Thread regarding Fiserv Inc. layoffs

About two years ago, Cleartouch had 250 --> 300 banks / Credit Unions using.

Wow Cleartouch, haven't heard that brand in a long time. Didn't they have a very small client base.

Production is still there. Premier and Cleartouch banking cores and online banking as well for those two along with Signature and Precision.

I haven't traveled to HQ in 3 years. I'm curious what is going on at that huge campus. With the WFH it must be a ghost town. Do they still do production out of there? I remember them have some smaller products hosted in the main building.

You sure bro?

https://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/news/2021/07/16/bisignano-fiserv-hq.html

Next week, (historically) is typically a key week of layoffs (ahead of earnings announcement) both in actuaL layoffs and the time when more decisions are solidified. Actually, the next several weeks will see a revolving door leading up to and through the compensation planning and bonus cycle.

More proof - departed Fiserv but management in my old dept. is changing over to FData as time goes by and probable location change too.

@12zE5Re2-vrif this is all about FB and his cronies filling the ranks with loyalists while they purge Fiserv associates. That way they can change the culture to FD’s style.

Are all the layoffs happening at Fiserv? I work for FD and we haven't been able to hire or backfill in 3 years but my boss has been on a hiring spree since October. Just today we were asked if he hired another employee if there would be enough work to go around. We were all silent because we are not sure what is happening.

The reply below is the most articulate that I have seen thus far and is precisely on point. My stretch target is far higher than in any previous years and the only way I can achieve it is labor reductions.

@12zE5Re2-ocuw it HAS to be brutal. Combined entity says it will find $900 million in savings, which really means $1 billion because they're overachievers and the street will expect it.

Labor costs are probably 70% of Fiserv's costs. So that means $700 million in people cuts. Let's assume that 90% of that are W2 employees (goodbye contractors!) so $630 million in people cuts.

Being generous, let's assume that every employee being cut has a total loaded cost of $126,000 (benefits, and so on) which is really high, but let's go with it. That's 5,000 people.

At $94,500 total loaded cost (more reasonable) that's 7,500 people. That's like 18-20% of the entire workforce.

Fiserv hasn't filed a WARN anywhere, so that means they have been trickling at under 500 people a month since the deal closed July 29th.

That leaves August-December so far or 5 months, or maybe 2,000 people laid off in 2019.

There are MANY thousands to cut still.

The math doesn't lie.

Is everyone getting geared up for the annual budget reduction “stretch” goal that forces numerous layoffs every February? The stretch this year is larger than years past and that means significantly more layoffs than normal this year. Hang on - it is going to be a bumpy ride.

This is the best thread ever!

Scoreboard: corporate America 190000000. , worker 0.

"to many prefer to spend their time anonymously complaining on the internet"

Says the person who then proceeds to post anonymously

Could be a number of reasons. Mods don’t allow using personal insults and foul language either.

There are heavy-handed deletions being done in this thread and others. Why? The only initials/names being shared are top executives which is allowed.

It's of major and general concern that Fiserv's top executive is buying a home in one location (where Fiserv doesn't have a major presence), and that the #2 has an expensive contract - which is PUBLIC INFORMATION - which stipulates that he can work from a different location (where Fiserv also doesn't have a major presence).

Fiserv hasn't made a commitment to Brookfield HQ yet.

All while there are major reductions to hit a huge financial target. Which is VERY relevant to this thread and board. If there are shifts in HQ there will be more layoffs.

Whomever is reviewing this content why are you removing this?

@12zE5Re2-hrhl Exactly and yet somehow most people here seem to get it and a few do not. Only explanation is that this person is already in leadership. They don't listen to the worker bees and they don't get it. Why even have a your voice survey? No one listens. Clearly the majority is speaking out but the leadership mentality, much like 12zE5Re2-hhtk is not to listen but to rather answer with, you should be grateful just to have a job.

In addition, the complaints are regarding the "takeover" and the culture change with comes with FD and their spying on people, their lack of trust in their employees, the micro-management. Truth is - you are WRONG, we did not CHOOSE to work for this company. Many of us have been here a while and CHOSE to work for a different Fiserv many years ago. Since things have changed for the worse, we have every right to complain about things when conditions are worse.

Your solution to leave is a viable one and people already have been doing that and more will follow. Why? Because this did NOT CHOOSE TO WORK FOR THIS COMPANY in its current state and where it is going. That said, it is aggravating to be put in this situation. I'm not really understanding what is so hard to follow about that?

This is now First Data with all of their sh– culture that so many there hate. With their centrify, sapience and palantir. No one who has worked for Fiserv for a number of years asked for this, no one wanted this. Catch a clue. Oh wait, you're in leadership.

@12zE5Re2-hhtk you must be fun at parties. Of course it’s capitalism, but if a company regards its employees solely as interchangeable pieces then they get no loyalty in return.

If Fiserv doesn’t want to show any loyalty to retain people then the best and brightest will leave. As was said, in some cases to date it was involuntary which is insane. But, whatever.

I think you forget the most important goal of the company, which is to drive shareholder value. If people are over-compensated this isn’t good. If people are under-compensated or ill-treated and leave, this might be good for a short period, but when outages and other issues increase it adds risk and can impact the company’s reputation - and share price.

I think JY is going to retire in the new year or 2, take a big payout and then join some corporate board while he lives on the beach in Malibu. Can’t honestly blame him. FB will be named CEO and then the fun will really start.

@12zE5Re2-hhtk - No need for anyone to denigrate you, you denigrate yourself by your own words.

@12zE5Re2-hzbq Yes shame on your for expecting more than a pay check. Take a basic business course at your local community college...The corporation is not your mom and doesn't owe you anything. The corporation works for the shareholders and its only goal is to get the most value for them. Employees are 'wage labor' to be obtained for the least possible cost BUT are fully accountable for setting their own rates. Every day, YOU choose to work for fewer benefits and pay that doesn't match inflation. If YOU had more value you would quit and find a job that has the benefits and pay you feel entitled to. This is capitalism and it is the prevailing business model in the U.S. so please stop crying foul about the company that you CHOOSE to work for at the labor rate you CHOOSE to work for. Alternatively? Quit Fiserv and find a job that provides the pay and benefits you feel entitled to.
Feel free to denigrate me all you like I'm not a corporate stooge, I'm just speaking the truth which sometimes hurts. In real life not everyone gets a participation trophy ;-)

Don’t be misled regarding one of Fortunes most admired companies or similar “acknowledgements.” These are paid for by Fiserv - they are not awarded, voted on or judged - they are bought! Just like dumping a ton of money on naming rights for an arena. That money and the money used to by fake awards could have been used to erase some of the stacks of tech debt or the aging and unreliable data center infrastructure. Clearly the dollars are spent on brand awareness instead of quality and updated technology. Wait and see - we will get it again this year shortly before the quarterly earnings report is released. Coincidence - no —— fake awards and acknowledgements — yes!

Well said @12zE5Re2-hzbq. Whoever posted the "expectations" post who claim that people don't work is obviously a VP or above because it hit them on target. Fact is you are a corp stooge, do you even know what that actually means? Probably not because you can't even spell.

More shills contributing their inane and insensitive comments and an ingrateful FD employee to boot.

“ I see so many employees, young and old, who think they deserve something from the company beyond a pay check”

Like loyalty? Pay increases that keep up with inflation? Benefits that aren’t declining? Staff not getting cut and workloads distributed to the rest of the the team? Abuse?

Shame on me for expecting something from an employer named by Fortune as a best company to work for....

Based on the attitude of people contributing to this conversation I think Jeff is right to let the original Fiserv people go. I see so many employees, young and old, who think they deserve something from the company beyond a pay check. The shareholders of Fiserv don't work for you, YOU work for them. Your work (or lack thereof) is rewarded with a pay check and decent benefits. If you think you deserve more then find a job that offers more or start your own business and treat your employees to all the benefits you want. But that won't happen, to many prefer to spend their time anonymously complaining on the internet while collecting their paycheck and doing the least possible to get by.
Pathetic if you think anyone VP or above is a stooge ust because you don't work to advance your career. Probably an entitled millennial or boomer that can't afford to retire.

Who knows if Jeff is getting to retire....probably. It's pretty clear after the takeover that he doesn't give two sh–s about original Fiserv employees.

Looks like the response from @12zE5Re2-evhp is not very popular. Most likely the previous poster was correct and a corp shill. Based on the fact that they stated that people expect senior leadership to solve everything, it's probably a VP level person or above. Aka, corporate stooge.

@12zE5Re2-evhp, I agree with one of your points. The merger will be a financial success. The market loves this merger. But it’s interesting that you call it a merger, because it was supposed to be an acquisition. It’s become clear that it’s not that.

As to the other points, you sound like a corporate shill. Associates get frustrated when they see boneheaded decisions being made in the interest of “synergies” (meaning cost reductions).

I saw high performing people being walked out because their department HAD to cut heads, despite being understaffed. I see political battles being fought between legacy orange and OFD, and seeing OFD win them. I see people in Brookfield, Alpharetta and elsewhere trying to keep under the radar so they don’t get laid off.

I read on here about all the employees leaving in January, and I can only hope its all the 'smart' people on this forum that can name all the problems with Fiserv but aren't doing a thing to fix it. The reality is those people will only leave if they are forced out because they can't find another job. As an employee it is your responsibility to identify problems AND implement solutions. Too many just want to identify problems and expect the most senior leaders to solve everything for them. Like it or not the merger will be a success and those of us who actively contribute to that success will be rewarded.

You are not wrong about making people a lot of money - me included as I am a stockholder too. However - I see firsthand the smoke and mirrors, the poor decisions, the distorted truths about technology and data Center resiliency, redundancy and stability. We don’t talk about the significant tech debt that exists and hold old and outdated the technology actually is. If you are close to the technology then you know too that it is a house of cards and that it can and likely will come crashing down. With the amount of outages we have had - some would say that crashing down has already begun. So, don’t tell others how to act and how to feel about the mistakes our company is making and the risk they are creating.

It's becoming obvious that the future of their data centers is AWS, Azure and the likes. Fiserv has been outsourcing whatever it can like HR duties, printing and internal portals. Much more of that to come. ETG is terrible at hands on successes. Their town halls are less than amateur.

Completely agree with the last post - well said! It is irresponsible for either company to not know anything about data centers when that is where the technology lives and where our Customer’s transactional production resides. The Crown Jewels as one SVP’s used to call it. However, with lack of strategic planning, capacity planning, and technical expertise - the FISV data center landscape is in a high-risk state. Lack of investment and an arrogant refusal to accept technical guidance of those outside the ETG “Boy’s Club” has created a very unstable data center foundation that don’t meet any published standards. This isn’t limited to the FISV data centers - FD has just as many issues that they have turned a blind eye to. Closing the PHX data center in favor of an existing FD center close by with in excess of $10m in deferred maintenance is yet another flawed decision that demonstrates irresponsibility with client production. This is a culture problem. Two companies that have systemic problems because their leadership is too arrogant to accept guidance from SME’s. Outages will continue because of data center risks and because SME’s are no longer relied upon for their expertise. These two companies combined are a house of cards and not prepared for the catastrophic failure that they are sure to experience. Neither company has a business continuity or disaster recovery plan that will actually resume stability in the business when that catastrophic failure occurs. I’m glad January is here - let the departures begin - lots of great opportunities out there with companies that have superior technology and actually care about their clients transactional production.

I agree, this was a financial engineering merger (I refuse to call it an acquisition due to FB staying on) and had zero to do with operating procedures. Zero.

Neither FB nor JY know anything about how to run a data center, or best practices. FB will be trimming costs more because other than headcount the only other way to reliably save $900 million will be to close offices. One of FB’s cronies is in charge of real estate now so he will be looking at cost savings over smart business decisions.

With voluntary and involuntary departures accelerating in January I guarantee there will be more outages, which will cause more departures, which will make it even tougher. 2020 is going to be a stressful year on the ETG side. And for anyone dealing with client escalations due to outages.

I doubt Fiserv paid a ton of money to buy FData to fix data center problems. Read the posts and reviews on FData (use the internet) and it is a troubled company indeed. Exec review are rancid and more layoffs certain in 2020. ETG as a Fiserv operation is indeed a mess though but that has been true for a long time. Data Center issues had nothing to do with the purchase. Your post also strikes me as a First Data shill.

Maybe Fiserv bought First Data to fix these data center problems? FD has a solid record for system availability; mostly because the largest clients require it contractually. Hard to believe that Fiserv has so many problems and they still have clients...One place First Data folks can lend a hand!

Any client reading these posts should be scared. Hard-coded IP addresses? No back up power? No containerization? No failover or redundancy?

DCO - Data Center Optimization has failed every time that we have tried it. We have wasted hundreds of millions and all we really have to show for it is an inflated list of closed sites. We tried to close Wallingford and we ALL know what happened there - we are still tied in legal over that! Our technology is sooooo old and it won’t transform. We have so much tech debt it’s a house of cards and only a matter of time before it comes crashing down. The fact that we are going to close PHX - the birthplace of the compartment strategy and then. Lose Lewisville AND move production back into Irving which is overloaded and has no power and no redundancy - I don’t get it.......

AB -

All that data center optimization rubbish has changed every month. They have no idea what they want they want to do.

It’s really unfair to call what is in Brookfield a Data Center. It has been widely known for years that the Brookfield Site is a Tier 1 (lowest tier) facility. Study after study has been performed and the results published come to the same conclusion - Tier 1 - internally, people either don’t understand what their reading or make an intentional decision to ignore it and hope for the best. The site is not suitable for sustainable production and despite being told this the matter just gets kicked down the road. Putting a Client’s Production in this Tier 1 facility, or any of the many other Tier 1 sites that FISV or FD call data centers is just plain irresponsible. Couple this with the decision to pull out of the new PHX DC in favor of a site that has a history of deferments and lack of technology upgrades is just another irresponsible decision. Closing Lewisville is next and putting Client production back into Irving Texas - an overloaded tier 1 site that has already had outages is also very irresponsible. Irresponsible people making irresponsible decisions with client data and production. It is only a matter of time........