Benefits - Benefits have significantly reduced since FirstData acquired Fiserv. Currently no 401k match (used to be 3%). Employee stock purchase plan dropped from 15% discount to 5%. Bonuses used to be a straight distribution, but now they have a 4 year vesting period.
Culture – The management style from top leaders is often harsh. Fear based leadership from the top down that includes yelling, swearing, and the subtle threats of being fired is a great short term motivator, but it does not generate sustained employee engagement. There are better ways to motivate employees that lead to long term benefits for both them employer and the employee. The interaction between teams can also be very adversarial. We seem to have forgotten that we are all working for the same company towards the same ultimate goals. If a client must suffer to meet one department’s deadlines or goals, so be it. The big picture can easily get lost in this environment.
Employee Engagement - Employee engagement surveys are generally conducted annually, but it was not done this year. Most likely because leadership knows that the results will be poor and are putting off being judged by the employees. In previous years, leadership would put a great deal of effort into reviewing all employee comments and very publicly implementing changes to address any systemic issues identified. During last year’s engagement survey (the first real one under the new FirstData leadership), there was virtually no visible action seen or taken.
Location Strategy – Despite the well documented productivity increases that most departments have seen while working remotely during COVID, the company has chosen now to release any employees that are not willing to move to an approved location. Even within the last 6 months, Fiserv has hired new people in offices that are now deemed unapproved as well as people hired recently that were told they could work remotely. Those people are now being given a choice to move to a different location (New Jersey preferred) or move on. At the same time, Fiserv is letting go all associates that will not get the COVID vaccine. The combined total of employees that will go away between these two efforts will likely be between one quarter to one third of the total employee base. The largest concern is that this is all happening at the same time. I’m not sure that the company can sustain itself with this type of workforce loss all at once. Almost certainly, it will not be able to sustain the current level of service. Plus, this is all happening during the holidays when it is difficult for people to find new jobs. We know that the CEO made a commitment to fill a large office in New Jersey to get large tax breaks which is at least partially driving this effort, but it doesn’t seem worth all the soft costs involved.
