banking associate

relationship banker

call center representative

operations associate

branch manager

NBT Bank

While support in training and on hand team support is great at this company, the lack of manager support, archaic banking software,  unclear and shady policies make this company an undesirable place to work at. It is understood that yes you must respect the chain of command in order to perform well at your work, however this company takes it to a new level I have a credible amount of banking experience and have worked for larger banks and NBT takes the cake when it comes to internal corruption, when confronted about short comings of the company and ideas on how to improve not only customer cliental experience but improved workflow and better employee resources, I was met with deflection and excuses, and in doing so was made a target. This companies procedure database is not clear and concise, alot of management doesn't know what there doing alot of the time, doesn't know how to use the system provided and when asked a question it's either incorrect or met with deflection. The first team leader I had, "that's what they call team supervisors" did not know how to do barley anything has been with the company for over 10 years and could not  capture a customer dispute correctly. The company is very relaxed when I comes to call availability however it's starting to change due to a new software rollout and will start having employees abide to the polices and metrics standards, however with a clunky workflow software and constant system issues. I'm not sure the analyst are taking in consideration on how that can effect call center support, or how that can impact contact center reps status. 

There are many employees who care a great deal and work hard. There may still be time to right the ship but it’s slipping away quickly. Employee surveys are indicative of the upswell in frustration with leadership.
No reward for tenured employees, new hires and MDP are paid more. Raises don’t keep up with inflation. Under paid compared to other organizations. Will continue to pile work on with no recognition or significant increase in pay. You only get ahead if senior management likes you, hard work is not a factor, kissing up and telling them what they want to hear is. Independent thought is frowned upon. Micromanagement is everywhere and management feels everyone must be in the office to be successful even though employees worked remote throughout the pandemic and kept the bank running, they are not to be trusted now. Leadership is weak and cut throat with each other. Silos in every department.

Advice to Management

Learn how to be leaders. Listen to your employees, even if you don’t agree with what your hearing. You need to allow for flexible work arrangements, not everyone thrives in a cubicle. Stop forcing people to come into the office just because YOU can't embrace technology.  Younger generations are comfortable using technology to stay connected, they don’t need to be in an office. That’s your micromanaging and lack of trust showing. Pay people for the work they are actually doing, which in many cases is greater than what their job description says. HR needs to focus on how to say Yes instead of No when it comes to retaining longer tenured employees. The employee survey is the canary in the coal mine. Pay attention.

I was hired on as an assistant store manager and was under the impression that I would be doing assignments that would be aligned with what I have previous done as an assistant store manager. Once I started working there was no communication between my store manager and I. She was never available and never had the schedule done right; always leaving us short handed. I was always expected to pull a drawer and be on the teller line, which if I wanted to do teller work on a daily basis I would have stayed as a teller. Instead of keeping one of the tellers who was hired as a temporary position and did great work for the bank, they fired him without having someone in the running to fill his position, and left us even more short staffed than before. The only way to advance with the branch is to move to New York where the majority of their branches are. Corporate provides no support and would only give us a dedicated mortgage representative in-branch if we got our number up. I don't know about you, but I would never sign a mortgage with a bank when the only time I would be able to talk to someone about the process would be on a phone.

My initial 13 years with NBT were without incident, this was until I moved from the Operations Center to the Loan Document and Collateral Control department. Once in the new department I found the work day to be monotonous. The management played favorites to those who had been in the area for an extended period of time. They also did not accommodate those employees that presented with disabilities. There was no sympathy for those who were having health issues with their children or other family members.Also, breaks became limited to one 15 minute break a day vs. the state required two.
Previous to this move, while in the Operations Center, I found that the management was open, honest and friendly. It was as though we were all family and working was pleasant enough to want to work extra hours happily. Training was always provided in excess to be sure the tasks at hand would be completed both promptly and accurately. This area of the bank always stressed that both breaks and lunches be taken according to the state requirements.

Depending on what branch you work in, you are almost set up for failure and growth within the company is almost nonexistent. Very limited training from your “superior” and when you do what you’re trained, you are asked why you do it that way. You feel constantly criticized. As relationship banker associates, a lot fall on you, but you don’t have the necessary training to help customers with their concerns. It has been over one year since my first day of employment and I have yet to open accounts, yet it is a requirement & counts towards a quarterly bonus—which is also a joke. Management likes to pick & choose which rules apply to which customers; example: if customer has a lot of money in their account(s) or they personally know them, restrictions do not apply to them. If it is someone they don’t know or someone who doesn’t carry a 5-6 figure balance, they are treated poorly. I do not care for the way a manger talks not only to my coworkers but also to customers, very condescending. Although I enjoy working in a financial service, I don’t feel it’s worth the stress and aggravation from those who are supposed to be our supervisor. 

I worked here about 10 months as tech associate for the service desk on the IT team. It was a great learning experience and I met some nice people. I was way over qualified by my positioning. I originally applied as a system administrator, and was referred down a little bit after the interview when I low-balled my desired pay. I ended up doing more work and closing more tickets than most of the team which included tech associates level 2s and system technicians. there were also workers who would deny work often leading to being the middle man between multiple entities. I had an associates in networking and cyber security, and halfway through my cybersecurity bachelors and worked full time here w/ working saturdays- HR raised the level 2 position's qualifications which deemed me unable to climb to the level 2 position while other workers had the role, but no quals after the fact. Hr then gave a counter offer after my LOR- the same position I was promised to begin with. Great boss- kept me super sane and would have left a lot sooner otherwise. Management is decent, but there can be a lack of accountability with all varying levels of roles. Give it a solid 7/10. 

The management which is almost 1 manager to 1 employee in the call center spend the day texting, talking or shopping.  When they are not just socializing they are hounding the workers to produce more.  If you ask the management a question, they either dont know, or each one will give you different answer. The work itself is tedious.  It is very hard to do your job when you are not provided the proper training, then you get written up for making mistakes.  The rules and procedures change even hourly sometimes but definetly regularly making it impossible to master any task. The stated culture is one of inclusion there but the truth is, unless youre a 20 something, youre going to be stuck in the same position as you entered as. Be sure to love alcohol because if you are not a bar fly, you wont be part of the "cool kids" club and therefor further shunned. In my few years there Ive seen so many good people come and go because of the reasons above. If you apply to this job, be sure you want to be ground into the floor on a daily basis, not supported by management, and watch the "bosses" sit around all day while you work your butt off.

A typical day at work would be coming into work at 8:00AM to which ever NBT bank in Norwich, Sherburne, or South Otselic i was scheduled to work at. I would then prepare my teller drawer, count the cash, and log onto my computer and start helping customers with their wants and needs. I would take an hour break around 1. Then i would contine with my day until it was time to go home at 5:00PM. I learned a ton of things about banking and money and currency that i never would have learned elsewhere if i didn't work for a bank. Everyday was interesting and it was always in a fun but profesional environment. management was great. my favorite part about the day would have to be working in small towns and knowing everyone that came in and being able to help them out in whatever way possible. I met a lot of people and it was good knowing that some of these people came to the bank everyday, and most of the time it would be the highlight of the day.

Started off with the lies about advancement and getting overtime. Overtime is pretty much nonexistent and highly frowned upon, managers will do anything they can to send you home early and leave the branch understaffed for a couple hours. Everything is restricted, upon interview, my manager said I could keep my cell phone out of sight but close as I have a family member in my house that needs to be able to reach me about an emergency (more information than necessary, but my mom who has a high-risk pregnancy). A few weeks later was told I have to put my phone in the back and she daily checks to make sure I do it. Managers here are extremely micromanaging or never available, they allow favorite tellers to do whatever they want, and only care about their own bonuses at the end of the day. They trained poorly after your self-paced work. Bosses are pushy about moving up way to fast because they’re always so short staffed! I’d never recommend working here, one of the worse banks to work for

Tenured employees are worth less to this organization then new hires. Don’t expect to get raises that keep up with cost of living. You’ll soon find yourself buried in work because they run lean to save $$.  Promises of advancement go undelivered, they will string you along and pile work on your plate in the meantime. Leadership is non-existent. The only people chosen for senior leadership positions are those who are incapable of independent thought and who never challenge the CEO, even when they know he’s off base (like his belief that everyone has to work in the office to be successful even though many worked from home throughout the pandemic).  Out of touch management that is fearful and doesn’t trust employees unless they can physically see them is disgraceful.  Micromanaging is encouraged as true leadership takes too much effort. Employee survey results = the canary in the coal mine. Wake up!

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Banking associate 167 salaries reported	$19.24 per hour
Relationship banker 56 salaries reported	$20.64 per hour
Call center representative 32 salaries reported	$20.12 per hour
Operations associate 26 salaries reported	$19.96 per hour
Branch manager 17 salaries reported	$26.77 per hour

Working at NBT Bank: Company Overview and Reviews

NBT Bank

NBT Bank Ratings

Popular jobs at NBT Bank

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected