- Goldman Sachs staff were emailed calendar invitations for fake business meetings, the New York Post reports.
- Workers arrived at conference rooms to find they were among 3,200 workers laid off Wednesday.
- Meetings were scheduled as early as 7:30 in the morning, and some junior bankers were given 30 minutes to leave.
Goldman Sachs asked staff to attend “bogus” business meetings where they were told they were being fired, the New York Post reported.
Bankers were emailed calendar invitations for Wednesday morning meetings and were told managers let them go when they got to the conference room, according to the report.
The newspaper said many Goldman Sachs workers were called into meetings as early as 7:30 a.m., and that some junior bankers were given just 30 minutes to pack up and leave.
An insider told the Post that one colleague was fired after coming to a meeting early “was put on his calendar under false pretenses.”
On Wednesday, Goldman cut 3,200 jobs, or about 6.5% of its global workforce. The positions were selected from New York, Dallas, Chicago, Salt Lake City and London, where “there were many tears,” Financial News reported.
The publication reported that many senior staff were informed of their roles earlier this week, while more junior staff were “let go with little fanfare” on Wednesday.
Last month, CEO David Solomon warned staff of looming layoffs in a memo obtained by Bloomberg. He reportedly blamed the cuts on factors including “tightening monetary conditions” that are holding back economic activity.
Workers laid off from the New York headquarters will continue to receive pay for 90 days, as required by the state WARN Act, before receiving severance pay. In other countries, the notice period is 60 days.
Goldman made some layoffs in September when it cut senior associates and vice presidents from its technology, media and telecommunications team. He also laid off staff from the retail, health and industry departments.
Those cuts followed a 41% drop in revenue in its investment banking division. CFO Denis Coleman said at the time that the bottom 5% of contractors would leave, with the pace of hiring slowing.
A Goldman Sachs spokesperson told Insider in a statement: “We know this is a difficult time for people leaving the company. We are grateful for all the contributions our people have made and are providing support to ease their transition. Our focus now is to right-size the company for the opportunities that are ahead of us in a challenging macroeconomic environment.”