Late Friday afternoon, the Director that I report to scheduled an unexpected meeting for myself and my peers, we are all individual contributors. Approximately half of my peers were either away for lunch or out for the day on PTO. The Director informed those in attendance that one of their peers is in desperate need of resources since all of their contractor resources have been let go over the past 6 months. Our Director communicated that they are looking for volunteers to permanently move to this other area and if no one volunteers then leadership will decide on their own who they will move into the roles. Neither myself or my peers were even familiar with the type of work that the other area performs and after hearing our Director’s explanation it’s my sense that no one will volunteer to move. The roles they are looking to fill would be a backwards move for my personal career growth so it’s definitely not something that I want to do. The impression of my management over the last year is that they are extremely reactive to the direction that their leaders give them and that they really do not care about personal career development or employee satisfaction. Do I just keep my mouth shut and let the chips fall wherever they fall? Do I voice my career path concerns to my management team? I am a remote Bank employee so if it were my choice I think I’d prefer to be laid off at this point so that I could collect severance and look for another job. My mental health has really struggled over the past year due to the culture at USAA. My concern is from what I’ve read on this site and heard from my peers is that leadership is looking for ways to fire employees to avoid paying severance.
11 replies (most recent on top)
I’d stay quiet, your director has probably already decided who they are willing to part with.
And if they had all contractors in the other department, who knows? Most of the contractors on our team had were former regulators and good. But they also know when to just do what they are being told and not rock the boat.
Funny that another post brought up Omni, they were held up as the shining star to our team. Nope, no problems there.
RUN
I would not put that level of detail on here; you can (and probably will) be identified by what you just posted. Nothing you said was bad but you if you want to stay anonymous that amount of detail won't work.
What department and role?
Hmmm sounds like you described the bank omni digital org to a T.
Gee, wonder who created this "worker shortage" staffing problem? Hint: rhymes with Pain Weecock. Yeppers, we prefer to run on the cheap for short term gains. This model is not sustainable. See also: Ward, Montgomery. City, Circuit. Roebuck, Sears. Books, Borders...
It sounds as though it is no longer a matter of choice, so verbalizing any complaints might rock your boat. I agree that you should look for something better in line with your career trajectory outside of the company, regardless. If you are ready to interview, do a good presentation, you have a good chance at finding your next opportunity. However, if work is impacting you after-hours and you find it too difficult to do both your job and a job search, you need to decide how to best proceed. Best of luck!
You will probably have little to no control over the outcome. If it happens, just take the opportunity to learn a new thing. The people on LinkedIn look pretty stressed and unhappy about the job search right now. Keep your existing job while looking.
You’re right, it does. But if the Executive team is doing their jobs of planning and forecasting, it isn’t a desperate, panicked, knee-jerk, “OMFG, how are we ever going to handle this” event.
Reallocation of the resources. It happens all time at other companies.
Regardless of what you choose to do start looking for something else now.