How do I get some action taken against a bank employee?

Paul_Herring

Richard019 wrote: »

How do you know what action has or hasn't already been taken against the member of staff? Any disciplinary action is between employee and employer and would be confidential wouldn't it?

Because the disciplinary action the OP had in mind would result in the removal of said employee, it appears. And since the employee is still there...

Richard019

Paul_Herring wrote: »

Because the disciplinary action the OP had in mind would result in the removal of said employee, it appears. And since the employee is still there...

I know, but 5% says he might not even be the same person, OP wasn't there the 2nd time.

opinions4u

Uncertain wrote: »

What is the best way to ensure that a bank takes some disciplinary action against a member of its staff?

You can't ensure it happens. You can ask it to happen, but you can't make it happen. As a manager I would always take time to talk to a staff member about how their attitude could be interpreted if I saw something with my own eyes. I would always talk to a staff member about what others saw as well - but disciplining somebody for another's interpretation of an incident was an unlikely happening.

Some months ago I encountered the most extreme case of “attitude” on the part of a bank employee. This coupled with a fair degree of incompetence wasted several hours of my time but did not cause any direct loss. I made a polite and reasoned written complaint to Customer Relations and sent it to the address on the complaints leaflet.

While I would often advocate going "straight to the top" but that would be for procedural and policy complaints. This is one situation where I wouldn't. Branch management know the staff member best. They know the individual's shortcomings and strengths. They may even know that a this person's mother died a week earlier. Or not, as the case may be.

This was ignored so a couple of weeks later I chased by email and got a brief holding reply

.By putting it in writing you took away memories of 'the moment'. By going straight to branch management you could have had your case supported by others who saw the incident, or others who heard the individual telling his or her side of the incident after the event. Now they'll have forgotten as another 3,000 people a week have been in and out of the branch.

When two months were up I emailed again saying I would take the matter to the FOS if I did not receive a satisfactory reply within 14 days.

Poor show from the complaints department.

17 days later I got a meaningless letter with a few “corporate” paragraphs and a cheque for £100. A prompt proper apology, that made it obvious that the writer had looked at and understood the reasons for my complaint and taken some action, would have been far more appropriate!

I think there may be Data Protection Act queries with saying "we've hung, drawn and quartered the individual concerned". I bet the letter did apologise though. You just haven't accepted the apology.

Sadly an 87 year old family friend has run into what sounds an even more extreme version of the same problem. It has left them really quite upset and I am 95% sure it is the same person at fault. Clearly this staff member needs re-training at the very least, if they should even continue to work there at all.

Which is again why complaints about "attitude" should be dealt with by somebody who knows the individual concerned. Such concerns can be subjective. If a line manager can build up a series of events where he/she can specifically identify trends that have not been addressed by a staff member then there is a case for disciplinary action. One-offs are a case for a quiet word.

My question (for the bank employees who post here) is how best to make sure that happens.

I have answered your question the best I can above.

If a manager sees somebody take £50 from the till, the outcome is clear and easy.

If a manager sees somebody being a bit "off" with a customer, talking the incident through is the solution.

If a manager is told by somebody from a central site that a cashier was naughty 2 weeks ago according to a customer, you can talk it through but will be less successful in getting the staff member to recognise their shortcomings.

By the way, for all you know the staff member has been disciplined. But would you really expect a copy of the written warning letter?

timnicebutdim_2

Uncertain wrote: »

Some months ago I encountered the most extreme case of “attitude”

So what exactly happened then??!

Uncertain

Many thanks to Opinions4u & BarclaysManager for their detailed responses and to several others who have partly answered my question or expressed support.

With respect to the remainder, the purpose of this thread was not to debate the rights and wrongs of a situation that only I experienced first hand.

Even if I spent the next hour describing it in detail you would only have my side of the story. Equally, you only have my word that this is the only time I have ever complained about a staff member's attitude / behaviour. It was one of those situations that you needed to see / feel first hand.

The fact that this was a tiny, part time village branch that normally has only two staff and no full time "manager" made it all the more remarkable.

It was hearing the 87 year old's account of her experience that really bothered me. It was just as if she was describing what happened to me some months back!

Of course there could have been some real personal issue that affected the staff member, although this is less likely on two occasions four months apart.

Extant

Uncertain wrote: »

Many thanks to Opinions4u & BarclaysManager for their detailed responses and to several others who have partly answered my question or expressed support.

Ignoring whatever your situation may so be, the fact remains that any disciplinary or training actions are the business of employer and employee, and are usually kept very private. I can't see any manager pursuing the issue unless he or she has had several complaints on the same issue.

The most I would ever give you, as a manager, would be the assurance I would speak to the member of staff involved. The real issue is that there are a lot of people who will be petulant and scream about "getting you fired," so a lot of managers aren't receptive to people demanding action against staff.