I was just relaxing, having a cup of coffee and thinking about the 15 years I had at RJ prior to getting let go last September. All the good times and all the bad times but through much of it I always had a great attitude with my peers and yes even with some managers. Then Bella came along and brought in Vin and Bruce (all the Citi cohorts). From that point on things started going south. Blame game for everything, always looking for a scapegoat . Morale started going south but still within some IT things remained positive due to old time managers trying but soon they were forced to change. The 2 years before the layoff were very bad for those of us in IT. Bella didn't care about anyone, just here few friends from Citi. Then came September 2020 when 550 of us were let go. For me personally things worked out well. I got many months of severance as well as paid healthcare plus I got my bonus and stock (the one thing RJ HR did right). I am in my 60's and was already planning my exit, RJ just made it easier. For me the icing on the cake was the fact that I didn't have to do any turnover, training or documenting what I did. In the year since my former team has suffered and suffered. A couple reached out to me for help but they were politely rejected. I owed RJ nothing and RJ got nothing. Just think if these layoffs didn't happen what position RJ would be in today.
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Yes unfortunately RJ became a company that only cares about bonuses for management. I worked there for several years and noticed how things started to change once Paul became CEO, some changes were good but many not so good. It's a shame the way they let 550 of us go. The company was not losing money and I think not even close to any major financial issue but they found an excuse to lay off many good people with several years of good service and that was not fair but, hey corporate America is never fair.
Sometimes I miss the days I worked at RJ, specially my early years. At this point I am considering retiring earlier than I originally planned and at least the RJ stock in my retirement accounts is going up. I would prefer to work a few more years.
Why can't Paul admit they made a mistake and have HR attempt to reach out to all of us. I wouldn't necessarily go back but it would be nice to have the option.
As a victim of the 550 last year, let me clarify. Bella, Vin, Bruce, Helen, Andy, Stu, David and many others all came from UBS but also followed Bella from Prudential. They all hang out with each other in their personal lives. I heard Bella and Vin where in the same house in Vermont all last winter. Nothing weird about that?!? All I keep hearing about now is all the good people I liked there resigning. Everyone is laying low to stay out of the line of fire. Constant outages with 100s of people on zoom, getting yelled at weekly if you work in Andy Z or Bruce M groups. 19 years of my life down the drain last September over a Zoom call. Stay away from this company!
Very nice post. I also was in a somewhat similar situation. I helped those I wanted to help and ignored those I wanted to ignore, especially my former manager when they tried to get me to help on a production issue. I said pay me $200 an hour with a 40 hour retainer and I will help instantly but wanted to see an email from Bella. That was the last time I heard from my former manager.