Thread regarding Wells Fargo & Co. layoffs

Whether you have to fight for unemployment depends on the State you live in. Most State's only deny unemployment if you are fired for "Misconduct", i.e. bad behavior. Poor performance is generally not grounds for denying unemployment under most State laws.
In my experience, big companies terminate due to "poor performance" and do not contest unemployment. It costs too much and alleging misconduct can open the employer up to discovery and counter claims.
Big companies terminate for poor performance when they make a hiring mistake or most likely, if you are a long term employee, a way lay you off and not pay severance.

the only thing that will buy you more time is to document everything in your review so that you can prove it wrong. then file an ER complaint. The ultimate outcome of the ER complaint will be nothing even if you have verified facts, but at least you will get some more time on the clock. it also is another data point for the OCC's MRA for Wells Fargo's HR business practices.

if you manager did something that smells like ethics (dishonesty, etc.), contact the EthicsLine FIRST as it covers violations of Code of Ethics and Business Conduct or any laws, rules, or regulations.

this all buys you time.

@1vlg Judging by the down votes, I would say you hit the nail on the head...

Hm... seems like the person who got the improvement needed and worked overtime may report to me..

I just want to make sure I’m reading this correctly. Your boss criticized you for racking up excess overtime expenses, and now you’re on here soliciting—from some people who are going to lose jobs because expenses need to be reduced—advice on how to cause more trouble?

It's all about how well liked one is by the manager, or if they feel threatened at all. There are few objective/SMART metrics in our goals. The culture problem here is pervasive, and it looks like managers promote those that won't ever really compete with them.

Sometimes a manager likes you and sometimes a manager doesn't.

Some people thrive on one team and sink on another.

There are so many variables it doesn't matter, what matters is are you going to stick it out and try to "Improve" or look for other employment?

I know it's easy for me to say, but life is long, don't let one bad job experience get to you.

Document your concerns. Ask for clarification. Ask how they arrived at the rating. Ask for advice on the exact steps or specific behaviors or areas needing improvement.

If you’ve been collecting a paycheck but underperforming, you can partially redeem yourself by having the grace to just go away without making a scene.

Spend your energy looking for work outside of Wells Fargo. You can fight all you want, short of walking on water, you will not be able to save your job because they are going to eliminate the position. They are going to consolidate and those left behind will be picking up the work load. Oh, and just come in and do your job as you’ve done it in the past- no need to go all out because it isn’t going to matter and you’ll just wear yourself thin. At BNYM, they let go people who were rated needs improvement, satisfactory and above average as a way to prove there was no discrimination, there was no real rhyme to ages or tenure or salaries - the lawyers know the loopholes. You do not do no one should think - oh I was rated satisfactory or above average, I’m safe. You aren’t!

Based on the up and down votes, it looks like people don’t want to deal with reality. Complaining about your rating will not save you.

Taking action to improve or get out would have tangible benefits, it’s your choice though. The bank does have a problem with people who are all talk and no action, so there’s that.

You’ll get severance. They are using the 1 and 2 rating to help avoid lawsuits. When they lay you off, they’ll point to the review and your location/job function as a way to prove it isn’t about race, gender, age, etc. start looking for another job

I am just in like "shock" that this Wells Fargo Manager gives me an performance review rating of "Needs Improvement" because I work so much overtime due to "ineffective time management" and that I "talk too much".

And I got nastily Yelled at during this review too, as if I was doing something totally wrong.

I feel VERY betrayed by my Manager at Wells Fargo that all of the long work days, late nights and week ends of working overtime was twisted into a "Needs Improvement" review because I did not have efficient Time Management skills. Stating I had to work all that overtime due to inefficient Time Management skills. What, are you joking, or what? I will no longer be volunteering to work overtime on weekends to perform extra testing, etc. as I have done every time in the past. If I am still employed there in the future. Not that motivated to work overtime anymore and get a nasty review due to it. Nope.

I’m in the same situation. I received a 2 and was stunned. Over the past 10 years I was rated a 4 or 5 when we gave numeric ratings or I was rated “performing”. I’m a manager, so I knew the drill about how they wanted us to rate our directs. I also knew about the bell curve. It’s clear to me he wanted to rate one of my peers a 4, so someone needed to fall on the sword. Yay me!!

The ONLY reason he gave was that I need to improve my time management and prioritization skills. Ironically, time management is something I included in my self-assessment as a personal development goal because I needed to get better at work-life balance! In this case, being transparent was not in my favor.

I’ve only had one 1:1 with him this year which was about 5 weeks ago. During that coaching session, he brought up time management for the first time. Apparently, he assessed my performance for the past 7 months, but only gave me 1 month to adjust my performance. Impossible!

Here’s the kicker...he ended the conversation by saying “I appreciate you.” Seriously?!?

I feel VERY betrayed by my Manager at Wells Fargo that all of the long work days, late nights and week ends of working overtime was twisted into a "Needs Improvement" review because I did not have efficient Time Management skills. Stating I had to work all that overtime due to inefficient Time Management skills. What, are you joking, or what? I will no longer be volunteering to work overtime on weekends to perform extra testing, etc. as I have done every time in the past. If I am still employed there in the future. Not that motivated to work overtime anymore and get a nasty review due to it. Nope.

I would leave Wells Fargo as an employer if you can possibly do so.

RE: The "Needs Improvement" rating stated that I worked a LOT of overtime, and it was because I had
"Ineffective Time Management Skills". Yeah right, it was because they were over loading me with really complex reporting requirements, with the requirements continually changing, but the target date was not changed. Bogus rating. This must just be all made up to give an employee a low ranking review on purpose. This should be a thing that would give them a high rating review. Disgusting!

I think some of the Managers are just scrounging for absolutely anything at all they can find to identify their not favorite employees as "Needs Improvement". It is not realistic that an employee can be "absolutely perfect" 100% of the time and they find that little, tiny flaw to give a rating of "Needs Improvement". I had all "Meets Expectations" on all of the goals in the review but was told that I "ramble" and "talk too much", yet I solved some of their most difficult technical issues and resolved them. What is really important to them? They did not appreciate that I solved their difficult technical issues and then, when questioned about the problem, said that I "talked too much". How is that fair and just? It is not.

At BNYM, if you got a 1 or 2, you weren't long for the world, a month at most. Make your getaway plan yesterday.

This happened to someone in the Commercial Banking Group, slated for significant cuts as the former BBG group functions and the previous way of doing business are changed. This person has been a high performer in previous reviews. The review was disputed and the manager adjusted to a 3. This is a 20+ year employee. The review contained benchmarks that were not in the performance objectives.
If the position is eliminated, at least now there might be a package. You might try the dispute route with your manager and HR. Interesting that these did not have a place for an employee to enter comments.

1kqz+16fhgv9h Is quite correct . Your manager gave you a ‘2’ because of a few reasons: 1.may be, just me be, your performance this period was really not that great. This happens from time to time for even the best performers . If that is the case , then you don’t have a lot to worry about

2. You were ok but had to be fit into the curve . This is also ok as this is not the case we are concerned about
3. You were actually not great to begin with . No one told you that but most knew it any way. This is a dangerous situation . You better start looking
4. You do not have a good relationship with your boss. May be he discovered that you had mouthed him .. something like this is also equally bad . Our come same as 3

The only way to find out for sure is to have a heart to heart chat with your manger. You should know yourself which category you fall into . Hope this helps

I would suggest you try to separate your feelings about the review vs. your job.

If you like your job, you really should get documentation of what specifically was wrong and then fix it. If you really don’t think you did anything wrong, then have a follow up conversation.

It kind of sounds like you don’t like your manager, so things could get worse.

If you don’t like your job, and it’s showing up in your performance and you are upset that it’s been noted, it’s time to get out. You could wait around for a package, but you need to let go of being upset about the review so you don’t end up giving more ammo.

Just look for another job. Why be in a relationship when one party doesnt want you? Why force it? Go somewhere else where you are wanted. The sooner you start, the better off you will be.

You are allowed to contest a review. This is in the employee handbook. I got a bad rating and no PIP. Just a literal “We are changing your role and you will not perform well in it” (at some arbitrary future date). No consideration for the prior 6 months.

You will not have to fight for unemployment if terminated for poor performance, just misconduct. At a 2, that should not be hard to prove. In regards to severance, if you are laid off without cause - so part of a reduction in force - and a WARN act notice was not submitted, you are entitled to severance. The other reason banks give severances is that they don’t get sued (you do have to sign away your rights). Good luck in your case.

nothing specific was written in for improvement... nothing SMART- Goal related... it's all subjective. Honestly, it was so lame it was almost as if they were instructed not even to waste their time with it.... knowing they are going to kick us to the curb anyway....

While I can emphasize with you. We need to know more info.

For example, If you are required in you role to meet job functions A, B, and C and you did, then you need to document and have a candid conversation with your manager and potentially their manager and ER. And if ER doesn’t give you a satisfactory response, ask to schedule some time with that case workers manager. You have options. But if you are supposed to meet job functions A, B, and C and you have to many errors (or whatever) than you should know what you need to do to improve. And go improve it.

Here is another hope, if whatever function that you didn’t do well in isn’t spelled out in you duties than you need to speak up. You manager can’t move the goal post on you mid year and then give you a failing assessment when they didn’t clearly define what your expectations were in the first place. This happened to me this year. It’s not fair and it needs to be documented.

Either way, best of luck to you.

Did your manager identify what you needed to fix?