October 27, 2021
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Layoffs Watch '12: UBS Tells Employees Not To Bother Themselves With Figuring Out How To Get Into Work (Ever Again)

Earlier this week, before a natural disaster struck the East Coast, UBS announced that it would essentially be getting out of the investment banking business and focusing its energy on wealth management, letting go of approximately 10,000 employees as it transitioned back to its tax evading roots. That was Monday morning, and while the bank had said that it planned to start cuts on Tuesday, most people assumed that the Swiss would wait at least 24 hours between the time Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy told residents to seek safety from the storm on their roofs, or power for the many who lost it was restored, to can a bunch of staff. Those people, however, thought wrong. Apparently when UBS decides to do something, neither wind nor rain nor is gonna stop them.
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Earlier this week, before a natural disaster struck the East Coast, UBS announced that it would be calling it quits on its fixed income experiment and focusing on wealth management, letting go of approximately 10,000 employees as it transitioned back to its tax evading roots. That was Monday morning, and while the bank had said that it planned to start cuts on Tuesday, most people assumed that the Swiss would wait at least 24 hours between the time Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy told residents to seek safety from the storm on their roofs or power for the many who lost it was restored or NY/NJ/CT mass transit started functioning again to can a bunch of staff. Those people, however, thought wrong. Apparently when UBS higher-ups decide to do something, neither wind nor rain nor is gonna stop them.

"Need time to get your shit together after Hurricane Sandy? UBS HR doesn't think so. The cuts started for New York yesterday, calling people on their cell phones to cell them they were done. It was a bloodbath. They spared very few. Whole divisions in fixed income trading were let go. All the way up to Executive Directors. No junior person in Fixed Income Trading remains, even first years on the desk who started the training program in July and then started on the desk in August were let go. We were told not to return to work by either HR or your MD, if he/she had enough courage to do it themselves. It was over their heads it seems. A small senior level staff remains to support secondary trading in our High Yield primary issuance business, but it looks like most of IG got wiped out, Distressed no longer exists and is being wound down, CLOs is gone....they decimated the business overnight and spared nobody, including older guys with families who were lifers at UBS."

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Layoffs Watch '12: UBS

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Layoffs Watch '12: UBS Has Something To Share

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Hiring Watch '12: UBS Was Just Joking When It Fired Scores Of Employees In The Harshest Ways Imaginable

Remember last week when UBS called New York based employees the day after Hurricane Sandy to tell them they no longer had a job, and communicated the same news to London-based staff by deactivating their ID cards and cutting off their email access? The bank is hoping everyone is at the point where they can laugh about all that, as apparently management got a bit overzealous with its firings-- these things happen in the heat of the moment-- and actually let go of a few too many people, who are now being offered their jobs back. UBS has brought back several employees who were put on leave when it unveiled a drastic pullback from fixed income last week, and more could follow, sources familiar with the situation said. The Swiss bank stopped dozens of traders from reaching their desks in London last Tuesday, when it unveiled an exit from most of its rates and bond trading businesses in a strategic overhaul that will lead to 10,000 global layoffs. The bankers were placed on special leave until further notice, while in the United States UBS fired several fixed-income employees by phone. UBS has already brought back a small handful of employees who were on leave, two people familiar with the matter said. It could also ask more to return or rehire some where needed, said three other sources, including UBS insiders, adding that some desks were now too thinly staffed to operate properly, if they were desks the bank ultimately wanted to keep going. No hard feelings? UBS takes back some traders on leave amid overhaul [Reuters] Earlier: UBS Takes Swift Action On Job Cuts; Layoffs Watch ’12: UBS Tells Employees Not To Bother Themselves With Figuring Out How To Get Into Work (Ever Again)

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Layoffs Watch '12: UBS

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Layoffs Watch '12: UBS

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