Bank of the West Reviews

Pros

Good mgmt, training opportunities and good co-workers

Cons

low pay and merit increases

Advice to Senior Management

None

Pros

If you are looking to advance in a very linear manner then this is a good position to take. Lot's of opportunities to advance knowledge in the Banking industry. Benefits are fairly decent but if you don't care about those then its a moot point.

Cons

Very large sales quotas to meet. Pay is subpar compared to other financial institutions. Branch management is seemingly incompetant at times. In this position you have wear a lot of hats (i.e. Compliance/Sales leader/Customer service star/Detail oriented.

Advice to Senior Management

You get a lot of lipservice about how valued employees are but the feeling is never really realized. It is a very self interested culture. There are some great managers out there but it seems like they are few and far between, and most of them are driven away. Overall the Corporate culture is very...well, Corporate.

Pros

I enjoyed the set schedule compaired to working retail. I was off work by 515 every day

Cons

Selling people credit cards and loans they didnt need.

Advice to Senior Management

Hiring Friendly people.

Pros

Lots of truly nice people here (although sadly, not many in senior mgmt)
Decent benefits (but nothing special)

Cons

Technology is very backward and they're constantly playing catch-up
IT is severely understaffed, creating a bottleneck of progress throughout the bank because all projects are held up by lack of resources
EVPs love to meddle in small details, constantly undermining staff efforts and basically getting in the way of proress
Salaries are not only below industry averages across the board but they don't seem to be able to determine what industry is...! (This posture of ignorance on their part allows them to avoid paying people what they're worth -- if the company can claim not to know anyone's value, they don't have to compensate people appropriately.)

Advice to Senior Management

Develop a strategic plan, share it with employees, and trust us to do the jobs you've hired us to do. Get the hell out of the way.

Pros

Average pay/benefits
Typical bank perks

The guys in Fargo are super good and pleasant to work with.

Cons

-Limited mobility as all hiring is of outsiders
-Ability to deliver product is seriously limited by lack of staffing in non-metro markets
-Systems and processes will make you laugh until you realize "this is not a dream, and yes I now work in the stone age"

NO VISION OR VALUES
- limited accountability from partners
- limited investment in franchise
- system upgrades are geared toward allowing management to micromanage your butt to death without adding to your ability to produce
- Non meaningful metrics are used for measuring success, so bonuses/raises are largely given based on how well your boss 'likes' you

ZERO TRAINING
Repeat this to yourself 5 times

Advice to Senior Management

- Integrate systems
- Think from the customers perspective on systems/product development
- State a vision and use it as a metric for grading support and front line staff
- MBOs should not be a list of 20+
- Train your people and develope them rather than trying to raid other banks for all significant hires
- Staff as though you want a presence in the market

Pros

Clean, office type environment. Our branch wasn't busy so there was plenty of time to do homework or to read a book.

Cons

Not intellectually stimulating. As a teller, all you do is put money in or take it out. I didn't have an opportunity for promotion. Wanted to go from part-time to full-time, but the headquarters would not approve it, even though I was already working 32 hours.

Advice to Senior Management

I would suggest increasing the satisfaction levels of your employees: give them training opportunities to promote them and help them grow as professionals.

Pros

good benefits package. The company also provides a tuition reimbursment of p to $5000.00 anually for continued education. My manager was good and was personable.

Cons

Skeleton crews, stressful work environment as CSRs are answering all inbound calls while trying to process bank transactions. Expect angry customers becasue of lines and minimal support. 1-2 CSRs working at a time.

Advice to Senior Management

none

Pros

Small customer service oriented environment make for a great workplace environment complete with a sense of small business satisfaction with a corporate outlook.

Cons

Starting pay is low for the job function

Advice to Senior Management

I approve of current management

Pros

Exceptional benefits, great hours, convenience to public transportation, respectable company with reasonable financial outlook, considerable time off, dependable company, and growing.

Cons

Corporate structure which relates to the culture in a city like San Francisco that is more casual. Dress code is a bit unnecessary for some departments that are not customer facing. Extremely hierarchical. Not a "friendly" work environment which is actually good at times.

Advice to Senior Management

San Francisco is an amazing place with equally amazing people. The ability to tap into the vast knowledge and experience of the many people within the company could prove extremely valuable. Many of the employees have a broader base of experience than their current job requires, but there should be a way to use that experience at times. It might be of value to also develop a mentoring program which will allow people to expand their skills and interests.

Pros

Friendly, courteous colleagues who treat each other with respect. Major efforts to upgrade. Work ethic is there, but does not require 100 hour weeks. Good reputation

Cons

IT, Systems and support has a long way to go. Compensation could be better and Bank needs to promote its talented performers more rapidly.

Advice to Senior Management

Continue the efforts to learn from French parent. BNP Paribas will help attract talent.