Thread regarding Wells Fargo & Co. layoffs

We are very sorry to not receive the forgiveness we never asked for.

@2ins+1fxYzOPW
Work is distributed amongst multiple continents now. You may not even see the full list of candidates because its skimmed down by the time management receives it. Sometimes you don't have a choice where to hire from.

Having someone closer doesn't equal any kind of benefit anymore.

@2ins+1fxYzOPW

Because colocated people brings more risk in many scenarios. Business continuity, se-ual harassment, natural disasters/weather etc. A distributed work force is clearly more resilient and lower risk.

honest question asker here. i don't think that you're answering my question, but rather pointing to another scenario. if i had the choice, to hire two candidates - one is closer and one is further away that are both qualified, then why shouldn't i strive to hire the one who is closer? people were bringing up the scenario that since they were qualified, but they were not in the same location, they didn't get considered for the job. but, to me, they had candidates in the same location so, why shouldn't I/they give the job o someone in the same location?

i get that there is some talent that is hard to find in some locations but that usually is an exception.

here is the other scenario that I'm wondering. you have 2 candidates that are qualified. one that is local but external. you have a remote that is less qualified but could do the job and an employee. do you hire the less qualified person because they are an existing employee?

" if you're on the east coast and i'm on the west coast, why would i complicate our working relationship by the offset in hours?"

Prior to the Wachovia acquisition/merger, this was generally how things were. In the aftermath of the merger, having colocated team members was sometimes impossible, and geographic spread actually started being seen as an advantage as we all adapted. Now management seems to be insistent that we go back to the way we worked prior to 2009.

@1tet+1fxYzOPW
If you need something done, you need to find someone to do it. The choices for your solution to be in house or remote are irrelevant for most work. Most groups have load balancing too, and they distribute work evenly - because of this exact fact. The methods used to engage them in office versus remote are the same - phone, IM, email, LOB process, etc. Most LOBs don't allow shoulder taps anyway. You follow their process, its assigned to someone, then the work is done/project moves on/problem is fixed.

They are standardizing that because it's done by overseas people as well, and they may have a whole different set of operating hours. It makes no sense to push getting people together, when it's nearly impossible to have teams in the same building, let alone the same time zone or even the same country.

honest question here - if you're a manager and you have two qualified people and one is remote and one is not, doesn't getting to work face to face when needed give that person an advantage? this is making it sound like you're the only qualified person for the job. as a manager, if I can find a qualified person that I can better more easily interact with, why wouldn't i? if you're on the east coast and i'm on the west coast, why would i complicate our working relationship by the offset in hours?

I am right there with you. I applied for internal positions in “hub” locations and was messaged by the hiring manager that they won’t even talk to me unless I’m willing to move. I’ve been rated a 5 for years. Apparently all the best talent resides in the hubs and India.

@sno+1fxYzOPW

You and I are probably applying for some of the same jobs 🙂 I agree that it is frustrating to not know pay ranges. Depending on the company, you can do a Google search for the company, job title, and pay (i.e. Freddie Mac Corporate Governance Senior Associate salary).

In terms of getting the job, I would first suggest putting something on your resume that stands out, and says something about you as a person. If you have had good performance reviews, see if there is something in there that could be used. Or if you received a top performer award, or any other recognition. Put that near the top of your resume.

I personally dread all of the “tell me about a time when…” questions. For the most part things are pretty even keel in my current role, and I get along with the people I work with, so I’m not encountering a lot of challenging scenarios that I can use. When you do get those questions, right them down, and if you’re not delighted with your answer, you can always the person who conducted the interview, or just use it as food for thought for the next interview.

Years ago when I first wanted a job outside of my location, I applied for over 100 jobs before I was considered for one. After I broke out of the location bubble, I was able to move into other roles over time. Now of course they aren’t offering remote, and unless I relocate, there aren’t any onsite opportunities for me.

It can happen for you. It may feel discouraging at times, but keep a positive attitude, and don’t give up.

@sno+1fxYzOPW
Any tips? I am very qualified, but applying for jobs that have over 200 applicants in some cases. Not to mention the frustration of not knowing the pay ranges. Looking at jobs in risk, when I CAN find pay info, the years of experience vary greatly. I just crossed into 6 figures, but some jobs want only a year of experience, some want ten for the same type of job and pay. I have over 15 with a JD and industry certifications. I am starting to wonder if a professional resume writer might be worth it.

I left last year due to this exact issue. I received a work from home agreement at the end of last year, just to get a corporate wide announcement a week later saying the work from home agreements are void. My manager said my agreement was still active. This back and forth nonsense made me leave. Working for such an indecisive, incompetent group of management created such a toxic, questionable working environment. During my last few months at WF, I was actively interviewing at multiple companies. I received offers between 90 and 140% of what I was making at Wells. What’s the point of this rant, you might ask? It’s to not give up on external opportunities; they do exist. Most companies I interviewed for offer full WFH opportunities. Wells Fargo has gone against the grain in the digital world. Let WF get lost in the trenches behind other companies, it ultimately circles back to incompetent leadership.

Our leadership lacks humanity and DE&I is just a show. We have to face this and do what's best for ourselves. It will always be profits over people until the equation changes.

Those telecommuting agreements were one sided and always were, they could have pulled the rug out from any of you at any time, and now they have for a large part of that population.

Deal with it or leave. There are lots of avenues for “dealing with it”, such as trying to make them change their mind, make them force you in, fire/displace you, get yourself an accommodation, etc.

Best of luck.

OP I can 100% relate. I too work in a non-hub location, and have been working remotely since long before Covid. Some of the people who post on this forum are quick to say just find another position, but it isn’t that easy. Remote positions in my line of work are highly competitive. I have been working for Wells Fargo for almost 2 decades, and have gone through a lot of changes. When they decided to move a bunch of us to a different group, and then a few years later move people again, we were also supposed to be thankful we still had jobs, and go along with whatever decisions WF made.

When they sent people home 2 years ago, they expected people to do whatever needed to be done to make it work. WF wants employees to accommodate whatever WF decides at any given time. It isn’t about the people.

Once upon a time their motto was “people as a competitive advantage.” That was one of the reasons I joined the company. The other reason was that I thought there would be more opportunities for advancement. Now here we are, and both reasons have disappeared. They push DE&I, but even Charlie said that more work needs to be done especially in the executive levels (but clearly feels his own hiring decisions are exempt). They are shutting out qualified candidates who aren’t in hub locations. I’m nowhere near retirement, so my options for my career are either to stay in my current job, wait it out and hope someday the location strategy changes, or find a job with a different company.

For those of us who had formal telecommuting agreements, we had reasons for those, whether it was something that was a deciding factor in taking a job, or other reasons. We went through a process to formally be allowed to work from home. The severance package information makes it extremely clear that those agreements becoming null and void are not sufficient to be eligible for a severance package. In fact all of the information pertaining to changes in work location, and new requirements, make it pretty clear that they have no interest in whether or not it makes things more difficult for an employee.

The problem with their new strategy is that it tends to make employees unhappy. Disgruntled employees are not motivated to do well and exceed expectations. Unhappy employees tend to not care, and work gets sloppy, or tasks get missed. They stop caring and the business suffers. The talented and high-performing people leave.

This feedback has been provided using the Q&A option for the town hall calls. Based on what Charlie has said in his calls, and what other executives say in their calls, it really doesn’t make a difference. They will keep loosing people, and maybe at some point they will re-evaluate, but in the meantime, I’ve refreshed my resume, and am starting a job hunt.

Well said and I feel the same way. DEI is such cr-p!

Omg the nastiness on this board. Yeah, start looking though. At least you get to work remotely?