The laid-off bankers are complaining that Goldman Sachs used chilling underhand tactics in preparing a bloodbath that claimed the lives of greater than 3,000 employees this week, The Post has learned.
Insiders say the Wall Street giant – whose Wednesday layoffs have been dubbed “David’s Demolition Day” in honor of CEO David Solomon – has emailed a calendar inviting select employees to fake business “meetings” at its Recent York headquarters.
But when employees arrived on the boardroom – lots of them for meetings as early as 7:30 on Wednesday – they were greeted by the team leader, who told them they were getting a can, with their manager grimly watching the proceedings.
“He got here here early for a gathering and got the news,” one source said, telling the sad story of a laid-off colleague. “The meeting was placed on his calendar under false pretenses.”
“The managers regretted doing it, but their hand was forced they usually wished him well,” an insider told The Post.
One other worker was told to reach at 7:30 a.m. for a call with Goldman’s Asia-Pacific counterparts and didn’t query the early appointment, as people from other regions are frequently off-hours, one other source said.
Redundant employees got the choice of leaving the office immediately or waiting for colleagues to reach so that they could say goodbye. A lot of the victims selected to go away the constructing after a spate of ax attacks made before 9am – leaving colleagues who arrived later confused by what had happened, the sources say.
![Goldman](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/goldman-sachs-230113-55.jpg?w=1024)
Indeed, the cool efficiency of the proceedings took on a more chaotic nature as many managers were unclear about what to do next, including when medical insurance would end or how much redundant employees would receive.
That is partly since the human resources department was one of the units hit hard by the layoffs and lacked the staff to properly manage the meetings, insiders said.
“When he asked questions … that they had no details and asked him to verify his personal cell and email address and that somebody would “contact him later,” the source added. “Typical of our human capital management (Goldman Human Resources) … it is a messy mess of every part administrative.”
A spokesman for Goldman denied that the staffing cuts affected communication of the severance pay and dismissed the notion that the layoffs were a surprise. Solomon has warned over the past few months that cuts are coming, and the corporate said they might start on Wednesday.
“We all know it is a difficult time for people leaving the corporate. We’re grateful for the contributions of all our employees and are providing support to ease their transition,” Global Head of Communications Tony Fratto said in an announcement.
One other source noted that Goldman had been treating managing directors and vice presidents with more transparency – warning them that they could possibly be fired in the previous couple of weeks before a final decision was made.
The senior Goldmanites did not have much sympathy for individuals who were fired after receiving a fraudulent calendar invitation. One worker who has been in finance for greater than a decade told The Post that sending someone a calendar invite as a ruse to get in touch with them one-on-one after which fire them was “pretty standard”.
![Goldman](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/goldman-sachs-230113-54.jpg?w=1024)
“If someone didn’t foresee it…it’s their fault,” the worker added.
Junior employees in other industries seemed unaware that Goldman was using a standard tactic of firing people.
One frantic worker of the info company Dremio posted a message on the company message board Blind, which verifies the place of employment of users through corporate email accounts, being the one ones to receive an invite from their supervisor for a 15-minute meeting.
“I’m so nervous… What is the likelihood of being fired?” the employee asked.
More experienced employees chimed in: “Yes, it is a layoff. The choice has already been made.”
One other blind user said: “You’ve been fired. Clear personal data out of your laptop. Gather anything you should save, similar to contact details for references.”
Since then, the Dremio worker has not posted an update on his employment status.