They are merging PCG and WBS and hundreds of Compliance and Operations team members will be laid off. They are in phase 3 of 4 and all layoffs will be completed by December. How cruel to do this right before the holidays!
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Can anyone shed light on Wells Fargo Advisors? Will the St. Louis Headquarters be severely impacted?
To @1ygei+111H5CvR
As I predicted the PCG FA's, the ones that actually bring in the bucks, are not real happy with the changes that were made.
Ohhhh... they love to let people go from Nov 15th up to the week before Christmas. S—s but likely has to do with benefits enrollment cycles than anything else. Sad to see what's happening but not really surprising. It's been really bad for last 5-6+ years. Hard to understand their reasoning - they really had it all - but they just simply did not respect all the talent & loyal folks who held them up during the downturn (nor their customers!) & karma came back to bite BIG TIME! They made a fatal bad turn & just kept going straight to hell. Pennywise, pound foolish to say the least. Those at the top are insulated & absurdly out of touch with everyday life and real people. What's new?! My old team is a skeleton crew & miserable. I walked with a package a few years ago. Best decision ever.
Wrong! Don't even spread rumors. WBS operated on service and Ops Managers did everything in their power to make it easier for the Brokerage Managers and Financial Advisors. No one calls the 800 number, only new employees do. All the information is available on the intranet.
PCG puts the burden back on the Brokerage Managers to help the FAs and CAs while the Ops Managers there used their slave labor in the cage to do most of the heavy lifting.
WBS was a firm that operated on technology. PCG operated like an old wire house in the 1980s. I have been on both sides so I know.
At PCG, it's all about brokerage 100%! At WBS, it's all about catering to the egos of mo–ns in leadership that ran things like a bank.
Just wait until the PCG FA's and staff try to get help from the WBS ops who got most of the Field Support Manager positions. They will hear "call the 800 number" if you have questions. That's how WBS operated. Gonna be a big change from what everyone (PCG) was use to. Good luck all, took the package and ran.
This reorganization is nothing more than an exercise of total incompetence. They have displaced true leaders who were the backbone for support of the financial advisors. They were replaced by inexperienced team members who in some cases, never managed a team, but now are in charge of massive markets and areas. The few pennies Wells Fargo saved by hiring these inexperienced ops/compliance managers will soon be offset by the influx of arbitrations/complaint settlements. The Market/Branch Managers are absolutely stunned by who were replaced and now feel like they are not being protected or feel safe. Wells Fargo will soon found out that they were a Penny wise but a Pound foolish.
Incompetence is the best way to describe this process. Those that get the packages are actually the lucky ones. You are finally free. Go somewhere else where you will be appreciated and paid your worth.
This whole project has been nothing but creating middle manager positions to enrich themselves at the expense of the Financial Advisors. There is nothing gained here. The message from the Top is better and nimble. That is a joke. The entire place just got fatter and if those created positions were to be gone tomorrow, the place will still function.
Here is the playbook for the Ops & Compliance consolidation. Round up everyone like chickens and make them do a dance for their positions. Hopefully the fear will cause those that stick around to do more with less. Pick 2 for Ops & Compliance, then make the rest of the people apply for their jobs at a much lower pay scale. 30-40% less.
You will accept lower pay because it's the holidays and you are scared. This is not the only brokerage firm in town. That's the attitude here.
I can't wait until this phase is unleashed in the Bay Area, California. Give those people packages and they will walk across the street to any Financial Firm or Tech Firm. They won't pay for the talent and this is right in the Company's backyard (SF). So out of touch with reality and the current job market. The two that get chosen for Ops & Compliance will soon realize they are the s—ers holding the bag and should have tanked their interviews.
You can only hire inexperienced people at a cheap price. Sorry, if you are a Bay Area Financial Advisor, your support center is going to s—.
I think it will turn for the worst and most Advisors are waiting for the next shoe to drop. Agree with the post that WBS is cheap. Just try being a FA there and seeing your payout capped so you can pay for the bonus of the upper Managers who do very little to help you or your clients. The payout is much higher at PCG. I noticed that my back office has suddenly shifted to overseas and I used to get great support from the St Louis campus.
I know at some point once the merger is done, they will only have one set of rules vs two and that means more layoffs at the campus. But they fail to realize that the amount of FAs and client associates remain the same.
The solution is more overseas support while I have a client waiting.
Really s—s, some buddies that I know received their notices today. 60 day countdown which takes them to Christmas if they don’t apply for the other positions in the new rebranded Ops Centers. Just a big smoke screen for the Financial Advisors while the Leaders figure out how to stave off departures.
No one has a clue what’s going on. Seems like a coin flip between PCG and WBS. The WBS side is known for being lean and squeezing out work with less. The PCG side hires and creates jobs as they see fit. For example, it’s too stressful to turn on the power button on my computer so I will hire someone to do that for me.
The WBS side is cheap and you either work like a dog or to death. When it’s time for reviews, you get a hard luck story that the bank is having difficulty so raises and bonuses are paired back.
The WFA HUBS are an extra layer of unnecessary compliance. I was with WFA for almost 11 years and glad I left! My new firm has NO HUBS and runs much more efficiently; better service from HQ departments, better work environment, better everything!
WF is on a hiring spree for ORC because it so screwed up. The Tech Risk leadership is a joke, one of the worst collections of leaders at the bank or anywhere for that matter. Something to keep in mind, what do you think is going to happen to all those ORC’s if they get out of the regulator dog house? Same thing BofA did and JPM and Citi.....they are going to lay them off.
I can’t believe people still go to FAs for help with their investments. FAs are commissioned used car salesmen disguised as Wells Fargo bankers. Oh, wait, I think that may actually be an insult to used car salesmen. Lol
WFA is forcing out experienced, licensed employees in favor of unlicensed, non- college degreed, inexperienced Client Assistants. Great for the bottom line, but have heard from former clients that the support s—s because they want cheap, not experienced, unlicensed support people. Too bad for clients, but good for the bottom line.
Fa's don't want to pay for good help, either. They get what they ask for.
The top contenders for the next USA President are in the 70-80 year age range. Why is that? They are the age group with the required experience to do the job. There is no reason the Wells Fargo internal employees cannot also be the top contenders for the jobs at Wells Fargo, though their age is 70-80.
These are the most valued employees with their long history of business and technical skills to get the job done right. The younger generation is still "just learning".
They’re not laying off anybody under 40. It’s all about getting rid of people who have been around a while and hiring younger and cheaper. They get away with it by rewriting job descriptions. If you are young you should be okay for a while.
If you are being recruited at a time and. People are being let go, then that is typically a good sign. The motivation is to get rid of the so-called dead wood. Wells Fargo is not exactly in trouble. It is bloated and inefficient but apart from the one big elephant sized problem of fake accounts. It is relatively simple and successful business. You should be fine to join .
Been contacted by a recruiter for an ORC position. Anyone have knowledge of people being hired only to be layed off shortly after? Does that happen? I don't have a good feeling for what the risk is.
Why would they be getting rid of compliance jobs? Wasn’t lack of compliance Wells down fall?
Who is fired ? Anyone famous ? What about technology .. that is what I care about really.
I have also heard the purge has begun.
Non revenue generative jobs are always going to go either through efficiencies or offshoring. Always!! Not sure why people continue to be surprised by these announcements.
Compliance departments are bloated and inefficient, all as a result of the financial crisis.
You’re going to see a lot more of this in the banking industry
Which holidays? It’s mid September. Rather now than 2 or 3 months from now. At least people are in town and are interviewing/hiring. I