I have worked in financial services for many years at many places. Been here less than 2 years. This place favors yes people and retaliates against anyone who challenges the status quo or speaks up for unethical practices, etc. it seems like a cultural thing and has gotten worse rather than better since Chuckles joined. What has your experience been with speaking up? Have you experienced retaliation and does it seem worse than previous companies you worked for? Why is Wells like this?
18 replies (most recent on top)
Wells could give a cra- about retaliation... If you don't like it, quit is the attitude.
@1kho, did you work for a teller that poses as an Engineering Manager? LOL!
@2trk, so true! They might do something if there is a gun or knife involved, but don't expect anything out of HR or ER for anything that is not going to hit the news. They don't care!!
The worst thing you can do for your career is to speak up. Lateral or leave. The OP is right – all they want is yes men.
There is no better disinfectant than sunlight. It's healthy to speak up, it's better in the long-term for the organization and for its employees.
Hahaha!! Speak up in this boy’s club without retaliation? That’s funny! Yeah, the last time I spoke up about s-xual harassment was the time they moved me into another position at a different location and let the perpetrator stay. Yay me for speaking up!
who cares
just collect pay until they stop paying or checks bounce; do the tasks assigned.
Work on other sources of income, we all know the financial industry in the country is dying. Great time to create a startup that does it in the current global models using e-currency that is available globally.
The #1 key to business today is not to do it better but do it different. Unfortunately all these financial firms are is copycats so the industry wont survive unless they get someone who knows what they are doing in one of them.
Get an offer from another firm, then start voicing your opinion. It's really the only way, unfortunately.
@1uiv I agree! I left a line of business years ago that was previously wachovia and u are describing it to a T. I am not a yes man but what i did was observed what was happening, out performed everyone and offered to help my team get better, gained the trust of my boss that was awesome (he secretly hated our boss too) and eventually I was able to gain our SVP’s trust and be in all the meetings/worked my way up. I successfully talked her into things and out of things by initially accepting her bs ideas and then would plant a seed on a better way. People like that have to believe it’s THEIR idea. When you “leave it to them to decide if they want to take/use your idea” then they spin it like by saying yes, they made the decision. Needless to say, I got out of there as fast as I could. Best thing that happened was me moving to another area. PLAY those players, guys. Dont say anything bad about anyone. even if asked. find a way to look agreeable. be approachable. be helpful. observe and keep ur mouth shut in relation to peers. I once confronted this same SVP bc she ignored seeing my peer come in the office with a black eye. She clearly didnt know what to do and felt uncomfortable. i was livid. i simply said, “do you mind if I make a call and handle it?” She said yes. i had already judged her and decided she was a bad manager. i thought the guy was dangerous and i knew he came to our campus once but she said yes bc she was lazy and didnt want to deal with it. you can get things done even when they are bad managers. tske it on yourself if you can.
My large department at WFA is still managed by 2 ex-Wachovians, plus another Wachovian the next layer up. They have their favorites, who are knowledgeable, but also yes-men. The yes-men figured out, 13 years ago, that if you challenge the bosses: you will be shut out of all future informative meetings. Soon-you don’t have enough information to intelligently argue the data behind the decisions that are causing things to go wrong: you just see they are wrong but it’s too late to do anything about it once they’ve made their uninformed decisions from their glass offices. These ex-Wachovians are very “chain-of- command“, so there is no getting around them. Their strategy is to shut you up and shut you out.
As a result, our technology is nearly worthless. Morale is very low. They replaced our phones to cheaper models and we keep losing calls. Financial Advisors are leaving in droves. They continue to make changes that benefit Wells, not the customers. It is miserable now, and it has been miserable for a very long time.
And for all the ra ra cheerleaders who have worked here for 6 months who say “If you don’t like it then leave babble babble babble“, our city does not have that many viable choices in the brokerage business. And you have not been here long enough for your opinion to have any foundation.
@rvw - I'm in ICS as well, and totally agree. Our CISO is in way over his head and clearly wasn't hired because of his supreme security/risk knowledge. That he wants to remain under Technology displays this very well. What CISO would agree to not report to the CEO?
@twc, you are so absolutely correct!
yes retaliation culture is wide spread and well in wells..
I work in ICS... If you are not a "yes" person, good luck. The term used by many here is "echo chamber."
Speak out? Good luck with that and good luck with ER doing anything about anything.
Retailtion is alive and well. You think WF is bad? From my experience try Chase is much worse
I contracted for Wells in Core Engineering until late March and I can also attest to the chaos. I've never seen anything like it.
I’ve been at Wells for 2 years. I can say this much. I would never trust Wells for giving me a loan. I’m fact, I’ve leveraged offers from
Wells for the same loan terms with a different bank. This should speak volumes.
I have been at WF for one year and in the financial industry for 20+ years. WF is by far the most corrupt, disorganized and dysfunctional of all firms I’ve seen in over two decades. It looks like a circus many days with some many clueless , entitled and arrogant old timers who would not make the cut anywhere else.