News Specialist John Hollenhorst reports.
Ordinarily, job layoffs trigger a lot of sour grapes and
a round of griping about the company. In today's case
of Fidelity Investments, though, people seem to be
leaving with respect for the company, partly because
Fidelity fought off a very tough trend for a long time.
The people who work at Fidelity are accustomed to
giving financial advice to other people. Now they may
need some themselves.
BRIAN MULVEY/LAID OFF FINANCIAL
ADVISOR: "PEOPLE ARE WORRIED AND
NERVOUS, WORRIED ABOUT YOUR
MORTGAGE AND YOUR KIDS."
Brian Mulvey is looking for work now, instead of
advising high end clients. He's one of 100 Fidelity
people losing their jobs.
DAVID BUSH/LAID OFF BROKER: "I SAW
IT COMING. I'VE BEEN LOOKING AROUND,
EXPECTING IT. AND THIS CAME AS NO
SURPRISE."
No surprise because, well, because these are brokers
and analysts. They know better than most how bad
the high-stakes trading game has been going on Wall
Street.
DAVID BUSH/LAID OFF BROKER: "DURING
THE 90'S EVERYBODY MADE MONEY. SO
EVERYBODY TRADED. GOOD FOR ME. NOW
THAT THE STOCK MARKET'S GOING DOWN,
PEOPLE ARE SAYING, 'I'M NOT MAKING
ANY MONEY, I'M NOT GOING TO TRADE.'
SO NO NEED FOR ME. THE COMPANY'S
GOT TO KEEP MAKING MONEY."
Even as they're leaving, Fidelity people are willing to
take a crack at analyzing their own company. Fidelity
resisted layoffs, some say, because it's private, rather
than publicly-held, focused more on long-term health,
rather than short-term profits.
BRIAN MULVEY/LAID OFF FINANCIAL
ADVISOR: "FINANCIAL MARKETS HAVE
BEEN TAKING A HIT FOR MONTHS, FOR
SEVERAL YEARS. IF YOU LOOK AT
FIDELITY, GIVE THEM SOME CREDIT.
THEY'VE HELD ON A LOT LONGER THAN
MOST OF THE OTHER FINANCIAL FIRMS."
And in saying goodbye, some are praising the
company's handling of severance pay.
DAVID BUSH/LAID OFF BROKER: "IT
SEEMS TO BE PRETTY GENEROUS, YEAH."
At Fidelity, like most financial firms, there are fewer
advisors around now to help make sense of the kind
of Wall Street wackiness that resulted in a 300 point
rise in the Dow Jones average today, after reaching a
five year low just a few days ago.
