I'm generally quite supportive of management. If the EC really wants to cut people, they should do a proper layoff and pay the severance that people are entitled to. Schwab has the money to pay severance. Many feel the real reason for this exercise is to reduce headcount in as cheap a manner as possible.
Additionally, the execution of this seems poor. Any news of this sort should be given in a town hall, not an email with attached stringent conditions with no room for leeway. This also does not help leaders below the EC, who are left to pick up the pieces - dealing with upset and anxious employees and who themselves may be upset and or nervous. Not to mention it leaves no discretion in the hands of MD's even, who may have key teams or people essentially who are in a permanent WFH position (because of location or other factors). Some teams were created with essentially all permanent WFH members, because managers created them as such with the understanding that permanent WFH is an option that's here to stay. It also does not inspire confidence in employees when sudden and large shift in policies can take place out of the blue and also when any exemption is tenuous at best, as it has to be re-approved every 6 months. It's surprising that these mistakes were made when there's so much press about companies imposing sudden dictates on WFH policy and this causing considerable consternation among managers and employees.
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Not sure how you wouldn’t expect Schwab to do this. Being a former green employee i saw how they treated us after the buyout, employees are way down the line of things the EC actually care about. Remember, in their eyes everyone is easily replaceable except for the high intellects in the C-suite.
Once they recognized that they could treat green side employees with contempt, it wasn’t going to be long before that mentality flowed to all employees. Its just a fact that most employees bring very little to the company and that its Heier/Howard/etc that need to be honored for their brilliance and un-replaceable leadership.
As stated in other posts, this smells like consultants. This is what happens when you bring in a third party that doesn't understand your company, culture or people. I'd expect this from JP Morgan or Goldman or BofA but not Schwab. Out of touch is an understatement.
Well said. The whole situation could have been handled better. It really shows how unconcerned the EC is with employee morale. I really believe this decision has tarnished the Schwab reputation and it could take years to recover from it. Don’t be surprised if you start hearing rumors of a corporate takeover as this would be only way EC survives this.
Well said