Bank of America’s CEO gets real about the labor shortage: ‘We don’t have enough people now’ and those who quit aren’t coming back
By: Amiah Taylor
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Like many business leaders these days, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan is feeling the impact of the Great Resignation at his company. That would be the record numbers of U.S. workers quitting their jobs—3% left their roles in September alone—creating headaches for businesses trying to keep positions filled.
A lot of people left the labor market and they’re not going to come back, even with a strong bid for their services,” Moynihan said on Thursday during a virtual event hosted by Fortune and the World Economic Forum. “And that’s just the reality we’re going to be facing. We’re going to be chasing that dynamic of not enough people working.”
The Great Resignation started in April of last year amid the COVID pandemic, as workers started going off in search of higher pay and better benefits, or left the workforce altogether.
Moynihan said the difficulty in finding workers won’t be fixed anytime soon.
The population growth rate has fallen in half during the last decade and we just don’t have enough people now,” Moynihan said.
In an effort to make Bank of America more competitive as an employer, Moynihan said he raised wages. Total compensation expenses for the bank grew 10% last year to $36.1 billion . Starting wages at the bank now average $44,000 annually with full benefits, Moynihan pointed out. The bank’s attrition rate actually fell 50% earlier during the pandemic, he said, but it’s since rebounded to pre-COVID levels.
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I guess people are tired of low wages and no bennies and being treated like cattle
There are likely a variety of reasons.
Surprisingly, Bank of America was named one of the "100 Best Companies to Work For" in 2021 by Fortune magazine, and global research and consulting firm, Great Place to Work® for the third consecutive year.
it's very empowering to have the freedom to tell your employer to fuck off.
There are probably multiple reasons for this. Some people have gotten the urge, ala Shark tank, to try and have their own "start up" business, and work as an Uber driver or whatever until they can make that happen or fall on their face. Some people used the pandemic closures as a reason to re-evaluate how they were being treated by their employer. The stark economic inequality in the country is so obvious I think it has started to sink on Joe Q Public that they have been taken advantage of by a system that vastly favors corporate owners, ceo's and managers, and even stockholders, over the interest of the employees. True, a lot of this dissatisfaction is occurring in the lower half of the income scale, but that is to be expected, isnt it?
Don't forget that with the newer, higher, wages being offered, a lot of those workers were working 2 jobs, where now they only need to work one.
America needs more immigrant workers per BOA...
Completely agree. Immigrant workers are very entrepreneurial, with a strong work ethic and family values in comparison to our unemployed, native born.
I did not say that. BOA believes that their planned future economic growth will require more workers than are now being born in the USA...
It appears you are another victim of words being attributed to you that you did not say.
I did not say that.
You wrote, "America needs more immigrant workers per BOA..."
I agreed and added an additional though.
Is that what you call it? Does that work in RL?
People adding additional thoughts is actually how conversations work IRL.
Then he needs to express his own thoughts instead of piggybacking his nonsense onto mine. I do just fine without all his faldegras.
That's a couple times you've used that term. I have looked everywhere, even a Google Translate and nothing. Can ya help?
RL? RL Carriers, Ralph Lauren, Rocket League, Real Life? I see that I've joined a group that loves kit's acronyms.
Then he needs to express his own thoughts instead of piggybacking his nonsense onto mine.
What did you find to be nonsense? I didn't find your thoughts to be nonsense.
I apologize, did you not mean your comment to generate conversation?
Do disagree with my thoughts about immigrant workers?
Balderdash?
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The value of my comments are diminishing.
Faldegras is Fench slang for false grace...
I do not feel bad for big business. Maybe they will realize you cannot treat people like shit and expect loyalty in return.
Yeah, but it's not just affecting big business. A popular local restaurant has never reopened to the hours it had pre-Covid, because it can't hire enough wait staff.
And one of my employees is leaving - she and her hub are moving away. I have received a grand total of one resume in my search to replace her. It's part time WITH benefits, well paid. Hardly any interest so far. My cousin expressed interest, but I'm a bit leery of hiring family, TBH. Seems like it could end really badly.
With some McDonalds, Targets, and Walmarts offering wages closer to $20/hour, local businesses cannot compete.
I do know that most restaurants treat their staff like shit - pay serf wages & expect them to pick up extra with tips - even though most people do not leave enough tips to cover the taxes that the wait staff gets hit with. Wait staff has to pay taxes on a % of food sales that get posted to them whether they get a tip or not & when you are being paid hourly at a lower amount than minimum wage it hardly seems to be worth doing that and putting up with horrible customers. My son is a waiter/bar tender & it has not been pleasant lately.
I am currently doing the job of three people since my co-workers retired. They have yet to post for replacements since they can save big money by not replacing them, so I have a hard time feeling bad for "management".
Guess the ball is in their court - compete or get out of the business. Why should workers put up with serf wages when they don't have to?
Exactly, why work when they don't have to?
Yep, great way to put words in my mouth that I never said.
So I guess I can assume that you are for people working their asses off for a pittance so that profits for the rich is at an all time high - by the way it is.
Some folks get quite snotty without knowing the other person's situation, don't they?
The word I was thinking was, "Impertinent"...
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Just responding to your assumption & don't pretend that is not what you meant. Or else your response would not have started with "exactly".
Back in the old days when I waited tables, I got paid a dollar below min wage. I got more because I was one of the head waitresses. They had implemented the 8% tax on a server's total sales. That was fine if you were able to collect more than 8% tips on your tickets. I worked in a college town so tips could be sketchy some nights. At the time the IRS weren't looking in our pockets to how much cash we accumulated in a shift...thank goodness
My son was $4 below minimum wage. And tax time was an eyeopener for him. He was undercut by fellow servers (they took over his table but never removed his name - kept the tip - while he got taxed on it) .
That's dirty pool not to mention theft
That's what I think, but my son doesn't like to cause waves.
I meant that I was in agreement with your comment.
I almost think it is time to do away with the tipping system. We are one of the few countries that does it.
Of course then I can hear people say that a business could not afford it, they would have to raise prices, blah blah.
They should pay more and raise prices to compensate. Americans eat out often, from 2009 - 2019, food and drink sales in the US restaurant industry steadily increased and reached over $773B in 2019. The average household spent an average of $3,459 on takeout, in-restaurant dining, and fast food meals in 2018.
I agree. Hell if they are going to tip anyway, the higher price just lets you consider it done. Of course there is the question of quality of service. Would the wait staff still be as vigilant if they knew all they were going to get anyway was their hourly? Who knows. Kind of a tough one to cover all the bases.
Yep. We are paying their salary one way or another.
I also don't care for places that pool tips. Sounds great and all but why should someone that sucks end up getting as much as someone that worked their ass off.
Pooling tips does suck for the reason you stated.
The reason jobs are so available is that the (former?) workers are asking themselves that exact question.
My good friend is an executive at BoA, and he tells me that this is true. Applicants are getting less and less desirable, and employees are getting less and less dependable. I don’t have much sympathy for an industry that somehow needs tons of employees but produces nothing but profits using OPM.
We have a lot of turnover where I work. The young people aren't staying to make careers here. They're getting their experience and moving on to higher wages. I can't blame them. There is no career path where I work where one can advanced. I stayed because I got complacent. It was good when the kids were in school because there was no mandatory overtime and if I did work over, I got time off...I was only allowed to work 40 hours a week. The bennies....meh. Just glad I have Tricare.
But morale has slipped drastically in the past decade. Management only worries about themselves and could care less about the rank and file. They're not even trying to attract and retain talent.
At least you will get a pension though.
True....3 more years!
Early retirement for me in 3 years - Full retirement in 5 - I DON'T KNOW IF I CAN MAKE IT 5 MORE YEARS HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I could take partial retirement next year and if I put in another 5 that will be 30 years. Not sure I can last till 30
I think that is something a lot of people don't think about.
Some want instant profit now yet don't have any plans for retirement.
Sometimes it is worth it to have a job that may pay a little lower now yet have perks that will last the rest of your life.
Very true and one of the reasons I stuck with it
You can find people for literally any job if the pay is right. If you're understaffed, you're not paying enough.
This is how capitalism works. It's very simple.
A biddy who belongs to my Oklahoma hometown FB group has been advertising for high school kids to clean up her overgrown property and haul her pile of junk to the dump using their truck and trailer...
For $5.00 an hour. There have been no takers and so now she is railing about how kids today are lazy and unwilling to work, "For good money"...
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She is an infamous malicious local gossip...
At $5 an hour sounds to me like she is still living in the 60's or 70's LOL
She's a great example of the larger problem.
The demand for labor has outpaced the supply much faster than the previous buyers of labor can bring themselves to recognize. Your FB lady is having the same struggle many employers are...the inability to define "good money" correctly in the current context.
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Back here in the real world, two high school age guys doing hard backbreaking labor all day with their own truck and trailer plus dump fees cannot be had today for less than $250-300...
Yes, and a lot of people, especially old folks, are completely out if touch with what it takes to live today or what the going wages are...
It's hard to keep old folks in touch.
That's very reasonable.
“At $5 an hour sounds to me like she is still living in the 60's or 70's LOL”
Sounds like the perfect opportunity for a church youth group or any other volunteer organization to step in.
It happens every single day and no publicity required. Seen it hundreds of times…reach out with a sincere need and you will be blessed.
She owns half the buildings downtown...
Cheap at any price?
I trust you to know, JBB.
Is the US population supposed to continually expand?
Most industrialized nations have been experiencing less than replacement birth rates for several decades because women who have an education and access to birth control are choosing to have only the number of children that they want and/or can afford. This seems to be the optimum situation for everyone involved except the "capitalists" who need an ever expanding number of wage slaves, soldiers, and consumers.