How does this happen? Wells needs to be more transparent on how this happened. RTO for collaboration just got annihilated.
https://www.12news.com/article/news/local/valley/investigation-underway-after-body-of-wells-fargo-employee-found-dead-at-work-tempe/75-1329570f-3b63-4869-b4bd-7d45801a80f2
I've got a lot of questions about this that I know management will never address. I doubt they even mention this internally while they try to downplay it publicly.
How did Wells Fargo’s safety protocols fail so badly that no one noticed this employee for four days? What checks were supposed to be in place, and why did they not work?
What role did building management and on-site security play? Are there regular checks in place, and why was this employee’s area neglected for so long?
Employees reported foul odors, yet no actions were taken. Why was this ignored, and what does it say about the communication and culture within the office?
With the strong push for RTO, how is Wells Fargo ensuring that employees are safe and accounted for while on-site? Are there wellness checks, especially for those in isolated areas?
What immediate changes has Wells Fargo made to prevent this from happening again? Will they commit to an independent review of their protocols, and how will they be transparent about the steps they’re taking?
Where I sit there are no phones on the desk. This seems like a risk. If someone was alone in the building and called 911 on a desk phone they might be able to
Trace the location. If you call on a cellphone how would emergency services even know where to begin looking? WF might need to put emergency phones in the office. This whole incident makes me realize how unprepared I am at work if there is an emergency. My solution- let me work from home. But at least invest in some actual useful training. Not CYA stuff
The incident shows missing controls. And a risk which has significant reputation impact. They should fire the RAU owner who is culpable.
I understand that a couple of the days were on the weekend, so she would not be discovered then, but given they did not find her until late on Tuesday, it raises a few questions:
I am not insinuating that WF is responsible for her death, but multiple people dropped the ball in this situation.
So my boss gets a report telling her when I swipe in and I get flagged if I didn’t get my last swipe in for the week. But someone can literally die and be swiped in for four days and nothing is flagged. Literally the smell of the deceased person eventually flagged it. She deserved better.
She is now officially one of Charlie's Angels. Whether she would have liked it or not.
I looked her up this morning in Outlook; she was zz'd. Her picture was there. Business Execution Consultant. Adding a face to the name definitely touches the heart strings. :(
Welcome to the Hotel Wells Fargo
You can badge in any time you like, but you can never leave 🎶
Are yo kidding? the cleaning staff are ALWAYS messing with their phones, and they don't always empty the trash cans.
Maybe they turned off the AC with less than 5% occupancy and no security or cleaning personnel on the weekend? Cost cutting solutions.
@1lhd+1ufNb0r7 Good luck calling HR. You'll be stuck on the line someone in India who'll raise a ticket.
Makes me wonder about if there was a fire. I literally have no idea what I'm supposed to do in the event of a fire. Obviously I know where the stairs are and how to get out of the building. But I have no other team members or a manager to muster to. Also, Making us badge out to exit the building seems like a fire hazard. There are two other doors, but wouldn't you want every door to be accessible in the event of a fire instead of creating exit choke points with only a few doors?
Waiting for them to use this as the rationale for us to return to the office 5 days per week.
I hope they look at neighborhood seatiing. When people do not have a space of thier own it’s impossible to know where everyone is at when they are required to be in office. If this is the new norm, security needs to be walking the floors constantly to ensure people are ok. There is no excuse for this.This was terrible.
This is giving a whole new meaning to quiet quitting.
While I agree with you, it wasn't the "grueling hours" that made the guy jump, he was a spec ops guy and relatively young. WF is probably the least amount of hours the dude ever worked in his life. I'm sure work was a factor, but not because of the number of hours.
A displacement with no severance makes leadership happy, happy, happy.
Did she complete her timecard in Workday first?
Crazy, tried looking her up on teams and teamworks and she been scrubbed already. Crazy stuff and feel really bad for her. I hope she finds some peace.
So many weird things going on. Clearly this woman didn’t collaborate with anyone in her office yet they still made her come in cuz RTO.
Are spaces in this office so isolated that you can be dead for four days and no one notices? What else could happen on a location like that?
The cleaning crew is clearly not “sanitizing “ desks like they used to claim.
People are asking why the family didn’t call HR. Uh- what number is that? I can’t even figure out how I would call HR and I work there. How would someone who does work there know who to call or how?
I also realized that I have no idea how to describe where I am in the building if something happened. I don’t even really know the address- had it when I started and then just kind of go to the office.
My husband brought up a good point. When will this company and industry take accountability for literally working people to death due to the inhumane workloads they place on people? If you Google this bank + employee + died, you will see one person who committed su----e by jumping off the building literally after working grueling hours and a 25 year old trader dying from a medical heart condition related to being overworked.
Weird. We have floor monitors in purple shirts that walk down each row of desks to make sure people don’t leave their computers unlocked. They walk through 2-3 times each day. Seems not every office has this?
Thoughts and prayers to Denise.
Is this going to be an annual thing WF?
https://nypost.com/2023/10/03/anguished-family-of-wells-fargo-employee-who-leaped-to-his-death-fumes-at-company/
The family of a 46-year-old Wells Fargo employee who leaped to his death from a 14th floor office in January is outraged that the bank didn’t bother to have any executives represent the company at the funeral — instead opting to make do by sending flowers.
Greg Beckett, a resident of Bridgeport, NJ, died by su----e on Jan. 19 after jumping from the window of the 14th floor of the Wells Fargo office building in Wilmington, Del.
As much as we want to blame Wells Fargo, I would like to know where are the family or friends? For someone to be gone for 3 or more days and no one called the manager or HR, just so many questions but unfortunately it's too late.
They want employees to work in the offices so they can monitor their performance. But it seems nobody was monitoring them in the office period.
****
Credit:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna168756
By Marlene Lenthang
A 60-year-old Arizona Wells Fargo employee scanned into her office on a Friday on what appeared to be an ordinary workday. Then, four days later, she was found dead in her cubicle.
Denise Prudhomme, 60, was found dead on Aug. 20 in her office in Tempe, police said.
She had last scanned in the building at 7 a.m. on Aug. 16, a Friday, and there was no further scan in or out of the office, authorities said.
Tempe police responded to the Wells Fargo office in the 1100 block of West Washington Street after on-site security called about an employee they believed to be dead. She was pronounced dead at 4:55 p.m., police said.
The cause of death is pending determination by the Maricopa County medical examiner. Police said the preliminary investigation showed no obvious signs of foul play.
The investigation continues.
It's not clear how Prudhomme had gone unnoticed for so long. NBC affiliate KPNX of Phoenix reported that she worked in a cubicle on the third floor, away from the main aisle.
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An employee who spoke with KPNX on the condition of anonymity said that a colleague found her at her desk while walking around the building and that several people had smelled a foul odor but believed it to be faulty plumbing.
Wells Fargo confirmed she sat in an underpopulated area of the building.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of our colleague, Denise Prudhomme. Our thoughts are with her family and loved ones, and we are in contact to ensure they are well supported during this difficult time,” the company said in a statement Thursday.
It said that it is "committed to the safety and wellness of our workforce" and that it is "reviewing our own internal procedures after this event."
Counselors have been made available to support employees. Prudhomme's fellow employees were told of her death after the company notified her family, Wells Fargo said.
First condolences to our colleague's friends and family on the loss of Prudence. This tragic loss of a fellow employee is a sombering moment on too many levels.
For those of you not in a hub, here's some metro stats. In office attendance is concentrated Tue -Wed. So, 25% on a Friday would be accurate.
How could it happen?
Remember folks, we’re better together. Let’s get to know each other and collaborate!
But seriously I guess this should be a wake up call to the execs. The cleaners aren’t cleaning and security isn’t securing.
when an executive dies they make a bid deal about it, less so for the rank and file. I'd hope they would send the family some flowers but with budgets what they are probably not.
I believe we all know that people die. What we don't understand is how an employee can be left like that for four days. Undoubtedly the building management firm has accountability, but Wells Fargo should feel an obligation to ensure there are existing controls to protect employees from a horrible situation like this, particularly when they've made such a big deal about RTO. They should address employees directly about how this situation happened and what they will do to prevent it from happening again.
How is it that cleaning staff didn’t see her? Do they not come around and empty trash bins for every cube and office nightly? Even when I worked for a much smaller regional bank, janitorial staff came by nightly to empty out bins. I know because I often worked late in the evening and night when cleaning crew was working.
Gotta be in the office, gotta be in the office... Rumor is Charlie has asked HR to recover the 4 days of pay. The other rumor is the smell was likely mixed up for being Indian ghee and a hint of spices. Gal literally gave her life to the company, had no one even care she went missing for 4 days.
Where was Shart and Powell last week? Just asking.
What do you mean you want to know how it happened? You do know that people die, right?
They always weasel out of things by lying. They will never do what is right. Ever. I’m not surprised by this at all given how horribly they are treating their employees. It’s beyond shameful.
Maybe it was a 3-day weekend?
I work in the office and I can see how this happens. The building is rarely 25% full, no one talks to each other, most just badge in and out. And there areas that are completely empty. Especially on Friday when no one comes in. Plus, I never ever see security walk around.
Seems the return to office thing is really working for Wells Fargo. Especially since one of the reasons given for the RTO thing is to have a better personal connections with your coworkers.
Don’t worry the Schart regime will use this as a way to further mess with others
Watch WF announce a new rewards Credit Card as an attempt to shift the focus.
It will be interesting to see whether mgmt makes an internal statement about this to employees, particularly now that it is a trending national news story. They probably won't, but they should. Employees deserve to hear how this happened and what measures will be taken to make sure no one is left like that again.