Where do I start...
* Ridiculously bureaucratic - the Bank higher ups like to talk about the company moving to a more bottom up approach, but the reality is this is the oldest bank in America, and its organization reflects that. Dictates come down from New York, with any suggestions or feedback from the countless offices around the world ignored. Organizationally, BNY operates like the worst aspects of the government in many respects.
* Outsourcing and job cuts in the U.S. - The Bank always talks about "improving efficiency" and "automation." What does that mean? Well, for employees in the U.S., it means large job cuts. Some work goes "offshore" - i.e. mostly to India, some to Eastern Europe and other 2nd/3rd world locations. The rest falls on the few American workers left doing more work.
* "Functionalization" of jobs - Basically, in recent years the Bank has moved towards a model chopping up the scope of what employees do, having employees focus more on specific tasks, and spreading tasks across dozens of departments all over the world. In theory, this might sound great. In practice, it is a complete disaster for employees and clients.
My job in fund accounting used to mean handling a small number of accounts and doing everything from cash avail, cash and asset reconciliation, reporting, corporate actions, booking trades, valuing the funds, etc. I knew literally everything about my funds and the clients appreciated that. Nowadays, I handle (in one respect or another) over 120 funds, most of which I know little to nothing about (too many damn funds), performing a smaller number of tasks, while trying to pull together the dozen or so other departments doing other tasks for these funds. Almost none of these teams work collaboratively or communicate with one another well, which takes a toll on client relations because I'm in the group that interfaces with the client. Chronic understaffing and no regard from the higher ups NYC have resulted in my client potentially ending their contract with BNY.
* Cuts to benefits - specifically health insurance. The Bank now offers only ONE carrier - in FLORIDA. How hard is it to find multiple insurers to offer plans in a state this big?!
