Thread regarding Charles Schwab Corp. layoffs

Well you told me. I hope you feel better! If not it sounds like you should get some help! Good thing you aren’t laid off you wouldn’t be able to handle it.

I love it when people ask for help without asking.

You don't understand venting, loving and hating? Really? Clearly you've never had a serious relationship.

There is nothing abnormal in staying in a bad situation. It may not be healthy, but it is very common.

The people here have reasons for venting. Some despise the hypocrisy and lies. Some are trapped in a mortgage with kids and few local employment options. Some hope for change.

This used to be the financial firm that was hated by Wall Street. It was a start up mindset well into this century. Now it has a board that rewards themselves while making others belt tighten. It spends millions on unnecessary facilities. It rewards bad actors.

And all this in a system that punishes the worker. Want to change jobs for an extra $15,000 a year? Well, you have to move and sell your house for $100,000 in costs. Your spouse has to find another job. Your kids have to change schools and friends. And you have to do this while working 40+ a week, enduring 10+ hours of commute, caring for parents and kids, maintaining that American-dream home and so on. And you'll have to be willing to change health care because that's another anchor to your employer.

The system is rigged against workers. This isn't socialist or communist or whatever one political party has told rubes. It's systemic wage suppression. From usury credit card rates to literal death sentences as the sick are kicked out of companies to d-mb practices where you are expected to perform as your unkempt cubicle mate pesters you.

I don't care about these things because I already own my tomorrow. But to read a dismissive retort while seeing cult members champion authoritarians who find dictatorship for a day acceptable... well, I am concerned about my kids.

This is a board to discuss layoffs. And seeking to voluntarily leave with a package, confronting lies and hypocrisy, and supporting the survivors are all acceptable conversations. I think highlighting the lesser of two pragmatic political evils that highly relate to our employment is acceptable too.

I love this post. Venting about how much you dislike the place then saying you love it. Sounds like you’re confused or just too comfortable and lazy to leave like most.

When the 2019 layoffs were leaked by WSJ, I went and spoke to my VP at the time asking if I can volunteer to be laid off. He explained that years ago Schwab used to allow it but it was often the best employees who would leave so they stopped giving the option and won’t be doing it ever again.

A buyout requests volunteers and puts selection in the control of the employee. If a company doesn’t get enough volunteers they typically add a layoff.

This company hired an expensive consulting firm to pick victims. Sorry. Redundant and unnecessary staff.

And they say a buyout exposes them to lawsuits so they don’t do them.

Isn’t a layoff a form of buy out?

Unfortunately, this is a common practice at many firms. They don’t actually care or want to give employees a choice because that’s inconvenient and they see it as losing control in the power dynamic. This has been common at Schwab, which definitely makes the whole we are family thing a huge lie. It’s a job and a transaction at the end of the day. No point wasting time being angry. But also the severance may leave room for them to hire you back on the future if they need and things have cooled down. Also they had to do it because the rest of the market was doing it. This was my takeaway from being laid off.