A senior leader in my area was laid off this week. We had an "URGENT meeting" with about 15 minutes notice to be told about it. First off...STOP IT. You know, as management, when the entire team gets a "URGENT meeting" notification from a senior senior leader that our minds immediately go to layoffs. Second...she was very abrupt and just said "I had to make a hard decision and so and so was displaced". That's it. We're all hoping it was his decision and she's just trying to save face and let us know that it was a mngt decision. He was very well liked and respected. I don't, of course, know the management side of it. BUT i have been a manager and stating that a senior senior manager was displaced is incredibly inappropriate. Just say he has chosen to leave the bank or has chosen to pursue another career path outside of wells. Anything except the rude, unprofessional way you announced it to TWO entire teams. It seemed like a power play and incredibly bad...and now I've lost all respect for her!
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Idk where people think they are going to be treated with kid gloves like fragile eggs. If the sr leader was cut there is literally zero time they get to announce anything so a sr sr leader coming out with “chose another path” or “opportunity outside of WF” would just be lies when they vanished in hours. At least they did you the courtesy to be honest and actually have a call so everyone heard at once from a reliable source.
There are more and more cuts coming. If it worries you, start looking for somewhere less turbulent. This has been going on here for literally years now. If you’re still here, you know the potential the next call is to you or your team. If you haven’t financially and psychologically prepared for the possibility, I’m sorry.
I’m coming up on my one year anniversary of choosing to retire from this circus and know without a shout of a doubt it’s the best decision I could have made. I’ve never looked back.
I have talked about this at length with friends for the last 4 decades. Some prefer the polite (untrue) answer of “they’re spending time with family”, others want a direct response. Long-term, the direct response is much better.
This is life.
Otherwise you breed a culture where people lie to you and you can’t believe a word they say.
Did you want them to lie? Stop acting like you are in kindergarten. We all need the truth and letting you know if the layoff keeps everyone in fear which is what they love to do. Who cares how nice anyone is or how well liked. When they get the chainsaw going you are out. We all got in a call and mike venable read from a script. Then they cut off our accesses. Very cold and he had that don’t give a damn attitude.
I can relate having been displaced myself. Wanted folks to know the truth so let my senior manager know he could share the news with the team. I’m pretty sure it was the first time he had ever had to share that type of a message and no doubt…he didn’t stray from the script at all! Was a 3 minute call with the team! Was kind of humorous to listen in on the call announcing my position elimination.
Rude? It’s honest & what happened! If they say “he moved on or chose a different career path” like it was his choice & then he talks with anyone on the team and says he was displaced you’d be on here complaining the leadership is lying to you instead. Displacements suck. Especially when it’s to good people. But that’s the business world we all live in.
Pretty messed up. No professional courtesy anymore.
Was it the Risk group?
Usually, a senior manager has say in how things are announced. It sounds like this guy was well-respected, and part of that might be transparency. Maybe he wanted everyone to know the truth, rather than some BS story that nobody really believes, anyway.
Sorry to the person that asked "What Group"...
I'm not comfortable posting it on here as it could potentially have backlash to many of us on the team...not a fan of management at the moment and honestly don't trust them!
Nailed it.
It’s psychological warfare to keep subordinates off balance and paranoid. WF management doesn’t understand managing through respect. They manage by instilling fear in their direct reports.. which ultimately makes them look weak.
What group?
The cruelty is the point.