Bank of the West Reviews

Pros

-Decent pay and decent recongnition

Cons

-Bank is not big by any stretch of imagination

Advice to Senior Management

Better Communication

Pros

Great work schedule, decent benefits, great customers.

Cons

Lacks good leadership and has little direction. High turn-over due to new employees "not meeting" their unrealistic sales goals. Tenured employees have left the bank because of poor managemnet and getting a promotion is unheard of as they only hire managers from other banks. It is very obvious that management cares more about making numbers than taking care of it's customers or employees.

Advice to Senior Management

The Northwest Division is managed with an iron fist. Branch managers and employees have their job security threatened daily and that "they need to sell or find another position at another bank." Take a look at how many tenured employees have left the Northwest Division in the last 2 years.

Pros

Good benefits-some even if you are part-time
Very good co-workers

Cons

Sell, sell, sell. Even if the customer doesn't need what you are trying to sell.

Pros

Flexible for time off. Free checking accounts and discounts on loans and services for employees.

Cons

The bank eliminated several departments, and shifted responsibility onto the tellers. Sales is primary factor on which employees are evaluated on. Tellers are expected to focus more on sales than customer service. Pay is lower than most if not all competing banks.

Advice to Senior Management

Make a better effort to recognize employees who go above an beyond the call of duty, and compensate them fairly.

Pros

Great place to work and learn about different business entities.

Cons

Limited growth to move up into different positions.

Advice to Senior Management

Great place to work with very good leadership. Most issues are solved on the local level which eliminates going back and forth. Overall, great place to work!

Pros

Bank of the West offers great benefits and incentives to their employees. Plus you get to interact with new and returning clients every day.

Cons

Sometimes it seems more of a sales job than working towards a career as a CSR. Also, you can encounter days when you have hard to deal with clients.

Advice to Senior Management

Teach the CSR's more tools needed in order to grow within the company (on the corporate end) rather than just within the branch.

Pros

* HQ in CA
* Good training classes available through Learning & Development
* Annual increases (although usually 2% or below)
* Comparable employee programs to larger banks

Cons

* Human Resources department is totally "pro-management" and is non-responsive to employee feedback or concerns; most employees don't even bothercontacting them anymore because they know they won't be taken seriously or acted upon
* It is nearly impossible to advance within this company because external hires at the senior and executive levels continually bring in their friends and former colleagues from other institutions to fill desirable positions, making it a very "incestuous" environment
* Slow to replace open positions, causing remaining employees to pick up the slack and work ridiculously long hours
* Ineffective managers with poor people management skills are allowed to remain in their positions (sometimes even promoted) in spite of high employee turnover and complaints
* Favoritism is rampant--promotions and titles are given under the table to favored individuals while employees with far more experience or longevity remain at lower grades and titles. People are given positions because of who they know, not because they are skilled for the position they are promoted to.
* Executives (like President and CEO) are generally invisible to the overall employee base; they operate in the shadows; there are no town halls, no recurring or standard communications from these individuals on a regular basis
* Company has grown very fast within the last 5 years but is struggling to move from small bank practices to effectively deal with the growth

Advice to Senior Management

Executives need to set the pace: Establish company-wide goals that are communicated down so that all departments and employees are marching to the same drummer. Also, take a serious look at Human Resources to ensure that it is responsive to employee concerns and is dealing fairly with all issues brought to their attention. Finally, promote internal candidates instead of bringing in so many executives from other banks--create your own culture and values instead of emulating those of other banks.

Pros

If you're used to working in a fast food environment and can brush off the high school drama that comes with that culture then working at the branch level is tolerable.

Cons

Human resources doesn't help with your problem, but they do a good job at turning the situation against you. I've seen more whistleblowers forced out of the job once HR came in to investigate their complaint.
You're not rewarded for not using sick leave if you're lucky enough to be full time and get it. They also cap the hours you accumulate for sick leave even though they have many constraints for the use.
Training doesn't exist for products they expect you to sell.
Goals aren't attainable and instead of gearing the workers to wok together for mutual goals you're expected to compete. This lead to many duplicitous tactics.

Advice to Senior Management

If Starbucks can afford proper training for it's baristas why can't a bank?
Have group goals instead of individual goals for your branches.
Recognition is not shown through occasional pizza parties the CSRs are expected to pay for.
Retrain your human resource department to help improve the work environment instead of being used as witch hunters.

Pros

My deparment manager allows the team to have a good work/life balance. I am afforded the flexability to work remotely.

Cons

The salary and compensation is poor especially if you have worked for the company for a long time. New hires with less experience are hired at far higher salaries which does not do much for the moral of the current staff.

Advice to Senior Management

Sr Managment constantly changes strategic direction they need to come up with one plan and stick with it.

Pros

Great leadership team, great focus.

Cons

Locations are limited and spread out.

Advice to Senior Management

Expand and grow and continue as you have been.