Citizens reviews

3.8

74% would recommend to a friend

(4,790 total reviews)
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Bruce Van Saun

85% approve of CEO

65% positive business outlook

Citizens has an employee rating of 3.8 out of 5 stars, based on 4,790 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Citizens employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Financial Services industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

5K reviews
3.0
Oct 23, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I worked for Citizens Bank for 10 years and this is an honest review. The colleagues are great, the benefits are on par with industry (not quite as good as Fidelity's), the pay was a bit lower than industry standard. The work from home culture is excellent, that's one big thing Citizens has going for it.

Cons

There is no job security, and lay-offs are not tied to your performance, but rather to office politics. Every fall, they restructure and let good people go, while, often, useless employees manage to stay on. It's a weird practice. It is also hard to advance internally: Citizens will always pick external candidates over their own, and the pay ranges candidates are offered for the same job as you are frankly outrageous. So: great if you are external, just don't stay too long or get too comfy, and don't expect to move up through hard work and dedication, as that will never happen. Culture on paper sounds good, "Customers - Colleagues - Community - Shareholders" - though it's all about the Shareholders now, to nobody's surprise.

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Citizens Response
6y
Thanks for posting a review. We're sorry to hear your experience did not match your expectations. We conduct performance reviews twice a year to evaluate each colleague's contributions. Compensation decisions are based on a "pay-for-performance" philosophy, factoring in components like individual and business line performance. Our compensation adjustments reflect that model. Additionally, restructurings occur so we can continue to operate efficiently. In the first half of 2019, 770 colleagues took on new roles and another 1,148 colleagues were promoted. If you'd like to share more, we encourage you to contact Citizens’ HR Service Center at 1-866-472-8234 or call in anonymously via Right Call at 1-877-495-4727.
2.0
Jul 22, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Salary seems on the higher side of average Large company New campus with amenities Seemingly safe industry Claim to be focused on culture and values

Cons

Critical flaws in corporate management Political infighting/politically motivations Lack of accountability (including management) Employees in positions they are woefully unable to handle but management doesn't recognizing Failure to deliver on key components of culture and value mission statements

1.0
Jun 11, 2019

Toxic Work Environment

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The "pros" of working at Citizens Bank include good health insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, life insurance, a 401(k) with a company match up to 4% (although you are not fully vested until you are with the bank for three years or more), off-site training with corporate trainers, and fringe benefits that offer discounts on various products and services.

Cons

The "cons" of working at Citizens Bank are numerous. The words: "screw up to move up" describe the mentality of many branches - particularly if you are the manager's pet. Colleagues with abysmal customer service scores, questionable ethics, and the lowest revenue in the branch were praised, while colleagues with the highest revenue in the branch, excellent customer service scores, and the utmost integrity were bullied. Human Resources works for the bank - not for the employees, so despite assurances from human resources that the bank indicates that they take toxic work culture, harassment, and hostile work environment seriously, they do not. I have been on repeated calls to address the aforementioned concerns among colleagues, and there is nothing that is done. Often, the manager accuses the victim of being petty - and in less than a year the victim is either terminated for poor performance or he or she resigns. Gossip and turnover run rampant. The incentive plan is often unattainable due to unreasonable goals. Rural branches have the same goals as urban branches, despite the foot traffic varying significantly. Also, I have seen colleagues miss an incentive payout for missing the checking account goal by ONE - despite having the highest revenue in the branch. NEVER count any getting an incentive payout because the bank will always find some reason not to pay it. The bank believes that colleagues do not enter fake appointments into their checkup software; however, when colleagues are micromanaged for not having enough appointments, there are still a fair amount of colleagues that enter fake appointments to satisfy managers. This may not occur throughout the bank's footprint; however, it still does happen. With pressure to open new checking accounts so high, colleagues will open a new checking account for a customer - even if a new customer originally wanted ONLY a savings account - after "selling" the customer on using the checking account as a savings account so the colleague makes goals. It makes me question whether the bank is more interested in doing what is best for its shareholders versus what is best for its customers. Lastly, the systems are redundant and the technology is antiquated. We had to enter the same information into multiple systems. Recycled leads are common, so on call nights we just simply called the same customers we called 90 days ago. This irritates customers and often leads to hang ups and rude responses from customers. Most managers have little management experience and were simply promoted due to their sales ability. A great salesperson, despite the bank stating otherwise, does NOT necessarily make a great manager. In most cases a great salesperson is a lackluster manager. Managers ofter little ongoing training and support and are often unavailable to meet with colleagues or customers often due to the fact that they need to be on endless conference calls with other managers. The lack of managerial support, appreciation, attainable incentive pay, and ongoing training are the biggest reasons this company has turnover.

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Citizens Response
7y
Thank you for your review. Please be assured we have strict policies in place that prohibit the practices that you have described and we take these type of allegations very seriously. We strongly encourage you to contact Citizens’ HR Service Center at 1-866-472-8234 or via Right Call at 1-877-495-4727 so that we can further discuss and look into your concerns. Please reference this Glassdoor review so that we can escalate your concerns to a manager within our Employee Relations Department.
Viewing 139 - 141 of 4,790 Reviews

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