Thread regarding Bank of New York Mellon Corp. layoffs

After reading thru the comments here and reviewing recent Return-to-Office (RTO) policies that have been introduced, it has become very clear that the company is hyper-focused on creating new and, quite frankly, nonsensical RTO policies that seem to change almost every quarter.

In every instance, it appears that the Executive Committee's intention is to implement processes with strict protocols, seemingly to increase corporate control, encourage voluntary separation, and protect profits.

It's becoming increasingly hard to believe that companies like McKinsey, Bain, BCG, Deloitte, KPMG, E&Y, and others genuinely recommend these strategy options to their clients to justify their fees.

@bn you were employed for 9 MONTHS and got 6 months pay and benefits? TBH that is impossible to believe. I call BS or you made a typo. Which is it?

Does anyone have any recent feedback on individual or collective actions taken to counteract the oppressive and hyper-controlling management practices and policies that are being implemented as recommended by McKinsey?

Starting this week, there will be a lot of rumbling and confusion on this site over RTO rules and hours tracking. Management scrutiny will now intensify across the globe as company leaders rigidly enforce compliance and focus on meaningless contrived metrics all to encourage voluntary separations (without severance).

@j4 Contacting OSHA but be easier. I don’t think any attorney is going to take on a class action suit without being paid up front. Different than the personal injury attorneys. Although if everyone tripped and fell when they return to the office, perhaps the personal injury attorney would be interested. Just make sure you don’t trip until you get to the office. A witness or two never hurts either.

FYI, I am not an attorney nor am I giving legal advice.

@dy what is going on? I would like part in this class action.

Not surprisingly, accepted practices by major consulting firms include these tactics, which are widely used across firms to reduce headcount rapidly while minimizing reputational damage:

1. Rightsizing via Strategic Workforce Planning

• Use scenario modeling to align headcount with future business needs.
• Identify redundancies through functional benchmarking.

2. Hiring Freezes

• Suspend recruitment across non-critical roles to reduce future headcount organically.

3. Reskilling/Upskilling for Role Consolidation

• Retrain employees to absorb multiple responsibilities, enabling role elimination without layoffs.

4. Furloughs and Temporary Layoffs

• Implement short-term unpaid leave to reduce costs while retaining talent for future recovery.

5. Reduction of Non-Essential Staff

• Eliminate roles in event planning, office management, and other discretionary functions.

6. Attrition Acceleration

• Encourage voluntary exits through reduced bonuses, limited promotions, and increased workload.

7. Outsourcing and Automation

• Shift routine tasks to external vendors or AI platforms to reduce internal headcount.

8. Role-Based Headcount Planning

• Focus on roles rather than individuals to identify structural inefficiencies.

9. Performance-Based Attrition

• Intensify review cycles (from annual to quarterly) to identify underperformers.
• Raise performance thresholds to organically increase exits.

10. Targeted Back-Office Layoffs

• Eliminate roles in support functions such as HR, finance, and admin.
• Focus on roles with low client impact or high automation potential.

11. Non-Backfill Strategy

• Vacate roles were left unfilled, creating “quiet shrinkage” without formal layoffs.
• AI tools and internal platforms replace some functions.

12. Specialist Role Elimination

• Cut technical specialists.
• Shift focus to scalable, cross-functional teams.

13. Voluntary Exit Encouragement

• Nudge certain functional skillset roles toward exit through limited advancement opportunities and increased workload pressure.

This commentary is not as a slam on any dept. but rather a general infoshare on how the end results may somehow justify the means of getting there.

Great work and energy continue throughout our firm; however, sometimes it can be difficult to tune out the ongoing "deconstruction noise" as the company moves to achieve headcount reductions strategies.

The way remote employees are being treated feels like a class action lawsuit waiting to happen. we could probably organize that right here

I was laid off in 2023 after being there 9 months. You read that right. I always have strong boundaries and protect myself politically and psychologically. So it wasn’t surprising to me I got let go with 6 months pay and benefits. After 9 months of being there you ask? Why? Because I was a walking lawsuit. They knew that in my third month there I understood their dirty culture. My failure was unmasking my boss too quickly - she knew that I knew she was a racist. I got a meets expectations in my review (because I have the utmost integrity in my work so she couldn’t find a way to pin anything negative) and a few months later got let go because of “change in business needs”.

My only satisfaction was that I smiled when she detailed the severance pay. My smile
was the only way I could communicate that I understood that this was the only way they were going to get me out without me starting he-l.

For this BNY system, my recommendation is that you pretend to be a Stepford Wife in working hours because any deviation from robotic behavior is threatening to them and a risk to you. There isn’t a real appetite to unionize - partly because those who feel strongly for this move are burned out from the political games.

Do NOT EVER trust HR. Do NOT EVER let any corporate entity break you mentally - develop an outlet, have a coach / therapist and be financially free! You can’t politically play in corporate systems if you are a slave to mortgages and other debts.

TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF.

@a6 is so to the point. Right after I was piped and let go, my manager got let go too. You would think that your bosses are wise people and know how it goes but apparently not. It's a typical approach used in military, criminal orgs, and I guess, corporations..

Why would anyone want to work for a company where you’re obviously not wanted? I’m surprised anyone is left. Do them a favor and get a better paying, more interesting, satisfying job.

Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs)
Although totally baseless, these plans are used not to improve performance since there is no actual performance issue but meant to cheat employees out of incentive bonus and prevent rehire. Provided by spineless managers who more than likely (and hopefully) will be on the receiving end once they do the dirty work at their level. I can’t imagine how they sleep at night. Garbage.

This is news? It’s a given.

And encouraging you to speak up to your leaders and managers to openly discuss your personal and emotional safety and security concerns? Answer- they don’t G.A.F. If this is not dealt with swiftly, your psychological well-being is at risk and BNY culture- Answer- they dont care about us. If anything, this abuse is being done to drive employees out under their own power