Thread regarding Charles Schwab Corp. layoffs

@re Exactly. The concern is not only what happened, but whether the people reviewing it are truly independent from the people involved. Without that independence, it is hard to have confidence in the outcome.

@p3 who exactly is going to conduct this “serious, neutral investigation”?

Presumably the CRO could start asking questions, but that man is still working through something. For four years employees were allowed to work from home, some even longer. You don’t just recover from something like that overnight or over years . It’s admirable how he keeps putting on a brave face and staying laser-focused on getting everyone back where they belong: in person, in the office.

I was surprised to see SEC filings show close to $20M in gross Schwab stock-sale proceeds since March 2024, but I guess that just proves money can’t heal every wound. Thoughts and prayers to NM as he continues his courageous battle to get everyone back in the office 5 days a week.

While he works through his pain, anyone else who decides the toxicity is too much and speaks up risks ending up a target like OP: disciplined, without a bonus and with career mobility frozen. I don’t see much chance of a neutral investigation. The people with the power ultimately decide who gets investigated, whose version becomes the official version and who faces the consequences- which will never be them.

The one thing (other than reading posts on here) that we can all take comfort in is being together back in the office ready to collaborate, keeping our heads down and mouths shut.

As a highly regulated organization, a serious, neutral investigation needs to happen. And if any of those leaders are found to have deliberately altered records, misrepresented facts, or created inaccurate documentation, they should be terminated immediately. That goes directly against company policy and basic standards of integrity. If this is allowed to slide, what message does that send to every employee and every client? I really hope Rick and the EC are reading this.

This is awful management, and I really hope accountability catches up with them. How is this company even allowing leaders to act like the rules don’t apply to them? Where are all those “values” everyone loves to talk about? If this is how employees are being treated internally, it really makes you wonder what else is being tolerated, including when it comes to clients.

Those toxic leaders act like they’re God and somehow entitled to whatever they want. They’re not. Strip away the job titles, and what comes through is insecurity, incompetence, and immaturity. They rely on connections to keep landing the next opportunity. They are a joke.

Document all communication. Use snag it and record conversations if you can. Keep applying else where. There are a few good PLs left. I was lucky to find a good one and jump the wall. Good luck!

@OP I know how disheartening this has been for you. You’ve been part of this department for a long time, and you were always someone who went out of your way to help people. You did it with a smile, and people noticed.

You always pushed us to do better, think differently, and come up with better solutions. You brought so many creative ideas to the team, and your willingness to help others really stood out. We miss your voice, your energy, and the way you challenged us to think.

You coached so many of us and helped us become better at our jobs. That meant a lot.

It’s really unfortunate that this happened to you. After everything you gave to this department and the people in it, you did not deserve to be treated this way.

I’m genuinely sorry you had to go through this.

@OP sometimes it looks like you hit a dead end but the road’s just curving in a direction you can’t see yet. Hang in there!

@OP I am sorry this happened to you. Hopefully some of the comments here help give you some validation. Those of us who have worked around these people see how they operate. Unfortunately, they’re paid way too much and have way too much power over people’s careers but that doesn’t mean they have any integrity, credibility or respect.

Unfortunately, some bad apples in leadership have turned Compliance into the very opposite of what it’s supposed to stand for.

This department has become a toxic mess where leaders go after anyone who challenges them or their inner circle and turn dissent into a target.

Seriously, what kind of twisted leadership culture is this?

And if you’re wondering why your raise barely hits 2%, maybe take a closer look at who keeps getting rewarded. Somehow, the “friends” always seem to do just fine.

@gb - your post is spot on about Compliance leaders and glad someone raised it. What’s even more comical is that they think no one sees it. We are all too d-mb I guess but maybe they haven’t mastered their skills quite as much as they think, because we are an embarrassment not only internally but externally.

It’s great to see compliance finally getting some well deserved attention on here. There are definitely some good people in the department, but sadly they’re working under a leadership team with an incredible combination of ego, self-interest, incompetence and zero self-awareness.

It’s hard not to be impressed by their self-promotion skills though. Some have truly mastered the endless posts/photo ops from every conference, panel, red carpet, and leadership event that they were “honored to attend,” get hammered at, and so grateful for the opportunity to network and learn from.

Yes it’s a system of friends. No accountability and let’s not talk about qualifications. Leader recently spoke on a department wide call how her direct employee will be watering her plants when she is out of town. Past pattern is exactly as you noted, the department is a joke and senior leaders always just look away. When it one or two complaints maybe it’s ok, but when a clear pattern develops, it’s beyond schocking how they just blame the employee. Executive leadership chooses to look the other way.

There are a few good people that work hard on this department but it’s overshadowed by the toxic culture that has just persisted and just become normal and inept staff just keep being hired. Recipe for disaster, it’s sad to see how this department has fallen apart.

@ef In what world do you live? Compliance lets the “friends” move from team to team all the time. Qualifications? Apparently optional lol

@ef The issue was never about “choosing” a leader. That is a convenient distortion of what was actually raised. The concern involved serious conduct by a specific leader and a request not to remain under that same reporting structure while those concerns were unresolved. Reducing that to an employee simply wanting to pick their manager avoids the substance of the complaint entirely. When concerns involve retaliation, misconduct, or a compromised reporting relationship, the responsibility is on the organization to address the underlying issue appropriately, not to dismiss the employee as unreasonable or suggest that “self-reflection” is the solution.

@OP There are always three sides to a story but just starting from what you state as the basis of your complaint.... who gets to "choose" their leader? In what world do you get to demand to move to another team or join a different group and that is immediately granted. There would be people constantly moving across every department at every company in the country. The ask sounds unreasonable and I can only imagine the related behaviors and activities followed suit. Some self reflection may be warranted here.

They have started this game , give they employees PiP and save money on bonuses and severance. This company has become b€ggars destination and stared doing all kinds of nasty operations to ki-l employees. They are also asking the employees to write the resignation letter forc€fully.

Just slap them with a court case if possible, ask for compensation as much as possible for this misbehaviors, make these b€ggars know how to behave.

Lawsuit.

@by

Let's see. Within STS, I can identify at least 10 who were criticized into quitting, retaliated against with warnings and memos, and or fired in place.

Two are CIOs. Three are SVP or EVP. All but one has a higher role than they left Schwab with. Not title inflation. An actual role and responsibility that is superior to Schwab.

The last retired.

So, basically, 10 of 10 did better elsewhere.

10 of 10.

Still not convinced?

How many managers at Schwab are fired for employees placed on improvement plans? How many days of instruction and coaching are given? Are the PIPs actual improvement issues warranting a plan?

Yeah. It's underperforming employees.

Some leaders have demonstrated a staggering level of incompetence… it is time for a serious leadership overhaul.

Just... fu-k this place man

Another underperforming employee, same s-b story.

1 in 10 of these are true, the other 9 are poor performers spending their time trying to hang on. Reading the internet, throwing up attentive roadblocks. Managers happily let them take other roles in schwab to not deal with follow through of firing. 3 years later of no value delivery, they are finally exited.

Last one I saw in late 2025 I looked Into the background and my network to find this happened at 2 prior jobs. Rinse repeat stay employed doing nothing for 10 years.

@bb NM has accumulated millions over his year at the firm and like all of senior leadership, they seem to believe they’ve earned every dollar of their enormous compensation and millions in company stock. Meanwhile, the rest of us get layoffs, smaller or no bonuses, minimal raises, stalled careers and endless “do more with less

One thing Schwab leadership has made very clear: sharing the firm’s success with the people actually doing the work is not and never will be a priority.

HR washes its hands of the situation by pushing responsibility back onto the very management chain at issue. So when an employee reports concerns, instead of HR independently investigating and addressing them, the employee is told to find another role or take the problem to the supervisor of the person they complained about.

Our standard operating procedure.

One more time, as many have posted here…

• HR is not your ally, friend or advocate
• The ombudsman is not better
• Neither will interfere with management decisions
• Your only recourse is to ensure that they know you will take legal actions

All that said, there are limits to filing a case, costs and of course the drama of it all. The nice thing is that, for all the bluster and 5hitfookery, we settle a lot before going to arbitration or trial.

I had a similar experience and ended up leaving. I raised the concerns with HR but they were not interested in understanding what had happened.

Withholding someone’s entire bonus is completely unacceptable. It may be called an “Annual Bonus Opportunity,” but it’s still part of someone’s compensation package. If an employee is good enough to keep working for the firm, how are they simultaneously worth 0% of their bonus?

Leadership’s attitude around bonuses has always been insulting. They call the process “normalization” and act like employees should be grateful for whatever they decide to “give” them. Meanwhile those same leaders treat their own significantly larger bonuses as unquestionably earned and deserved.

Maybe rather than normalizing withholding bonuses from employees, they should start by normalizing leadership bonuses that aren’t larger than the salaries of the employees they’re sitting around judging.

They seem to have mastered the art of gaslighting, but the problem for them is that people recognize the pattern. What I find most disturbing is that this behavior appears to have been allowed to continue within NM’s org. When records are deliberately altered, complaints are reframed against employees, and leadership knowingly allows and approves it, that stops being ordinary bad management. It becomes a serious integrity problem.

The clowns have been running the Corporate Compliance show for a long time, so your post doesn’t surprise me.

Lots of talk about authenticity, empathy, engagement and collaboration while obsessing over everyone else’s office time, “visibility,” “executive presence” and who gets labeled a problem.

I’ve never been a fan of clowns, but the Schwab Compliance clown crew is especially nasty. They wield enormous power over people’s careers and compensation while facing no accountability for their own gross behavior. Maybe the most disgusting part of it all is knowing how wildly overpaid they are to be this incompetent and unlikeable.

Hold them accountable!!! Document everything, use every legitimate avenue available to you.

I’ve heard strikingly similar stories from multiple people, and EEOC complaints have reportedly already been filed concerning this specific leader. If you haven’t pursued that avenue yet, I would seriously consider it. At some point, repeated complaints stop looking like isolated employee issues and start raising serious questions about a pattern of leadership failures.

If you remained there for two years after that, I'd say you should have walked out the door by now.