Wells Fargo & Co. has increased from 150 to 194 the number of employees affected by the pending closing of its West End Center in downtown Winston-Salem.
Operations in the 379,000-square-foot center at 809 West 4½ Street are expected to cease as early as Monday, employees told the Journal this week.
Another part of the center, at Fourth and Broad streets, closed last year.
According to a preliminary Feb. 4 WARN Act notice that the bank forwarded Thursday to the Journal, Wells Fargo said, “it is anticipated that formal notices of displacement will be delivered to affected employees by the end of second quarter of 2025.”
The bank filed an updated notice to the N.C. Commerce Department on Tuesday that the department posted Friday.
Affected business units are chief operating office global operations, consumer lending, corporate risk and technology.
Wells Fargo said 35 employees were given notification of their job ending between April 1 and June 10. The remaining 159 employees were notified Tuesday.
“Each employee will be provided a 60-day notice period from the date they receive formal notice of displacement," according to the notice.
“This effort does not impact our commitment to serving customers and clients in the Winston-Salem area. Customer-facing employees will continue to meet local customers’ and clients’ needs for the best service and advice.”
The cuts are part of Wells Fargo’s nationwide facility reduction initiative that was announced in October. That includes shifting employees to downtown Charlotte, where the bank has its main East Coast operations.
"These business decisions are never easy," the bank said in the formal WARN notice.
"Wells Fargo is committed to supporting our displaced employees. We will make every effort to minimize the impact and ease the transition."
The federal WARN Act requires employers to notify state economic officials and the mayor’s office of the affected community of mass layoffs of more than 50 employees or a complete operational shutdown.
The act requires companies that are planning large job cuts to notify affected workers at least 60 days in advance.
Commerce said Thursday the initial Wells Fargo workforce reduction filing did not qualify as a WARN notice when submitted because it did not detail when layoffs would begin nor provide a final employee separation date.
The notice requires employers to provide certain benefits to laid-off workers, such as 60 days of pay and benefit contributions if the closing is immediate, as well as access to COBRA insurance benefits for 60 days. It also triggers emergency employment and job-training services to affected employees from Commerce, though they can be provided without request.
Wells Fargo said employees who do not relocate to other bank operations will be eligible to receive paid severance benefits based on years of service, as well as the opportunity to continue participating in the bank’s health plans at active rates for a period of time.
“We will make every effort to minimize the impact and ease the transition for our affected employees,” the bank said.
Aside from the notice, the bank reiterated portions of a statement from October that “we continue to bring the majority of our non-customer facing positions together in locations to best meet the needs of our business and provide an improved work experience for our employees.”
Over the past nine months, Wells Fargo has significantly reduced its workforce and office presence in downtown Winston-Salem.
During the third quarter of 2024, Wells Fargo vacated at least 450,000 square feet across multiple buildings in the Winston-Salem Central Business District, according to a report by the Triad office of commercial real-estate company CBRE.
That includes vacating at least 180,000 square feet in the 546,020-square-foot Wells Fargo Center — the tallest building in Winston-Salem at 29 floors.
Greg Wilson, the executive vice president of CBRE, said in October that the bank kept about 139,000 square feet in Wells Fargo Center.
The bank also exited the 90,000-square-foot West End Center annex on Fourth Street and the 179,000-square-foot Linden Center on Fourth Street in the Innovation Quarter.
Wilson said the 20-year original Wachovia lease on the three buildings ended in September 2024.
Wells Fargo said in October that “as we have shared before, we are on a multi-year journey to transform our company to become simpler and stronger. This will strengthen our customer-centric culture, collaboration, strong risk management and innovation.”
Wells Fargo began consolidating into fewer hubs as a cost-cutting measure in October.
The bank also has consolidated operations into Minneapolis, Columbus, Ohio and a $455 million regional hub under construction in Irving, Texas.
Since the fourth quarter of 2020, Wells Fargo’s overall workforce is down by nearly 51,700, or 19.3%. The bank has reduced its workforce in every quarter since the third quarter of 2020.