Thread regarding U.S. Bank layoffs

@sp+1jnkrjmv2

The problem with being a bank, though, is that we hold those mortgages for that corporate real estate that people are selling off and breaking leases on, and we previously made a lot of money on those mortgages (in absolute terms, not necessarily as a percentage). RTO as a broad trend across industries is mostly about protecting the value of and profits from corporate real estate that so many companies have invested in. It has almost nothing to do with management styles, or productivity, or anything else, it's purely a move to protect the value of assets that companies are involved in (directly or indirectly). Sure, there are other parties who can benefit from RTO, but all those benefits are attributed to RTO after the decision to do RTO has already been made. The behavior of workers working in those offices doesn't even factor in. It's all about protecting a class of asset.

It's funny the way some companies solved WFH/RTO. One local company sold the unnecessary buildings, terminated leases, and leaned in. Saved tens of millions by mandating WFH. They did this in 2021 and are happily moving forward without trubles.

I also work with someone who has resorted to a form of self care - in this case, reading books - to get through her day. She reads a few novels a week in her cube and is a delightful person.

I work with a guy who has access to several overflow areas and he goes and sleeps about 4 hours a day while working. He lays on the floor under desks and tables as there are just a few people around and they are complete strangers as they work in different business units. He hates his job and so do I, but his day is probably better than mine on average because he is sleeping half the time.

Correction, JR comes from the OCC and wouldn’t be qualified to be a janitor for the FRB. Different skill set, different qualifications, different pedigree.

I like my job, but I seem to be in a different situation than most of the people I am reading on this site. Here is why I like my job:

• Very good team.
• Very good but not top tier pay. This year my salary increase was the same as every year and my bonus was actually up a bit. I could make about 10% more at other companies (been approached including recently) but it's not worth the risk.
• Very good benefits except for healthcare, but that seems to be the norm.
• Good access to training resources (external) and the time to take them.
• RTO does not bother me. I don't think it's been effective, and a lot of my team is remote, so it doesn't make sense for my group, but it does not bother me.

Here is what I don't like about my job:

• Bank leadership. It's been going the wrong direction for years. Reduced ethics, increased layoffs, more offshoring.
• TOS or whatever it's called now, is a mess and getting anything from them keeps getting harder. This is mostly because of the leadership.
• Spyware. The software they have been putting on people's machines to monitor productivity ruins trust. They already have multiple ways of measuring our productivity and have not done anything about the low performers for years. I think this is just a way to keep managers from having hard conversations and letting an algorithm do the work. I know it will get the wrong people.

But my biggest concern is that the downward morale moves will continue and one day it will affect me in a way that I no longer like my job. It seems to be inevitable. When that day comes, I will move on.

I feel like I’m just showing up and dealing with it at this point. The work I do has never felt less meaningful than at any other time. I noticed this shift more in 2024 where there’s just been a greater lack of empathy from leaders. My direct manager is fine but the manager above them makes it to where you have to walk around egg shells and are constantly under micromanagement. I returned to the office in 2023 since my team has always been enforcing it from the get go. I just try to put in my headphones and tune most things out and build relationships with coworkers at the same level as me.

@er+1jnkrjmv2

Poor decisions were made by old finance M&A guys like AC with UB during inflation and rising rates. GK & DV (McKinsey) brought in offshoring from India and more McKinsey folks. They are smart operators, but they come from an industry driven by sales and temporary projects where they rarely have to stick around to see the results. JR, like a lot of risk executives at banks, comes from the Federal government and are wildly inefficient which becomes a material problem when the firm isn't performing well.

The non-AC responses in the earnings calls are rough and defensive. They are absolutely trying (and hoping) to sell the bank.

I worked a "very" long time with the bank. Am retired now. Doing fairly well. The last 11 years or so while I was still working, ending in 2021, I did notice changes in the attitude towards employees and it was difficult. Health care/insurance was poor and HR people were clowns. However, my advice to all still working (I still have many friends all over the USA working for US Bank) is - Think positive, respect your management. come to the office no matter what the weather is and most of all, help and enjoy as best as possible, your fellow employees. Working together will get you thru anything, and, maybe one day you can retire and really enjoy life. Sounds like B.S., but, it is not. (P.S. Gave up management position long ago).

@an+1jnkrjmv2 your comment literally makes no sense. You can't understand why RTO has impacted job satisfaction because everyone was just messing around for all those years at home? Maybe grow half a brain cell and understand that it adds expense and robs people of time commuting. The company showed its employees that it quite literally does not care so now most of us are moving toward not caring either. Companies don't function well with demotivated employees. People are the most productive when they can get behind a company mission and values.

Us bank has nothing for anyone to get behind because they don't even uphold their core values. I'm sure you're an executive so have the day you deserve.

If they could find a buyer, the bank would be sold. Upper management would take their cut. Employees would be outsourced.

You can really see the plummet in morale when I am in the office.

It's more apparent than ever they don't care and I suspect that is because the larger goal is to either sell or merge with or to another bank.

I work with someone who has been doing the same thing on the same team for the last 8 years. Outside the bank, this process he works on would have been obsolete and fully automated a decade prior. He seems to be happy to keep doing the same thing without any changes for the next decade.

I want so bad to work in a different area. But my area's exec (2 levels down from Andy) is an a-s total clown. Every week we have a "what the f*** is he thinking moment. The business line we support is a total cluster fu-k. And when you consider this is allowed and welcomed, any area I move to will probably be the same thing.

The pros: pension, bonus, and long-term if you are gr14, great PTO/holidays/sick days.

The cons: where do I begin?

This company was going to be my "lifer" company but the modern leaders can inspire or take care of their employees if their damn life depended on it. I cannot think of 1 positive change for employees since COVID WFH. Nothing. Andy and Gunjan are going to continue tanking this company's morale. People at that level are all talk but really are hostile towards employees.

Little amenities and benefits are provided. This company has little soul given working at a hub with RTO mandated. I don’t really care much about RTO so I’m more particular that snacks and drinks were taken away. Why would you take the little things that keep people from complaining? Regardless, the company strives to use offshored talent to help as IT. This is terrible as I need 5 attempts from them with how they are working half the globe away time-wise. Some are also incompetent but so are we. I’m unhappy that there are little roles internally to apply for. It’s not surprising though as this company considers same performance less workforce as a win. Let’s see how much time until all of us burnout from handling our colleagues’ work who were laid off or just quit due to the company’s poor merit increases. That’s a big thing too. This bank does a terrible job with compensation.

It’s hilarious that all of these people mention RTO as a reason for job dissatisfaction when you were just fine a few years ago sitting at home goofing around on the company dime.

Not perfect by any means, but better than being a federal employee now. 25% of new Harvard MBAs haven't landed a job since graduating in June 2024. Tech is on fire. Meta is doing daily layoffs. AI might be replacing all these jobs anyway. Better get a side hustle and downsize. Luckily, I never trusted the corporate world. Started out in the 90s with lots of layoffs through mergers and off shoring so I never put much faith in the system, and I certainly never expected to like my job. It's always been a way to stash as much money into retirement before the eventual layoff.

RTO su-ks but your logic doesn't work. You accepted the job in 2017 as remote - great and good for you. Do you have the same benefits from the company since 2017? May be then we should go back to reduced benefits, lack of maternity or paternity leaves which was the policy in 2017. There are so many other things which improved since. Policy in company change all the time. You like some, you don't like some. Whining doesn't help. For me RTO, is a deal breaker and not looking to come to MN office in this cold weather. I am looking for another job. That's the best you can do.

Been here 21 years. Been home based since 2017, now they are making us go in office. I understand those who went remote due to the pandemic, but my position I took in 2017 was home based, that’s why I accepted it. This company used to care about their employees, but the changes made in the past 5 years say otherwise.

I don't mind my job and I really like my boss. The company though? Straight trash. During COVID they treated us so well that I was like "yea this is my forever company" but now? I'm waiting for the job market to come out of the toilet and I'll start looking to move on most likely.

Pretty happy with my role/job as well

I honestly hoped that this would be my forever company and that I’d grow within it from role to role, trying new things. The complete abandonment of our core values and this extremely misguided push for an “in office culture” was the final nail in the coffin for me.

I’m pretty happy but must be because I’m a new grad who has less than a year on the belt. My team is insulated so we always have work and job security seems pretty safe. I guess the point is that you need specific conditions to be happy where you are. I’d be jaded and bitter if I was more committed in my career though.