A Wells Fargo employee told me that there is a restructuring under way in their department and they have to reapply for their job. I have never heard of such a thing. Is this something new, so they can lay people off? Also, some people are being mapped and don’t need to reapply. Can someone explain what this means and how it is determined?
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I’ve seen this before at WF. It’s their way of eliminating positions, being able to keep who they want, and avoiding a lawsuit
HR is involved in the interviews. The person being interviewed is alone in a room. A manager and an HR person are on the phone. Everyone is in a separate location. The manager and HR person cannot see each other.
The HR person asks questions. Answers are scored by the manager and HR person. The person with the lowest score is eliminated.
This is Wells Fargo’s way if keeping things fair and equal. And avoiding lawsuits.
Current employee, I haven't heard of this. I know they are eliminating entire positions, is this related?
Seems like just another way for WF to spend money on something stupid. If they do this recruiters, HR must be involved as I could see this as another potential lawsuit.
I could see if they are reclassifying. For example, they mentioned the QA manager positions being eliminated. If they come up with a new name/classification, then I can see them "justifying" interviews (which I am totally against btw) to confirm skills meet the job requirements. But what BS.
I am looking for work outside of Wells, every time I turn around they are jerking us around.
Oh but wait, they just announced the minimum wage increase!! Maybe we should all stay!!
If you refuse to interview you are considered to have resigned.
CEO repeating playbook... you reapply for your job which now happens to be at a lower pay scale. If you’re “hired” it’s at the new lower rate. If you refuse the lower offer you are in effect resigning with no severance. Don’t reapply for your job when you have one.
So a non WF employee has questions about internal restructuring procedures. Really, why?
Reporter - WSJ?
Given the need to clean house, it should surprise no one that this type of thing is happening.
Norwest used to do this in the mortgage area in the early 90's.
Same here. Interviews are just a charade. As long as you don't throw up during the interview, you will be deemed "competent" and then you will be weighted by how long you been with the company (tenure.) So many good people have been let go and replaced by inexperienced managers who have no business being in that position. They dont care if you were better, more experienced or better for the department, they just go by tenure. That is why WFA is falling apart. These bad decisions have consequences and the people who are still there will feel it for years.
Happened to me at another company. Was at an Oil Company and they got a huge fine from the EPA. As part of the settlement (so we were told) all employees had to re-apply for their own jobs.
I applied for my job. I also applied for jobs with other companies. The Oil Company offered me my job back, but I also got offers from other companies.
Took a job with one of the other companies and when I left the Oil Company I never looked back. Oil Company back then reminds me of Wells Fargo today. Always getting into trouble, and with a bad reputation, and lot of bad headlines.
I was not happy there. Not happy at Wells Fargo, either, but a lot of years have past and I could retire at any time.
They don’t go by just tenure. In my group they used these interviews as a way to get rid of older people without fear of age discrimination lawsuits.
What specific departments are doing this and what specific locations? Haven't heard about this previously.
Don't kid yourself. You can prep for your interview all you want but if you have less years than your competition, you will not get the job. They are solely choosing candidates by tenure (length of service) so to avoid any lawsuits for wrongful termination. That is why WFA is falling apart. They got rid of so many strong leaders who cared about the business. So in other words, you can have a bad attitude, not have the same knowledge or experience, be detrimental to the success of your department, but as long as you worked one more month than your competitor, you will get the job. This has been proven with so many examples throughout the firm. The interview process is just smoke and mirrors.
They had us do this over a year ago.
We gathered in teams and grilled each other with common interview questions, and not so common interview questions.
That prep work probably saved me my job.
When you're looking for a job, you can learn from each interview you do, but when your job is on the line, you only get one chance.
Prep, folks, and find some other people to prep with. It doesn't guarantee anything, but it helps, a lot.
Happened last year at WFA between WBS and PCG. Ones not chosen got 60 day notice and then salary continuation with benefits based or years of service. Several ended up with 52 weeks and all benefits.
Hear that the WFA changes are having some struggles LOL!
I have gone through this as have most of the people in my group. It some cases it's a game of musical chairs. They eliminate 1 position out of 5, all 5 people with that job title have to interview, one gets eliminated.
In other cases they rewrite your job description, you have to interview, they tell you you don't have the proper qualifications, you're out, and then they hire a friend of the manager's to do the exact same job you were doing.
It's HR's way of avoiding lawsuits