As an ethics speaker, consultant and author, I get particularly upset by companies who not only attempt to circumvent issues of equity, diversity and inclusion, but who also retaliate against whistleblowers who point out unethical behavior in that regard.
Wells Fargo in the news again?
Whether Wells Fargo is culpable of unethical behavior – again, or the victim of misunderstanding is what I would like to explore in this post.
According to Emily Flitter for the New York Times:
“Joe Bruno, a former executive in the wealth management division of Wells Fargo, had long been troubled by the way his unit handled certain job interviews.
For many open positions, employees would interview a ‘diverse’ candidate — the bank’s term for a woman or person of color — in keeping with the bank’s yearslong informal policy. But Bruno noticed that often, the so-called diverse candidate would be interviewed for a job that had already been promised to someone else.”
Bruno had enough. He complained as to the alleged “informal policy.” He filed a complaint saying fake interviews were “inappropriate, morally wrong, ethically wrong.”
Here is where the finger pointing begins. The bank branch replied that Bruno had been fired for retaliation of an employee in his department. Nevertheless, the reports are that seven additional Wells Fargo employees within a particular unit noted the practice, and up to five additional employees allegedly helped to facilitate the practice.
The official statement from the Wells Fargo spokesperson, said “the bank expected all employees to follow its hiring policies and guidelines, which are communicated across the firm.”
Who knew what?
In my role as an ethics keynote speaker and ethics consultant, I well remember writing about the huge fines levied against several C-Suite Wells Fargo executives a few years ago. They “strongly encouraged” branch bankers to create phony customer accounts. Their unethical behavior cost the company $4.5 billion in fines.
While I have little doubt the upper management of the bank is committed to diversity, and indeed, mandated “a diverse slate of candidates would have to be interviewed for all open jobs paying more than $100,000 a year,” as recently as August 2021, the bank settled a discrimination claim involving 30,000 Black job applicants in lower-level support roles.
It was not a good look for an already ethically struggling organization. Bruno, who worked out of the Jacksonville, Florida office, according to the Yahoo! article, “was mainly responsible for filling two categories of jobs — financial advisers and financial consultants, who work alongside advisers.”
Bruno allegedly became so fed up with the practices of the bank he stopped interviewing qualified minority applicants. The CEO of Wells Fargo’s wealth and investment management business, said “There is absolutely no reason why anyone would conduct a fake interview.”
While the bank claims that they keep scrupulous records of those hired, it is difficult for me to remain convinced the playing field was level. It leads me to wondering if the bank policy publicly went in one direction, while specific branches with illegal and unethical biases were operating under their own rules.
Something is amiss with how the Jacksonville branch may be hiring.
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