Pros
I made some of my life long friends at this workplace, however mostly through trauma bonding.
Cons
I think it’s really important when reading these reviews to note the negative ones are from employees who have been with (and built) the business and have all left either by being made redundant or CHOOSING redundancy. A restructure saw a huge culling of the workforce during a time of growth (AKA remaining skeleton staff are now left with a ridiculous workload that previously couldn’t be maintained by a workforce double the size). The positive reviews being left are from new hires with key copy and paste words which is really important to notice because they’ve been asked to post these and are predominately management positions. If you don’t hold a ‘leader’, ‘manager’ or even ‘senior’ title, you are completely insignificant. Culture took a turn for the worst when the Chief of Distribution opted to ensure chummy buddies were safe and unscathed whilst people who gave their time, energy and a huge chunk of their life to this bank. I think it’s also hilarious many staff that were forced to take redundancy were also asked to complete process maps because remaining staff and new hires had no idea how the bank operates… the pay is so underwhelming considering a record breaking business growth was achieved. A lot of people let go during this restructure have found work very quickly and realised life outside Bank First is actually enjoyable. I feel bad for anyone sold a dream of ‘family culture’ and ‘a bank that cares about their members’ because the only staff that care to help people are the Contact Centre staff and they’re mostly on their last legs with the lack of support they receive. I understand tough changes are required to grow a business, but maybe it’s my small mind that can’t fathom how reducing the workforce and relying on a auto-approving system (that’s been delayed since Jul23 and still hasn’t arrived) is the answer. Good luck to remaining staff but I will say you’ll find life much more rewarding away from this ridiculously unprofessional and gross workplace. I’ll just say my new place of employment (a direct competitor of Bank First) knows the reputation it holds before I even have to say anything…. This bank is widely known for its toxic work culture and laughable hires in Victoria.
