- Goldman Sachs staff were emailed calendar invites for fake business meetings, per the New York Post.
- Workers arrived in conference rooms to discover they were among the 3,200 job cuts Wednesday.
Goldman Sachs asked staff to attend "phony" business meetings where they were told they'd been laid off, the New York Post reported.
Bankers were emailed calendar invites for meetings on Wednesday morning and informed they were let go by managers when they got to a conference room, according to the report.
The newspaper said many of the Goldman Sachs workers were called in for meetings as early as 7:30 a.m., with some junior bankers given just 30 minutes to collect their belongings and leave.
An insider told the Post that one colleague was let go after coming in early for a meeting "put on his calendar under false pretenses."
Goldman cut 3,200 jobs, or about 6.5% of its global workforce, on Wednesday. Positions were culled from New York, Dallas, Chicago, Salt Lake City and London, where "there were a lot of tears," Financial News reported.
The publication reported that many senior staff were told earlier in the week about their roles, while more junior staff were "cut with little fanfare" on Wednesday.
Last month CEO David Solomon warned staff of the looming layoffs in a memo obtained by Bloomberg. He reportedly blamed the cuts on factors including "tightening monetary conditions" that are hampering economic activity.
Workers laid off from the New York headquarters will continue to be paid for 90 days as required by the state's WARN Act, before getting a severance pay. In other states 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. It also axed staff from its consumer retail, healthcare, and industrials divisions.
Those cuts followed a 41% decline in revenues from its investment banking division. CFO Denis Coleman said at the time that the bottom 5% of performers would go, with brakes put on the pace of hiring.
A Goldman Sachs spokesperson told Insider in a statement: "We know this is a difficult time for people leaving the firm. We're grateful for all our people's contributions, and we're providing support to ease their transitions. Our focus now is to appropriately size the firm for the opportunities ahead of us in a challenging macroeconomic environment."