Go to any of the other banks' board on layoff.com and it's the same as Citi - people complaining about RIF's, forced low rankings, little raise completely out of touch with modern inflation and lowered bonuses...bank of america, JP, Wells, BNY, State Street. All of those boards look identitical to Citi's layoff board. Yet, bank's profits, including Citi, are high and stocks at record highs.
What's the issue for such low employee morale at big banks?
They don't need to care about staff retention anymore as they have a literal infinite supply of Indians to backfill any role. It's literally that simple.
Everything is good with the banks and companies in general. They are just cutting costs plus increasing shareholders' value constantly since 90s... Off shoring, big exec payouts and buybacks are the name of the game.
The labor market shifted. All major companies are pressuring their employees to do more with less as everyone knows its a pain to find a new job at the moment. They tout the efficiencies of AI when really its just people putting in extra hours as they can't afford not to have a job.
Citi and all big banks are booking record profit. They’re not ailing. With AI they are going to leverage that even more by firing gobs of people as productivity goes up. Employees are reasonably despondent but there are greener fields outside to banking. I retired 2/2 so I no longer give a sh-t. Wish those who remain the best but it’s going to get worse. Next thing that going to happen is consolidation some of the big regional banks will get scooped up and guess what? More layoffs.
Banks are in the business of making money and they are all competitive. The goal for every bank is to have a higher stock price than your competitors. they all have the same strategy - reduce headcount the most efficient and cheapest way possible. One bank says they are using AI, they all say they are using AI. One bank says they are laying off, they all lay off. Each action moves the stock needle a bit even if it's temporary. And it's not just banks. Meta, Google, Amazon, UPS, Fed Ex, all laying off in the hundreds of thousands. Are we great yet?