Thread regarding Wells Fargo & Co. layoffs

Start looking- externally. Internal will get you on a new team with a new start.

@6xje....I don't know if they are creating a new team or not. But, it could be some other reason besides layoff that they won't give me anything to do. I guess I will have to wait and see.

Are they still creating this new team then,
Or do you all already have procedures done and roles assigned and such?

Maybe they are working out the fine details and awaiting the rest of the new positions to be hired for, before going deeper into training/assigning tasks out?

Make sure your manager is reporting their personal friendships :)

OP, here. To clarify, I am not expecting my coworkers to share their work with me. I am asking my direct manager for something to do and he is basically giving me the run around. I have very few responsibilities. The manager knows this and doesn't care.

Also, I don't think my teammates are hoarding work because there are open positions that they have announced they will be hiring for. I think the manager doesn't want me on his team for some reason I haven't figured out yet. The manager recently hired a friend of his. So, maybe he feels I am taking a spot he wanted to give to another friend. Just speculating. I don't know.

There are other things going on in this department so the manager might also feel his job is on the line. Supposedly, changes are coming. But, no one can say for sure what those changes are.

I have started documenting in case they try to get me on performance. Right now, I am just holding on waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Also, when I mentioned HR in my post, I meant approaching them about being laid off, as in, am I on the list or not. At the time I wrote the original post, I just wanted somebody to be straight with me and stop the run around. I wasn't expecting their help with dealing with my manager. I wanted somebody to just tell me am I on the list or what. Now, I will just wait for whatever to happen. I won't quit that's for sure. So, they can wait on me while I wait on them.

The original request posted asks if the writer should contact HR, or sue, etc. @1bao correctly, though tongue in cheek, replies that it is absolutely useless to believe HR will benefit you in any attempts to keep your job once glanced for dismissal/displacement. In my case, I should’ve known my manager was up to no good when she suddenly took an interest in the degree of handicap my special needs son has, when she asked how many years I planned to work before I retire, all sorts of personal information she’d never asked in the other 5+ years I worked with her. She claimed she was trying to get to know more about each of our team’s families and lives. Looking back, it was exactly when she was drafting the list of resources to move into another group for dismissal. Once she offloaded over half of us, she left the bank for a better job, no doubt with a fat package for her efforts. It’s so scummy how it all went down.

I think everyone knows HR's role is to protect the company. And, of course, HR is going to be involved in layoffs. The problem with @1bao comment is that it was obvious, quite gleeful, and didn't address the problem the OP presented. @1bao just seemed happy that someone was fearful about losing their job. Absolutely insensitive.

Some people on this board claim to be happy about getting laid off. But, there are some people who can't afford to be out of a job and it would not be a happy occasion to lose their job.

Fortunately, there were others in this thread who gave great advice and suggestions. And for them, I am grateful.

Thank you!

Op, @1bao+1gHD7HPK is right. I had it happen to me. My manager was trying to get rid of me, and h/r was on the manager's side giving them tools and resources to help the process along.
H/R isn't going to help. They will do whatever management asks them to do. They have briefings with the manager, and next thing you know, you're gone.
Running to h/r sometimes makes things a lot worse for you. You only have two options. Suck it up, or start looking.

The WF review and ratings process puts ALL employees in competition with each other. Why would anyone on the team help you or look weak by giving you some of their work. The system is set up to fail this way. You will get a 1 or a 2 rating and be displaced later on. YES, they are hoping you leave on your own.

"@1bao....thx for your unhelpful feedback"

That was the helpful feedback. You just don't want to accept it.

@1bao....thx for your unhelpful feedback. I'm sure you are one of the ones happily laying folks off and making employees who remain miserable. You are the cancer that is rooted deep in the bowels of this company.

Lol you really think HR is on your side? Why in the world would you talk to them? They are most likely working with management to try to manage you out or lay you off. Even if your performance is good. They will lay you off if they for you on a list

It will not matter what you do or do not do. Those being displaced are identified months in advance, the case is made, then waiting for the notice date to arrive. I was in a group that got moved under someone none of us knew or had worked with/for. Told that the new org was being developed and sit tight for assignments, during which time the new manager who had never spoken with me supposedly gets told to displace 40% of his team. Those he’d already been working with were kept, the others of us gathered into a conference call where he literally said he had no idea who was on the call, nor who was missing. We were all summarily given notice, invited to ask questions in front of one another, then dismissed. My reviews had been 5 and then 4 before displacement. Hoping the best for you, advising you prepare for the worst. I do understand that the cattle call dismissals have ended, at least that’s a crumb of humanity.

Not much you can do except ride the waves.

@gzh nailed it.

Lots of 1's and a few 2's at WF.

@gzh is correct.
Grab the work that nobody else wants to do or work that is done by some other team and begin to do that yourself.

Soon you'll have plenty to do and become established.

I think it is is common. I have two theories:

1. The busy people are not actually busy, they say that to keep their jobs.
2. The busy people are busy and fear being laid off so they will not share any work or know how. They are information/work hoarding to keep their jobs.

I circumvented this (to some extent) by volunteering for the jobs no one wants. There were a few pieces of work in my area everyone hated and I took those. Now I have a role and no one bothers me because they hate this work.

I agree with the other poster, document everything.

Ensure you are keeping track of all of your requests for work. You need to make the requests by email, IM and/or keep a running log of verbal requests. When documenting verbal requests make sure to note the data, time, who you asked and their response. If they just buying time before you are displaced this will aid in preventing it from being a performance issue so long as you are doing all that is asked of you and no attendance issues.