Negative Culture at Key Bank / Employees Hate Working here - Lead Teller KeyBank Employee Review

1.0
May 7, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Entry level teller training comprehensive. Teller school prepares new tellers for job responsibilities. Tiedeman location very nice and has excellent food services / breakfast, lunch, snacks.

Cons

Key Bank has an extremely negative culture. Area Retail Sales Leaders put high pressure and unrealistic sales expectations on employees. District leadership non existent until branch is under performing. Employees are micromanaged hourly, daily, weekly, monthly quarterly, and yearly. Tellers are increasingly responsible for contributing to branch sales goals. Micromanagement includes constant coaching / performance improvement plans for anyone not exceeding sales goals in all 5 areas. New system implemented in 2014-2015 for tracking goals / success is even more confounded and impractical than before. Leadership is negative, demeaning, demoralizing and just plain rude. No work life balance. Annual performance review for Tellers is nearly impossible to rank highly even when significantly exceeding all goals. Below average pay. All branch positions paid hourly except Branch Manager. Punch clock rounds to nearest 15 mins. Performance improvement plan if hours exceeded scheduled hours even though no fault of your own. Tellers expect to work less hours than promised regularly, unless someone in your branch is on vacation. Branch managers are salaried and abuse time off policies. Not well policed. Branch managers have lied about being at work, abused time off, show up late, leave early, will not be in rotation to work weekends. Branch managers frequently avoid accountability and force other staff i.e bankers and tellers to deal with difficult customer situations despite customer asking to speak with branch manager. No accountability. Little room for advancement. Bankers expected to stay late or come in early for meetings with little notice. Performance often graded by how well management likes you / vs actual numbers. Bankers frequently moved from branch to branch. Same negative culture seen at many branches across several districts. Teller lines are revolving doors because pay is poor, expectations are unreasonable, stressful customer situations and work in constantly critiqued. Very poor leadership throughout corporate levels. 1-800-KEY2YOU customer service is incompetent. Branch must often dealswith calls from Key2You and handle situations that take away from opportunities for sales.

Explore other reviews about KeyBank

5.0
Jun 3, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Culture, opportunities, industry leading products and benefits

Cons

Internal politics and favoritism blocks talent

3.0
Jul 20, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Generous PTO allowance; Get to build relationships with local customers. Can be a great company to work for so long as you are not in the Eastern PA region. Key Bank's acquisition of First Niagara Bank (FNB) in Eastern PA left a void in regards to lack of consistency in executing Key Bank company culture and leadership in the acquired Eastern PA region, which functioned as a hybrid of Key Bank's culture & processes, as well as old FNB culture & processes.

Cons

Forced to spend too much time focusing on checking account openings, credit card applications, and work on the teller line. Management expects you to focus more on getting a client to a certain wellness score as a metric versus being given the time to perform an in-depth financial planing analysis for each client. Getting clients to discuss their investment portfolio outside the bank takes time and relationship building. Management expects you to push products and advice in such a way that you are performing immediately to the role's metrics versus being given the time to build relationships, which not only takes time, but typically has very large rewards by way of significant investment & insurance business. Management exprects an SLRM to put way more focus on the branch's banking needs and doesn't probvide the time and proper resources needed to acquire & properly service investment clients. Branch management encourages predatory behavior among the floor sales team instead of working with a team approach. Referrals from tellers and Personal Bankers are highly depended on how competitive the branch environment is versus a "There's no 'I' in team" approach.

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