Associated Banc-Corp Reviews

Pros

Great training
Great people
CEO Phil Flynn has it together

Cons

Felt I could have been compensated better. I didnt realize bank tellers made such little money.

Advice to Senior Management

A professional, positive attitude is always appreciated.

Pros

Lots of changes going on, but in the end, will be a much stronger company. Slowly investing in talent and systems. Cares about their colleagues and much opportunity for development and advancement.

Cons

Still a lot of talent that could be upgraded. Select departments not as engaged as others as some middle-management has not gotten on board with the new management.

Advice to Senior Management

Proud of the work you're doing. Keep it up.

Pros

Your opinions and thoughts are always given consideration. You work with a team of experts who are always available to give you additional training and encouragement. Resources are at the tip of your fingers. The opportunity to grow is tremendous. Direct supervisors and upper level managers are inspirational and knowledgeable. The employees at Associated Bank are a family you have outside your own home.

Cons

Your relationship with your immediate manager really determines if you will be able to grow. All advancement and training courses you are interested in will have to be approved in advance by him or her. By building a strong relationship with your upper management team you will grow quickly. If your relationship with your manager is weak, you will not advance and if so it will be done slowly.

Advice to Senior Management

The leadership at Associated Bank is great. The managers are inspirational. They listen and react immediately. One on one coaching is done daily, weekly at a minimum. Promises made from managers are kept. Associated Bank is company I’m proud to be a part of.

Pros

Less of those bank horror stories.
Tellers have an easy job, made even better by implementing scanners at each window. (Scan check, print receipt, you're done).
Cookies on Fridays.
Most coworkers are great.

Cons

No longer offering direct deposit to non-Associated Bank accounts :(.
Closed sales are seemingly impossible (right now we have 30 referrals, none of which have closed).
Too many e-mails!
Turnover seems to be a problem, particularly at my branch.
"Check-ins" or "chats." A 1 on 1 weekly meeting with your manager on how your doing. Also, teller huddles with a banker, which may happen up to 5 days a week. Performance reviews monthly, observations weekly, I think you get the point here. It may just be my branch, but I feel completely suffocated by these things, and I get very tired of seeing my manager's face by the end of the week.

Advice to Senior Management

My particular manager shouldn't be working there, period. It is very difficult to continue (much less enjoy) my job with someone leading the way my manager does.
Aside from that, bringing back direct deposit would be a step in the right direction.

Pros

The bank has changed so much in the past few years, and all for the better. Growth and opportunity are ripe for the taking if you work hard and are not afraid of change and hard work.

Cons

As for cons, I would say that people who cannot handle change and cannot work in cross function teams do not belong in this company.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep doing what you are doing, senior management. It is so refreshing to come to work and feel like one is making a difference.

Pros

Big company - lots of growth oportunities and somewhat good benefits package.

Cons

Disconnect among departments and poor communication

Advice to Senior Management

Act upon feedback, don't just ask for it.

Pros

Small regional co. Only upside to working at ABC. You would think..many other small regional banks out there I would rather work for. If all you seek is a pay-check, then by all means go for it.

Cons

Aside from the initial bad on-boarding into co. Every initial hire-up seem to not have a clue what they were talking about. They all lacked leadership skills. After the point-less week of so-called training, I started at my branch; where the lack of structure continued. I was picking up all the slack from previous employee, all surrounding branches; completely understaffed.

Advice to Senior Management

ABC needs to better they're management immediately. Some of the management there have no front line experience, which in return makes them a pointless asset to the company. A once fitness club manager turned bank manager? Come on ABC start with your HR Recruiters and move down.

Pros

Good work environment, helpful co-workers, opportunities to take on additional responsibilities, professional, opportunities for advancement in some areas, good reputation locally

Cons

once outside of the headquarters, support not as strong for advancement and training to achieve career goals, upper management doesn't seem as interested in the outlying areas.

Advice to Senior Management

offer more advancement opportunities, more mentoring, more continued educational opportunities

Pros

smaller bank where one person can make a difference. Low and attainable goals. Good work life balance. Ability to make monthly and quarterly sales bonus.

Cons

No advancement, Hire outside company to fill manager positions, No marketing to promote bank. Potential customers have never heard of Associated Bank.

Advice to Senior Management

Start advertising in every market you have branches and you will see impressive results and growth. Give your own people a chance when management positions come available.

Pros

Associated Bank overall is a great company. They have done phenomenal things in a bad market place and have stayed away from the pitfalls that have been the demise of other regional (and national) banks. The pay is good, the benefits are good and the CEO is a very approachable person and it is obvious he actually cares for the company and employees.

Lots of great technology to work with.
Very smart and capable coworkers.
Typically very good work/life balance.

Cons

The IT department needs a lot of help. Manager politics are rampant at every single level. Infighting leads to people throwing red tape at each other at every opportunity, which leads to major delays in projects.

There is zero structured project management within IT. Everyone is overloaded yet management always believes that staff can handle "just one more thing". Then everyone gets upset when project dates are not met. There are a VERY outdated set of PM tools to be used (mostly Word templates) but no central PM structure or oversight. No one knows the capacity or current workload of anyone in the department.

Moral in the department is in the pits and has been for years. Superficial changes have been put into place to address the issues but the core issues have not been corrected. There is simply some very bad leadership within the department. Some bad leaders exists by virtue of having been at the company "forever", others exists because they were senior technical people and were promoted to management. Many layers of management exists because most leadership lacks the ability to simply delegate and are overloaded. They show a lack of trust in their employees by being involved in too many meetings and too many small day to day items.

Managers display a lack of trust in employees. Decisions are frequently second guessed and senior leadership will often use outside consultants before speaking with internal staff.

Advice to Senior Management

Cut out the deadwood in management and bring in some external people with fresh ideas and real leadership.

Utilize the knowledge of existing staff.

Put processes in place that will let everyone know how IT is supposed to work with each other.

Develop a project management system.