I got the axe today. That’s fine. I was a bit surprised since my last performance review was an exceeds and I got a discretionary mid-year key contributor award. Oh well.
Anyone else know how performance did or didn’t feature in selection criteria? Not a lot of people were let go in my immediate org. In my Director’s org, it was just me and one other person out of 20 people.
In previous layoffs, typically managers rank their employees, some of it is based on performance but engagement, team dynamics, etc can play a part, this along with other factors like salary, job relevance including redundant or niche specific. For example, project services and digital services saw deep cuts but a percentage of those were no longer relevant outside of the transition or were redundant when the merge occurred but were delayed in layoffs to complete the merge. What people arent talking about are those that are useless with high salaries that also got the boot which was a good number as well. There were others that were relatively good but if they had a higher salary for example, it made more sense for that cut if they made 1.5x two other roles since they werent 1.5x better than those 2 roles and those two roles would have a higher upside potential. There is also a small number that made no sense based on factors such as performance, salary, etc--but that speaks to a degree of tone deaf.
59 PL with regulatory requirement expectations and with 6 direct reports. I was impacted today along with my MD. MD had 7 people including myself. It’s all good. I’m excited to see what’s next. TBH I was getting bored with no legit room for promotion, despite decade tenure and developing two programs still in place today.
My engagement survey repeatedly exceeded the company / organization’s average. My performance review were stellar. I was even awarded lucrative 10k spot awards two years in a row, 2022 and 2023.
Severance is decent and currently figuring out an approved sabbatical money. Sabbatical. would have occurred in early 2024. If you have an approved sabbatical check into it. You take that first before the notice period. Sabbatical + notice + severance.
OP: Please ask about your Key Contributor Awards. I have some about $15k worth that have not vested and will call about those tomorrow. They might be forfeited but it’s worth asking.
Don’t be fooled by engagement surveys, performance reviews, spot awards, KC awards or location. At the end of the day it’s at will employment. I’m have on good authority there will be more layoffs in 2024, probably not to the extent but still significant. My DM and I met requirements to be “safe” we had the people, and the layers to Walt and our EVP. I look back at my tenure and think, wow, my salary only increased $30k during my long tenure. I’m located in a downsized location and barely make 6 figures. Like I said, I’m excited to see what’s next.
I’d like to encourage you to: enjoy every moment and if your aren’t being fulfilled don’t be scared to something about it. The universe always has your back.
Re: @luc+1plIMTh1
Goes to show what a sham annual performance ratings really mean at Schwab. Bust your butt for the company to get a couple of $1Ks more in bonus pay than your teammates. Ironically you're gone, and the mets are still there. Ratings have absolutely no meaning or relevance as to you staying employed at Schwab. It is actually one of the worst subjective systems I have ever seen at a company. Just never get on your managers bad side, else you will never be an exceeds. You best move to another manager to get a new unbiased rating.
A colleague was an amazing contributor and was laid off. Some organizations were hit more than others. Then projects were probably prioritized.
OP-I am really sorry to hear you were let go. Not performance based. More of impact to firm and span of control. So if you were a PL but had 5 or less directs you would likely have been considered. Easy to reorg 5 or less people than 12 or 15
I'm sorry that happened to you. They did this the easy cost cutting way and not the proper way (looking at performance and contributions) because that would have been too hard. A lot of folks left are going to be scratching their heads about what kind of place it really is now.
14 years, TDA into Schwab, SFC role, 2 let go of 11 FC’s. Was told, “we saw this coming, knew something was coming down for 2 months. Decision made upstream, don’t know how decision made, thought would be less client facing, and blah blah blah.”
If it’s not performance based, it’s $$ and your tenure that correlate
You're probably overpaid.
Same. Axed exceeds expectations rating past 3 years… key contributor awards etc…
Boston Consulting Group decided
I'd love to know the rationale behind how they make selections. I could make guesses on their criteria, but it would just be guesses.
Did they give you a reason for layoff ? What is your role