Thread regarding Wells Fargo & Co. layoffs

Do any of you remember when......

Some time ago, when the company was just as big or bigger....

  • groups of us would collaborate across administrative boundaries to get work done
  • when it was holiday time, Thanksgiving or Christmas, our local leadership would organize company sponsored activities, such as buffets, parties, gatherings
  • PCards could be used to buy lunches when the bosses said "hey go have lunch on us"
  • Internet was reimbursed as the company wanted us to feel connected and we did
  • Cell phones were provided for because the company believed if they wanted to call us, it was on them
  • Work from home? no problem! work from office? no problem!
  • Offsite and planning meetings were the norm, even if we had to fly to get there
  • Holy smokes, if there was something to shoot for - Top Performer! Fly somewhere for a week to be celebrated as someone who made things happen and went above and beyond! Wow! Some recall a week in the Bahamas with flown-in bands for entertainment. And these folks being celebrated were in TECH!!!!! Can you believe it?
  • Bosses had a heart. You could talk and they would listen. Big company? Yep. But small company feel....it was the best of times.
  • It wasn't that long ago folks......
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Post ID: @OP+1tDevCEV

12 replies (most recent on top)

I remember those times and that is why I was able to happily walk away when I was laid off recently. Friends ask if I am sad to have been let go by Wells Fargo after over 25 years of service. The answer is no. Sure, there are people I will miss, but most of them have either left for better opportunities or been laid off too. I miss what Wells Fargo used to be, but how could I ever miss what it has become?

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Post ID: @2ssq+1tDevCEV

@mox+1tDevCEV

There's limited evidence to suggest that HY cares about efficiency at all. I mean, WFH combined with BYOD laptops would be hella efficient, and yet...

Sure, they want to fire the domestic workforce and replace them with their JPM buddies and foreigners, but I don't believe that's really about efficiency either. For whatever reason, Shart absolutely hates anyone that started at WF before him. He'd pay to get rid of us even if the alternative cost more, and often his schemes DO cost more. He doesn't care. He didn't earn the profits anyway, so why should he?

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Post ID: @1rbw+1tDevCEV

@wgh+1tDevCEV

Yeah, because Shart and his cronies give an S what anyone in Congress thinks. Good grief.

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Post ID: @1vvb+1tDevCEV

I’m sorry, all of that sounds just awful. I believe the work/life balance is much better now. The last thing I want is to play su-k up during the holidays or any other time. Cross collaboration blah blah, you’re kidding right? I’ll need you to go ahead and come in Saturday and Sunday, that would be great. You did all of that garbage and got paid back how?

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Post ID: @1agc+1tDevCEV

First time I met Mary Mack she was the head of WBS. There was a Christmas party for the group in downtown Charlotte and she was dishing up the mashed potatoes. Back in the days when employee appreciation actually meant you were appreciated.

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Post ID: @1jss+1tDevCEV

Anyone else remember E-Wards? Those were the goold ol' days... You could nominate anyone you wanted & didn't have to be approved by management, then that person would get a lil card that would reveal a prize of $50-200 (randomized). I had a few good lead buddies and one year I got over $600 in gift cards to my retailer of choice (from a list, such as Macy's, Amazon, etc).

Then when the budgets started drying up, we still had free annual calendars, annual WF ponies & if we participated in meetings and surveys, we could build up "tickets" to use to redeem for Wells Ware items. Those days are long gone now. The small lil Wells Ware prizes were motivational for me, even if inconsequential. It's sad what this company has become.

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Post ID: @ops+1tDevCEV

Every time our Director comes to town he pays out of pocket for team dinners.

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Post ID: @sop+1tDevCEV

This is the reason Chainsaw wants legacy employees gone. We remember how corporate America used to be before a republican congress legislated that corporations exist solely for shareholder value.

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Post ID: @wgh+1tDevCEV

Coming from WFA, I didn't know about the Golden Spokes thing until the last year, when they cancelled it. You bank folks had it good.

Agree with the list except for reimbursement of Internet and providing corporate phones. Now that I have up my corp iPhone, it's so much better just carrying one phone. Especially when traveling.

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Post ID: @kjh+1tDevCEV

Yes, I remember all that and then the fake account scandal happened and it's just been a domino effect for the past 8 years. The bottom of the barrel CEO they had to settle for hasn't been able to get us out of this mess and now here we are. Meanwhile, they award him a 4 million dollar raise. Good times.

I remember being under pressure in the past, especially in 2008-2010, but don't remember it being nearly as bad as it is now. The level of incompetence and chaos is at record levels. I will say my experience is subjective; I've never been in an area that was super focused on sales, so all that pressure and activity was unknown to me at the time. So I'm sure it wasn't all rainbows and sunshine, but the culture has definitely changed for the worse of the years, despite past problem areas.

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Post ID: @xat+1tDevCEV

Efficiency in the Information Age has evolved into a monster. Everything is stripped down to bare metal, everything is itemized internally and when possible, contracted out.

At bigger firms, workers no longer have a community. Workers are now just an expense until automation takes it up another notch.

There is a fundamental shift we are living and it is not going unnoticed. Humans absolutely would prefer being a part of a community, having some meaning no matter how small at their place of work.

Until solutions present themselves to compliment the greed and myopia of efficiency at all costs, we need to look inwards and take action. Some options:

  • Quit job
  • Seek therapy
  • Commit to learning something new
  • Build authenticity in personal networks (not just collecting names on LinkedIn, actually talk to people)
  • Compartmentalize the work day, lower expectations
  • Join something, attend anything (meetup.com, local civic groups, etc)
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Post ID: @mox+1tDevCEV

And this is why so many of us are sad, mad, burned out, etc.

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Post ID: @ptu+1tDevCEV

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