The death of an employee in the office of the internationally renowned bank, Wells Fargo, has attracted attention!
Recently, a 60 year old female employee of Wells Fargo passed away at her workstation and was only discovered a few days later. Arizona police have revealed that they are investigating the case and have not found any signs of murder so far. Fuguo Bank stated in a statement that it regrets the passing of the employee and is fully cooperating with the police investigation.
According to reports, most of the employees of Wells Fargo located at the office are working remotely, but the building has security personnel on duty 24/7. The employee of the bank said, 'This is really heartbreaking. If I were sitting there, wouldn't anyone have noticed me?'
The above case coincides with the reflection of many large American companies on the issue of remote work for employees.
The latest market value of Fuguo Bank is $199 billion, approximately RMB 1.41 trillion.
Bank employees died at their workstations for several days
According to multiple foreign media reports, Dennis Prudholm, a 60 year old female employee of Wells Fargo, entered the bank's office building at 7am on August 16th and did not come out again until her body was discovered by security on August 20th.
On August 20th, the security guard of Wells Fargo reported to the police that "someone fell", and the police arrived at the scene and confirmed that Prudholm had died. Another anonymous employee of the bank revealed that security guards found Prudholm dead in his small booth while patrolling the building.
It is reported that Prudholm's office is located on the third floor of the building, far away from the main passage. A building employee said in an interview that everyone did complain about the odor in the hallway, but they all believed it was caused by pipeline problems.
According to reports, employees of Wells Fargo expressed their concerns anonymously, with some saying that although most employees in the office work remotely, Prudholm should have been discovered earlier because the building has a 24/7 security presence. An employee said that the most terrifying part of the whole thing is this, which to some extent reflects the negligence of security personnel. An employee said, "This is really heartbreaking. If I were sitting there, wouldn't anyone notice me? It makes me sick to hear her sitting in front of the office like that all along. No one did anything. This is the last time of her life
An employee told the media that they want to know why Wells Fargo did not formally explain the cause of the woman's death to the employee at the beginning. Colleagues only learned of Prudholm's death after her family received notification. After the incident, Wells Fargo stated in a statement that it regrets Prudholm's death and is fully cooperating with the police investigation. Fuguo Bank also stated that the company will provide support to employees affected by this incident.
Arizona police have revealed that they are investigating a "death case in the office of a Wells Fargo employee." A police spokesperson stated in an email on August 29th that no signs of murder have been found so far.
According to public information, Wells Fargo was founded in 1852 and is headquartered in San Francisco, USA. Its main business is retail banking, supplemented by wholesale banking, investment banking, and personal finance. It once became the world's largest bank by market value.
Wells Fargo was once the favorite of stock guru Warren Buffett. Buffett was once the largest shareholder of the bank, with a market value of up to $32 billion. In the first quarter of 2022, after holding for 33 years, Buffett liquidated his position in Wells Fargo. Industry insiders suggest that Buffett's reason for clearing his position at Wells Fargo may be due to his perception of the risks involved in the bank's operations and management.
According to the latest financial report, in the second quarter of 2024, Wells Fargo's total revenue was 20.689 billion yuan, compared to 20.53 billion US dollars in the same period last year; Net profit of 4.91 billion US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 0.57%; The company's net interest income was $11.92 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 9%, mainly due to rising deposit costs and declining loan balances, lower than the average analyst expectation of $12.1 billion. Wells Fargo has updated its 2024 guidance and expects non interest expenses to reach approximately $54 billion in 2024, higher than the previously expected $52.6 billion. Net interest income may decrease by approximately 7% to 9% compared to the full year 2023 of $52.4 billion.
Recently, Federal Reserve Chairman Powell released a clear signal of interest rate cuts at the Jackson Hole meeting, and a rate cut in September is a foregone conclusion. This also means that the net interest income of the US banking industry may further decrease.
The issue of 'remote work' has sparked discussions
It is worth noting that the "Fuguo Bank employee office death case" coincides with the public's heated discussion on remote work issues.
Recently, Eric Schmidt, former CEO and Executive Chairman of Google, stated in a speech at Stanford University that Google would lose to startups such as OpenAI in the artificial intelligence competition because Google's remote work policy resulted in employees not working hard enough. Schmidt emphasized in his speech that having employees work in the office is a key element of success: "If you start a business and want to compete with other startups, you won't let employees work from home and only come to the company one day a week
Many well-known American entrepreneurs hold similar views to Schmidt. Morgan Stanley Chairman and CEO Damon once wrote in his annual shareholder letter that the company's management cannot sit in front of the screen to lead the team. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has also stated that employees are required to work at least 40 hours per week in the office.
Last summer, the dissatisfaction of entrepreneurs and managers towards remote work seemed to reach its peak. According to media reports, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy stated that if employees cannot comply with the new rule of working three days a week in the office, "then you may not be able to survive at Amazon." Bloomberg founder and former New York City Mayor Bloomberg also hinted that remote workers are not actually working, but playing golf.
During the pandemic, working from home has become mainstream, and as the pandemic subsides, the financial industry has become one of the most active industries requiring employees to return to the office. Compared with competitors such as JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, although Wells Fargo required its employees to return to the office later, it has never relaxed its requirements for their work performance and professional ethics.
In May of this year, an internal investigation by Wells Fargo caused a huge uproar. According to documents disclosed by the Financial Industry Regulatory Agency (Finra) in the United States, after investigating and discovering that over a dozen employees in the wealth and investment management departments were using devices such as keyboard simulators to "disguise themselves as actively working," Wells Fargo directly made the decision to terminate their employment. A spokesperson for Wells Fargo stated in a statement that the bank always holds its employees to the highest standards and does not tolerate any form of unethical behavior.
During the epidemic, working from home has become mainstream, and devices such as keyboard simulators and mouse movers have become popular among employees. These devices can mimic the work activities of employees, disguising themselves as busy. Fuguo Bank will implement& quot; Mixed Elastic Mode& quot;， Employees are expected to work in the office at least three days a week. However, the hybrid office model has brought new challenges to employee management, and companies need to monitor employees' work performance more strictly to prevent similar unethical behavior from occurring.
The aforementioned dismissal of employees indicates that Fuguo Bank is strengthening its management of employees to cope with the shift in office models in the post pandemic era. Whether working from home or returning to the office, employees should abide by professional ethics and approach their work with integrity and dedication. At present, the bank expects most employees to work in the office at least three days a week, management committee members are required to work four days a week, and many employees, such as branch staff, are required to work five days a week.