What are some of the signs you are going to get laid off? Is it a complete surprise? Just curious of experiences. I already feel it coming, workload is dwindling.
36 replies (most recent on top)
Absolutely not true.
"Severance" is not really severance. It comes with a many-page agreement not to sue the company. They are paying you to go away quietly.
They will not fire you without severance unless they have a very strong case, and there is little risk of you suing and/or end up as a headline case in the news. Workday check ins, documented HR cases, and so on.
People on this board say "unfair and my manager is lying!" But so do toddlers. Performance is documented, HR insists on it.
@OP Getting laid off USED TO BE the biggest fear until recently, but anyone still left now has a much greater chance of being FIRED WITH NO SEVERANCE vs. getting laid of w/severance pay. The new WF way of reducing headcount is to kick you out the door with no severance and a fake IM rating. Its an open, ugly secret and by the time the signs start showing its too late and you're already on the list.
@ej false. Stakeholders in COO cant get an India employee on the phone after 10AM on most days. They definitely aren't, and aren't willing to work 24/7, and it wouldn't be sustainable for the long term even if they were. silly
@c6 in my case it was my two up. An M5
One of the 'signs' was they were giving all my systems away.
The one big sign that the axe was falling on me was a late evening, vague meeting request with my manager the next morning at 8:30 AM (I was still working from home then, and occasionally checked my email when going to fix myself another drink.)
mimosa Friday came early that week!
Sigh..... good times......
yes, but they re 'cheaper'. nothing more than human automated scripts.
If you are MD in DSM….
Location strategy. They kept putting emails here and there. Never anything specific though. Hung it over our heads for about 2 years of radio silence came in a few days before Thanksgiving and announced the building was closing, gave us a date. Had Q&A session, the host of in person meeting straight from his own mouth said they had nothing to do with severance packages.
However later at displacement time, he on my packet it had their name on it.
Pretty lousy..good job lost it because of that.
It's not just highly compensated people getting canned. Look at retail, customer service etc. over the last several years. It's not all tech bros pulling down $200k.
People who work from India are often willing to work 24/7 and offer their services at very low rates. Even if the quality of their work is average, it can still be a win-win situation for both them and the company.
Post out now if work is dwindling. That is a sure sign of change ahead. I was in an area where work was dwindling. I got a new role in a different dept. one week before they laid the rest of my team off.
Received an IM at year end 2024. Was laid off before mid year review. Manager was laid off minutes before me. He was shocked that he was laid off. I was not. I had been planning for it. I could not get out of the office fast enough.
@cw You don't have to put scare quotes around "replacing" you: it's what they're doing.
(Not advocating for it either, F outsourcing. Not sure why the board lunatic was spamming downvotes on that, other than that his normal boomer narcissism being wounded.)
The most reliable indicator that you're about to be fired is that it's the Tuesday after payday
@a8 amen! Sad but true!
@by amen to that!!!
@cw They're replacing you with people who can manage to use the reply feature on here correctly.
@c "can be replaced by an Indian"
Am I working with different Indians than y'all are? Because half the people in India "replacing" US workers that I've worked with are less than useless.
Let go in spring 2024. They took one of my program areas away and gave it to Tech. I missed that clue, although they had added a program area when they took the other one away. Was let go not long after. An old guy, so wasn’t upset as much as I was surprised (since I was helping to build the enterprise system). 60 days off then 9 months of severance. Landed a consulting gig along the way at a good hourly rate.
Yeah it must be because of the conspiracy against olds and not the fact that you're making 200k+ and can be replaced by an Indian 🙄
For most people, if you are employed at Wells Fargo and you DON'T live in India you have a target on your back.
You start to notice teams you work closely with that used to be US based are now going offshore.
@bs It's not completely true. I'm sure my manager knew like a full 6 months in advance. I could tell in the way their demeanor shifted. Then my work was cut wayyy back 3-4 months leading up to my layoff.
Maybe not all managers are informed in advance, but I am certain mine was. Given my role, I'm not sure how they couldn't be. They'd need to plan for it, which they did. I wasn't doing work that can just stop.
@c8 you’re spot on. I was there 32 years and was 55 years old last Aug 2025 when I was let go. Totally blindsided, had plenty of work and was always busy. Never had an inconsistently meets either. Out of the 10 people let go when I was let go, only one person was under 50 years of age. I have severance through October 2026 but dang it’s going fast.
@c4 this and if you're over 50. Wells includes some younger folks in layoffs so their age distribution looks right in case of a lawsuit, but their strategic layoff decision are absolutely targeting older and more highly compensated workers
@OP
#1 sign
Your boss is utterly incompetent and does not know how to manage resources!
Salary > 200K
The group I'm part of was reorganized in fall of 2025, they spent several months telling folks to just keep working on their existing priorities while they worked out the new approach and they'd come to us in the new year with a new model for engagements. Then in January they cut about 60% of existing US based staff. So reorgs are a warning sign, as is stalling when it comes to changes and assigning of new projects.
Laid off yesterday. Things just start to go away. Something you always did suddenly isn't important, you get the feeling everything is moving without you, trust your gut and then don't be surprised. Take a critical look at your work, is it really needed? Now cut that importance in half for someone on the outside who doesn't create the work, still important?
This relates more to getting fired than laid off but if you get an IM mid-year you better pray theres someone worse on your team because youre being set up as the sacrificial lamb by your manager.
biggest sign is that you work for WFC
What a load of BS. Many first level mangers have no clue that they have to make cuts until the day before it happens. To suggest they pull or pile on work is ignorant, at best. Both my coworker and myself were working on materials for a Servicing-wide meeting 90 minutes later when we were told.
I sent a few emails on where things were, where I was doing, where things could be found, etc. And that was it. It's now 16 months later, I have a nice chunk of severance in the bank, things have paid off very well with regards to retirement, and I have a great new job with a great company.
If you get asked if you'd like to "spend more time with your family."
You try to book a conference room for next quarter and the system says “Are you sure?”
Your boss stops assigning you projects but keeps asking how you’re “doing personally”
You get a LinkedIn connection request from your own manager
They will shift work away from you. Might even ask you to train an Indian. That's if they don't just fabricate a PIP and fire you.
I would not say “signs you’re going to be laid off… more like signs you’re going to be heading in a different direction. The cost of severance packages is expensive. Why pay you to leave when they can put you in a level 2 or level 1 rating, and cut your sorry ar-e for zero cost. For the few and the proud who leave voluntarily, they saved the cost. For the ones who hang in there, they’ll keep moving you to burn out and leave or dead end and terminate for non-performance reasons. Their bags are full of tricks and they’ll use it against you. Cry foul if you want but no one is listening and Chuck is getting his bonus regardless of your so-called self-perceived rights. They’ll make age discrimination stick if it comes to it. Sorry folks, that’s reality of their tricks.