Thread regarding Wells Fargo & Co. layoffs

when I was hired in 2004 there were only 3 layers b/w me and Ken Thomson. Now I there are 5 b/w me and Charlie - I have no idea what layers 3 & 4 do other than complete the endless red tape management scut work for which a new program is implemented every 2 years. Whomever is pitching that c-ap to the OC is an amazing salesperson.

Yes mgmt layers are getting cut. I used to be 13 layers from Stumpf, now i’m six layers from Scharf. Maybe some just got reassigned but most of the ones i saw Retired and then were not replaced we just got re-orged. Our team has shuffled through various execs about 10 times in the last 18 months. About the only things staying the same is my manager and my 2-up manager.

@3rej. Ahhh the smug know-it-alls. You are my favorite. Always fun to watch you come down to earth.

1-CHARLIE works for the board of directors and the shareholders not employees. The employees - all of them- work for him - the sooner you understand this the better

2- why is any employee expecting sympathy from WFC because they worked for it for years - totally irrational

3- all employees are employed by the company at will - with the option by EITHER party to terminate the relationship - when an employee leaves the firm the employee has no obligation toward it so when the firm leaves the employee it is the same

Is charlie even the ceo any longer? I've heard he's been absent a month

They could get rid of half of all COO’s and the company wouldn’t miss a beat. Save a lot of money too.

Love the “fox guarding the hen house” analogy. Spot on!

Anyone reporting the CEO or to an OC member should be expected to be able do whatever is asked of them, no excuses.

Why do you people keep making excuses for people who are paid hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars?

Gimme a break

Agree. For so long, leaders were "encouraged" to cut costs and work leaner. (Please don't hire unless it's "critical". Pretty-please don't travel unless it's "necessary".) But these group leaders put their own self-interests first. The bigger the team, the greater the power and the comp. The more industry conferences attended, the bigger the professional network and the greater the self-importance.

WF has proved that you can't let the fox guard the hen house. Charlie is getting a boatload of money, now let's see him earn it by making the tough decision his predecessors weren't willing to.

@1awo+16QxI0GG you are missing the point. How do you expect mid level leaders and their leader to to find efficiencies when they haven't done so in decades? People that have been here for decades don't know what they don't know. They've been insulated from what's happening in the "real world".

Ever see the movie "The Village" by M. Night Shyamalan? The whole community sans a few leaders think they are living in the 1800's and can't go into the forest for fear of those they don't speak of. Turns out it's 2004 and they are living on a large compound. The people knew no better. This is what I see at Wells.

The dotted line is there to create some authority and for the leader to push work and challenges down. If they can't execute the efficiency work then they are gone.

Disagree all you want. I may might be dead wrong. But I've seen this same story play out in five different orgs. Heck there are dozens of case studies on the subject.

The people actually in charge of processes and people should be driving efficiency. If they can’t, replace them. A dotted line reporting structure is fake accountability.

WF is a decade behind the industry, taking another decade to catch will definitely destroy this company.

Less talk, more action. More budget cuts making the rounds today in new products and technology.

I could be mistaken as a Chainsaw Cheerleader for my how we got here post yesterday. I'm not, really, but I can do devil's advocate really well.

I understand why this company is so messed up. I've seen less qualified people promoted because of who they knew not what. I've been denied promotions multiple years in a row because my compa ratio was to low to justify it, despite doing double the work of everyone else in my group, most whom had higher titles.

I work in an easily replaceable tech job. I know for a fact there's duplication of what we do, even for such a dumb reason as the other team existing just because it's "cloud". Do I want to get laid off for that? Not really.

But I also get it's a business and none of it is personal. He was brought in to accomplish certain things. Removing redundancy where it isn't needed is a good thing. Even if it means there's a1 in 4 chance I/you get removed.

You're trying to just do your job, well so is he. It s—s but that's life. No point being upset about it unless you want to be miserable in to of it all.

@1uzy+16QxI0GG - Layers and spans are happening soon. Let's talk about those COO roles that were added for dotted lines reports. What do you think those people are going to be doing? I'll tell you what they should be doing is driving change and efficiencies through those dotted lines.

Now talk is cheap and that's what we've heard from the new leaders in the COO org. Something tells me they aren't here to sit around for a while and do nothing.

The tech is on the way, it's just going to take a while. Nothing tech happens in 1 year. it may take 10 to get it all done. Do we really want the same mid and upper level managers driving requirements for the new systems? Do we want new systems designed to our inefficient processes? The answer is NO to each of those questions.

I'm not doom and gloom on Wells. I'm bullish! This is why I believe the cuts are coming and reorgs are going to be big. We can't survive by continually adding head count as the business grows. We have to get lean and efficient.

OP here: Thank you for correcting me, and for doing it respectfully. Cheers!

Here is the link to the actual hearing.....

https://financialservices.house.gov/calendar/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=406263

https://youtu.be/oeESjOWe_xQ

Supporting OP regarding Betsy Duke :

AMERICAN BANKER

Wells Fargo's Betsy Duke quits before turn in Washington hot seat
March 09, 2020, 9:28 a.m.

Wells Fargo Chair Betsy Duke resigned from the company’s board ahead of a dramatic congressional hearing set for this week, succumbing to the same political pressures that have claimed multiple former leaders of the bank.

The lender said Monday morning that Duke had stepped down and is being replaced as chair by board member Charles Noski. Duke faced a growing chorus of calls for her departure after Democrats atop the House Financial Services Committee issued a scathing report last week on the bank’s response to a series of consumer scandals.

Duke and board member James Quigley, whose resignation was also announced Monday, are set to appear before the committee Wednesday for a hearing examining “the role of the board of directors in the bank’s egregious pattern of consumer abuses.” Wells Fargo didn’t say whether the hearing will go forward as planned.

Provide an example from the past year where a management layer has actually been reduced. In my organization, our management layers have increased with the addition of a new position under the COO. Under the COO two new positions were created so that people in other organizations could dotted line report to them. How does any of that go toward the stated expense goals. Sorry but actions matter, talk is cheap.

And what is the plan to upgrade technology? Hire a new exec, build a kingdom and then what? No one knows. Let’s talk about HOGAN, or maybe the 150 teeny tiny applications that do one thing on their own schedule and make it impossible to have a complete release. What are we doing about any of that?

I don't know what the future holds but the bank needs to shed costs and bring the systems up to par.

There is so much manual work at this place.
Too many layers of management.
There are to many hangers on that should have left years ago but keep waiting for their "package"
There are too many talkers and everything needs consensus.

I do know that Charlie and team are trying to address these. Will this bring us back? who knows? But I do know if we don't get rid of the bloat and inefficiencies we are done for sure.

Just to correct you, Betsy did go to the committee to be questioned and she sounded like an id–t. The guy that led the search for the ceo actually sounded like he knew he stuff, too bad he got pushed out due to the optics of an off the cuff email when he was trying to take a vacation after all of the hours he spent on the bank.

@1fay+16QxI0GG, that is crazy , i have heard of that on the outside. I personally would go to a company that pays market rates.

@1fay: that is what’s happening @ WFA as we speak. And they are shuffling some positions around and renaming the management titles. So if you do qualify more than anyone else for your old Job, guess what? The pay is less.

I’ve heard some groups are having people re-interview for their roles to keep just the most competent workers. In short, competing with your fellow peers. How awful!

Just punch the clock and collect a pay check. The company(ies) we grew up with are no more. We are now a wall st bank

I have the same question

Why do people carry water supporting an executive management team that would not bat an eye about putting you in the poor house? These people do not know your name, and they definitely do not care about you.

Did you all see the article about Jamie Dimon today? Blaming his employees for PPP fraud? Because obviously the people making these loans at a Chase wanted to get in trouble and were definitely ignoring management when they did it. This is just the latest example of this kind of garbage.