intern

teller

operations associate

Columbia Bank (NJ)

My experience working at Columbia Bank was one of the most stressful and emotionally draining jobs I've ever had. I accepted the position excited to learn, grow, and build a career in banking, but instead I found myself in what felt like a toxic work environment where I never felt supported or set up for success.

The biggest issue was the lack of training. I was expected to perform responsibilities, including opening accounts, without receiving the level of training needed to do the job confidently. When I had questions, I often felt like asking for help was viewed as an inconvenience instead of a normal part of learning. Rather than being coached and developed, I felt like every mistake was remembered and held against me.

The culture made me feel like I was constantly walking on eggshells. I came to work every day feeling anxious because I never knew if making a mistake or asking a question would be met with understanding or criticism. Instead of building employees up, I felt like management focused more on what went wrong than on helping people improve. It created an environment where I lost confidence in myself and felt afraid to ask for guidance.

What made the experience even more disappointing was the way everything ended. I never felt like I was given a genuine opportunity to improve before the decision was made to let me go. It felt like the outcome had already been decided rather than management working with me to address concerns and help me succeed. After everything I put into trying to learn the job, being terminated without feeling like I had been given a fair chance was incredibly discouraging.

Looking back, I realized that many of the struggles I experienced were not because I was unwilling to work hard. I genuinely wanted to succeed, but I don't believe I was given the training, communication, or support necessary to do so. A workplace should make new employees feel comfortable learning, asking questions, and growing. Instead, I left feeling stressed, discouraged, and questioning my own abilities.

I hope the bank takes a closer look at its training process and workplace culture because no employee should feel afraid to ask questions or feel like they are being set up to fail. Based on my experience, I cannot recommend working at Columbia Bank.

The typical day at Columbia Bank as a insurance/tax analyst involves tracking various expiration reports to make certain all tax and insurance payments are applied in a timely and accurate manner.   The managers answer any questions that are posed throughout the work day, considering that the same type of questions are not repeated.  The organizational behavior is very eclectic and involves a multitude of personalities and cultural differences which are integrated for the purpose of performing various duties.   The hardest part of the job is reconciling the general ledger through which all insurance and tax payments are posted because multiple amounts are pulled from hundreds of accounts within a daily workload and lumped into a complete subtotal.   The challenge therefore lies in pinpointing any differences (to the penny) that might have occurred throughout the posting or pulling of various payments.   Although the job maybe tedious and come with its difficulties, the most enjoyable part would have to be simply exchanging a few words or conversing with the co-workers about their day.  Such communication gives the company a setting in which people are genuinely concerned with the well-being of others to the point where the work place as a whole has a very family oriented feeling.  In general, although the workload can be long and tedious at times, the overall environment of the bank projects an aura which is indeed very customer and family oriented.

Typical routine to opening the bank according to company policy. I am a float employee and is assigned to locations that require me to cover branches that need staff coverage. Learned alot about good customer service and how to deal with both easy and difficult customers. Co-workers at my company can be hit or miss. Some are great team players and are willing to share knowledge. Others are not so open to sharing their knowledge and lack people skills that I feel is important when dealing with the public. My experience at this bank is really just another example how corporate America has created lack of abundance. Columbia Bank is definitely one of the best banks that any customer should bank at. They offer better accounts and better interest rates than most. I have found that whether or not you have skills unless you are liked by certain staff you will not advance into a management position. When seeking advancement, the management that are conducting the interviews will find petty things and use that against you to stop you from advancement
The hardest part of job can be dealing with very difficult customers and having to take abuse by them.
I can't think of anything enjoyable at the moment but so far my lunch break.

 A typical day at work-=-
Operations management - doing lots of time consuming tasks that most banks would have a department covering.  Trying to get the team engaged when they already hate their job and are not incentivized to sell bank products or grow customer relationships.

What you believe you learned-=-
I would rather die in a fire than work there.

Management-=-
The head of retail banking is without question the biggest scam artist and nepo-baby I have ever encountered.  Market Manager lost her role in the first 60 days that I started.

Workplace culture-=-
Horrific. Clicky for the people who have been there, sneaky and constantly watching the branch offices on cameras from North Jersey like total weirdos.

The hardest part of the job-=-
Not being able to be yourself. Not being able to engage in business development. No training. dealing with the head of retail who is insanely under-qualified and not a leader of people.
   
The most enjoyable part of the job-=-
The day I left... seriously, I can not think of a single thing good about this place.


Pay is well below what’s fair for the amount of responsibility and workload. The most recent branch manager often made inappropriate jokes that HR would not approve of. I was frequently scheduled six days a week, and despite doing more work than tellers at large banks, the pay was less.

There’s no real path for advancement — some of my coworkers have been in the same teller position for over six years. Instead of investing in advertising or marketing, the company expects employees to go out and find new accounts on their own. They also have a “hurdle” system, but it feels disconnected from the resources provided such as investing in doing their own advertising. 

On top of that, upper management cuts back on overtime whenever they choose, offering the option to leave early as if that makes any meaningful difference to the pay shortfall. Overall, the workload, expectations, and pay are completely out of balance.

Daily customer service, walk-ins & outbound calls, one-stop banking services offered, managed & trained staff, performed audit functions, had an insurance license to offer annuities, business development, processed consumer loan application requests with lending authority
Strengthened consumer lending & U/W'ing skills plus learned how to better position & negotiate the product benefits
Senior management was hands-on & quickly worked with you to resolve any challenges
Laid back, old-fashioned banking with a long-tenured employee base that loved working for the company
Their network systems/technology was a challenge because of the conservative nature of the organization.
A community-minded company that cared about their employees.  Customers loved our home town appeal.

On a daily basis I was responsible for making deposits, withdrawals, and transfers for customers. Sometimes I had to open or close an account. I improved my arithmetic and communication skills while working for Columbia Bank. I learned how to deal with all sorts of situation involving customers personal and sensitive information. They also trained me on dealing with difficult customers and phone communication. The management was extremely impressive very supporting and helpful as well as my co-workers. I had no fear asking anyone for help with anything. Overall the job was very enjoyable I met a lot of great and inspirational people, getting to talk to them on there small get away from the office was always a pleasure. The hardest part of the job was just getting use to the system which took me roughly about a week to grasp fully.

A typical weekday has a few customers within the first 30 min to an hour, followed by long periods of little activity. During this time, we help with some general administrative needs, such as filling out a daily settlement sheet or perhaps pulling out or filing signature cards. There is usually plenty of time to talk to co-workers, browse the internet on your phone, or do some homework if you happen to be going to school at the time. 

You mostly learn how the bank works at a slightly-below-surface level, and a bit about the other departments and their functions as well as the regulations the bank has to comply with. 

The hardest part was dealing with negative customers and hearing about the office politics at work between the  co-workers.

Working for Columbia was the worst, most stressful time of my life.  Upper management is completely out of touch of the branch culture. Many of the people in the back office are rude and unhelpful.  They pile on work, constantly adding new responsibilities on top of the already overwhelming load they place on you.  There is not much time left to focus on the customer.  They expect you to push products on customers. Every move you make is documented.  They leave you short staffed and you have no choice but to work overtime with no care that people don’t have work/life balance.  There are many expectations without any valuable leadership.  Stay away to avoid being miserable and find a company that values their employees.  

What is the best part of working at the company?
The company bases everything on favoritism. They are one big, click promotions and request go to friends, not hard-working people.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
There is not enough support from management

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The environment is very hostile. There’s some bullying involved and harassment. This was a branch location work environment. I can’t speak for other branches.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
When you come in in the morning and say hello to your coworkers, they did not respond with hello or good morning. You feel invisible. The team sets a new employee up for failure.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Intern 5 salaries reported	$21.20 per hour
Teller 3 salaries reported	$19.60 per hour
Operations associate 1 salary reported	$20.08 per hour

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