Thread regarding Wells Fargo & Co. layoffs

I was a sacrificial lamb, I guess. Even though I produced more than any other on my team since my manager took over 5 years ago. I have no idea if my mgr. liked me or not, but if it's true that mgr.'s make the call, then I guess he didn't think very highly of me as I'm not an ar-e kisser, my direct peer was. I was really bummed out when I got that call, still irks me, but the amount of work I did is now put upon my peer(s). Thank the lord I was canned. No way in he|| I would have lasted since I would have had to take on another person's workload.

Ops Risk is not like this, for example CCAR. Teams are kept lean and it's all about favorites. There is no support or justification for people/roles. Inexperienced managers that don't know how to run a team or justify one. You're on your own. If you are good at anything your peers will bash you. The way they get rid of people is demeaning them by giving them low level tasks putting them beneath their peers. Total drama and games. Avoid at all costs.

Yes.

The largest work effort many managers at WF actually do is justify why they have X amount of employees. That leads to grandiose job responsibilities, reports and false rationale of why their teams work isn’t duplicative of some one else’s work.

It’s a complete sham. Layer in stack ranking and there’s even more posturing. And that managers’s manager follows suit and repeats the same.

to answer the OP's question about "low level manager" influence - very little. eventually they may be asked to rank order among similar positions (I.e. there are 3 llama groomers and only two are needed, so the immediate manager rank-orders the 3 to determine who gets let go).

More likely scenario is that the manager is impacted - their position is eliminated and the remaining staff are combined with another manager.

Director here; anyone who's gone through layoffs before knows managers have to keep "sacrificial lambs" on the roster to bolster their Span of Control and be able to volunteer a name if their Executive directs them to.

It's harsh but also practical in a corporate political world where sometimes survival through tough times is the primary goal.

"once in a while someone will pick my brain for help"

Yes, I notice that with many H1-B visa workers too, highly skilled in picking my brain.
No wonder they have all our military secrets.

I’m in the same boat. I’m on my 5th manager who is an EVP with me as a direct. It makes no sense. But I’ll keep building my side business which is steadily growing.

There’s something to be said for keeping a highly disposable employee on your roster. It doesn’t make sense from a throughput angle as those types are usually not anywhere near top performers but they could easily be lower paid employees. And if the manager believes they can get by retaining them while laying off a higher compensated but also higher output team member they will.

@tfz+

I read it completely opposite. The OP is saying they are expendable and the company has shown it through not only by attempting a layoff already but also now by making the individual an afterthought in daily workflow.

The point seems to be on par with other things WF mgmt has failed to do well. From hiring to firing, all of us are just along for the ride.

The low level manager only has some limited say in who gets laid off. They have zero say in whether or not anyone on his/her team get laid off.

The answer to your two questions is no

hfn and op are clueless. Everyone is expendable

I almost could have written this. 100% my manager keeps me because I wouldn’t be backfilled if she lost me. I have the most seniority (14 years), she only has 7 directs, and having me there makes her look good (I’m window dressing). Otherwise, she doesn’t have time for me. I’m “unmanaged but still managed” as they say. Ordinary, I’d be fine with this, but I welcome the layoff to get away from this toxic mess. I get to much PTO at this point to make jumping ship appealing. I just show up and do enough to stay off the naughty list. We’re waiting each other out. Worst game of Chicken I’ve ever played.🤦🏻‍♂️