I know this is a layoffs site, but since potential job applicants peruse these boards I thought it’d be helpful to provide some insight into what’s been going on lately within the bank. Note that these observations are my own, and I don’t speak for all employees. Also, I’ve tried to be factual and objective in all cases, but I apologize in advance if I’ve failed, and I ask those more informed to correct me or add color where necessary.
Note that this is my experience, and the experiences of others may differ. Note also that I’ve been with the bank almost twenty years, and I’m in a non-hub location and expect to be let go at any time due to the location strategy. Perhaps someone reading this will be my replacement.
PTO
Starting at 18 days plus holidays for new hires, PTO is very generous. At ten years you receive another five days, and at 25 years you receive yet another five – if you can make it that long.
HOLIDAYS
Wells Fargo observes 11 holidays and also grants each employee two personal holidays, for a total of 104 holiday hours. Like PTO, also generous.
BONUSES
Employees who are bonus eligible used to have a bonus target (i.e., 15% of your salary) that was then funded to some degree by the board at the time of payout. For example, a bonus-eligible person making 80K might have a bonus target of 15% ($12K), and that 15% might be funded at 80% ($9600). Bonus targets since last year are said to be tied to our new forced ranking system, meaning a poor performer theoretically should receive a smaller bonus than a high performer (assuming the same salary). Starting 2021, bonus targets are going away, leaving bonus amounts/distributions solely up to management. This year they’re said to be in line with last year, but the next year it could be anybody’s guess. Going forward there will be zero transparency around bonuses.
SEVERANCE
Generally, severance is two weeks for every year served, and there’s a minimum and maximum payout that I don’t have at my fingertips. There’s been rumors for years that Wells will be reducing this, but it hasn’t happened yet.
FORCED RANKING
I forget the policy (and it seems it's not strongly enforced), but employees are now ranked by managers in a bell-like performance distribution curve against their peers. Theoretically higher-ranking employees will receive better bonuses and are eligible for higher raises (maybe 0.5% instead of 1.5%, for example), but there’s zero transparency, and in the end you end up only with a rank of 1 to 5 (and some equivalent verbiage) and have no idea how you stack against your peers.
PENSION
Wells used to have a Cash Balance Plan, but it stopped contributing to it several years ago. The accounts still exist and grow, however, for those who were enrolled at the time.
RETIREMENT
Wells offers generous 401k matching at 6%, but unlike in years past – when it contributed quarterly – the company contributes only annually, at the end of the year – and you have to be employed up to a certain point in time in order to receive it. This annual match has reduced the growth potential for employees' retirement accounts due to the loss of compounding. This change in matching contribution timing benefits Wells Fargo at the expense of employees. Also just announced is three-year vesting for new hires.
BYOD
Wells Fargo has dispensed with providing phones for most employees and now embraces Bring Your Own Device (BYOD). Employees not wanting Wells to have access to their personal phones can rely on soft phones on their computers. It is unclear how this will affect things when business travel becomes common again. Additionally, it's rumored that Wells will stop supplying at least remote employees with laptops, forcing them to install a client on their personal computer that will allow them to access a remote VDI (basically your home computer is controlling a remote computer). How employees will be able to work during business travel is yet another unknown.
JOB FAMILIES
Wells is undergoing an effort to drastically reduce the number of job titles throughout the bank. In itself, that’s not a bad thing. However, posted salaries for jobs used to have a floor, a ceiling, and a midpoint (which for all practical purposes was the ceiling). With the rollout of a new HR system, they’re doing away with midpoints and simply giving ranges. This is said to help provide managers with more discretion when giving raises, but we all know that’s not how it will play out.
PROMOTIONS
Promotions in place are extremely rare; if you want to move up, you generally have to apply for another position outside your line of business or leave Wells Fargo altogether. People often do the latter, only to return a few months later after accepting a higher role in the same organization they left. Remember: the only way up is out. Note that it’s not uncommon for managers to promote you but not provide a lift in salary; this results in more responsibilities for the same compensation.
RAISES
For most people, annual raises range generally from 1% to 2%, with 1.5% seemingly being the most commonly cited. This does not keep up with inflation, so if you're in a role long enough – receiving only a "merit increase" year after year – eventually you'll be paid less (relatively speaking) than when you started, when inflation is taken into account. As with promotions, raises greater than, say, 2% are extremely rare, and if you want more money you’ll either need to be promoted (unlikely to happen, and possibly no raise if it miraculously does) or move within or outside the bank.
SPANS AND LAYERS
This year upper management pushed a “spans and layers” strategy in an effort to flatten the organization. Previously, many managers had maybe 1-3 direct reports and were also essentially individual contributors. With spans and layers, managers who couldn’t be saddled with 7 direct reports (and they’re allegedly moving to 10) were either turned into individual contributors (ICs) or were let go. Unfortunately, many of these managers were “working” managers who had to either continue the work they already owned or find a subordinate to offload it on. Also, a major side effect is that it makes it darned near impossible to gain management experience because a team member would have to move from being an IC to someone managing 7 to 10 people. It’s a system that will inevitably set up new managers for failure.
DE&I
While most employees embrace our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) initiatives, the bank has pushed DE&I so strongly that it’s become off-putting to many – alienating many who’d otherwise be supportive as well as those it’s designed to benefit. The way many of us see it, the problem with diversity isn’t so much down in the ranks – it’s at the top. Look at the makeup of the board and senior executives. What management should consider is focusing on DE&I at the upper levels while improving the overall employee experience for the rest of us.
TRAINING
Unless you’re maybe in Technology, which has access to Pluralsight, training is a joke. Year after year many of us have been told there isn’t any money in the training budget, yet somehow we find ourselves having to come up with development plans and pull the funding for it out of our as--s. When asked about budget, you’ll be told to watch a bunch of 5-minute videos in Develop You, maybe expense a book, or do it on your own time/dime. For many of us, gone are the days when the bank would send us to a class to learn a new skill or tool.
TUITION REIMBURSEMENT
Wells offers tuition reimbursement at $5K/year. This is great if you’re wanting to take a one-off class or pursue an undergraduate degree over time. But it’s a drop in the bucket if you want to, say, earn a $75K MBA – unless you spread it out over a 10-year period. Caution: Don't expect a raise or promotion just because you earned an MBA.
RTO
Given some recent communications from upper management, Wells seems he-l bent on return to office (RTO), despite the majority of eligible workers against it and a workforce that is growing more global by the day. With other employers embracing remote work and eager to poach Wells’ refugees, management’s decision to dig in its heels on RTO is astonishing and seems designed to encourage attrition.
(cont'd)