Thread regarding Bank of New York Mellon Corp. layoffs

It’s not the ‘people’. It’s the leadership. Who and what sets the culture, climate and atmosphere at a job? It’s the management and leadership. Culture here is exponentially increased layoffs, firings, hiring freezes, shipping jobs to cheap pigeon holed places, slashing benefits, slashing raises, hiring bad castoffs from places like Goldman. Closing locations, selling locations , razing locations. Who does that? Management and leadership. And that is why this place only attracts flies.

Bottom line is if you ask anybody when executive management is not around, the p-m model is a disaster

More proof of that is the only savings they are getting is by forcibly reducing headcount , sc--wing people out of their severance and sending out memos to Managers saying the new expectation is 30% more productivity for every single person that’s left- that memo went out a little over a week ago.

J9
I understand what the Executive Committee is trying to do. We've been stagnant for a long time, and like many, including myself, we got comfortable with the status quo, believing we had found a sweet spot.*

The culture is now more stagnant than ever. No one wants to take chances, accept risks or go above and beyond for no reward. Rewards are very scarce here now. And if you fail for lack of support or need help, that’s viewed negatively. The executive committee is buckling to the pressure of the investment community. That’s the bottom line. It’s not because we have a lax environment. It’s not shaking up the culture status quo. It’s because earnings and investment potential are, well, boring. And why is that? It’s because we are a very unse-xy, unglamorous firm that is really a utility bank. We do the asset servicing activities no one else wants to. We are just a huge clunky appliance that gets a lot of Government fuel. And that… is exactly what the current EC is about- Investors first. I used to attend the annual company meetings and all our leaders got scorched about our ROI and ho hum valuation. Charlie got it the worst. And so, they’ve done something about it. But tearing down the people and selling / closing properties and business lines is not exactly a recipe for success long term. All of this is artificial growth of the stock price and it has added irresponsible risks to the firm. This is not a happy place where the majority of people want to be. Thanks for that EC and board.

@j9 perfect response and a balanced view..execution is deeply flawed and they are using this as an excuse for outsourcing,there is a deep trust deficit and doesn’t board well for the much touted P-M model..

I am leaving and relocating .. Wanted to share my view point here ..

I understand what the Executive Committee is trying to do. We've been stagnant for a long time, and like many, including myself, we got comfortable with the status quo, believing we had found a sweet spot.

With multiple lines of business, there was significant duplication of work. Optimization was an obvious and necessary step to improve efficiency and reduce costs. However, the way it was executed—particularly in handling experienced employees—was, in my opinion, deeply flawed. Rather than reassigning talent, the approach prioritized bringing in new hires from low-cost centers and leveraging AI, resulting in significant job losses.

While the P-M strategy to optimize and invent may look promising on paper, execution is where the real challenge lies. Rapid adoption without proper planning—or at least without clear communication—has fostered uncertainty, leading to quiet quitting, frustration, and information hoarding. Departments now operate in survival mode, and the over-hiring post-COVID has compounded these issues.

The result? The environment has become difficult.

Will this transformation succeed? Time will tell. However, the expectations seem highly unrealistic, driven by a belief that pressure will force change. Much of the progress touted lacks substantive backing, yet investors seem to buy into the narrative—or at least hope the shake-up is genuine.

Under the glossy facade the firm is really a messy organization. Disruption is a great tool when used with caution.

Wishing good luck to all the soon-to-be-ex-colleagues !

I was here for 12 years but then left last year! I think under GH, the bank had that culture of just keep the lights on and don’t try anything too crazy. When CS came on board, it was a major paradigm shift. To his credit, he did try to shake some trees and drive growth, only he accomplished zilch and brought in leadership that did even less. Layoffs seemed to accelerate so things were always tense. Now bring in RV and now all bets are off. Goldman cutthroat culture without the rewards or prestige. Not to forget TG, but he’s kind of an outlier. He took over during Covid and compared to CS, he was a bit of reprieve, but I’ll never forget that he said we were all mediocre during a town hall in 2019. So yeah, bad culture all around, but it’s a different form of bad every few years.

@e8 I was there for over 3 decades in various positions. There was never any training. Shadowed people who couldn't answer many questions. It was always baptism by fire, sink or swim, learn on your own without there being any documentation for processes, instructions for anything, etc.

It def is the people. I joined BNY back in 2022. Took the job cause it was wfh, higher pay, and benefits. No real training though, was basically shadowing people until I was given my own deals. eventually had virtual training but most of the time was canceled. I was one of those let go in dec 2024. took some time but finally found a job with a competitor of bny n. I must say night n day difference. they actually have a training class n everyone so far seems pretty friendly. BNY should learn from this.

I also left for a new job, and am amazed at the culture difference. I knew it was toxic when I was there, but didn't realize how bonkers it was until I experienced a new company culture. I wish I had left sooner.

It is not the ‘people’ who are rank and file. It is this current board of directors who have given BNY the likes of Charlie S. and Robin V. This once was a company that valued workers everywhere and celebrated teamwork and client focus. With Charlie and Robby, its about being miserly, cutting benefits and using fear as a motivator. Take a good long look at the ‘mental health’ at BNY thread here. That tells you exactly where the poison and toxicity is. We never had issues like this before. RV has simply pitted employees against each other. Even Charlie never went that far. The culture is rotten black mold from the top! Our board is to blame.

I moved to a new company thinking what I dealt with at BNY was to be expected because it was normal? It isn’t. My new company is very open to ideas around change and allowing ownership of a process or task. Just helped validate BNY’s toxic culture.