Pros
If you are starting out in banking, it allows a great place to gain experience in the corporate world. I interact with great clients and learn and network with them. Umpqua allows for empowerment to a certain extent, and visually, it is a great place to come to every day. The marketing I think is great, as is the decor of your work place. The culture, although seems to have taken a dip, is great. Umpqua is deeply involved with the community. The people I work with are great and usually you will get a good experience with the help desk as far customer service goes. I've dealt with Ray Davis, the CEO on numerous occasions, and he always greets me by name and is very personable. Great guy.
Cons
Moving up is close to impossible if you are expecting a significant raise. I've been with the company for a couple years now and I have expressed moving into a management role. I've had a couple conversations and really looked forward to possibly moving up. I was even given a package that would help me with the move. But as time passed, I started hearing that Umpqua, at least in our market, wanted to fill the 5-6 management positions with external candidates because those candidates will instantly bring some business from their prior banks. Well I then started to look into the lead position, which is Umpqua's version of Asst Mgr. Well the lead position would only be a raise of about .50/hr, with about 50% more responsibility. No thanks. The performance raise that is given is ridiculous. While being talked to about my performance review, my mgr praised me and said what a wonderful job I did and even expressed that my raise was significant. It wasn't. Didn't even match inflation. I learned soon after that a newer guy to the company recieved a larger raise, and he was only there for about 6 months. I think because he is lower in salary, and I am higher, my raise will be capped. Other issues with the bank is the communication between departments is poor. You can literally call 3 different people about the same issue and get 2 different answers. We are often told to refer to our operations handbook, which is usually outdated with information. Also, we (associates on the frontline) is often confused on what the focus is. Seems like every week there is a new focus. You will be overworked, and our mgr for instance does not help us with the day to day tasks. We had 3 FTEs, and when one left, that position was changed to part time to save $$. The stores are spread extremely thin, and when I requested a vacation for a couple days, I was discouraged to do so. The incentives are close to impossible to maximize. I don't think I have received more than $120 in incentives.