BMO Harris Bank N.A. Reviews

Former Employee – worked at BMO Harris Bank N.A. full-time for more than a year

Pros – great mid level management, all the BMs DMs and MMs I encountered were friendly and encouraged career growth.

Cons – lacked devotion to the customers, M&I cared a lot more about customers, BMO a lot more about revenue. Encouraged to push lending to generate revenue, even when it didn't make sense for the customers. Extremely poor conversion from M&I to BMO, a lot of negative customer impact and still undergoing backlash due to lack of communication with customers about changes.

Advice to Senior Management – training program needs overhaul, might have already come from BMO since I left. also incentivize customer satisfaction over sales, stop neglecting the depression-era generation by pushing lending so much over deposits, they are the largest demographic of your customer base.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at BMO Harris Bank N.A.

Pros – good training and co workers

Cons – no real room for advancement

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at BMO Harris Bank N.A.

Pros – Professional, caring company, great work environment, flexible with hours

Cons – sometimes you are pushed to sell or recommend products

Current Employee – been working at BMO Harris Bank N.A. full-time for less than a year

Pros – Very Good Benefits that take effect immediately once you start working.
Lenthy vacation times.
Above average pay.
Easy interview/process

Cons – Managers don't communicate effectively to staff.
Sales goals are at times unrealistic for the size of the branches and the bank in general
Trying to become a bigger bank like Wells & BOA. Says they're focued on customer service when in reality all they care about is sales and if you don't make them one month, they're quick to write you up.

Advice to Senior Management – Set realistic expectations of your employees.
Hire managers who are not lazy and willing to actually work

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at BMO Harris Bank N.A. full-time for less than a year

Pros – Salary and benefits. That's about it.

Cons – High pressure sales culture. I was hired on being told that a commission could be earned but there was no real quotas other than meeting an appointment quota and that I'd have sufficient training. Once I started it became apparent that by 'sufficient' they meant me in a back office watching 'how to' videos, basically teaching myself the position. Once my training was over I started using the computer system which is circa 1996. BMO is so behind in the times as far as technology goes it isn't funny, one higher up put it this way 'BMO ignored technology for a decade and is now trying to catch up'. They sent me to two actual training classes where I had a real live teacher where they tried to teach us things like 'how to ask permission to proceed with a loan application and advance the conversation so that customer doesn't have a chance to say no'. (I'm not kidding, that's a quote). Looking back I should have seen red flags when a co worker mentioned to me early on that there had been 5 different people in my position over the past 3 years.

Advice to Senior Management – Retire immediately because you haven't a clue.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at BMO Harris Bank N.A. full-time for more than a year

Pros – Good benefits, decent salary and fair commission plan.

Cons – The opportunities to advance are limited at some times especially if you are looking to transfer from the retail side to the corporate side of the company.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at BMO Harris Bank N.A. full-time for less than a year

Pros – Easy to understand products, sales goals are attainable, flexible schedule with managers, laid back atmosphere, community bank feel, customer oriented, customer appreciation days, well established bank, appropriate dress code

Cons – Dated technology, slow response time from other departments, lack of communication, slow systems, old practices, not everything is "streamlined" which could make things easier to have everything in one system.

Advice to Senior Management – Communication is key! Always keep your staffed informed of every detail of what is going on. Management needs to be aware of people who might have missed a meeting or a discussion that could really benefit from a follow up one-on-one.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at BMO Harris Bank N.A. full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – It was my first job out of college, and I was able to learn a lot.

Cons – It was and became a data entry job, where I had no input on what happened with the credits I worked on. Trying to get a internal job postings, was a pipe dream there, and I gave up trying after 6 or 7 attempts. The HR people want the exact job qualifications if you're a internal candadaite but external applicants didn't even need accounting degrees or the experience to over come the lack of degree for a analyst job. If you were able to secure a internal posting within BMO they never gave you fair market value for your new salary (2.5-5% if you're lucky). My advice is to get in and get a job there and once you have the experience leave and get a 30% raise at a new bank.

Advice to Senior Management – Learn to keep employees happy through lowering internal standards for hiring and pay your internal hires what they're worth. Make the analyst job require them to do actual analysis, and not just data entry.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at BMO Harris Bank N.A. part-time for more than a year

Pros – As a teller, you aren't responsible for much of anything. For instance, the chain of command dictates that if anything would go seriously wrong with a transaction (wire transfer for instance), the person approving said transaction will be responsible for it.

Cons – The job is monotonous, you will not be challenged and there is little in the way of excitement. You're unlikely to move upward without a preferred degree and even if you do advance, I have heard the compensation is less than optimal.

Advice to Senior Management – Encourage and listen to employees with ideas to share - no matter how low on the totem pole.

Former Employee – worked at BMO Harris Bank N.A. full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – The company's compensation & benefits are great and above market average. The company believes in diversity so you get to work with all walks of the life.

Cons – Management is focus more on quaintly rather than quality. The communication between branch employees and management is terrible. Everything has shifted from relationship building to an aggressive sales culture. The company believes in "product pushing" and offering services/products to customers who may not need them. The turnover lately has been high in the last couple of months Also, don't let anything happen in your life because you simply management doesn't care.

Advice to Senior Management – Listen to branch employees and show some type of interest. Quit looking at numbers and focus on progress.