Every month, I learn that one or two people I know who worked for a long time were let go. Talking to others, they know one or two people they knew were also let go. Is anyone else seeing this pattern?
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Former employee observation. Left in 2022. Could not stand boy club of Elcio and Mitch. HR stooges who agree to everything, take all credit but do nothing to promote USB as employer of choice. It's been years since USB promoted diversity and emplyee advancement growth. Leave then come back at a higher level. Check out where Richard Davis is now, on Wells Fargo board (still a sc--w up, the small client business mess). Anyone read that Japanese holding company that sold Union Bank to U.S. Bank is now a major shareholder of U.S. Bancorp. Change is coming to CEO, Chairman level. Time to go outside and bring in a real banking technology leader. Only way to handle changes. Bank don't want deposits, checking. Not confident how any banks will handle commercial bank loans (a mess). They want credit card fees, corporate clients and wealth management. The model is fine, they should not be surprised by interest rate increase effects. No one should complain about bonuses or salary increases in 2024. Just look at the stock price and wait for better business climate.
For young people, I think some perspective is important for why Richard Davis is beloved. You have to realize he replaced Jerry Grundhofer. Grundhofer and his brother make Andy seem like a compassionate leader. They literally ran the company to the bone. People worked in cubes held together by duct tape. U.S. Bank has by far the lowest efficiency ratio in the industry. The brother was kidnapped by a disgruntled employee (the rumor at least) but there is an Unsolved Mystery episode about it. Enter Richard Davis who was/is a decent person. He started with a bareboned business and could only build because there was nothing less to tear down.
Having said that it is accurate that they did 'stealth layoffs' from time to time. Almost every corporation has layoffs, especially in cyclical and changing industries.
Under Richard the bureaucracy grew, much of which was needed, but they were mostly good times. Andy was his CFO. One of the things that has hurt Andy that isn't really his fault was the increased regulatory environment he inherited and with that came massive back office hiring. At the same time branches (where Richard Davis came from) became less and less important. This is where the opening accounts came to play because management wanted to justify keeping branches by making them sales people. Obviously that didn't work and just caused more problems. Anyway, I think it is fair to point out that with technology and changing bank branch environment, Andy has had a tougher time. Some things his fault, others not so much. The bottom line is that he has a bank full of back office managers and bureaucracy that Richard never had to deal with. My biggest criticism is that he raised the dividends and share buybacks at the expense of the bank's capital position. Those share buybacks certainly don't look good now that the stock price is significantly lower. Anyway, here we are. All he can do now to increase capital is get rid of workers, reduce dividends, or hope he has time to build capital slowly over time. He needs the Union acquisition to work out but much of that was predicated on reduction redundancy (layoffs) while keeping the acquired deposits and lending.
Well Richard is not my friend but I know a lot of people who are still very close to him. He's an incredible leader, a genuinely kind human, and possesses talents that few people are born with. If you ever had a chance to interact with him personally or see him talk in front of a small or large group, you would know what I'm talking about. I am both proud and fortunate to have worked for him during his era and frankly, everyone I know who worked at the bank during the RKD days feels exactly the same way. But you do you with your unqualified opinions and my-feelings-are-facts self.
Sounds like an admission that Davis made a big mistake by green lighting Cecere's rise, but you do you with still drinking the CEO Is My Pal flavor Kool-Aid.
This is how it's been done for the last few years. Avoids the need to report on it.
Have no clue what you mean by stealth layoffs go back to RKD. I was there during Richard's entire tenure as CEO (starting before) and well after. You must either not know what you're talking about or have conveniently forgotten that Richard had the courage to reduce salary for all grade 15's and above by 10% across the board in order to NOT layoff anyone during the financial crisis. There may have been certain areas of the bank where staffing was reduced along the way due to changes in business conditions, but I don't recall anyone being laid off "stealthily" or otherwise the way AC and his mo--n minions do.
And to the other poster, I can assure you if Richard knew what AC would do to this bank after he retired, he would never have selected him to take the helm. What AC has done to this bank is shameful and I do not understand why shareholders don't demand his termination. He has been an unmitigated disaster for this company. Don't take my word for it. Just look at the stock performance before the SVB collapse. USB was down 25% over the 5 years since AC took over. FIRE ANDY CECERE!!!
The people singing Davis's praises today ignore the kind of stuff @1sok+1o12yH8C mentions. AC didn't arrive in his post as though spontaneously generated from inanimate matter like Aristotle might think, but served high in the ranks during Davis's tenure. RD just sold his brand better.
On the matter of other hardworking professionals getting stiffed by LL Rick D: https://songofthelarkblog.com/2013/07/15/notes-on-richard-davis/
U.S. Bank has done stealth layoffs long before Elcio got here. Those go back to Richard Davis. B.t.w., HR has always been and will always continue to be about protecting the bank. It's so weird how people think HR exists to protect the workers.