Employees claim Capital One firing more, creating tougher standards

By AMBI BIGGS
The Free Lance-Star

Date published: 4/20/2002

Employees say firm
is on a firing binge

Fortune Magazine says Capital One Financial Corp. is among the best 100 companies to work for in the country.

Some local employees beg to differ.

They say that since September the company has been firing workers over petty offenses at a lightning-fast speed and raising performance standards to levels that are almost impossible to meet.

"They make it so hard on you that you have to quit," said one employee who wished to remain anonymous. "That's what they want."

Several employees said that in order to weather the economic climate, the credit card issuer's office in Spotsylvania County is firing employees instead of laying them off so it won't have to pay severance.

Capital One spokesman Hamilton Holloway said the company is not laying off employees and the work force has remained at 1,100 at the Fredericksburg office. However, he could not comment on whether recently there had been more firings at a specific location than usual.

"It's been pretty level for the past year," Holloway said of the number of employees at the Fredericksburg office.

Capital One said last year that there were 1,200 employees working here.

An employee on long-term disability said hundreds have been fired or quit. One department that used to occupy four floors has been reduced to one, the employee said.

"When we were fully operating you couldn't find a place to park," the employee said. "Now you don't have to worry about trying to find a spot after lunch."

Angela Davis, a recruiter for Collegiate Funding Services, said many former and current Capital One employees visited her booth at the Fredericksburg Regional Job Fair earlier this month.

"The reason that stands out in my mind is because they would see each other and say 'Oh, you're here today, too," Davis said.

The employees ranged from sales representatives to trainers and managers. Some had been fired and others were afraid they would be, she said.

One of the area's largest private employers, Capital One announced earlier this year that it would consolidate its operations into one building but would not cut its work force.

The company is located in two buildings in Lee's Hill Commercial Center off U.S. 1. The number of workers never grew as high as the company anticipated, according to Holloway, who works in the Richmond office.

Date published: 4/20/2002