Thread regarding Wells Fargo & Co. layoffs

What call?

I think the open office concept (created in the USA back in the 90's as someone else mentioned) is great for some teams, but if it's applied company-wide it's going to be a bust.

Some folks need privacy, like HR and probably a lot of finance folks, anyone who spends time on calls.

In my job I'm on the phone half the day or more, and will be spending more than half my day in one of those little phone booths I've been hearing about.

Joy.

It has be proven in countless studies that open office environments are not effective/productive.

Not sure how anyone who reads has overlooked the insurmountable evidence.

Wells Fargo needs to stop rearranging deck chairs and focus on what matters. Open offices are not the silver bullet to turn the company around. In fact, they will result in good people leaving – the natural attrition (hopefully, large scale) that Wells Fargo is ACTUALLY seeking.

BaTW, what's with the "or else" threat from prior poster? Are we in 5th grade now? (Or the mafia? LOL) It sounds like we have a toxic team member or manager on this thread. Pathetic. SMH.

Open office? It's about communication! It's about collaboration! It's about teamwork! It's about productivity! Now shut up, smile, and be an agent for change - or else.

Open office collaboration was a late 90’s U.S. business fad. It went away for the obvious reasons and was resurrected a few years ago in India purely for cost savings. Now it is apparently coming back to the U.S. for the same reason. Nobody seems to notice that the productivity drops even faster than the costs... just crazy how we k–l our own businesses.

@11z2264P-3vjq - there we go again.. going on and on about a so-called idea “invented in India”. Really ? India is a copier , not an inventor. It is services equivalent of China. The US gave manufacturing orders to China and they happily executed on it. Now if you complain saying China produced inferior quality products, you have no one but yourself to blame. Same with the open office or bench style seating.. the offices we set up were built to these specifications. The US is not importing this idea. We exported it and it worked there so we are trying it here. You are completely. Issuing the point that the average worker at Wells Fargo is globally less efficient than her GS or JPM counterparts. The India staff need as much kick in the rear as the US or Philippines staff do. Excellence has to be on a global level. Unfortunately, we appear to have missed this basic point .

Open India concept is from India; not sure why they bring that to USA. Will the CEO and Execs's sit at one table too?

Welcome to the Charlie and Saul sh*t show, sanctioned by the Board.

Wells Fargo is the evil empire. And we're all desperately trying to find exits.

So many good careers derailed and lives ruined by job losses.

Thanks for nothing, "leadership".

Loyalty rewarded with betrayal.

Open office is what they do in India, they are copying; i guess Wells is trying to become non-American company.

Working in an open office is much, much worse than working with a TV or radio on. The brain can compartmentalize TV or radio and relegate it to background noise.

An open office is more like a busy street corner. Traffic starting and stopping. Groups of people walking by. Random crazies asking for money. Occasional sirens. And the whole time you’re being watched and judged.

I would rather sell coffee at Starbucks than work in an open office ever again.

We used to call on open office a bullpen.

Some teams benefit from being clustered together.

In my position, I would not. I need to have long stretches of uninterrupted concentration. Distractions put me into restart mode, because I'm juggling multiple tools and information sources.

Part of that is because Wells is a very backwards company when it comes to internal applications and processes.

We're still a spreadsheet driven company, it's like living in 1997.

They love to stuff in more seats with open offices, like airlines stuff in more seats. But they never add anymore bathrooms or parking spots or water fountains.

I have found the working in a open office environment makes it VERY, VERY difficult to concentrate on your work. SO distracting. Cannot really think clearly until some of the noise diminishes for a short time. It is like watching TV, listening to the radio, while you are trying to work. Everything around takes away from your ability to focus. I know people who have worn uncomfortable ear plugs in such an open office environment. I did try the ear plugs when I was once working in a noisy office with everyone packed in like sardines. They don't block the noise all that well. If Wells Fargo wants productive workers that focus on their job in the office then they need their own cube at the least.

Before an upper level executive sets forth a plan for open offices they need to try one out for themselves for a week and see how very distracting, frustrating and ANNOYING they actually are.

What call???

They have already done this in marketing in SF. Except for an important few, of course. Basically, it’s impossible to get any thinking or working done during business hours. The solution is to spend your day in meetings and making sure you’re seen talking with the right people, and do your actual work at home on your own time.

The new CEO favors open office concept - everyone sits at long, cafeteria style tables, with no cubicles at all. That way they can stuff in more team members in one office, and sell off other buildings. We will be sitting next to each other like at a crowded picnic table. We can share our flu viruses, hear all conversations, and carry everything with us everywhere we go since we will have no drawers to put our things in!

Other companies have already realized that collaboration goes down with open offices, and emails go up. They are moving away from open offices. Open offices worsen morale. In addition, how to handle ergonomics at a banquet table?

We’ll be having lots of fun soon.

Just got the call. Don't know what to think about this mess