Thread regarding Wells Fargo & Co. layoffs

I'll tell you i am in maybe the most toxic group in the company or maybe any company.

Good news is i just get 4 offers for higher pay with companies that cant be as bad as this one!

Is it best to accept and push start date out and try and get a package and seeing if it comes in Oct, otherwise start in Nov. Trying to think through the best way to take advantage of he situation. Is that package any good? We dont have to stay for 60 days? Hope they give it and we can leave.

@yuz+17lvbGHo you may hate the term “human capital” as it is not owned or leased, purchased and sold. In your worldview, “the words humans and capital cannot be used together”, However there is something called reality. In reality, human capital is indeed leased or purchased, both for non profits and companies which exist for profit. You’re being leased right now.

I hate to break it to you, but that is reality. If you really have a vision of such an alternate world I’ll be the first applicant to apply. I’m incredibly talented in multiple disciplines and would love to join. I would require monthly payment in advance at least until your interesting vision pans out in reality.

No strategy, only tactics. After the past 20 years how could it be otherwise?

The strategy is there is no strategy ! Enjoy the ride!

Company has no HR Department any longer, so no one can be layed off any more but cannot file any complaint or get any help either

The strategy is to work people like dogs and hope people start dropping like flies. Moral is at an all time low and people will start to resign due to high volumes and unrealistic expectations.

You can't take an axe to the entire tree at once because if you cut too much you k–l it. The same is true here. Leadership has allowed the company to become so bloated, they don't really know how much is truly needed to sustain the company. So they will take surgical cuts. 100 here, 400 here. This line of business today, that line of business next month. Over the course of several years they will take the overall employee population down without putting the company at excessive risk. They'll divest companies that are eating at the asset cap but are not as profitable (i.e. Retirement).

Those of you asking for a quick cut are asking for an overreach.

total headcount under ceo is now 272k ish. slow going. dropped by 1k since last month. this month was touted as big in terms of layoffs, we shall see.

I just passed over 60k in an exempt position after 5 years with WF. Don’t assume all exempt position are higher income. Even though position ranges may get you much much higher at the end of the range we all know it’s next to impossible to get there and we hover at low end to mid

@qgx+17lvbGHo Why would they only lay off exempt employees? I know many hourly employees that out-earn lower level exempt employees with the amount of OT they put in. I know managers whose employees out-earn them.

I based it on the average household income across the country. Some will make more, others will make less.

Even if you double it my math stands, less than one-quarter of net income in a normal year. Break it up across a few quarters it's even smaller.

$60k/yr average? Ouch.

I think it's safer to double that figure, at least for exempt employees.

What kinds of exempt roles at WF pay in the neighborhood of $60k? (Just curious.)

I know layoffs aren't strictly for the exempt, but it's the exempt that earn higher salaries, thus a greater cost savings to the bank if let go.

I really don't buy the "bank doesn't want to pay severance" argument.

Yes we went from multiple billions in net income per quarter last year to a multiple billion net loss this year, but this year is extraordinary circumstances.

That being said, one-quarter of net income would cover 60,000 severance packages at an average salary of $60,000 per year for a 12-month severance. Cut the average length of the package in half, which is much more likely since the population of 24-year veterans is small, and you have half a quarterly net income.

Divvy it up over years and you have an even smaller hit to net quarterly income.

All of this points to managing the cuts due to volume, recalibration, or some combination of both. No it doesn't make it any easier to stomach, but even with penny-pinching ruling the day it's not like those severance packages will ruin the bank financially.

With the way the bank has been hemorrhaging money this year having a one time charge for displacing 60,000 salaries would probably cause the stock to rally.

Layoffs are merely a means to control expenses. It’s not personal or emotional - it’s business. Charlie was hired for two reasons: 1-increase shareholder value, and 2-provide sustainability via improved risk and compliance for a company that is a critical part of the world’s financial system. To facilitate the first reason costs (people, real estate, and technology) must be reduced. It s—s for us.

I hate the term “human capital”. Capital is owned or leased, purchased and sold. In my worldview, the words humans and capital cannot be used together. However, in our economic system, for-profit companies are created and exist for shareholder return which means efficiency. So in a way, we are capital because we’re a cost that provides a benefit. When the benefits aren’t needed any longer, the efficient requirement is to stop the cost.

Agreed. Does anybody know what Charlie's package is? 4 years? With the average CEO tenure being 2 years or less in other industries, I'm wondering what his early exit clause is.

He himself probably won't leave on his own. The board or activist investors, or regulators will probably need to apply pressure. But then that leaves his Chase buds 3 sheets to the wind...

Before that happens I'm assuming a lot more damage will be done to morale, culture etc.

As someone else said this is a big elephant carcass being devoured by jackals in the wild corporate savannah.

I guess the poachers (insert whatever external group you want in this analogy) will pick off the baby elephants that remain.

OP. Regarding your statement “I felt invested in helping turn this around. Now we feel like disposable pawns meant to work work work with no insight into what the turn around plan is.” This is where Charlie fails. He’s not smart enough to get the team behind him. You can either build the support of the team, and inspire us to all work towards a common goal. Or you can treat us like everyone needs to go, and we will work against you. I’ve watched him for a year, and he is not the type of CEO who deserves our support.