An award-winning team of journalists, designers, and videographers who tell brand stories through Fast Company's distinctive lens, The future of innovation and technology in government for the greater good, Fast Company's annual ranking of businesses that are making an outsize impact, Leaders who are shaping the future of business in creative ways, New workplaces, new food sources, new medicine--even an entirely new economic system, The operating ploy that led Wells Fargo employees to open up millions of unauthorized bank and credit card accounts to meet cross-selling targets was categorized by Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren as gutless and a scam., And one workplace expert contends that the bank, which allegedly fired those who reported unethical behavior, demonstrated a classic case of systemic bullying., Andrew Faas, the founder of the Faas Foundation, an organization that seeks to create psychologically safe workplaces, defines systemic bullying this way: Setting unreasonable expectations to get rid of employees who do not deliver and causing others to resort to questionable practices to meet the expectations., Faas and his foundation, which supports such organizations as Mental Health American, Doctors Without Borders, and the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, claims to have no ties to any competing financial institutions. If these truly were rogue employees, as Wells Fargo alleges, then its all the more reason for there to be an objective assessment of the situation, says Faas. 
Our team members proactive participation in calling the EthicsLine and raising concerns enable us to investigate and appropriately address concerns. Team members who believe that they or someone else has been retaliated against for reporting an issue are instructed to report it as soon as possible to the HR Adviser team, Corporate Employee Relations, or their manager to ensure that a prompt review and where appropriate, corrective action is taken. If these people were the scapegoats, it is a tragedy of immense proportions.. Employees learn from what kind of behavior the firm celebrates, says Shiva Rajgopal, a professor at Columbia Business School. Also, at Wells Fargo we have a termination review process where team members who are terminated involuntarily can request to have the decision reviewed. How Wells Fargos Work Culture May Have Cleared The Way For Scandal, categorized by Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, fired those who reported unethical behavior, as alleged by almost a half-dozen former employees, Fast Company & Inc 2022 Mansueto Ventures, LLC. These employees who were retaliated against fell into the trap of what these so-called reporting systems are truly meant forto set up the employee who tries to play by the rules., When whistleblowers are considered traitors, it solidifies a culture of fear, says Faas. 
If the banks non-retaliation policy was violated in order to terminate employees who came forward, as alleged by almost a half-dozen former employees, then the whistleblower hotlines and policies merely exist for the purpose of plausible deniability, suggests Faas. Jared Lindzon is a freelance journalist and public speaker born, raised and based in Toronto, Canada.
#FCFestival returns to NYC this September! In his forthcoming book on workplace bullying, From Bully to Bulls-Eye: Move Your Organization Out of the Line of Fire, Faas includes a chapter titled, Is your culture a ticking time bomb? and he believes a bomb went off at Wells Fargo., The key ingredients that foster a hostile work environment, according to Faas, are unreasonable expectations put on employees, an acceptance of questionable practices, and reluctance to complain out of fear of retaliation. Wells Fargo has claimed that the 5,300 employees acted alone in opening up 1.5 million false bank accounts and 565,000 fraudulent credit cards on behalf of its customers. These systems are largely fluff to help the company deflect when the news of shady business practices hits the airwaves, like in the case of Wells Fargo, Faas says. Get your tickets today! To every organizational leader out therewhat should keep you awake at night is what you dont know because employees are afraid to tell you.. When asked for comment, a spokesperson for the bank reiterated Wells Fargos non-retaliation policy, which includes limiting information as part of the investigation to only those who have a legitimate business need to know: Our Nonretaliation Policy, which is available to all team members in our Team Member Handbook and reiterated in the Code of Ethics, makes it clear that no team member may be retaliated against for providing information about suspected unethical or illegal activities, including fraud, securities law, or regulatory violations, or possible violations of any Wells Fargo policies. The companys chairman and CEO, John Stumpf, has forfeited $41 million in unvested equity awards, forfeited his 2016 bonus and will not take a salary during the upcoming independent board investigation, but will not necessarily find himself out of a job, according to an investigation by the Wall Street Journal. The bank has since been ordered to pay a fine of $185 million. If what we hear in the media about the treatment of whistleblowers is true, Wells Fargo has a much bigger issue than the fraudulent accountsthey have a culture of fear, he says. If this is validated, it puts to question the credibility of their leaderships response.. Everything submitted to the EthicsLine is investigated. Approximately 5,300 employees and managers were terminated over a five year period for their involvement with the unauthorized accounts. When the spokesperson was asked why there had been a number of employees reporting that theyd been fired after calling the EthicsLine, they replied: We do not tolerate retaliation against team members who report their concerns. Reports are confidential and anonymous as the call center is staffed by third-party interview specialists who listen, ask clarifying questions if necessary, and then write a summary report of the call, they told Fast Company. Lindzon's writing focuses on the future of work and talent as it relates to technological innovation, as well as entrepreneurship, technology, politics, sports and music.