Wells Fargo opened thousands of unnecessary fake accounts for customers between years 2011 and 2015 to achieve target goals and to make more money (Egan 2016). I read some articles about the company and for me it shows that there has been very toxic culture, with lot of pressure coming from the upper management. Goals have been unrealistic. It is said in one of the articles that this is a problem in the industry. There is a blurred line between what customer really needs and what is best for the sales. (Egan 2016.) I have worked at a bank and I can recognize the pressure employees have. Of course, in the company I worked for it was not on this scale. But it is important that you are good in sales when you work at bank.
The chief executive of Wells Fargo, John Stumpf apologized the scandal. Wells Fargo fired more than 5000 employees because of the scandal. He also says that no one ever directed teams to sell products customers do not need. He refused to resign after scandal. (BBC News 2016.) This tells that the culture is coming from the top management. They think that they have not done anything wrong. After few weeks John Stumpf decided to step down (BBC News 2016). It also seems that a letter was sent, where these illegal actions were told about. John Stumpf said he has not seen that. (Egan 2016.) The management seems to be avoiding responsibility.
The atmosphere has been very bad at Wells Fargo. I believe it is because of lack of trust and the way to communicate. Employees have been working under too much pressure, and there has been even blackmailing to work over-hours. It is clear, that at some point these things will come to public. To have engaged employees, company should pay more attention to them.
The culture should be open and start from the management. How is it even possible that Stumpf did not know about the fake accounts? Managers should be aware of what is happening. If employees can not trust to their managers, it will make problems.
References
BBC News. 2016. Wells Fargo boss John Stumpf steps down. URL: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-37639648 Accessed: 4 May 2020
BBC News. 2016. Wells Fargo boss urged to resign over accounts scandal. URL: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-37419968 Accessed: 4 May 2020
Egan, M. 2016. Letter was ells Fargo of ‘widespread’ fraud in 2007 – exclusive. URL: https://money.cnn.com/2016/10/18/investing/wells-fargo-warned-fake-accounts-2007/index.html Accessed: 4 May 2020
Egan, M. 2016. ’Wells Fargo isn’t the only one’: Other bank workers describe intense sales tactics. CNN Business. URL: https://money.cnn.com/2016/09/22/investing/wells-fargo-fake-accounts-banks/index.html Accessed: 4 May 2020
Egan, M. 2016. Workers tell Wells Fargo horror stories. CNN Business. URL: https://money.cnn.com/2016/09/09/investing/wells-fargo-phony-accounts-culture/index.html Accessed: 4 May 2020
Sivuston otsikko 