Anti Fat Cat Bank CEOs? Let's go! & teach them a lesson!

Scousebird_2

BarclaysManager wrote: »

You're never going to change the bonus system, though. Outlaw bonuses and basic salaries will just go up.

Okay, so basic salaries go up and you get people who aren't bonus driven, inevitablly you will attract this best people because they are attracted to guaranteed pay and not ''OTE''.

Surely this is what is best for customers, service will be much better because sales will not be the focus.

It't the famous saying ''Sales through service'', obviously thought up by a salesperson trying to justify his/her actions.

Bottom line is, you operate in a culture of bonuses and the customers' wants and needs are not paramount. They are merely an afterthought when qualifying the compliance of the sale.

It's all about targets and money for the salesperson with very little moral thought for the customer.

Basic salaries in banking should be increased for people who are left to pick up the pieces, the advisers and clerks on the front line dealing with the fallout, and the bonuses should be suspended for those who messed things up!

Simple in theory, but even now in today's climate, banks are still greedy and pooing themselves because the customers aren't calling or walking through the door of their local branch in fear of being persuaded into a product. I could go on but I can't rant anymore, I have no energy!

Aegis

ahai1 wrote: »

Thanks for been honest. It is rare in the banking sector.

No it bloody isn't! There seems to be this view at the moment that everyone working in a bank is a lying backstabber, and it simply isn't true. Most bank staff are perfectly honest people doing a job for which they get a lot of stick, some justified, but most just because they're doing their job properly according to FSA regulations.

Some people need to get some perspective and realise that even if they don't like the current market conditions it does not give them some sort of right to insult the staff members who will often go out of their way to help where possible.

ShelfStacker_3

What Aegis said.

Extant

Scousebird wrote: »

Okay, so basic salaries go up and you get people who aren't bonus driven, inevitablly you will attract this best people because they are attracted to guaranteed pay and not ''OTE''.

My comment was actually based around people at the management/executive level, as opposed to the branch staff. More to the point, it was based around the idea that these people aren't entitled to, and should not receive, their bonuses - i.e. that if you made a law saying you can't be paid more than X in bonuses, then we would just be paid more in our basic salaries to compensate.

Surely this is what is best for customers, service will be much better because sales will not be the focus.

Although I wasn't talking about people involved with service, I'll answer this anyway. What makes you think that service would magically improve if you remove incentives to perform?

I can't answer for banks other than Barclays, but there are bonuses up for both sales AND service. I'll cover how it works in Barclays UK later in this post.

If you remove incentives and tell people "you're going to get X per month regardless of what happens," then people are going to slack off because it just doesn't matter what they do.

So what do you propose then? We fire them? Anyone one that answers that clearly has no idea how hard it is to fire someone in the UK!

It't the famous saying ''Sales through service'', obviously thought up by a salesperson trying to justify his/her actions.

Sorry, but this does work when it's done right. You give people the right service and they will come back to you.

Bottom line is, you operate in a culture of bonuses and the customers' wants and needs are not paramount. They are merely an afterthought when qualifying the compliance of the sale.

You're saying this as though it's just banks - it's business as a whole. The needs and wants of the customer are never "paramount" because it's a business. There's a balance between doing the right thing for the customer and still being a profitable business.

Banks aren't a "right" as so many people seem to think they are.

It's all about targets and money for the salesperson with very little moral thought for the customer.

Can you quantify this? Most people who work in the banks are honest people just doing their job, in line with the law. What moral thought do you think is missing?

No customer is ever forced to do anything. No gun is ever held to your head unless you sign. No product comes without cancellation rights.

Basic salaries in banking should be increased for people who are left to pick up the pieces, the advisers and clerks on the front line dealing with the fallout, and the bonuses should be suspended for those who messed things up!

Picking up what pieces, exactly? The UK banking market is quite stable. Nobody has lost their savings. There's no fallout.

Simple in theory, but even now in today's climate, banks are still greedy and pooing themselves because the customers aren't calling or walking through the door of their local branch in fear of being persuaded into a product. I could go on but I can't rant anymore, I have no energy!

You lack the ability to say no when offered a product? Accept the fact that the person on the other side of the desk is someone just like you - doing their job. They're not out to screw you over, and they're not evil spawn of the devil.

Good God, you're all so melodramatic about this sort of thing. You'd think the world was ending. :rolleyes:

And now to cover Barclays service incentives in the UK for branch staff:

In any month where they received 87.5% or more on a mystery shop AND get at least 90% on their branch Customer Satisfaction Index, they get a £100 kicker in their pay packet for that month.

The mystery shop consists of eight points that must be met (and this is copy-pasted from Barclays intranet):

1. Acknowledged within 3 minutes and apologize for any delay?
2. Was the member of staff friendly and polite throughout?
3. Did the member of staff use your name during the enquiry?
4. Did you feel that staff gave you sufficient time and attention throughout your enquiry?
5. Did they ask if there was anything else they could help you with today?
6. Staff and branch appearance clean and tidy?
7. Did the staff member give and remind you of their name?
8. Did the staff member say goodbye and make a friendly parting comment?

What is the customer satisfaction index? Any customer that visits a branch and is identified by branch staff using bank software based ID systems may be called following their visit, provided that they do not have a telephone contact exclusion in place. A survey is then conducted around the service received and the customer is then asked for any comments on their visit.

storminbalder

Aegis wrote: »

No it bloody isn't! There seems to be this view at the moment that everyone working in a bank is a lying backstabber, and it simply isn't true. Most bank staff are perfectly honest people doing a job for which they get a lot of stick, some justified, but most just because they're doing their job properly according to FSA regulations.

Some people need to get some perspective and realise that even if they don't like the current market conditions it does not give them some sort of right to insult the staff members who will often go out of their way to help where possible.

I don't think anyone's having a go at rank and file banking staff. The money grabbing, cheating, gambling, shysters (in effect "spivs") who have lost everyones money - now that is where the problem lies.

I actually have a great deal of sympathy for banking staff. They are not to blame, yet are having to bear the brunt of the consequences of the mismanagement by their bosses. These people were paid shed loads of money, yet didn't see the housing boom (which they largely created) collapse coming despite it being obvious to anyone with half a brain cell.

They should be in prison.

ahai1

The people in the branches and the call centre are different from people in trading and management who get huge bonsuses. The people in the branches do not earn huge amounts of money. I know someone who worked in a branch of NatWest and she certainly did not get much money but then she did not work in the making risks department.

Aegis wrote: »

No it bloody isn't! There seems to be this view at the moment that everyone working in a bank is a lying backstabber, and it simply isn't true. Most bank staff are perfectly honest people doing a job for which they get a lot of stick, some justified, but most just because they're doing their job properly according to FSA regulations.

Some people need to get some perspective and realise that even if they don't like the current market conditions it does not give them some sort of right to insult the staff members who will often go out of their way to help where possible.

ahai1

I just missed this. I could not agree with you anymore. In Switzerland I heard on from our own correspondents last week on Radio 4 they are taking a stance against them.

storminbalder wrote: »

I don't think anyone's having a go at rank and file banking staff. The money grabbing, cheating, gambling, shysters (in effect "spivs") who have lost everyones money - now that is where the problem lies.

I actually have a great deal of sympathy for banking staff. They are not to blame, yet are having to bear the brunt of the consequences of the mismanagement by their bosses. These people were paid shed loads of money, yet didn't see the housing boom (which they largely created) collapse coming despite it being obvious to anyone with half a brain cell.

They should be in prison.