Most of the key problems with the bank go back to senior management (CEO/CRO/CFO/CBO, etc.). They are extremely out of touch when it comes to current work trends, economic realities, and the general wellbeing of their employees. They are generally against remote work, which makes it extremely hard to recruit qualified talent. They also pay well below the market rate for a lot of positions. My position, I felt, came with adequate compensation (it was not the reason for my departure), but I know for a fact that many others did not. The reason for this, Management has said, is because they are trying to keep expenses low to improve their "efficiency ratio," but in reality all they do is make it harder to recruit qualified people. As a result, key positions at the Bank are filled with overworked individuals who have very little work-life-balance (further hampered by the fact that management wants "butts in chairs"). Management has previously said that "winners want to work for winners" as illustration of what they believe makes people want to be a part of a team. Ridiculous sports analogies abound, which I guess is to be expected from a bunch of white male boomers, but sports analogies would work if everyone was compensated based upon their contribution and the overall organization's performance. However, in 2020 UCB posted record profits (thanks to PPP and the federal government), and then gave out 2% raises on average. I was also promised a 10-15% annual bonus when I joined, but received a 7% bonus in 2020. I feel kind of dumb complaining about it, because so many more people got much less, but it goes to show that Management does not abide by their promises and does not proportionally reward its employees (even when raking in record profits). 2021 was another record year, and in February of 2022 they did 3-4% raises (while inflation was raging at 11-12% annually). They also announced a company minimum wage of $15/hr, just after Truist (a competitor in the region) set theirs at $20/hr. The CEO went on LInkedIn to brag about it, which was the most tone-deaf thing. Not only are you not doing yourself any favors from an employee retention standpoint, you're actually bragging about it? Congrats, my dude. Your pay scale is now on par with McDonalds. Speaking of management not keeping its promises, here's how I ended up leaving the Bank. I was planning my departure from the bank for some months before it actually happened. I had an opportunity with a current vendor of the Bank, but there was a non-solicitation clause in the contract between them. I knew that it could cause a problem (or at least spoil the relationship) were I to pursue the opportunity without clearing it with them first. So before starting to discuss things with my new prospective employer, I went to my manager to discuss it. I made it clear that, if such a move would upset Management, I would not pursue it. I also made the offer of an extended transition period (up to a full quarter) to ensure a smooth transition. My manager was OK with this approach and took it to senior management. A week later, I received feedback from the CRO that essentially, "things happen," that it was disappointing, but there were no hard feelings. They didn't have a good mechanism to do a long transition, so I should just give my notice when the time came. It took a while (2 months) to get my new offer, but when it came in, I did what they told me to do. Monday morning I gave my boss my notice. It was relayed to Management, after which all hell broke loose. Management started making noise about severing ties with this particular vendor and canceling contracts, which made the vendor freak out. The vendor called to tell me that my offer was officially "on hold" while they tried to figure everything out. This went on for two weeks, because various people in Management had retreats and personal vacations during which they didn't want to be bothered. It clearly mattered enough to them to be petty, but not so much that they actually considered my family's predicament. I had already resigned from a job, thinking I had another one to go to, and suddenly all that was in question and Bank management didn't have the courtesy to address it with me directly, leaving me in the lurch unsure of what would happen. It was incredibly stressful, abusive, and rude, and it made it clear they did not see me as a person. During this whole time, Management's refrain (which I heard indirectly through my manager), was that "We don't have any influence over who another company employs." However, after nearly 2 weeks in limbo, the vendor called me up and told me they were going to have to rescind my offer. No one from UCB reached out to me to talk about staying on longer, senior Management didn't address anything with me. My boss did allow me to extend my departure date by a week, but it was on her initiative, not that of senior management (she really was a good person who tried to do right by her people; she was just hamstrung by poisonous senior management). By that time, I wanted to get as far away from the organization as possible, so I was leaving regardless. However, their refrain of "we don't control other companies' employment decisions" is an utter farce. They did influence the vendor's decision, and they did so after having clearly told me they would not. I knew they had the potential to be extremely petty and vindictive, which is why I tried to approach the transition as transparently as possible. That transparency, however, was used against me. My advice to any current or future employees at UCB is to play your cards close to the vest, do what's best for you, and do not ever trust management. They do not have your best interests at heart and will throw you under the bus at a moment's notice if it will benefit them (or if their feelings get hurt in any way).
