She’s overseeing a plan to shut at least 450 branches, a move that will shrink the nation’s largest retail-bank network about 7 percent by the end of 2018. In the year’s first half, it reduced its footprint faster than both JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp.
In the interview, she was careful to call the branch closures “consolidations.” In many cases, customers and employees can be moved to nearby locations that remain open. That’s helping to limit dismissals, Mack said. Still, the workforce will shrink as managers leave some positions vacant when employees quit or get promoted.
Last month, she told staff she’s cutting about 70 senior executive jobs as she simplifies the organization. The people affected can try to find new roles at the company. But the reduction is also sending some into retirement.
Eight Was Great
Technology is another theme for Mack as she reshapes the branch network. She’s arming some workers with tablets and telling them to help customers download the bank’s mobile app. In the busiest branches, employees now direct customers awaiting a teller to instead use what the bank calls assisted-service ATMs, which can perform more-advanced tasks than common cash dispensers, such as giving change in $1 bills.
Mack also freed workers from her predecessors’ long-held mantra -- “Eight is Great” -- that encouraged employees to sell every customer household eight Wells Fargo products. The best way to impress managers, she said, is not by overselling, but by sussing out what customers are really after and delivering it -- fast.
“Folks have wanted change,” she said. “And when change comes, it’s a lot for our team members to absorb.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.