"My bank over-hired and is looking for an excuse to let me go"
Later this year, I suspect I will lose my job at the major US bank I work for. When this happens, I will be recorded as just another underperformer let go during the annual cull.
Don't be deceived.
If I am let go, it will be because I have been set impossible targets.
I work for a loan origination team and senior management have over-hired. When we were busy last year, they hired more and more originators instead of doubling down on processing like rivals. Now the market is quiet and all the new loan operators are struggling to stay busy. It was a terrible move by senior management; they dropped the ball worse than I've seen it happen in my 13 years in the industry.
How are they handling this? By increasing micromanagement and by setting ridiculous goals. Our performance is now being tracked in minute detail using new metrics and management are all over our achievements or lack of them. They've also increased our revenue targets at a time when almost nothing is happening.
This is almost certainly a ruse to create an excuse to let us go. When we fail to meet the new targets, we'll be shown the door and the bank will say it's simply culling underperformers. This isn't true: they have burdened us with impossible expectations. The underperformers are the managers who failed to see the change in the market that was coming.
Cruz May is a pseudonym
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