The Bay Area peeps can move where they can afford to live.
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Charlotte is a “White Good Ole Boys Club.” Diversity doesn’t matter in Tech. I was the only female POC on an all white male team of 30 in EIT. FACED ADVERSITY EVERY DAY.
They didn’t trust or like the Latina from NYC from the day I started in 2015. It was an uphill battle day in and day out. Dealing with 20 and 30 year “WF Lifers” who sat around collecting a paycheck to do nothing. They innovated nothing. They never patched anything. Everyone was a so called “Engineer.” Absolutely glad to see them squeezing their A$$ Cheeks and puckering up in a panic during the layoffs. That sweet cushion job of theirs is gone.
One thing I thoroughly disliked was having to bow and bend to the time zone and scheduling of SFO. Seriously? It’s 7 pm on a Friday and now you want to do a conference call?!?! Nope. Hated traveling there. I remember riding the elevator and this guy stunk to high heaven of weed, patchouli oil, booze and body odor. Dressed like a slob with a dirty T-shirt and ripped jeans, tattoos like a 3 year old scribbled on him. I figured he was a delivery guy or courier. Nope. He was a VP in Marketing. Unbelievable. I sat in a 2 day conference with this mo–n and couldn’t take him seriously because I was distracted by his Millennial and Gen Y speak. Real winner. Making deep 6 digits but dressed like a bum.
In the Charlotte area you can get the house and land of your dreams. It’s very suburban and spread out. Traffic is a nightmare pre-pandemic getting to your subdivision or neighborhood on the outskirts. Transportation? Not Mass Transit. Buses and and Light Rail that doesn’t really alleviate traffic. People here still prefer to drive. Definitely a lot of value for your purchase. $700k will get you a mini mansion, as where $700k in SFO or NYC gets you nothing.
NYC will always have the movers and shakers. Toured the Hudson Yards new space pre-pandemic. Absolutely stunning. You will understand the reason for it being the new HQ once you see it in person. Definitely an image makeover for WF. For now, sure it’s like putting lipstick on a pig. But I can understand the perception and appearance that Charlie Et All are trying to create to right the ship that’s been off course for 10 years.
Would I move back to NYC? Nope. Nice to visit, but I like the serenity and safety of being able to spread out and pay much lower taxes here in Charlotte.
When I was in NYC, I had to pay Federal, State and Local NYC Taxes every paycheck. The savings alone in State and Local City taxes were enough to make me not second guess the move.
Until recently, I'd have said this would never happen because of the brand's western heritage – but now there's a move away from the stagecoach in favor of more contemporary branding, museums are closing etc. Aside from SF and CA being expensive to do business in general, there are things like different rules about BYOD. Might seem small in isolation, but all the higher-cost exceptions for CA probably add up. I love CA but if I were starting a business, I doubt I'd choose it to set up shop.
I doubt this will happen officially anytime soon, but can see the SF presence getting smaller and smaller. Case in point: Schwab. Bettinger methodically cut back its SF presence during his tenure. Now they've merged with TD Ameritrade, and while officially the HQ is still SF the headcount is tiny. De facto HQ is Westlake, TX.
Haters Gonna Hate 1ozo+16JwszQe
We're not hating Californians. not even close. Call us crazy...most of us prefer to not have to avoid human waste, needles, and other things on our walk to the office. Double digit incomes taxes are a bit salty too...I lived in San Diego for 4 years and loved it. The "view amd weather" premium eventually became untenable...nothing personal or hatedul just a choice
Both NY and SF are expensive compared to other large cities. However, the power center for BIG banks is NY and CLT. It's obvious that CS prefers NY over SF.
Could be optics which in our case actually matter.
It's going to look brutal when all of the dust settles...good luck to us all..
I'd rather be in the Bay Area over NYC or Charlotte any day.
Why do they hate Californians? Because they are jealous.
We might be looking for new jobs, but we'll still be living in a much better place than y'all.
I like the Bay Area
I never claim to know any real information, but this is what I suspect. There has been a effort for years to slim down CA, it's just too expensive. Des Moines has become less desirable in the last 10 years for some unknown reason. Minneapolis has also been slimmed down (similar unknown reasons as Des Moines). New York is the newest and hottest place that makes the least amount of sense. North Carolina is likely the nightmare. So much real estate and so many people with 30+ years that lack innovation. We could continue to talk about the decreases in AZ, TX, FL and MT, but it's obvious. Unless you are in NY, there is very little growth opportunity.
Actually it won't be. Even before Charlie, WF had a multi year plan to phase out of Cali. It had become too expensive and too many stupid laws I'm Cali
What else did the voices in your head say?
Great, nobody cares.
You heard no such thing.
Does it really matter where the HQ is? Also, kind of BS that they hire a new guy and he gets to determine where he lives and where the HQ is. Happened with others too, hired and they don't live (or move) to a core city. Yeah, I get it, COVID is a factor big time.
People in the bay area are not moving to Charlotte or wherever. They'll go work elsewhere in the bay area. It's not like Wells is the only (or even best) place to work in the bay area. Salesforce might be letting some go, but they built a sh1t ton of office space there.
To "be" or not to "be" – that is the question when proofing headlines.
I really hope you're not in Comms.