Can anyone with knowledge let us know if there will be layoffs from Mr. Van Beurden’s location strategy for IT? Remote team members are also being asked to come again but there are no desks available in my department.
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"IT Hygiene", sorry had to laugh (ironically) given the recent order for everyone to work from home. Impacted team members given a little longer to make their decision, due to Covid-19, but must show up by end of the year at new location. Good luck selling your property and getting all this accomplished under current public health conditions. Relo package I saw was $13K, would just about cover the moving van.
If no more remote work options then DO NOT assign me any more projects at 6:00 PM due by the same evening, or at the latest the next morning. When in the office do not get home until very late due to traffic. Not feeling like logging back into the work computer at 7:30 PM, with no dinner yet except take out. Yep have to stop somewhere for "to go" dinner so that adds to the commute time.
Once home, after a long commute, and a "to go" dinner, not really motivated to log back in to continue working on that assignment given at 6:00 PM due that same evening, or by early morning. NOPE not motivated for that at all.
Telecommuters will be a target as well as anyone not in a “Hub” location. Also depending on the platform you support they will consolidate this folks in a common location. Which means if the majority of your platform is supported in Des Moines and you are in Phoenix, there is a good chance your job will move to Des Moines and there will not be an offer to relocate. This is their quick way of reducing without having to deal with performance plans or getting rid of the position and being unable to backfill. This is not new news .
Let’em Fire you because you aren’t in a hub city. The best thing that can happen is take a package and go work for a better bank... which at this point is virtually any over bank. Best of luck to us all!
Understood this post is specific to IT, but does anyone else know if the strategy is to lay-off telecommuters in other areas such as operations, compliance, ops risk etc? Reason I ask is that my group is actually pushing towards work from home under the guise that it reduces costs for WFC, but not so sure this is the truth or a set up? Any thoughts would be appreciated.
When they refer to "remote" workers does that apply to the great number of "remote" IT workers in India as well? Where is their "hub" located?
Also when the company makes the "remote" IT workers drive into the office locations, many with up to a 2-3+ hour round trip commute, they must realize that will be 2-3+ hours that the internal employees will not have to work the often required unpaid overtime hours. Many of the "remote" Wells Fargo employees are highly successful in their job positions because they can spend the time not commuting back and forth, working longer hours instead.
A good friend and colleague has been working on the reductions. She confirmed that they are looking at halting or severely reducing remote work in many locations.
We all knew it would come to this. The last straw for many. Fastest way to achieve desired attrition.
This company doesn't have enough $$ to pay out severance and would love to avoid paying unemployment/EDD benefits, too. So much for transparency.
Liars and crooks with no respect for those who stood by this company through thick and thin.
The 6 locations are San Francisco, Phoenix, Minneapolis, Charlotte, Manila, and Bangalore. Since, IT is already in such turmoil already I assume unless you're a real screw up you might be safe. But keep in mind they might offshore more jobs to Manila and Bangalore.
Internally, the plan is being called "IT Hygiene".
Includes condensing existing groups, with people physically located in the same offices. Some people will be removed from existing teams and placed into different teams, more by virtue of physical location than by skill set. Managers who have groups "condensed" out from under them will either be let go, or may be able to continue in some role as "individual contributors".
Some groups are said to be impossible to condense, due to specialized skill sets plus geographic dispersion. These will be handled on a case-by-case basis for high-value existing employees, but no NEW cases will be allowed (hiring freeze outside of Hub Locations).
As of today 80% to 85% of the people are already concentrated in the Hub Locations, and this ("Round 1") will not affect them. It is said that 10% to 15% of the people will be "impacted" initially.
The way I read that is, "If you're currently located at one of the Hub Locations, you're safe for now. But if you're part of the 15% of the workforce that is NOT in one of the Hub Locations, you're going to get hit".
The above pertains just to IT, which is a small subset of the company. The desired total headcount reduction of 26,000 people is the ultimate goal, so things will get rocky for more people if management perception is that progress is "off track". The unspoken desire is for people to voluntarily leave, but if the total number of telecommuters who get axed PLUS the number of people who voluntarily leave does not add up to the desired 26,000 goal, then people in the hub locations will be targeted in a subsequent round of layoffs.
Discussions are still underway if a "Relo Package" will be offered, or if an "Exit Package" will be offered. Reading between the lines and watching body language, I suspect (but do not know) that the "package" is going to be something like, "Here's $20k to move you and your family from sunny Florida to frigid Minnesota, with no guarantees of future employment, and failure to accept this package constitutes voluntarily resignation".
A "Round 2" could include offering those who meet "the rule of 80" (age plus years of service adding up to at least 80) an exit package if voluntary resignations are thought to be "off track".
No information on a "Round 3", other than it depends on what the numbers are about 30 months from now.
Haven't heard anything about remotes being asked to come into office. They are going to lose their skilled workers like Yahoo did if they try this.