Thread regarding Wells Fargo & Co. layoffs

Absolutely take your full leave and don't hesitate. As much as you want to be there for your teammates, your family needs to come first. I wouldn't even concern myself a promotion, and honestly if you're at a non core site it wouldn't happen anyway. And being non core, they could just as easily lay you off after you give up your full leave time anyway.

Creating a perception taking a an FMLA related leave like this would negatively impact your career is illegal. If you don't have the threat in writing I would work to get that. This is 100% a legal issue and lawsuit based on these tactics.

Also to add a little positivity, congratulations on the new baby. I truly hope your wife comes through everything OK as well.

Talk to an HR partner about your concerns

Didn't we take a training, Being on parental leave should not interfere with your promotion. Otherwise it is a violation.
Document what manager told you.

take fmla leaves
Is job protected
If they retaliate
file er complaints
Keep record
Later use it to file Complains with government or Get help from lawyer

Not only take the full leave, if you are brave enough contact the local news station and share your story. This is F* ridiculous!

Take your full leave and look for a new job while on leave.

They are not going to promote you at mid-year no matter what you do. That would be an off-cycle promotion - if they were it is just as easy/hard to promote you right now today. If they are going to promote you it'll be end of 2026.

When your manager goes through merit increases at the end of this year - if you have any leave time in the year the system flags it and the manager has to go out of they way to get an exception to give you any increase. Last year I had a team member out 3 weeks on a short term medical leave, she worked 49 weeks of the year was Meets and leadership above me canceled what I recommended for her and refused to allow me to give any merit increase at all. Your management may vary - but it won't be by much.

Wait, you said you are not at a core site but they are talking about promoting you???
If you are not at a core site, your days are already clearly numbered, so why would they promote you even if you take zero parental leave?
Even if you are at a speciality site, I suspect your days are still numbered, as these sites will naturally be reduced (not hiring) over time. Their argument of “ well, how will we promote you at the mid-year if you're on leave?" doesn’t make sense to me. Feels like a ploy to have you just feel guilty and make their lives easier by agreeing to take less parental leave.

Normally, I would have said 16 weeks is a bit much.
But since you do have a special needs boy, I think you need the full 16 weeks.
Team dynamics will have changed when you get back but as long as you are adaptable you should be fine.

You should take the leave if youre entitled to it but be advised this will be held against you when its time to decide about who gets raises, bonuses, promotions, etc. All things being equal they will choose the person who was here for the entire previous 12 months versus someone who missed a third of that time frame.

@aa+1kkath1jq

"Filled in a week"

Tell me you've never hired anyone at WF without telling me you never hired anyone at WF.

@b8 this right here. There are no mid year promotions. Only during the performance cycle.

Regardless, how would you feel if you didn't take the full, came back and didn't get promoted? Would feel like a big waste of time right?

I can't believe they are dangling that carrot. A little unethical

Family first!!!!

Congrats and I hope your wife pulls through.

Pressuring you not to take family leave ranges from unethical to illegal in some states. Nobody gets promoted mid year to Senior Lead from Lead. Heck, almost nobody get promoted to senior lead, ever.

First, take your leave

Second, document every conversation about this. Times, dates, exact words, etc. You probably won't get lucky enough to have it in an email from your manager, but an email from them pressuring you is ideal.

Third, if you decide to open an HR case about it, know that nothing will be done unless there is a pattern. In other words, you need more than just your incident; you need others. HR won't do anything unless it's a pattern or department-wide problem.

Fourth, the reason you document things is to ensure any retaliation is documented.

Fifth... consider looking for another job when your wife turns the corner. Life is too short to deal with toxic managers. During your exit interview, bring it up then. Tell them the company is lucky you didnt sue them.

This job is temporary and there will likely be many more in your lifetime. Focus on your wife and children- they are all that matter.

Do they give promotional raises at mid year? I thought they had limited it to year-end only. So if that still remains true, they are lying.

Oh please don't feel guilty at all!
I have worked for decades. I can promise you if the tables were turned ..and they had to trim staff, they wouldn't give a damn about your personal and family situation. A few years from now you won't remember the names of colleagues who come and go. I guarantee you..your family will remember you were there when it counted.
Jobs can be replaced...the important times for you to be with your family cannot.

Im trying to hard to word this right. Wells fargo does not care about you. You are replaceable and a cog in the wheel. If you died today they would have your job filled in a week. Do not make this company or any job your identity nor your priority.

All that matters in life is your family and loved ones. Your wife and baby need you. They are, and always will be the number 1 priority. Never let anyone, especially your peers, managers, or any leadership here tell you differently.

You are here to trade time for money and that is the end of that relationship.

I wish you, your wife, and newborn nothing but the best and you are in my prayers.

Ill add this too - I love working with my peers, they are all great people but if it came to my family over them, its not even a question for me.

Early on in my career I drank the kool-aide as well but after having life experience, my entire perspective has changed. Life is short, enjoy what matters.

@OP There's probably no way to stop yourself from feeling guilty for how your leave will affect your teammates (if you're anything like me). But it may be easy to convince yourself not to worry about jeopardizing a promotion if you consider how rare promotions are anyway at WF. You won't be guaranteed a promotion no matter what you do, and it's super sh---y of your leaders to imply otherwise. So you could just forget about a promotion for this year and focus on next year. If they somehow promote you for this year anyway despite their inappropriate threats, great -- but probably best not to count on it.

If you are thinking of your team members when you are dealing with a life crisis, not sure if you are in the right frame of mind to understand the solutions.