Local media picks up on location strategy

Today's Winston-Salem Journal has an article on WF workforce reductions, mentioning that while the pace slowed in 1Q it is expected to be "just the start." This article is the first real mention I've seen re: the effect the location strategy will have on non-hub cities that have been long-standing WF locations. Excerpt below:

"Wells Fargo is consolidating more business units into fewer operational hubs as a cost-cutting measure. That includes shifting employees in downtown Charlotte, where the bank has its main East Coast operations.

There are media reports of the bank consolidating operations in Minneapolis, Columbus, Ohio, and in particular a $455 million regional hub under construction in Irving, Texas.

The bank has said part of the consolidation initiatives is to be closer to potential talent pools.

There’s been local concern that Wells Fargo’s non-branch operations in Winston-Salem could be affected by the operational hub initiative. The bulk of the workforce, primarily the bank’s wealth management division, is in the downtown Wells Fargo Center.

Wells Fargo said in a statement that it 'continues to bring employees in non-customer facing roles together and to improve and modernize our workspaces. This will strengthen our customer-centric culture, collaboration, strong risk management and innovation.'"

https://journalnow.com/news/local/business/wells-fargo-slows-pace-of-workforce-reductions-in-first-quarter/article_e8b5120e-f8bc-11ee-8acc-1b4213c915d7.html

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“customer-centric culture” 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

@dni+1s100U7x

Their model is a failure, and predictably so. If the objective is to cut costs, spending $1B on a couple buildings you don't need (already have too many) is asinine. We also have elected to operate in some of the most expensive places in the country. Complete waste of resources for zero benefit. Nothing Hudson Yards does has anything to do with efficiency, that's just an excuse.

Winston is closing in 2025, have heard that repeated numerous times in calls with our HR exec business partner and CPG. I have had to displace employees there and tried to get a few an exception to work from another office, but denied. Closing in 2025.

Isn't co-location a desired requirement of "agile"? And Wells keeps saying they are agile. Wait... I just did a scan of "Tech and Data" US jobs. Guess what? All require 25% travel. All are lead/senior level. None mention mesh, microservices hardly mentioned. There were no "product owner" nor "scrum master" positions. Basic conclusion:

Agile has died at Wells
barely getting into SOA/mesh technologies (Intermediate cloud technology). Compare the job descriptions to Bank of America.
62 positions in India;
India has this new position called "Technology system business associate". I think this is the answer to a business analysis. Its more of a support role than a product development role. There are no such roles like this in the US.
Wells has given up on .net jobs. Also little mention of Azure. I think with the India offshoring .net gives way to java, spring, etc.

Just compare the jobs wanted between banks. Look for the advanced cloud (service mesh, microservice, SOA). Wells is in confusion.

“ The bank has said part of the consolidation initiatives is to be closer to potential talent pools”

Location strategy is the absolute opposite of being closer to potential talent pools. It’s narrowing the available talent pools.

Location strategy is just about layoffs. They can layoff anyone they want who is outside a hub/specialty without fear of lawsuits. And they can keep anyone they want outside hub/specialty by giving them “exceptions”.

Have a majority of Wells employees never had a job outside of Wells? It’s like this Location Strategy is the concept of interstellar warfare through time travel being explained to 17yro fast food workers.

The average worker has zero chance to work anywhere but on-site somewhere as a vast majority of employers are regionally based. Yet folks can’t grasp the concept that Wells Fargo has decided to align to that business model.

The author whiffed on two major points:

Winston-Salem (W-S) employees are moving out of the Wells Fargo Center building and into the WEC building.

There is more than “concern” that operations in W-S will be impacted. There is certainty.

Ok?

Thread regarding Wells Fargo & Co. layoffs

Local media picks up on location strategy

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