#layoffs

BNY Mellon employees are voicing deep concerns about layoffs, offshoring, and leadership transparency. Sentiment ranges from frustration and distrust to resignation and strategic exit planning.

Below are current results of the Top 15 employee concerns, associated employee sentiments and reactions to leadership responses. These are actual results (with a hint of humor) based on current internet discussions and reports from multiple sources.

Top 15 Concerns & Sentiment Breakdown:

1. Offshoring to Pune, India
   📉 Employee Sentiment: Betrayal, anxiety, and the creeping suspicion that their job just got a one-way ticket to another time zone. Frustration, betrayal, fear of redundancy.
   🎩 Leadership Perception: “Global talent optimization.” Translation: cheaper labor, dismissive of U.S. talent, fewer complaints, and better PowerPoint formatting. Cost-driven, efficiency-focused; perceived as dismissive of U.S. talent.

2. Forced Ranking & Performance-Based Exits
   📉 Employee Sentiment: Hunger Games meets HR. Everyone’s a “low performer” eventually. Anxiety, distrust in fairness.
   🎩 Leadership Perception: “Driving a high-performance culture.” Also, a great way to trim headcount without calling it a layoff. Justified as "performance culture"; seen as opaque and arbitrary.

3. Closure of Wilmington & Other U.S. Sites
   📉 Employee Sentiment: Shock, grief, and a sudden interest in Zillow listings in Delaware. Anger, helplessness, lack of relocation support.
   🎩 Leadership Perception: “Strategic footprint realignment.” Bonus points for announcing it via Teams chat at 4:59 PM on a Friday. Framed as strategic consolidation; perceived as abrupt and lacking empathy.

4. AI-Driven Role Elimination
   📉 Employee Sentiment: “I trained the bot that replaced me.” Skepticism, fear of being replaced.
   🎩 Leadership Perception: “Innovation at scale.” Also, the AI doesn’t ask for raises or take mental health days. Promoted as innovation; seen as lacking in human impact planning.

5. Unequal Salary Increases
   📉 Employee Sentiment: Analysts got a 20% bump. VPs got a “thank you” and a free meditation app. Frustration, betrayal, perceived favoritism.
   🎩 Leadership Perception: “Market-aligned compensation strategy.” Also, “We’ll circle back on that.” Leadership disconnected from frontline realities.

6. Lack of Transparency in Layoff Criteria
   📉 Employee Sentiment: Rumors, paranoia, and Teams channels named 'Who’s-Next. Distrust, rumors, emotional exhaustion.
   🎩 Leadership Perception: “We can’t comment on individual cases.” Also, “Please refer to the FAQ we updated 3 minutes ago.” Avoids specifics; messaging seen as evasive and legally sanitized.

7. Decline of Pittsburgh as a Growth Hub
   📉 Employee Sentiment: Nostalgia, resentment, and a sudden uptick in LinkedIn activity. Disappointment, strategic exit planning.
   🎩 Leadership Perception: “Decentralized innovation.” Also, “We’re excited about our 3 strategic growth centers and lower cost, consolidated real estate holdings.” Quietly deprioritized; perceived as abandoning legacy locations.

8. Severance Inconsistencies & Unemployment Eligibility
   📉 Employee Sentiment: Confused, lawyer-curious, and Googling “constructive dismissal.” Confusion, fear of financial instability.
   🎩 Leadership Perception: “We’re following all applicable laws.” Also, “We appreciate your service.” Legally cautious; seen as ethically indifferent and inconsistent.

9. Culture of Waiting for Retirement or the Next Cut
   📉 Employee Sentiment: Zombie mode. Badge in, badge out. Resignation, disengagement.
   🎩 Leadership Perception: “Voluntary attrition is a natural part of transformation.” Also, “We’re building a future-ready workforce.” Not directly addressed; perceived as passive acceptance of attrition.

10. Global Workforce Imbalance & Morale
    📉 Employee Sentiment: U.S. teams feel ghosted. Offshore teams feel ghostwritten. Fractured teams, resentment across regions.
    🎩 Leadership Perception: “One global team.” Except some teams are more 'global' than others. Framed as global optimization; seen as favoring offshore growth over U.S. retention.

11. Leadership Communication Style
    📉 Employee Sentiment: Corporate Mad Libs with a side of gaslighting. Cynicism, fatigue.
    🎩 Leadership Perception: “Transparent and empathetic.” Also, “We’re listening.” (But only to shareholder sentiment, not you.) Polished but vague; perceived as disconnected and overly scripted.

12. Strategic Ambiguity in Transformation Plans
    📉 Employee Sentiment: “What are we transforming into, exactly?” Confusion, lack of trust.
    🎩 Leadership Perception: “Agile, resilient, and future-focused.” Also, “That's a broken sprint and we may pick that up in our 2026 PI-3 planning.” Buzz-word heavy; seen as lacking clear direction or accountability.

13. Declining Internal Mobility
    📉 Employee Sentiment: “Apply internally” = “Apply to be ignored.” Hopelessness, stagnation.
    🎩 Leadership Perception: “We encourage career growth.” Just not here. Or now. Or for you. Not prioritized; perceived as undermining career development.

14. Performative Wellness Initiatives
    📉 Employee Sentiment: “I lost my job, but at least I got a free access to Spring Health's mindfulness self-help app.” Eye-rolling, sarcasm.
    🎩 Leadership Perception: “We care deeply about your well-being.” Especially when it doesn’t cost anything. Promoted heavily; viewed as superficial and misaligned with actual stressors.

15. Erosion of Institutional Loyalty
    📉 Employee Sentiment: “I used to bleed for BNY Mellon. Now I just bleed.” Exit planning, emotional detachment.
    🎩 Leadership Perception: “We’re evolving our culture.” Into what, no one knows. Possibly a chatbot. Not acknowledged; perceived as collateral damage of transformation strategy.

Summary Themes:

• Strategic Distrust: Employees feel decisions are driven by cost-cutting, not stewardship.
• Emotional Fatigue: Layoff cycles and vague transformation language have worn down morale.
• Leadership Disconnect: Senior leaders are viewed as detached, evasive, and overly polished.
• Exit Momentum: Younger and mid-career professionals are actively seeking roles elsewhere.

In summary, BNY Mellon's transformation strategy is widely perceived by employees as a cost-cutting campaign disguised in corporate jargon, marked by offshoring, opaque layoffs, and performative wellness. Leadership is seen as detached and scripted, while morale erodes under forced rankings, AI-driven exits, and strategic ambiguity.

What do you think? Please share in the comments.

I'm kind of thinking it happens soon. Oracle is laid off so many talented smart people, they've terrified the remaining people with talk about how AI is going to replace them or they're going to get laid off, and they're driving away any kind of decent talent from ever applying...

it turns out being a greedy psychopath a--hole id--t is really expensive

Molson Coors Beverage Company will eliminate around 400 salaried positions across its Americas business unit by the end of December, the company announced today in a Form 8-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

https://www.brewbound.com/news/molson-coors-to-eliminate-400-jobs-by-end-of-december

It looks like Mike is throwing everything at tanking results so he can have easier numbers to beat in 2026. He can blame Frank and Bob for everything in 2025. That is why the Board should of never brought in an outsider. Guy or Bob Hau should of been Frank's successor for exactly this reason. Meanwhile, shareholders are left holding the bag. Doyle and the Board should all be replaced. The only job of the Board is to get succession right and this is a F-!!

We’ve all been running ourselves into the ground here. No one can keep doing the work of two or three people forever.

As an OI worker nobody has really said or heard anything at least in my little corner, albeit my team has never had layoff whispers or issues since I've been here, so now I'm really curious since OI has been mentioned a lot here.

Isn't OI quite a big sector? What kind of roles are we talking here?

Trying to figure out what to do and what to focus on. Thank you.

good luck folks!

what wonders private equity does for a company. the IPO is a failure will employees be let go?

Just waiting to get laid off what are you guys doing?

Quality appears to be suffering. Non-production level code is shipping.

Was QA and testing replaced with Copilot?

https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/20/microsoft_bug_keyboard_mouse/

Comcast has a cyber attack today. All 6 petabytes of minio data was deleted. People are checking if it was retaliation for the divisions layoffs.

Looks like rumors were true all those people will be laid off.

https://www.advisorhub.com/exclusive-stifel-to-sell-indie-brokerage-unit-to-equitable-advisors/

I am thinking that all functions will be outsourced except those that are required to keep the network running and some bean counters. Eliminate overhead by eliminating headcount, make all stores reseller locations, no inventory carrying costs (already in progress), shut down real estate, outsource wireline techs, eliminate internals sales and offer a commission based structure to external companies selling on our network. Oh, and free up billions by not being involved in Formula 1, which is only around because Lowell liked race cars and execs like the VIP treatment at races around the world.

This is not going to be a regular rearrangement of deck chairs, something big is coming and I imagine it is not specific to VZ. Other Telco's will need to do the same thing as the wireless bo-m is over and our industry is now nothing more than people jumping from provider to provider to get free phones when their contract is up.

Over the last year MMC has slowly hired on numerous offshore positions and brought people over on H1B visas to pay them lower wages. Now they are laying off a large number of IT employees.

The company is likely going to face serious financial turmoil over the next several years.

I am from legacy tsys which global payments ripped apart after acquiring and got rid of alot of americans to give the jobs offshore. This company is about to take over tsys issuing which global payments su-ked dry and is now dumping. From reading these threads, I now have little hope for my friends who are there. They are all hoping the transitions would be positive.

So layoffs will be next week now? I had heard it was going to be this week, probably Tuesday. I just want this nightmare to be over.

Hey Y’all. Recently laid off employee here. I would recommend hopping on LinkedIn and connecting with as many people as you can. I’m in a job program and they weren’t happy with my 89 connections, they wanted me to have more. Even if all you Target peeps don’t know each other, connect anyway, we need all the help we can get.

Does anyone have the details of when the next round of the co-location strategy layoffs or relocation offers will occur?
Particularly if you are the only one on your team at a site but it is a hub. Thanks

To drive down salaries and increase work hours to 12 hours- Nasscom members resorting to layoffs to force Indian Government to accept exploitative employment practices.
No amount of union activism will help. Selective boycott of top companies by Tech pros - will only work.
Done apply to top 5 IT services firms. Avoid joining and recommending. Staff should refrain from referring new folks.
Spread the work among college grads that IT is not good track any more

Anyone aware of any layoffs in CB? Shaking rn

Massive layoffs about a week prior to Thanksgiving.

Bucket 1 — Already, approximately 35% of health insurance and technology worker’s jobs have been transferred from Americans to non-American workers (e.g., H-1B Visa, Offshored).

Bucket 2 — By end of 2026, AI (artificial intelligence) will replace 45% of the Human workforce, eliminating their life sustaining employment.

The big question, where does that leave you, if you do not belong to one of those two buckets?

Yes, this keeps getting repeated over and over but it is very important persons realize what is going on in our very own country and the repercussions it will have on unemployment and our way of life BEFORE it is too late.

To make a difference, consider writing your Congressman and tell them that you are for American (human) employment. And ask them, “are they?!”

Anybody know of any layoffs Friday? Large scale or individual.

Another big beautiful LR is in the works?!!?? HR is singing their happy songs and internal leadership is buzzing with excitement as they get to destroy more lives just in time for the holidays! Oh happy happy joy joy, but when will Chuck Robbins and his gang of merry Indian H1-B Visa dwarfs get the axe? Instead they get big bonuses and promotions. While American citizens get stomped on again by Cisco.

Penny brought Hoda Kotb in to speak at a conference for six figures while she is laying people off, demoting people, and sending American jobs to India. Where are Penny's priorities? Penny is managing partner to make sure the work gets done. Penny is supposed to be a steward of Edward Jones' assets. How is spending six figures to bring in Hoda Kotb being a good steward of Edward Jones' assets? I am a partner at Edward Jones. She is using our capital to bring these people in. Penny is wasting money while cutting good people who were doing the job needed. Now she is laying people off knowing full well the people left over cannot properly absorb the work of everyone who has been laid off. All Hoda Kotb said was word salad like she said on the Today Show for years. Hoda is fine, she just does not give any insightful points that is relatable to business at Edward Jones. Hoda's "jewel" was "Do not hog your journey....share it with others." Six figures for that pearl of wisdom? How does that inspire a smaller work force to do more work due to Penny's poor leadership decisions of slashing jobs and punishing the survivors to do more work for less money?

I have noticed that paying for the balance of remaining days off is something that they do not like
If you remember there was a strange shutdown in the middle of the year that they forced on us before doing that monster LR like an year ago.

It is highly probable that they will again do it in Jan/Fen and not in Nov.
Any thoughts ?

Will it all happen this week or next week? Do they do them all in a day? This su-ks

I was let go recently and I am planning to start my new company. Its very difficult to find job in today's market.
Enjoy your Holidays. Get ready for January/Feb. Prepare for your interviews.
If you are 40+, my better suggestion for you is to start your own venture.

Over the past 2 weeks I have been flooded with messages and calls from past co workers sharing how miserable they are - they are called on the carpet for the smallest of infractions, reports are apparently run endlessly and if your metric is "off" no matter the reason, no matter the amount by 3 or 5 - you are contacted by the manager or with the tag along director who could never do the job and never has - to remind you what a loser you are, you need to get in line, formal warnings are next or have been submitted - and you are being put on notice. You are being watched. It's not what you do for a member its' all about the bean counts, the back seat driving, the frank disrespect. They ask me what to do - is that why I left? I tell them the truth - yes! it's the leadership, it's the selective punishing, get out if you can.
Every day I am reminded I did the right thing - I would rather pour beer for a living or cut grass then ever come back or encourage anyone to apply there

What is interesting is the escalation of this behavior towards employees right around the time budget projections for merit and AIP are on the horizon - and clearly more RIF are coming - writing is PAINTED ON THE WALL - AIP will be gone or might as well be and if you get more than 2% you are the outlier.

Do we know when it's coming?

Santa Rosa City Schools is turning to pay cuts for its top administrators and other district managers as another way to dig out of its financial crisis — and lay the groundwork for more campus staff layoffs that top officials say are inevitable to stave off the threat of a state takeover.

https://www.pressdemocrat.com/2025/10/19/santa-rosa-schools-pay-cuts-layoffs/

I go on maternity leave in 6 weeks. If I’m laid off, can I negotiate my severance pay to cover the full maternity leave. The leave is already filled with Target. Are there any other protections I can ask for/negotiate on?

Ex-Microsoft video game developers launch local studio after layoffs

Former developers of a massively popular online game have banded together to form a new studio in Baltimore County, aiming to chart their own creative course after recent layoffs at their previous company.

https://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/news/2025/10/20/former-zenimax-developers-open-sackbird-studios.html

I know someone who’d take the severance in a heartbeat. Letting them go could save the job of someone who really needs it. Makes zero sense.

https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2025/10/14/layoffs-wells-fargo-job-cuts-wfc-severance-expense.html

Many will recall the shocking dismissal of Unity's entire Behavior team, and now, in yet another round, it has come to light that Ben Cloward, a respected and well-known figure in the community, is among those affected.

https://80.lv/articles/veteran-developer-ben-cloward-impacted-by-unity-layoffs

Safety is not possible when you are working for other people. Work hard, make sure your team knows it, live below your means, and keep your resume and network ready. No matter how hard anyone works, sometimes they just get cut or passed over for promotion. Control what you can control and accept what you cannot.

Exactly this. People who think joining another company will save them from layoffs are being naive. Everyone’s laying people off. Some more, some less, but it’s happening everywhere. Job security is a thing of the past. Just stay prepared, and you’ll be fine no matter where you work.