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Employment Law
Wells Fargo Layoffs: Bank quietly cuts thousands of jobs through incremental layoffs
August 27, 2024
The Wells Fargo name adorns the top of a large office building topped with clear blue sky
What’s happening at Wells Fargo?
Wells Fargo has been steadily reducing its workforce, with thousands of job cuts occurring across North America, The Business Journals reports.
The publication claims CEO Charlie Scharf has emphasized the bank’s strategy of incremental reductions aimed at improving efficiency without large-scale layoffs. The bank’s workforce has decreased to 222,544 as of June 2024, down from 225,869 at the end of 2023.
Recent layoffs and impacted locations
Las Vegas, NV: 130 jobs cut as Wells Fargo exits operations and personal lending units.
Des Moines, IA: 219 jobs lost, primarily in the home mortgage sector.
Jacksonville, FL: 74 jobs eliminated.
Hillsboro, OR: 95 jobs affected.
Denver, CO: 70 jobs cut recently, following an earlier reduction of 80 jobs.
Columbia, SC: 254 employees notified of displacement, connected to the bank’s exit from an office there.
Official statements and context
Wells Fargo has acknowledged the layoffs, stating that they are part of regular adjustments to align staffing levels with market conditions and business needs. The bank claims they are committed to trying to place affected employees in other roles within the company, where possible, and offering severance and career counseling when it’s not.
While Wells Fargo’s layoffs have not made as many headlines as those at tech giants like Intel and Cisco, they are part of a broader trend of cost-cutting and efficiency efforts across the financial and technology industry.
Layoffs in Canada
It remains unclear exactly how many Wells Fargo employees in Canada are losing their job as a result of these quiet layoffs.
Your rights
In Canada, non-unionized employees at Wells Fargo are owed full severance pay when they lose their jobs due to downsizing, corporate restructuring, or the closure of the business.
This applies to individuals working in any capacity — full-time, part-time, hourly, or potentially even independent contractors — in Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia.
Severance is the compensation provided to non-unionized workers in Canada by their employer when they are terminated without cause, and can be as much as 24 months’ pay, depending on a number of factors.
WATCH: Employment lawyer Lior Samfiru explains why you are still owed severance if you have been downsized on an episode of the Employment Law Show.