Thread regarding Wells Fargo & Co. layoffs

Charlie just recently sent an internal memo that reads “ year end compensation will be directly tied to diverse hiring at the leadership level”. The amount of pandering he is doing is disgusting. You are either going to create an environment where people are hiring diversely so they secure there own income( rather than higher the best and appropriate candidate) or alienate your white male employees. How is this directive not a red flag for discrimination?

Does anyone the think the team Charlie has built is really gonna lead us out of this mess? Operate lean as possible and he just creates new position after new position. Will be interesting to see

Just viewing this chain of replies from arm’s length. I think most of the commenters are in agreement on the major point, just differing on the details. From what I see, the major point is that employees are concerned/angry that Charlie is hiring in all his buddies at exorbitant salaries while Shrewsberry is out there telling investors there must be substantial layoffs “to get our total expense base to as lean a state as we can reasonably operate.” And these highest paying jobs are not being made available to all potential qualified candidates. And finally, there is a general mistrust of management because what they say vs what they do are often the opposite ends of the spectrum.

Regulators do not care about diversity.

It is hardly “good PR” when you say one thing and do another. The word you’re looking for is hypocrisy.

Why don’t you go to employee relations then and tell them you feel you were discriminated against. See where that gets you.

Much of what is said by this bank is lip service for our regulators and for good PR.

It is not an equal opportunity employer when expensive roles are created for specific people and no one else who may have been qualified even knew.

If they did consider other candidates, they can prove it or stop paying lip service to D&I at all.

Enough said.

While I could care less what color or gender the new executives are, I’m much more concerned about how much these (made up out of nowhere) roles are going to cost the bank.
Especially at a time when profits are at the lowest point they have been in decades in combination with the financial markets being in a tight regulatory position limiting our ability to earn more. Surely someone in the Board has to be questioning these decisions.

I think the new one coming from Santander, that is mortgages for bad credit; he may have a lot of experiences dealing with foreclosures, etc from that previous role

To be accurate:
At Wells Fargo, we believe that diversity and inclusion is key to being one of the world’s great companies. It’s a business imperative that lets us take advantage of the creation and innovation that comes from multiple perspectives. It allows us to respond quickly and effectively to customer needs, and it helps us understand our customers more fully, see business opportunities in new ways, and succeed in serving the needs of all customers.

At Wells Fargo, we strive to build and sustain a diverse and inclusive culture for all Wells Fargo team members – one where they feel valued and respected for who they are as well as for the skills and experiences they bring to our company.

Our goal is for the diversity of team members to reflect the diversity of the communities we serve. We need to attract, develop, and retain the best-qualified, most diverse group of team members we can find. But diversity is only part of the equation. We also want an inclusive culture that is accepting of differences and open to new ideas, which will result in better decision-making and innovative solutions that provide a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

Wells Fargo is an equal opportunity employer, not an affirmative action employer. Enough said.

These jobs were created by Scharf and maybe others. These jobs did not exist at WF, it’s debatable whether they are needed at all. Why does the COO need a CAO so that 3 of his current executives can report to another layer of executive?

It is likely they were created specifically for the person hired, this is why there is no diversity and why there was never an announcement that the bank was looking for qualified candidates for these roles. These roles are at a level where the person is making multimillions.

This coincides with announcements of mass layoffs and lip service about diversity. Scharf prove his commitment to diversity by putting his money where his mouth is. It is not about racism. It is about money.

I can see both sides. The financial industry is still run by white men. I think OP’s point might be that Charlie Scharf is preaching diversity at a highly opportune time, when in fact he himself is currently hiring mostly white men in to the top ranks. The facts speak for themselves. Famous quote: “As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do.” Having said that- he rolled out goals to double black leaders at the firm within the next 5 years. Time will tell.

Our ceo’s statement that he needs 2 years to get diversity candidates in high level roles is BS. He is placating everyone with this statement, because he knows he will have cashed in by then, and will have hit the road. He has no intention of falling through. Very sad indeed.

Valid observations. However with diversity and inclusion being current hot buttons, roles should be filled based on experience/knowledge/career trajectory in specialised field, not solely because of someone's gender and/or race.