Brian Moynihan is no stranger to laying off workers — it’s one of the key ways he helped shape Bank of America after the 2008 financial crisis.
But in recent years, his firm has taken a different approach to managing its workforce. It raised the minimum wage paid to staff, gave them cash and stock bonuses and improved benefits.
While rivals including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley cut workers recently ahead of a possible economic downturn in 2023, Moynihan and his CFO have said they don’t see the need for layoffs. That doesn’t mean the company’s head count won’t shrink, however, as the bank seeks to cut expenses amid the revenue pressures faced by the industry.
“We don’t lay off people, but we have an ability to reshape our headcount pretty quickly just by the turnover that occurs,” Moynihan said Tuesday during a financial conference.
In other words, Moynihan will allow positions to go unfilled as employees voluntarily depart, moving people around and retraining them as …