Grim news from The Guardian UK: An ex-investment banker at a
major bank tells about redundancies, the recent crisis and Stockholm syndrome..
"Some of my most vivid memories have to do with
layoffs. You can be fired and literally out of the door in less than five
minutes. Even worse: they just block your security pass. Some mornings I'd walk
up to the turnstile thinking, this could be it. My pass won't work and the
security guard will tell me that somebody will send my stuff by post. My pass
did fail several times, but in each instance because it was old or damaged.
"With the big redundancies the bank is required to
announce that it'll be curtains for some. At least you expect it. One
redundancy round went like this: a senior banker would call his PA and ask her
to walk over to the victim and have them pick up a particular line on their
phone. Then the victim was asked to quietly collect their personal items – the
rest would be sent by post – and come up to a particular room. So we would sit
there, and hear the PA's phone ring. One time I collected my things beforehand,
just in case....
"I saw many people cry. One time, a very popular guy on
our team was let go. It took everyone by surprise because this dude was not
only very nice, professional and dedicated but he actually made a lot of money
for the team. His eyes welled up and I'm sure he broke out in tears when he
left the floor. Moments after his departure, his desk was cleared and the head
of our team got up to say something to the effect: "He was a great guy but
business is business and let's get back to work and make some money." So a
guy you've spent X number of years sitting next to for most of your days since
joining suddenly disappears and that's it … back to business. New faces spring
up all the time. I'd think someone a few seats away was on holiday but then a
new face would take his or her seat and role soon after. At first it's a bit
weird. My boss used to say: "Every day you're getting closer to getting
fired."
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