who they really are and cease to exist by 2030.
@aw you have to watch people team because they are with a doubt in on it. G-yle is the director who notified senior management how to handle mid year ratings so its easier for end of year so they can meet specific ratings like prior years . So they are all planning again to mess with employees
@aw i agree. I see them avoiding NyS warn act with the sh-t they are doing to oriskany ny forced bah. I have also turned them in to NYS eeoc. Looks like we just need to ramp it up and i’ll be sending more proof of what they have done to the staff in my area and what they plan to do eoy with falsifying ratings again. If you are in a state where they can fire with no reason then why go to the extreme of making up false performance other than to avoid paying . This is where they are sc--wing themselves and face lawsuits
@aw wow that is diabolical fr
@ap I have sent correspondence to US Senators and Members of Congress and also to the FL State EEOC. The elected officials defer to the EEOCs and each state has stately limits on the timing and their authority of the claims. I am aware that complaints regarding BNY are being submitted in large numbers. What they will do about the complaints is anyone’s guess. LinkedIn tracks hiring trends at BNY and the current trend at BNY shows. a 6 percent growth over the last year, including a 2percwnt growth in Operations. It’s unclear from these numbers on whether the hiring trend includes contractors and H1B and other visa hires in the US or if the job growth is conveniently occurring in Pune. The Prestige Place rental agreement that was signed in Pune includes up to 1.4 million square feet of office space. By contrast, both buildings at our strategic growth location in Lake Mary include a maximum of 300,000 square feet. Clearly the plan is to leverage AI and shift job families with redundant or repetitive tasks to lower cost centers in Pune and displace experienced higher cost labor in the US. BNY People Team leader, Shannon Hobbes, is playing shell games to reduce the optics of what’s actually happening within the bank to avoid outside attention from EEOCs. The RTO layoffs, Performance-based layoff including falsifying records is also going on and they do this monthly and quarterly to avoid state and federal WARN Act and also to keep the tax rate that BNy pays for Short term Disability and Unemployment insurance as low as possible. This is what’s actually going on here.
This is accurate. Varies by division of course but overall morale over last few years has plummeted. It’s been restructuring upon restructuring with no clear vision so employees feel like they are constantly in quick sand, trying to rebuild within a new structure only to have it change again rapidly. And with each restructure, headcount is cut. The forced RTO for employees hired as remote who don’t even live within travel distance to office is very real. The option is find a way to travel 3-4 hours each way 4/times a week, move or “resign” without severance. This not only impacted people individually but teams and functions were destroyed because the headcount cut wasn’t strategic. They log your badge check-ins and cross reference with your connectivity to office network and folks with discrepancies were let go, via HR, and their managers weren’t even informed until after the fact.
@an The author at Ignite/Financial Times is Sabrina Kharrazi at Sabrina.Kharrazi@ft.com
@ap i think we need to collectively contact our local representatives and bring this to light. Stay anonymous if you have too but we need to do something because these companies shouldnt be allowed to get away with this and its obviously not just bny. RV is ruining careers while fattening his pockets. He can get terminated today and with what he makes and magically has in stock, never have to work again while many of us will struggle to find work, pay bills or be forced to take a significant cut in pay just to have something coming in
This! Amen! And it isn’t just Pittsburgh. It’s NYC and every location in every state in the USA. What the OP needs to also point out is that headcount has been reduced over the last 8 quarters BUT—— you cannot go by that alone. You need to see the just the headcount in the USA for US workers in these local cities and states before and after. THAT is where the numbers become absolutely glaring and wrong. This RV Management likes to say the bank is keeping labor levels near the same. But if you dig in you readily see that it is Indian labor replacing US labor. RV and BNY are trying to have their cake and eat it too. They force US workers on unemployment while enjoying tax breaks and sweetheart credits and real estate breaks. There is no accountability to eliminating US workers and the labor laws protecting them in order to get these tax breaks and perks. Does any congressman think its ok to ruin Americans and the economy while getting fed and state to foot the bill? Its going to be real funny having a tax friendly and rent credit location with a small skeleton crew in say Pittsburgh or NYC while the true labor force is in India.
Great place to work? Yeah if you are in the top of the house