BB&T Reviews

Pros

can change positions after 12 months, good job growth

Cons

must work well with management

Pros

Very good 401k plan. They match 100% up to 6% of your salary. 40 days of "sick" time broken down into specific categories - sickness in family, personal sickness, and about 30 more categories.

Cons

- the work environment depends on who you work for
- they have this thing called "management discretion" which means whatever is in the policy manual is simply a suggestion and the managers can basically do what they want
- NO training, but if you want to take courses at the local tech college go for it. Plus they won't reimburse you and you probably won't get to work in your area of study
- LIMITED ability to transfer to other departments. If you're lucky enough to pass the HR established requirements, then you get to apply for 1 position every 3 months.
- NO significant raises. IT's been on the 0% to1% path for several years now and you practically have to walk on water to get 1%
- unlimited overtime. you are welcome to work as many hours as you can for salary with minimal comp time.

Again, it all depends on which area of the company you work for, but there are more IT areas that are similar to what is described here - but there are rumors of happy employees and good managers.

Advice to Senior Management

There are too many levels of management and too many divisions of IT. Upper level management needs to be stream lined. This probably would get IT on the same page.

Pros

It's hard to get fired other than for ethics. Upper mgmt will treat you like a human being and not just a number. You will definitely get the training that you need. Maybe even more than you want. As long as you want to stay in the retail banking roles, there is plenty of opportunity. After the financial center leader role for your branch you can progress to the sales and service leader role where you are in charge of 16 branches. After that role is the regional banking manager role who control 77 branches in my region. Don't want to do management after being a financial center leader? No problem! There are other roles if you are a "high performer". You can become an auditor or merchant services rep or mortgage loan officer or whatever. The key is performing above average but mainly being well liked and to get into all the cool circles. Sounds high school I know but it worked for me and many others. Does senior mgmt think your fun and cool is number 1. Performance is number 3. I'm still figuring out number 2.

Cons

The pay has to be the lowest I've seen in regional and mega banks. People leave here to get a minimum 20% higher than what they were making. One person left here making 50k (FCL I)so they can go make 75k at PNC. As for career growth, it is difficult right now to get out of the retail banking role. Also since everyone is so young, it will be a while before a position opens for the Sales and service leader role. I must also say to not trust any promises. Get it in email/writing or don't believe it. They will string you along for years on the same promotion promise.

Advice to Senior Management

Stop holding people back from leaving the retail banking role. Stop jerking us around about pay. For some reason, pay is not seriously increased until you think about leaving the bank. Have clear tangible goals for each branch location. Location does matter especially if you only speak English.

Pros

-Great pay for college student
-Beautiful office
-Challenging work but guided through it
-Friendly, helpful employees who are willing to teach you

Cons

-Very strict about hours (going over or under)
-Not very structured until I asked for structure!
-Quite alot of downtime, asked them for work at times

Advice to Senior Management

BB&T leadership should continue with what they have been doing! They are amazing! very friendly leadership and encouraging people. Loved my time there

Pros

Decent pay, decent benefits. Occasionally work from home at individual manage's discretion. Professional membership
dues paid. Did not need TARP money.

Cons

Very siloed company. Little cooperation or compromise across departments.
Many promotions are completely mystifying (who you know). Upper
management very plugged in to good ol' boy network (it's a southern
company).

Advice to Senior Management

Be bolder, especially in the areas of technology and acquisitions.

Pros

A few good things about BB&T are:
- decent benefits
- some flexibility depending on who you report to
- one of the few companies that offer 401k and Pension benefits

Cons

- extremely political
- no room to climb up the corporate ladder
- false implications around employee morale
- expects you to give 200% but will not reward you appropriately
- retention is low
- consistently using the economy as a hurdle, however, the overall company is doing extremely well in the financial industry
- no reward and recognition for most

Advice to Senior Management

- 360 feedback/coaching would be helpful
- do more for the sake of employees
- stop sending false messages to employees (i.e. - saying you're going to increase employee moral and then do nothing for it)

Pros

Great benefits, you are largely free to do what you want within your territory, you are a revenue producer and important to the organization in that respect, the brand of the bank is at its best ever due to its performance during the economic downturn, they cover mileage, provide a laptop and phone. You will have a territory of several branches from which you will be exclusive investment representative. Great leadership on the bank side.

Cons

You cannot count on your branch network to give adequate referrals to reach your goal. I would ask for a book of business of no less than 30 million to give you a reasonable chance of attaining goal and a decent payout. Some reps complain about the compliance department and product offerings but I have no major problem with either. I will say the ship is run tighter than most other places but that's why they avoided many of the headlines other brokerages suffered with.

Pros

Benefits, Bankers Hours, Co Workers, Every day clients, Sales experience and training.

Cons

Unrealistic sales goals, Managers treat you like a number. Unless you go to the Leadership Development Program you won't get promoted. Politics in branch. Everybody fighting for a promotion. Hopefully you get a good branch with a nice manager who are far and few between.

Advice to Senior Management

Try to really care about those who work under you instead of treating them like a number.

Pros

really smart and caring folks in senior management. The company is very fair, great opportunities for advancement

Cons

i found the corporate culture to be a bit conservative

Advice to Senior Management

higher more minorities

Pros

Good work environment everyone is very friendly you can always speak to upper management about any issues. Very supportive and understanding great company overall

Cons

Salary you have to push for what you want just like any other company