Bank of Canada Reviews

Current Employee – been working at Bank of Canada

Pros – Important work, exciting times. Very friendly people. Nice city. Building is being upgraded. Great internal mobility.

Cons – The organization can be bureaucratic and slow moving, and there is a very individualistic culture.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Bank of Canada full-time

Pros – Great training program and ongoing learning

Cons – Nothing negative that I have seen

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

Current Employee – been working at Bank of Canada as a contractor for less than a year

Pros – people are nice and all working hard

Cons – Unexpected long hours sometimes. Cyclical

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

Former Employee – worked at Bank of Canada full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Excellent co-workers, excellent work-life balance, best office building in Ottawa.

Cons – Culture is risk adverse but not necessarily risk aware.

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

Current Employee – been working at Bank of Canada

Pros – Great work life balance at the Bank. Work can be tough, but you have a life outside work

Cons – Feast or famine work cycle

Advice to Senior Management – Spend more time training those below you. Keep up the good work

Current Employee – been working at Bank of Canada full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Great place to work, learn and contribute with other departments. The greatest asset is the analysts.

Great place for economists but not the other professionals
Great benefits (only thing it has really)

Cons – Some departments (read management) do not follow the policies of the bank. For example: If you work in Operations chances are that they will not allow you to have training or pay courses for your development although in the Bank policy. This is particular to specific management not all.

There is discrimination against visible minorities. Although not told, it is obvious
There is no meritocracy
underpaid across the board
New management poorly qualified.
One of the Chiefs has only a CFA and poor Canadian Market experience. Yes that happens at the Bank of Canada due to politics.
Very few good managers.

Advice to Senior Management – The new management that took place within the past 5 years are very poor. They are not qualified and they do not add value. All in All the Bank of Canada became a worse place to work for and young people should look somewhere else. Unless you are looking for make a good retirement then yes you should work there

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

Current Employee – been working at Bank of Canada for less than a year

Pros – Knowledgeable people, lots of training opportunities

Cons – More pressure and ad hoc demands than an average workplace

Former Employee – worked at Bank of Canada

Pros – Highly respected institution, good number of well-educated, knowledgeable people, very good benefits and decent salary levels. Opportunity to work on interesting projects, good possibility for advancement for young talented economists.

Cons – There are two Banks - economic departments and corporate services. Thanks to the directive to execute savings, the latter is being "squeezed" to save the economists jobs. Work-life balance advertised by the Bank no longer exists in both parts of the Bank. In corporate services there is poor communication and cooperation between departments, high stress level due to overwork (many people on stress leave), high resistance to change and very convoluted and time/labour consuming processes. Since the economic departments have more corporate clout, the situation may be better there.

Advice to Senior Management – The Bank's culture is very conservative, change resistant and political. Start rewarding innovation, and critical thinking; stop rewarding "yes" people, promote an open dialogue. Stop keeping good employees on term positions for years!

Current Employee – been working at Bank of Canada

Pros – Benefits is ok compared to other crown corporations and Pension Plan is one of the best in Canada. Hard to beat.

Cons – If you work in a job that requires you to provide support after business hours then the bank is not the right place. Pay does not follow the market (the bank is always falling behind); Also there are bunch of nice policies for career development but it does not work for the entire Bank. Only few who have the job style would benefit from those policies.

Advice to Senior Management – Leave the Bank; Learn to become a real manager and then return. Also try to learn the business. Make decisions in things you don't know expose the Bank.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend