- Sales
- High Turnover
- Outdated Systems
- Revolving Schedule
I've been with Amegy for 6 years. When I started, the company had a friendly culture, and took pride in putting the customer first and not just treating people like a number. Sales, or "Referrals/Opportunities" as the bank calls them, were incentivized by a small payout of around $20 per account/credit card that was approved. Year by year the ideals of the company changed, which has eventually led to $0 incentive for sales, as they're now an expected part of the position. Rate of pay did not change. Part time and full time each have their own goals - though once you hit your goal you better not stop selling, or you'll be "coached" on why it's important to sell - I'm sorry, I mean "find opportunities". This promotes taking your time and working to hit your quarterly goal slowly, since if you hit goal at the end of the quarter it's great, but if you hit it early you have to keep going. Management has caught on to this however, and now the real product pushing has started. We're expected to have a product oriented conversation with *every*single*customer* and push push push to bring our branch profitability. If not you're seen as lazy and they want you to leave.
High turnover in an entry level banking position is expected - though it's no longer because people are moving up to bigger and better jobs, it's because the extreme pressure to sell, combined with shifts that constantly rotate are causing tellers to quit and take a paycut to go to somewhere like a credit union. Amegy lists shift hours like "7-11" on the job listing, but then you show up only to find they don't do set schedules and you'll have a 4 hour shift anywhere between 7am and 6pm (for part time). Making it impossible to go to school or plan things like daycare.
Lastly is the systems. I've worked at other banks before, the ones that Amegy is directly trying to compete with and is taking their sales pushing from, and their systems are lightyears ahead. Where other banks will prompt with credit card preapprovals or other promos, show account info and history, Amegy has none of this. To pull up any account information, you have to learn a series of DOS commands and plug them into a small blue screen just to get a list of their accounts. Preapprovals are non-existent. Customers are constantly frustrated at the time it takes to place a simple hold.
Overall, I was very happy in my first few years at the company, now? It's like a completely different company. I can't say for certain if this is branch level management or upper management making these calls, but something needs to change.
