I work as an FSR at one of the Big Five banks, and lately, I’ve been struggling with the way sales targets are managed in the banking industry.

On the surface, we’re told that recommending bank accounts, credit cards, overdrafts, and insurance should always be based on clients’ needs. But if that’s truly the priority, why do we have weekly targets for each of these products? Why do they make up such a significant portion of our performance scorecards?

Every morning starts with a call or meeting where we’re expected to report how many client meetings we have planned and how many specific opportunities we expect to identify for accounts, overdrafts, insurance, and other products. Then there are follow-ups at noon, 3 p.m., and after 5 p.m. to check our progress against our sales numbers that we projected in morning meeting vs how much is accomplished and how many more to go for weekly targets. That’s potentially four calls or meetings a day focused on sales performance every single day. 5 days a week without a miss.

I’m genuinely struggling to reconcile this with the idea of needs-based banking. Banking is becoming increasingly overwhelming for clients, with so many products being offered, many of which come with fees, costs, or other financial commitments. Does a client really need five accounts with overdraft protection and ten credit cards with insurance? Obviously, every client’s circumstances are different, but surely more products don’t automatically mean better service.

Are there regulations or safeguards in Canada to protect clients from being oversold products they don’t genuinely need? And how much room do employees really have to prioritize a client’s best interests when their performance and job security are so closely tied to sales targets?

I’m also wondering whether this kind of sales culture is common across all five major Canadian banks or whether some are better than others. For those who work in banking, how do you cope with this pressure while still feeling that you’re doing the right thing for your clients? Honestly, I’m starting to feel completely drained by the constant sales pressure. I care about helping people, but this environment is making me question whether banking can truly be client-focused under these conditions.

So today one of their customers showed up without even calling ahead and I was at lunch so there was no one there who could help them. So they left and she still didn't give them my card to make an appointment or even ask them what day and time they are planning on coming.

Appointments aren't just for our convenience, guys.

I work in back office and my department supports the frontline staff in branches with operation support in things like accounts and loans. Honestly they can be just as pushy or demanding as their customers. I’ve had branch managers demand that their requests be done within the hour they put it in because they’ve got the customer upset in their office. Like no bro that’s not how things work. We need time to research. I had one banker emailing me wanting me to break bank procedure just because they promised a customer something we can’t do. She was like “I already told them yes and they will never work with me again if you don’t do this”. Sounds like a you problem. The most recent one was their Branch GL was off and they’re rushing me and our team emailing us every hour to find the offage acting like it’s our fault they can’t balance.

Yes, I work in the back office of a credit union...but i still think I failed somehow and am just a hangeron at this point.

I am been at my job for 12 years now. I started at a teller and wondered for years how a good number of my coworkers got promoted so quickly. Weirdly, teller positions here have a high turn over rate. I stuck it out for 4 years and even tried for some position as a manager. Head of line Ops gave me the book and training packet and when I finished, she said I wasn't manager material. But then weeks later, her and her boss interviewed me for the manager of call center. Spoiler Alert, I did not get it because I could not talk to three people at once. Weeks later, I did get taken off the line and put with collections...but as the loans/mortgage compliance clerk.

Yet...I was told I would be doing more and that I would work with my supervisor. That never happened...hell, I never got training for the job. I had to ask the head of the loan department what the hell I was even supposed to do. She gave me a checklist for consumer loans and mortgages to make sure we had everything and that they were signed. It was...fine for a time, then I got efficient with it and got caught up with their backlog.

Then for the next 5 years, I had to ask different departments if I could take on duties because I wasn't just going to sit there and do nothing. I got little things that they would give and take away. Managers changed, my old one became COO and I had 4 or 5 managers they would pass me around to. I got tired of asking and receiving silence...even though other coworkers said management liked me for some reason. Then one manager who hated...everyone that worked there and fired people because she could, set her sights on me. She asked me what I did all day in a rude and blunt manner. I told her and she said bullshit and decided to put me on the 2nd floor where she fired back off people. Her plan was to make me quit by having me help call center. Then she was forced to quit and I never had to do any call center stuff. I got a new supervisor, the CFO....and more of the same emptiness. By now, I have taken to reading in my free time...yet this new manager wants to see me do more...and I only added dealing with titles to my job. I asked my super busy old boss what the plan for me way and she admitted I was supposed to learn risk management, but gave that to a former IT employee instead, even created a new position just for him.

I just...feel like I failed somewhere. Throughout my 12 years here, I have constantly felt like I was on verge of being fired or let go. I don't know what to do anymore. I have expressed my frustrations to every manager so far and nothing. Am I not explaining my situation to them clear enough? Am I just a joke to them? I don't know what to do anymore and I can't quit because the job market was impossible for me before I lucked out with this place and the job market is freaking worse.

Advice?

Unfortunately my bank is really pushing calls. Especially for things like loans. I find it hard to cold call a mortgage, heloc, Etc. Any advice?

Kids are already in their 30s, still depend on the parents, no credit history, no credit cards, still live with their parents and live on the parents’ allowance even though they have jobs. Parents come to the bank to open joint CDs with their kids and control their money. Kids are clueless about what they’re saving for, can’t answer simple questions about their personal finances.

Also same for younger parents whose kids are turning 18… won’t allow their kids to have credit card or build credit. Kids are 18-28 but still need their parents permission to do anything.

Why do they do that to their children 😭😭😭

I’m pretty experienced commercial lender with 7+ years of experience working in a Canadian Bank.

I knew stepping into the role that the local market reputation has been pretty soured over the past few years and that this portfolio had cycled 4-5 account managers in the last 5 years.

I’ve been struggling with just eating it all. The bank is pretty policy heavy and not agile. Terrified of audit. I had a lot of agency in my previous FI so I could tangible move the needle on stuff so much whereas here I need to delegate to other parties who also have internal capacity issues. These are being addressed but instead of steering the ship I need to rely on others.

Going into it, I knew these were all possibilities but I find a year under my belt it’s still really frustrating and I unfortunately wear a lot on the delays or issues on myself. Additionally where the client experience has been questionable over the years you want to leave a good impression. However sometimes even the files are structured incorrectly and it makes no sense they were on-boarded to begin with.

Does anyone have tips if they’ve been in similar situations? I don’t mind heavy workloads but I just find my hands constantly tied. I know first year transitions to Banks are not always smooth but I can’t give myself grace

Hey y’all. I’ve been at WF for almost 3 years and I’m not really feeling it. I have a few friends that work at CUs and it doesn’t sound bad. I’m currently thinking about BELLCO, but I would like outside opinions about others and how they feel about it? Would a CU be a better place instead of a huge bank?

I’ve already tried applying to PB and 2 interviews fails and I gave up on it.

Hello, I'm gonna start my new job next week. This is my first job in the US as a Private Client Banker at a Chase branch. Please share your advice. What things do I need to make sure I learn need to know before I start? Also, after I start, how can I be a good employee?

Thank you.

I wanted to post here to give a perspective to people who only know retail banking and have no other job experience elsewhere, and may be feeling miserable with no way out.

I basically worked in branches since I entered the job force after university. Did 8 years at two major banks. I can't believe I did so much time in such a miserable environment. Life feels so much lighter now.

It's not normal to feel so stressed and emotionally drained every day. I should have listened to my husband tell me for years its not normal to have so much going on in a job for so little in return. To juggle being a teller, banker, manager all in one some days. To struggle to have your meetings with clients and meet your numbers, while also being expected to work on credit applications, assist with line ups, meet with complaint and fraud clients for far too long than you need to, hear the most horrendous financial abuse stories possible, open and close the branch and help with operations. To work full steam ahead every single day, 8 hours a day, and when you aren't, you're no longer "consistent enough". When having a doctor's appointment or another personal matter you must attend to destroys the entire branch schedule because it's so short staffed and a 1/3 of the branch called in sick yet again. The constant high emotion environment where nothing you ever do is good enough, because you always need to have higher numbers, higher customer satisfaction surveys, higher this, higher that. And then to see every year, the sketchiest people win all the awards, and there are always a handful who are fired right after receiving their awards because of code of conduct breaches or from committing fraud to make their results better.

I spent years miserable in all aspects of my life because of the environment every day, and even when I wasn't at work, I was still thinking about work constantly because of the insane amount of stuff that needed to be done.

I'm on the other side now working for family after I resigned in the spring. The work now is a bit boring, but there's zero stress, most days we don't work the full 8 hours, and I feel lighter than I have ever felt in my career.

I'm never going back again.

These experiences were what I dealt with in 4 different positions in retail banking from teller to manager, all in busy locations in a major Canadian city.

Hi everyone, I have an update on the post I made a couple weeks ago. You can find the original story below. HR ended up giving me a final written warning with no specified end date. I don’t even really know how to react other than looking for new jobs. Any advice? Do you guys think this outcome was justified?

TL;DR: Coworker on a PIP asked me (via chat) to put their already-signed balancing sheet in the back room since they'd forgotten before clocking out. I did, and told my manager the full truth + showed the chat when asked. Coworker was terminated over it. I’ve been given a final written warning with no end date.

Original post:

I've worked as a universal banker for over 4 years, no prior write-ups or issues. A newer coworker started a while back and was struggling — they got written up for an error and were eventually put on a PIP. We became fairly close, and I gave them general advice on how to handle it (talk to HR, push back on the reasoning if they disagreed, etc.).

About a month ago, they left early for a personal issue. They came back a few hours later saying they needed to complete a transaction and print something. I helped them with the transaction, and they went to their station to finish up (technically already clocked out).

They then messaged me saying they'd forgotten to print their balancing sheet. Our policy is that everyone prints and signs their own balancing sheet and puts it in the back workroom at end of day. They asked if I could put theirs in the back once they printed and signed it, and I said sure. I was already helping another customer by the time they left, so we only communicated through chat — I never completed their balancing work, just walked their signed sheet to the back.

The next day, my manager asked me what happened. I told them the truth and showed them the chat log so there was no ambiguity about what was asked of me and what I actually did.
Long story short — my coworker was terminated over this. The PIP likely played some role, but HR told them this incident was the deciding factor, separate from their earlier performance issues.

My manager has said I'll likely face "some consequence" but that it's entirely in HR's hands now, not theirs. It's been about two weeks since the incident and roughly a week since my coworker was let go, and I still haven't heard anything directly from HR. I'm getting more anxious as time passes.
Has anyone dealt with something like this? Should I expect to be let go too, or does this sound more like a slap on the wrist? Anything I should be doing right now besides waiting?

I’m a bank teller earning $13 an hour. I don’t mind the work, but customer service is very draining. I’m introverted, and although I acknowledge that any job I’m in, I have to talk to people, I just would prefer something else that’s more work-oriented.
Before I got this job, I looked into becoming a real estate agent. My family comes from a background of contractors, architects, and real estate agents, but I became disinterested when I realized that everyone and their mom is now a real estate agent. However, I have no hate for real estate agents. I know a lot of them, and they’re great people, but I started looking into a job that people don’t talk about as much.
At the same company I work for, I applied for an appraisal specialist position for commercial work. I have a very basic level of understanding of appraisal and their methods of determining an appraisal value, but I was interested because this crosses over real estate and banking. However, I’m not sure if this is the role for me. I’ve also looked into working in the fraud department; however, that position is not open right now. I would like a job that has steady income and also a little bit better pay, but I’m not sure what to do. I’m also open to working jobs outside of the bank, but of course, that’s the first thing I look at. I have a little work experience outside of the bank. I’m a reseller, but that doesn’t really count but that does make up like 60% of my income. I plan to quit doing that, though once I find a much better job. I’m also quite young. I’ve not had enough time to have a lot of work experience.

edit:
spelling and grammar

You know what’s really annoying is when customer tosses out your CEOs name to impress but I don’t give a fuck that you know his name it has no relevance to the business we are conducting. I still need your ID, Jerob.

Or when the customer says “you know what, (ceos name) isn’t getting that business,” as a response to me pitching a product as if that was in any way a reflection of that product’s merits. Like sure, as if my company’s executive needed you to do a credit card with me so I can pay my mortgage this month.

Unless it’s my regional exec or tied to my LOB directly then I barely know who you’re talking about and unless it pertains to what you came in for, I don’t care who’s name you can spot off.

Usually it’s some kind of special request too, like waive more fees than I can, or give you a better rate on your account, or discuss something I shouldn’t be saying. And they’ll just drop it casually as if they are in some way connected or as important

My branch is only a few years old. We combined two locations into one new address where there are seveal banks in a row. Well from the beginning the NEW branch was supposed to be a becon of light for the bank. New location, clean looking and was to be fully staffed. Well the "fully staffed" never happened. Resently they moved the only male employee, an ahole lender, to another location. Even though he was an ahole, his presence sometimes deterred confrontation from customers. Now he's gone it's just three women working.

Today our manager had a BOM meeting so that left me and a teller in that branch alone for hours. Only two cars in the employee parking lot. I told my kids to sue their a$$ if I get robbed and get hurt or killed.

I would never expect 2 people especially 2 women to be in the bank alone this time of year with the doors unlocked. With just two people working we should just have the drive thru open and the lobby closed. I told the other teller we have to keep our head on a swivel, acknowledge every person loudly that enters the bank. I pray we don't get robbed. My fragile heart can't take it. 🙏🏽

A few Fridays ago a bank behind us had a carjacking at gun point. An officer came over to see if we caught any footage. The bank that it happened at had no outside cameras. Are you freaking kidding me? We contacted our security officer and our cameras had clear recording of the incident. So the officer gave us a link to upload the footage. I wonder if the caught the person?

Sometimes I think upper management has lost their damn minds. No outside cameras??? You got to be a total idiot not to have outside cameras at a bank. We have a total of 16 cameras inside and out. You will have to be invisible to not get your face on one of them. Be safe everyone. 🙏🏽

I’m starting my fourth year in banking and have had a couple of different branch managers come and go. One common theme I’ve noticed is that they always seem to have something going on outside the branch, whether it’s a bank community event, a doctor's appointment, something involving their kids, or some other obligation. It's gotten to the point where I wonder, is it just me, or do branch managers rarely actually work in the branch?

I understand that managers have responsibilities outside the branch, and I know their jobs involve more than just overseeing daily operations. However, it feels like my managers have rarely been present to actually manage the branch and support their bankers and tellers, which feels like their core responsibility.

I’m curious if this is just my experience or if other bankers have noticed the same thing. Do you have managers who are consistently present and actively involved in running the branch, or is this pretty common across banking?

AS AN SBI EMPLOYEE I SUGGEST DON'T JOIN BANKING SECTOR.

BANKING SECTOR IS HIGHLY OVERRATED BUT REALITY HITS WHEN YOU WORK MORE THAN 10 HRS AND STILL WORK IS NOT COMPLETD YOU WORK OVERTIME AND NOT GET PAID,YOU FOLLOW GUIDELINES BUT GET HATE FROM PUBLIC, YOU WORK FOR PUBLIC BUT GOT SCOLDED FOR THE TARGETS THAT ARE BEYOND COMPLETION. IN LAST YOU ARE SO FRUSTRATED THAT YOU WANT TO QUIT BUT YOUR RESPONSIBILITY STOPS YOU.

This is more of a rant so sorry in advance, i hit my breaking point after being out of balance today

I've been in branch banking for almost a year as a college student for a tough degree. Doing this shit with clubs and two educations then worrying about compliance, accuracy, AND sales nearly full time (BOTH sides) is driving me insane, especially when i could've made the same as a SBUX shift leader instead of a UB. It breaks me watching people withdraw the last bit of money to their name and then being told to throw credit cards and savings accounts at people with either no money, or people that just want to be left alone. I just moved branches to be "closer" to school but with traffic it really didn't make a difference other than my sales goals doubling. I feel like i'm in the same predicament as when i left SBUX, i wanted an office job that could get me in the door for a "real" job (somewhere?) that wasn't food service but honestly, this doesn't feel too different from my last job with upward momentum being mediocre at best. especially when my degree isn't really business related, i'd be a better engineer, analytst, or IT specialist and now i feel like i should quit and focus on school and STEM internships rather than waste my time climbing a latter that caps well before any back office position. I wandered into a corporate office one morning and had never been more jealous of the employees and the quiet client-free lobby. Does it ever get better?

Hi Reddit, I just passed my 1 year mark with Chase being a RB, and made 85k in the year. I’m in a moderate income area in the East Coast surrounded by new immigrants. Before Chase I was a Wells Fargo personal banker for 20months. Tbh, I just started to see the big increase in my PVCs in the past quarter and start to be one of the top performers in my area(about 3k PVCs/month) and thought it could be a decent gig. My manager has been dangling the PCB promotion in my face for a few weeks but we all know it’s not gonna happen until my current PCB leaves. Frankly in the past quarter I made a lot more PVCs than he did… everyone keeps talking about non-cap incentive for PCBs but I barely see my branch closes any lump deals nearing the caps. And if I do become a PCB, it’s just another glorified customer service/ sales job imo…I can see my PCB stressed out on a daily.

After 3 years, I’m getting tired of retail banking. The long hours, calls, working on Saturdays, stupid management and power trips… I feel this job will eventually suck me dry.

For those who’re in the same shoes, what are you actively doing to get out? For those who are already out, what are you doing right now? I have a business degree here and came from another country, any advice would be appreciated.

It is diabolical that the bank that rhymes with race is open today, like what are we doing here

Hi everyone. I’m thinking of quitting the teller job. I’m just gonna call my boss and quit on the phone. It’s a long story. Will I still get paid for the vacation that was unused?

Teller referrals are really low at this branch. I’m a senior banker that’s worked at multiple branches with multiple tellers and I always gave them tips on how to make referrals. Most of them do really well. However the tellers at this branch are just not listening despite me repeatedly giving them new tips every week. The tellers make like 1 referral total a week to the bankers (we have 6 bankers). There’s just not any motivation for these young kids because they don’t get anything for making referrals, and also don’t want to be promoted. Other tellers I worked with before really tried to become better at this because they wanted to grow and advance, however my current tellers are just ok with whatever.

Now BM blames it on me, saying I’m not social enough and need to spend time with the tellers. Like come chit chat with them on my free time so they like me more and make more referrals. While bank’s expectation is for the bankers to be on the phone calling if you’re not with a customer. And isn’t coaching them the manager’s job and not mine? So it is my fault that the tellers are not doing their job? And it’s because I’m a quiet and reserved person? It just doesn’t make sense 😭 BM is basically telling me to do her job for her omg

Deadass my bank has signs saying that we'll be closed for "The Legal Holiday" on Monday.

Last year we were sent 2 different signs saying either Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples' Day.

Is this something that was required federally somehow or is my bank in particular being weird 💀

A. CD shoppers

B. Crypto Bros/conspiracy lunatics

C. Boomers that like talking about the "old days" or manager from 20 years ago

D. The people that think they are wealth management or private banking clients based off of social circles but are not.

Hi all, current personal banker here. I generally enjoy my job, I like working with customers and I work with a really great branch team. Our branch extended our Saturday hours from 9-12 to 9-2 a few months back (not sure if this is for all WF branches with Saturday hours or just something in my district.) I didn’t think it would bother me much, but it’s making me DREAD the weeks that I have to work Saturdays now. My coworkers and I are all in the same boat, it feels like this extra two hours is making the day terrible. The last two hours of the day are almost completely empty and dead. This is the largest drop in employee morale I have ever seen at any job I’ve worked. It’s insane how much this has affected us- we all feel like our entire weekend is gone and we just live at work. I’ve had multiple coworkers say that this is pushing them to work elsewhere.
I just want to vent I guess lol. I’m sure they won’t be going back to 3 hour Saturday shifts but I REALLY wish they would. I also wanted to see if this is just my branch overreacting, or if others are feeling this as well.