Thread regarding Bank of America layoffs

We don’t even have enough seats on our floor to accommodate all the employees and that’s with contractors still working from home but they are thinking of bringing them in around June. I have to get to the office earlier than usual to get a seat, otherwise I’ll be working from the cafeteria. Not to mention how loud and distracting it is on our floor. Also people are nasty and don’t clean up after themselves when they leave for the day. I have to spend at least 15 mins per day to clean my desk, set up the monitors the way I like them. It is very hard to work in those conditions. I have a full setup (standing desk, dual monitors, ergonomic chair, walking pad) at my house that I’ve invested in during pandemic at my own expense and when comparing to what I have at home vs to what I have to deal with at work, it says it all. I am looking for other opportunities currently, it’s just sad that I’ve put 8 years of my life to this company and I don’t matter.

1. WFH helps environment , Less carbon emissions , less fuel consumption
2. WFH lessons chance of spreading COVID
3. HR. Department should always give reference and cite chapter and article in employee handbook dealing with any subject that will have disciplinary actions+consequences.

4 . You should join of form a Union , especially if you work in a "right to work" state, or a state / business that has " at will employment"
This ensures that HR team ,,, upper management can not "throw you under the bus" just because they can union insurers everyone is treated equal .

@bryz+1qB8UXbq - I bet the 1 person who liked your post is the HR representative who regularly trolls this site.

Perhaps your "point" was lost in the inconsiderate and condescending tone you elected to utilize in expressing yourself.

can't speak for others, but get your facts straight: 1) WFO was not any policy pre-covid or any other time (at least not officially), 2) this is not the arrangement when many of us were hired (bait and switch), 3) WFO has NEVER (and is still not) in the Employee Handbook, and 4) I for one have not signed any "contract" to "break". All I ask is that they give me one solid tangible reason as to why RTO makes sense in any way shape or form in the modern world. Together we produced RECORD profits (not revenue, PROFITS) when we all WFH. BM and cronies are bizarrely forcing their will on 200,0000+ people.

If you wish to go into the office, no one here is stopping you. Bless your heart..

14 people didn't like my comment, 1 did. I bet that 1 person who like my post was the only one to read and comprehend my post.

Not sure what people don’t understand. BofA was very generous during Covid. Employees got complacent that they actually made the business decisions. If you don’t like it…..go get another employer. I left two years ago. My quality of life is better. You don’t like it Leave.

Sounds typical of being “owned”

What a load of BS @ahvy+1qB8UXbq! I remember during lockdown, the Bank had two of its best years ever.

I didn't sign a contract--an offer letter is NOT a contract. My bosses have always been "doesn't matter to me where you work as long as your work gets done."

This is an underhanded and demoralizing way to cut headcount without having to resort to official layoffs. And senior management is still getting their bonuses and perks.

@ahvy+1qB8UXbq I’ll bite, even if your holier than thou monologue is just a giant troll job.

“We all know the rules, the SAME rules in place pre-covid.”

I was hired externally a year before COVID. During the interview my manager explicitly told me she didn’t care if I came in to the office and didn’t want to know when I did or didn’t, as long as my work got done. The office is 40 miles from me, about an hour drive, so I didn’t ever come in, and got my work done. No one cared. Then COVID, I still worked from home, many days 12-18 hours early on because of my role, and still got my work done. Then almost 4 years later, I’m told I need to be in the office 3 days a week or else, despite the fact I work with no one at my location and can no longer host effective calls or presentations due to the noise on my floor. Even excluding work life balance, I am demonstrably less effective in the office than I can be from home. I didn’t sign a “contract” when I was hired, and as far as I can tell these “workplace excellence” rules still aren’t in the employee handbook or actually written down anywhere non-managers can access them. I find it completely asinine we’re enforcing inefficient rules that aren’t even part of the guidelines we all agree to abide by.

You might not be a boomer, but you are absolutely the WORST type of SHILL at BOFA who apparently feels that CAPITALIZING words makes them sound smarted, usually compensating for a lack of social skills.

Let me simplify the OP. Someone received a LOE that clearly defines that they are NOT in compliance with one or more policies as set forth by their EMPLOYER. We all know the rules, the SAME rules in place pre-covid. Now those who have received a LOE are shocked and upset.

PLEASE give me some GOOD reasons why anyone is upset over this. You signed a CONTRACT, you PROMISED to follow and abide by the rules when you were hired and rules that may arise in the future. What changed? If you break the law you expect punishment. If you broke the rules in school, punishment was expected. How is working for a private company any different?

For those of you that assume I'm a "boomer", I'm not. If you reply with a lame retort or try to prove that you are smarter than me, save your energy. Don't argue with me, stand up and deliver a logical and rational discussion. I don't care what your opinion of me is, I want to know why some feel that breaking your contract now is okay.

I have been going in 5 days a week. only for a few months when Covid was hot did we WFH. People need to get off their rears and get back to work, I blame the oval office.

If they got a letter of education, that means they already got a warning email from workplace excellence or whatever and attested they understood the policy and would come in. Managers don’t give these letters, it is a centralized group. Managers also don’t approve accommodations, that is also a centralized group.

@4dtp+1qB8UXbq

I heard someone was given an exception to WFH to babysit grandkids!

Leadership makes exceptions for their friends/favorites/family
I know a member of upper upper management who was granted a wfh accommodation for a cosmetic procedure but wouldn't allow staff to WFH for covid
Look at who is enforcing the rules & they are almost always the main violators.

Has anyone else gotten one of these, or heard about others getting one of these letters? How recently?

Why does it say Bank Of America and not BNYM? Did anyone actually read it?

Congratulations, you have taken your first step toward involuntary separation from the bank. It goes in this sequence: letter of education, written warning, final written warning, termination

They are full of cr-p. We had a guy with a hacking cough here the last 2 weeks. He had pneumonia and covid and probably exposed the whole floor to it but make sure you come in to catch and spread it. This place is pathetic.

Letter of Education...sounds like an elementary school progress report.

THIS!! is how they will meet the Expense Reduction expectation set forth in the Quarterly Earnings Calls with the banking analysts.

I wish they'd simply give the real (or even just "better") reason(s) for the in-office mandate. ("chatting in the kitchen is valuable" doesn't cut it.)

If it's b/c of office leases, then just say so. If it's b/c we need to support our metro downtown economies, then say so. (I'd actually be on board with that, and go out to eat and shop every day at lunch to support area businesses. (like we used to do when work was fun and we liked being there.) Because in the absence of any real reason, I think it is b/c they are greedy, power-hungry old-timers who like the view of their fiefdom across the floor from their glass offices. I feel like I am in jail. Every. Day. And I don't even get as much work done! (constant interruption of irrelevant convos)

@1yqf+1qB8UXbq - it is really called "Letter of Education", but not just for this. It's a formal term used ahead of disciplinary action for all kinds of infractions - e.g. harassing other employee(s), bullying, racism, chauvinism, not filling out your time sheet/self-evaluation, completing assigned courses and pretty much anything they want us to do. There is a formal process they used for firing with cause. Starts with "coaching", then LOE, then maybe a "probation" period to give you time to "demonstrate improvement/adherence", LOE Reminder and then BO-M! Meeting with your manager and HR where you will be invited to sign a final form and depart.

Or something along those lines....

So glad I left that cr-ppy place for a mostly remote job. I wasn’t even showing up 3 days a week pre COVID at the bank- 1 or 2 for years. This is so punitive for working moms and anyone with a life.

Nice research. If the labor market continues, 2024 will be the year of 4 days, with a path back to 5.

“Letter of Education”??? Now that is a funny title! Reminds me of North Korea or China “repatriation” training…

I swear. Some of the phrases around this place have to make you laugh at the utterly bizarre and the unnecessary…

For those saying the goal is to go back 5 days a week.. there’s no way the bank will be able to pull that off - Hybrid is here to stay- return to office is dead:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2023/12/21/remote-work-from-home-trends-2024/71991203007/

Correction they are serious about 3 days in office *pushing towards 4 or 5 days
Get on board if you need your job

They are serious about the 5 days in the office
This is like a 3rd ⚠️ warning so plan on getting invited out

1. The policy was laid out
2. The documentation is being made that policy is not being adhered to
3. If you are in a right to worn state, at will or employer friendly - plan for your access to be cut / termination to occur

Did it really say to "cal" the GHR center? Not "call?"

It sounds like they aren't coming in three days a week as set by the bank. The bank has made no secret about this. So is this person coming in or not?

I loathe coming in. The only reason I do is that like the idea of being fired even less. That's what they will do. I doubt there will be a severance; it will be a straight up firing. Our employer is looking to cut people. So don't give them an excuse to fire you.