JPMorgan Chase Reviews in Chicago, IL Area

Pros

Cachet of working for JPMorgan line of business with household names as clients. Being a recent hire results in good job security. The firm absolutely needs strong project managers.

Cons

Due to heritage mergers and the the fact that employees float around and in between various teams, there is a strong silo culture. Many employees are very talented for a very specific role. Unfortunately, there is a prevailing utter lack of curiosity from sales, services, operations and product partners to know how their silo interacts with other teams. "That's not my job" is a common phrase. heard during one-on-one interactions. Because all resources are operating at capacity seems to actually enjoy their job, making the daily grind even harder to bear without any smiles or laughs. Performance is largely based on optional client surveys completed by fickle clients.

Advice to Senior Management

Treasury Services will under future layoffs of more mature employees due to exhorbitant costs of doing business and a naturally low profit margin. Ensure that future candidates are willing to learn the ins-and-outs of their role and others. Delete "That's not my job" for the corporate vocabulary. In-house IT development by a financial institution is a bad idea. Buy the off-the shelf package (Oracle, SAP, etc), then hire Accenture to customize. The impact on the client's or firm's bottom line due to a a good or bad implementation should naturally a part of an employee's review.

Pros

--excellent health care benefits, retirement planning and pension plan
--accomodate individual needs
--rewards well for high acheivers
--cleand and safe place to work

Cons

--lower than average pay
--given the light of the general feeling about banks right now, challenging to state that you work for JPM
--HR is slow

Advice to Senior Management

none, they are an excellent bunch; I feel good about our future as they seem to have a very reasonable and well thought out strategic plan and vision for our company

Pros

good benefits, paid leave, shared plans..

Cons

salary is not competitive compared to other banks.

Advice to Senior Management

more communications, but that is totally depends on your group/managing director.

Pros

benefits, salary, corp perks, vacation and sick time

Cons

dealing with cranky customers, working every saturday

Advice to Senior Management

managers are not trained very well. bankers are more knowledgeable

Pros

The pay is alright and you are associated with one of the largest companies in the world, that's about it because there's nothing else.

Cons

You will take your work home with you, you will be stressed out, the pay really does not balance out with all the work you will do for chase, and forget about being recognized for your hard work and compensated, they will deduct bad accounts from your pay, it's really not worth it...

Advice to Senior Management

I know customers are nothing but numbers to you, but your employees shouldn't be, and that's how you treat people.

Pros

Many different things to get involved in
Good amount of vacation time
Can learn a lot in a short period of time

Cons

New York focused culture - Chicago appears to be viewed as a second class citizen
Very competitive culture that doesn't always lend itself to teamwork

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to your employees more - take input. Keep them better informed about company actions or though process. It often was a vaccum of information that left people guessing a lot.

Pros

Good benefits even for part timers

Cons

Employees very unhappy at this location

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to employees

Pros

Good benefits. Management is very understanding when it comes to scheduling requests. True at this branch/location since it is very well staffed. Maybe not so true at smaller/slower locations.

Cons

I don't feel like Chase fosters one's desire to change career paths within the bank. As a matter of fact I strongly feel that already being employed there is in fact a disadvantage if you are interested in anything outside of retail banking.

Advice to Senior Management

Don't pigeon hole your employees. This only makes them feel strongly about leaving an organization that they otherwise wouldn't and keep them from playing an integral part of its success.

Pros

Great Benefit package plus discounts with other companies and local events. Down to earth co-workers makes for enjoyable work environment.

Cons

Management is fearful for their job, which causes stress for their own employees. Upper management is out of tune with issues in branches. Training sessions are incomplete if branch manager does not take time to work with new employee afterwords.

Advice to Senior Management

Must do more training with bankers after they complete training classes. Complete product knowledge and branch specificity was not addressed, which hurts the overall performance of new bankers. Micro-managing may solve immediate concerns but leads to high turnover in long term.

Pros

- Good benefits, particularly long-term employees.
- Senior management have very clearly defined people's jobs/roles within company giving very clear direction.
- Good name recognition.
- Compensation/Incentive plan is based off of how much you sell right away- therefore if you are someone that can keep a strong focus on the here and now, it can be a way to make pretty good money.

Cons

- A lack of respect is generally shown at the branch level between different job functions- particularly from management to PBs, SSAs and Tellers.
- Base salary is very low, in many cases, PBs can double their salary based on their production. While many would consider this a "Pro" to the job- market and social science research shows that "incenting" people on performance from a job with even basic cognitive thinking requirements leads people to either fail, or to act unethically... Therefore- I'd argue salary structuring needs to be based on the idea that people should be paid off of what they are worth (salary) and people should focus on the BEHAVIORS of doing their job the right way (bonuses need to be secondary and not "necessary" for income).
- Sales system is so clearly defined, it completely takes the "thinking" out of doing the job, and therefore there is even more disconnect between customers' true needs and how a PB can help.
- Sales focus lacks foresight to see how PBs can truly grow customer loyalty and profit through proper service and focuses more on the "here and now" which forces PBs to sell things that probably aren't a help to customers, and therefore not truly helping the bank grow in a sustainable and organic way.
- The job becomes way too "robotic" based on repetitive scripting and therefore the job becomes mundane and difficult to continue since you do and say the same exact things (down to the same words you use) for each customer interaction (typically 25-40 times per day).
- Lack of accountability where it matters most (customer service) and all the focus comes down to what you are selling (PVCs) today... Right now...

Advice to Senior Management

While the sales process (working the lobby, 1-2-3 drill, etc.) is a good one for those that haven't developed their own sales/profiling skills, it does not- or at least SHOULD not apply 100% of the time for customers who walk in the door. Not all customers are the same.
I can understand the scientific methods applied to developing this type of system, and how it can ensure that you get the most out of every customer interaction for those people who are not used to those one-on-one interactions and can't think for themselves on how to dig deep to find needs, but I'd like to say that in that case, don't necessarily look to hire those with bright, analytical minds.
Pay structuring should either change if you are looking to hire bright minds for this type of position, or continue to do what you are doing, but hire "movers," not "thinkers."