senior relationship banker

relationship banker

center manager

call center representative

personal banker

Simmons Bank

Retail banking is like the upper crust of retail work. You're dressed a bit better, you usually get good AC, there is a degree of professionalism, and you get paid better than minimum wage. Unfortunately, you're still going to deal with all the other downsides of retail work.

Your typical day depends a lot on your branch. If you're at a busy branch, you will be on your feet for most of the day. You have metrics to keep up with, like opening accounts, credit card applications, loan applications, campaign calls, and making referrals for specialized services (like wealth management, business vendors, etc). You will also have emails to keep up with, regarding tasks around the branch and follow-ups with client accounts, that need to be kept on top of. You have to manage your schedule for customer appointments and follow-ups. And then on top of all of that, you have to ensure customers in the building have their transactions processed quickly to avoid lines.

If you're at a busy branch, you'll be busy most days trying to stay on top of everything. If you're at a slow branch, you may find yourself with more time than you know what to do with, especially if you're not driven to make your numbers.

And no one could blame you for not being driven. You get a base hourly pay, but you don't earn commission for your sales. Instead, you rack up points to earn a bonus. This system has changed over time but, the way it is now, only the top half of performers QUALIFY for a bonus payout, and they may get a few hundred dollars IF they meet their quarterly metrics and IF everything else goes well for the company. Your bonus is never guaranteed. Bonus payouts come a month after the quarter ends. If you get let go or have a disciplinary action against you during that wait, you lose your bonus. The system makes it seem like you can earn much more, but you'd have to be at the very top to make anything close to what they say.

Turnover is high, which leaves many branches struggling for enough staff, and it's easier than ever to get let go. I got the impression Simmons is trying to trim down their already struggling workforce. This means a lot of branches are struggling to handle the business they get.

They tell you that you will occasionally need to work a Saturday morning shift, but what they really mean is you will be working most Saturday morning shifts. If you're lucky, you get a branch that closes early (4 or 5pm) and your hours are really consistent. If not, your schedule can be all over the place, but at least you still only work between 8am - 6pm.

Management is under a lot of pressure and it creates a CYA culture. Everyone is nice, but you never know when you will be left in the dark or to fend for yourself. Communication can be really rough when it comes to handling conflict or disciplinary action.

Attention to detail is important. You're handling people's money and there are a lot of regulations to stay mindful of. Most transactions will be very simple, but there will always be ones that can get you in trouble very easily.

Raises are completely "merit based," which is a nice way of saying that the majority of workers will not get raises annually, meaning you're getting paid less each year you work there.

Sales driven bank. You will be asked to call and basically harass the same customers every quarter to try to get them into a new product so the bank can reach its goal. Once you do good your goal will go higher but not the bonuses or pay. There is a huge lack or leadership or knowledge from the manager. There are less than a handful of people that will be helpful to you as a teammate. The culture is stated to be full of initiative and  teamwork with everyone bringing their best everyday but thats just pretty talk. You will be left to fend for yourself. The words 'sink or swim' are words the manager likes to use. If you run into a situation and ask for help and none is provided to you and you address the issue they will blame it on you and say 'its basic knowledge'. There is little to no training involved. They will partner you with someone but that person will be so busy with their own everyday work and assisting other people there's no time to really show you anything, you either pick things up from shadowing or you don't.  If you have an unhappy customer, the manager will not come out of her office to ease the situation she will send you back and forth like a messenger which only leads to more infuriation. The management there believes that because they have higher roles and have been their longer they should be able to sit in the office all day while everyone else does the work to keep the place going. It is severely in need of more people but they refuse to higher more help again, they would rather put more on your workload. Simmons has a help desk that is a joke to call. Everyone on the other line gives you different information. They are based out of Arkansas and sometimes don't even know what rules and policies apply in Texas. If you are in a role to do loans the loan officers for Simmons will not find anyway to help the customers at all. They do not communicate with you either to process efficiently. The call center for Simmons whose job it is to answer calls that could not be picked up in branch will create a log to let you know they basically had to answer calls. That is their job! If the branch in beeville is such a higher deposit branch wouldn't it make sense we have a higher call volume? Anyway thats just a few things you will run into on a daily basis.

When I first started I was nervous and excited, just like any new hire would be. Everyone was friendly and super welcoming. From my experience I never saw any true workplace drama which was great. I learned a lot here and I will definitely carry the tools I’ve gathered with me to my new job. But then, things were great until they weren’t! Things went from kind and helpful to constant passive aggressive emails and unfair treatment. Multiple weeks with no lunch, forced to cancel or reschedule appointments because of short staffing; Any type of customer service job can be stressful, so a break is needed. Of course most people call in irate, and sometimes it can be a bit much, when things get out of hand you’d expect your super to try and help with the call, but nope not at Simmons! In short you were told to suck it up, let the customer talk to you any kind of way and move on! Also there were some days where you couldn’t even get a ten minute break if the phones were busy, let alone a lunch break. We’d get told, “Hey guys, we’re going to work through lunch today/the rest of the week.” With a plastered smile. It’s not the associates fault that the company is short staffed and I don’t believe they should’ve been punished for that. The manager would try and smooth things over with buying all of the workers lunch, but it wouldn’t do much good when there was literally no time to eat it. Meanwhile the manager would be sitting in the office door closed in “meetings”. But aside from all of that my time there, I absolutely loved the team lead, they were very helpful and tried to ease tension. The list of reasons to NOT work there is a lot longer than the list of reasons why you should! But good luck if you give it a shot, hopefully your experience is much better!

I worked at simmons bank for about a year the beginning of the time I was there was amazing untill i was involvedd in a car accident. The did not tell me that i was able to take short term leave and made me use all of my PTO days. My manager did not allow me to go to my doctors appointments regarding the accident and my GI, or OBGYN. When I was promoted to relationship banker two they were even more harsh. Yes you had PTO but the manger would not let you take days off. You were not allowed to be you. It was one way or no way. It is a great company as far as benefits but if you do not know them they do not let you know what you can take advatage of.  The hardest part of the job was having a support team. They are super quick to promote you but do not care if you meet the expectations or what is needed for the role. The manager i had made the whole job stressfull and non mangeable with my home life. I enjoyed the most the training and that was before i was officially hired on with the company. I truely wish it wasnt a toxic enviroment and i would not reccomend any one to work with Simmons Bank. It was hard to beable to be you, live your life, go to work. You cannot have a middle ground with this company. Especially if you have kids. This job would not be recommended.

I enjoyed the perk of working from home although it never really felt like I was trusted to do my job. Management would watch my online status like a hawk. One too many “you’ve been away for 8 minutes, what are you doing” chat messages. Salaried, but you can’t choose your hours and there’s no flexibility. They want butts in seats 8-9 hours a day regardless. Couldn’t tell if I was there to do a job or just fill a seat. 

Treated like a delinquent anytime I needed PTO, even for the most pressing of reasons. Sometimes it was declined outright. They don’t pay out PTO when you leave. Personal days - non-existent. No separate sick days. 

As far as culture, pretty much just an illusion of inclusion. Never really felt like I fit in on my team. Upper management always seemed to side with managers on matters of management being insensitive and invasive. 

Required to report your vaccination status every single morning. Company even postponed employee raises for several months (during a pandemic when people need their tiny raises more than ever) saying they didn’t have enough money. Yes, that makes me feel wonderful about my job security! 

Overall, just didn’t like it. Everything felt robotic and over-scrutinized. I’d never work here again. 

I haven't worked at Simmons for too long and at first I really enjoyed it but as the days went on I noticed that the managers have a lot of favoritism for certain employees. Sadly even the customers have noticed it and said something about it bothering them as well. There are certain tellers who will walk away and leave one person to handle multiple customers on their own so they can go sit in a coworkers office or the managers office and talk for 15-30 minutes. The issue has been addressed multiple times but nothing is done about it. During closing hours they will leave one person to handle the whole drive through and to do the closing procedures while they sit at their desk or go to socialize. When you say something to the managers or the person they will try to pin the blame on you for not asking for help sooner when you shouldn't have to ask for someone to do their job to begin with. I do not feel as though we work as a full team like they preach about. Also I do not feel as though the pay is accurate for the job being done. Most of the employees are barely making ends meet with the way prices are and most bankers can make up to 15-16 at other places to do the same job they do here 

My experience with Simmons (formerly Bank SNB) in Oklahoma City was rough from the start. Like most banks in OKC they are behind the curve in the area of cultural diversity. Within the first month of working there, I knew that opportunities for skill enhancement and routes for career advancement were based on what you are. The typical workday was nothing less than stressful. To name of few of my stressors, my projects were more scrutinized than projects completed by others, I was not engaged by lenders to go meet clients like others in my department were, and when I inquired about posted career advancement opportunity, I was told that there was not an actual position open and then the bank hired someone for the "not open" position. My advice to management would be to not make it so apparent that your egos were hurt after the buyout of Bank SNB by Simmons Bank and be fair. Simmons Bank (Oklahoma market) and the banking industry in Oklahoma are antiquated. It is absurd to believe that people of all walks of life don't want opportunities to succeed and then to deny them and make your beliefs evident by your hiring practices.

Long story short: Do not apply for this job
Simmons Bank is the Long John Silvers of every bank. 
As soon as you step into this position you will wish you didn’t. Upper management does not care about their employees at all. You will be overwhelmed from the time you clock in until you clock out. At some branches they have two employees working, meaning no lunch breaks. THAT IS ILLEGAL. You will be expected to run the drive through and lobby by yourself with computer systems that don’t work. Surrounding branch managers are never on the same page so you will get yelled at by customers because certain Branch managers break policy for certain customers. This is not how a bank should operate. Once you follow bank policy, expect a call from the branch manager asking why you didn’t break policy for their customer. The systems are extremely slow and stop working at the most busiest times throughout the day. Corporate turns a blind eye because they don’t care. They sit in there offices and want you to work like a robot to produce numbers. Radios are randomly a no go, so you will sit in silence. Simmons Bank tries so hard to be like other banks, but they are failing miserably. I would not recommend this job to my worst enemy. 

There’s some really great managers and they do take time to train you, depending on who you are. Honestly, got fed up with the preferential treatment they give to certain employees so if you are going get a job there. Be ready to kiss up. Government Holidays off are great and you can rack up PTO pretty quickly. They are moving into a sales mindset however there’s no real consequence if you can’t meet them. They give you individual plans for incentives but you only get a payout if the branch meets their goal. In my region, certain branches work are open Saturdays and others are not. If you work at the branch not opened Saturday, you get sent to another branch for two Saturdays a month. Branch hours vary. Some are 8:30-6, others are 9-4 but they try to talk you out of taking a lunch if you are 9-4. Make sure you get time information and what schedules look like because the branches with the worst hours lose staff the quickest and then they’ll tell you to go cover another location. Work to life balance varies depending on location and if your manager likes you. Great bank to get your foot in the market, but it’s not perfect. Pay is okay. Not as competitive as others, like I said great starter job but you will want to move up and make money, you will need to move. 

I was warned by other workers my first day in my branch about what I was stepping into. Management sucks. Upper management won’t do anything to branch management. I love customers but Simmons lets customers treat you any type of way. Employees can do whatever they want for some customers but not all. Branches are always understaffed, so don’t believe them when they tell you in an interview you’ll work “one Saturday a month.” Simmons and your leaders you work with daily don’t give a hoot about your personal life, you just better be at work even if you have 200 hours of PTO. You train other employees without any extra pay. We work extra hard only for them to cut our incentive payout roughly 50%. They did nothing for employees during Covid 19 pandemic except give us “pandemic pay” which didn’t last long and knocked us out of getting unemployment benefits that would have helped us more. Upper management always claims they’ll come to your branch to visit but never do because they don’t care and just want to sound good. Computers and systems are slow. ATM’s never work so constant complaining from customers if it’s not the long line from slow computers. Good luck. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Senior relationship banker 5 salaries reported	$34,200 per year
Relationship banker 2 salaries reported	$38,250 per year
Center manager 1 salary reported	$50,000 per year
Call center representative 7 salaries reported	$16.50 per hour
Personal banker 1 salary reported	$30,000 per year

Working at Simmons Bank: Company Overview and Reviews

Simmons Bank

Simmons Bank Ratings

Popular jobs at Simmons Bank

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected