Thread regarding Wells Fargo & Co. layoffs

I am in a LOB and the GM has been very clear he is not going to lose people over this. He understands the markets in which there are operations are competitive and he could be gutted in a hot minute by one or more other players with ops sites in the same market.

I’m curious how this info relates to the comments in the CIB meeting today, and comments coming from HR (noted on another thread) that in only a few months, RTO will switch to 5 days per week in office? Are the comments on this thread about “‘softening their stance’ on RTO” only applicable to Technology?
What are other LOBs hearing?

They need people in seats to protect the tax breaks they received building corporate campuses.

Which office? The Shoreview location overbooked. People not able to find spots.

So, barely anyone in the office. Hahaha. Especially Digital tech! I respect that keep up no RTO!

Hope someone can answer my question here, have asked several times: how do people know about layoff numbers? Where do you get that data?

How abt consequences if you don't test if required? Any word on that? Should be no different IMO than if you don't go at all.

Just think how much money Wells Fargo is saving by having the workers work remotely!
They should do an assessment of the great cost savings due to remote workers.
All of those very expensive office supplies, printing ink, printing paper, the coffee, paper towels, soap, toilet paper and office cleaning workers that is getting to be ever more expensive with inflation.

I can verify that some of the cost cutting measures include reducing American workers for more cheaper overseas workers. I've spoken to managers who are having to make the painful decisions of who they want to cut from their team. Despite the cost cutting measures, they are STILL looking to acquire more real estate space so they can seat more people. Existing facilities are inadequate to seat everyone (pre-pandemic facilities were designed to be more open seating/bullpen style layout, packing as many people as possible, while new seating will be more spaced out), so they're going to need to get more space in order to seat everyone. This is obviously stupid, if you're trying to save money, since real estate can sometimes account for 20% or more of your operating costs. So either they're really trying to reduce the workforce by attrition, or they're id--ts.

This is consistent with the impression my immediate management has given me. They know RTO is unpopular and that a number of us have been working under telecommute agreements for years. They can't say don't come in, but the message is see what happens, not get your a-s in the office. Very much, don't ask, don't tell, particularly if you aren't at a location with people you work with/for. We'll see what happens over the next couple of weeks.

I hope Saul discusses this at his next AMA. I wonder if he will tell us to take a "purposeful" approach again. I've got interviews lined up, but I will stay if they back off of this nonsense.

I suspect OP is on the money here. They can’t back down in writing, they’ve put too much effort in over the past year trying to convince people. But I’m not surprised that they won’t be enforcing it, and I’ve also heard from multiple business lines that the location strategy is going to quietly go away.

@mqc+1fHIklNQ
Without some degree of discretion, the anonymous nature of this board would be useless. 30 days or less.

@pbl thanks for dangling potentially useful information without any real substance. "Specific impact" sound like typical corporate speak to sound important without offering any actual information.

You must be from the ivory tower.

@nua+1fHIklNQ
100% no, I am absolutely positive of that. Not for technology, not for other departments. At least 3 waves this year alone are still yet to happen. One maybe two will be due to changing processes to overseas or digital solutions like automation or AI. The other one is for a very pointed reason and will be done to make a specific impact.

@czg+1fHIklNQ, you don’t think that layoffs will slow down?

Best informational post in a long time. Thank you, OP. This is why most of us still come to this site. (I haven’t heard a peep about this in my department - our managers keep information to themselves.)

Thanks again.

Putting Scrum Masters in change of anything is a F'ing joke. Most are just glorified developers completely out of touch with how things work in the Bank. Anything to save Managers from do their jobs - good or bad.

@OP+1fHIklNQ
Everything is right until your last paragraph.

The Agile magic wand isn't so magic, but it sure is he77 present in our daily lives in tech.

Reading the post, however, explains that our Scrum Masters will decide RTO dates, how nice and strange they will dictate the onsite office hours as non-managers.

So common sense prevails apparently. I always assumed that would be the case and I'm sure after looking at other financial institutions and how it played out for them, probably the best course of action. Too late for me though ... I'm outta here. Maybe they should have toned down the rhetoric earlier in the process.

Good info, OP. Jeez.... I am in the 40 mile club and have been expecting a package. Too bad they decided not to push the button.

This lines up with what I've experienced