I HATE working for the bank!!!! :o(

pinksleepybear

OP, I've PM'd you.

valos_mummy

Karenthemummy79, I hear you there again! Ours was like a big stress merry go round, people were off with stress, came back and then some more took their place! I was very near to hopping on myself but I left instead. Good advice from Emmzi regarding the CV, ideally you have to tailor your CV to the kind of job you want. So you need to have a think about what kind of job that is beforehand.

paulwf

OP I've had a few meetings with bank managers recently and it does seem quite a dull and soulless job...however you also have very regular hours and the job isn't physically demanding and reasonable pay. I would think very carefully before leaving as if you end up with an agency you might well be doing another dull job for less pay and get messed around with hours.

You say your manager is under pressure to meet targets so it is in his interest to see you succeed. Could you ask for a meeting to discuss the low quality leads and any other points that could help you?

Could you spend a couple of days at another branch to get a fresh perspective or is there any training you could get in time management to help? I do find that bank managers take an hour to go through what could take 10 minutes, could you blast through your low quality leads to free up time for important clients?

Targets are always going to be unrealistically high...are they really going to sack you if you don't meet them? Don't get carried along with all the stress of targets, having a "whatever" approach to them could transform how you feel about your job. Even if they did sack you you're planning to leave anyway Seriously, I have a retail background and we were given new targets every week even though there was nothing we could do at store level to increase sales so there was no point in worrying about them.

maysmummy

:)OP,
Although my OH does not work in your industry, he did work in another sector which is target driven. It really nearly drove him mad. He is a capable,conscientious individual but ended up having 3 months of with stress and then leaving.

Just to tell you, we were fine! If you had asked either of us if we could manage on 1p less, we would have said no but we can!

This was our plan(briefly)
1. Acknowledge that the situation cannot go on. Changes must be made.
2. Tot up all outgoings (they call it a statement of affairs or SOA on DFW)
3. Find out where savings can be made, MSE-ers on DFW are really helpful with this
4. Can you live on what you have coming in? The answer for us, amazingly was yes. We set a budget that did not include OH working.
5. OH went to doctor, signed off sick. This 3 months allowed him to recover and us to start testing our plan.
6. Oh resigned and went into temporary, locum work, aiming to work no more than X number of days a month. No pressure- we can live on what I earn. Money OH earns goes to 'luxuries' such as new cars, holidays, etc.
7. Result- happiness all round and incredibly, £5,000 OP on mortagage.


Good luck on your happiness plan!

jdturk

ceridwen wrote: »

It wouldnt affect the morale for the worse of any reasonable minded fellow employee - as they would just tell themselves "Hmmm....she was able to get in late - but then she DOES make up the time by staying late...so it all works out okay." If they're not reasonably-minded - then why bother about what they think anyway?

So why doesn't the OP get in on time and go home on time and if they are struggling to finish the work on time then there is either a) to much work or b) the OP is not good enough to do the work in the alloted time

wontfallforit

Not a great deal of advice to give, but didn't want to read and run.

I feel for you OP, I've worked as a "personal banking adviser" myself, and it - and working for a bank in general - can be tough.

In these past 2 years, bank employees have bore the brunt of something that was not their own fault, and that they do not have the power to change (but are expected by customers to make massive, economy-shifting changes, with our bare hands!).

One idea that needs to go out of the window is that bank employees are fat cats. Obviously - and unfortnunately for us - that only applies to high-flying investment bankers...who can lose a hell of a lot of money with the stroke of a pen.

The reality for 'front line' bank staff though is that you're incredibly lucky if you earn in excess of £20k per year (including commission, for all targets hit). Generally, cashiers are paid dismally - a little above NMW - and PBAs usually "rake in" a basic salary of £15-17k, plus £1-2k commission if they're lucky.

Some customers do not appreciate being 'sold' to by PBAs, and as a former PBA, I don't blame them! However, it doesn't take away from the fact that PBAs have to sell in order to keep their jobs, and even cashiers have to make sales referrals to PBAs and other colleagues in order to keep their jobs.

All this in a public environment that at the moment has a generally poor view of banks and their staff, and an environment in which rules and regulations - not to mention specific products and services - regarding the sales process are ever-changing.

And yes, it is possible to be dismissed for not hitting PBA targets. It's no different from a factory worker failing to keep up with the pace of a production line, or an estate agent failing to sell/let enough property.

First come the improvement procedures, then the verbal warnings, then the verbal warnings, then the written warnings...and then you're out on your ear.

Whilst I was lucky enough to scrape target consistently, the "luck of the draw" (which genuinely was to blame in many instances) forced a number of my former colleagues out of their jobs.

My advice would be to step away from the PBA environment. Use those people skills, sales skills, and ability to build rapport from a 'cold' nothing in another job. You are qualified for other jobs (retail immediately springs to mind).

However, PBA jobs tend to be reasonably well paid (ha!) because of the pressure involved. You may have to take a significant pay-cut, but it could be worth it for the sake of your happiness.