teller

branch manager

senior underwriter

portfolio manager

mortgage loan originator

Sunflower Bank

If you value your sanity, don't work here! The interview process is good. You get hired only to find out that you're thrust into duties that you haven't even been trained on. Then if you ask questions, you're told to use your resources, to lookup your work instructions. Yet you've been told once where to access, but never been shown how or where to do that. This is within the first week that you'll get put on the teller line alone.
So many hoops to jump through on a daily basis. It's funny how when interviewed it was told that you have the option to earn premium pay by going above and beyond and reaching a certain number of accounts a referrals for the quarter. Only to find out this is the actual requirement or you can be fired over it. Then when you have your little employee meetings where they call you out in front of all employees, it's a mind game. "I'm not calling you out, but...." then proceed to call you out in front of everyone. Management personally tells you things like "we're not really sure you're cut out for this position" but "you're such a great employee, you have exceeded expectations." All in the same sentence. 
Here let us teach you how to do this. Then when you do it, tell you that's wrong, and question why you did it that way. Constantly trying to cram the threat of auditors down your throat, or threatening that the bis bosses are coming. Also saying that the RM already has a list of weak UB's that's planned to get rid of based solely off of their EOD reports, cause they're not doing enough. It's always more, more, more. They want you to eat, breathe, sleep and live sunflower bank. God forbid you have children, or a medical.issue that requires you to go to the doctor, an emergency, or a sick kid. All of those have to be scheduled 2 weeks in advance,.. because your going to know your kid is going to get sick and such date and time to schedule it out. Yet management can take off the day in a moments notice for something silly, like needing to get errands done that they can't get done on a weekend. Yet you will be punished for having to call in or leave work for a legitimate reason. 
All the things they want you to do, and to be 100% perfect at is not worth the pay.
They say "everyone makes mistakes" Yet you will be in trouble for the simplest mistake you make, even while learning tour job.
Absolutely worst place I've ever worked! Would not recommend at all!

Employees are hounded on a daily and weekly basis about meeting goals and expectations that are not presented at time of employment, and are not thoroughly explained or trained when hired. They are blamed when they don’t meet their goals even when short staffed, being told that’s not an excuse and we should just be used to it by now. New employees barely get training, and once they finish the training they do get they’re expected to be ready to jump into new training, and then be an expert in the entire field. Management contradicts themselves by expressing that marketing should only be for “exposure” and “results don’t matter,” but then are threatened with write ups if results aren’t seen. Management will not provide support to a location unless it is convenient for them because it is not listed in their job description to do so, even though it hinders other locations to get outside of the branch to provide said results. Employees are ridiculed about wanting job advancement if it doesn’t benefit management and they are told openly they are replaceable. Higher management has been known to gossip about employees to other employees in different locations, even when it involves confidential information. Higher management does not care about who is hired in a position as long as they know they are acting as “just a body” and they present no value to the company unless they have a high sales and marketing background. Most employees start at the base pay range regardless of background, and there are no opportunities for raises without promotion. The salary is low for the industry. If you choose to work for this company, work in any other department but retail/customer facing positions.  

I was eager to start working at Sunflower Bank but I began to see things that were problematic. The "training" was done by a manager who was more concerned about dating customers and talking about her interactions with them outside of work instead of focusing on my growth and understanding of important policies and procedures. After "training" when I asked a question about a procedure that I did not understand, I was dismissively told to "look it up."

Management is very nitpicky and expects universal bankers to know everything despite not being trained properly. Training classes consisted of "experts" that didn't know the answers to important questions that were asked by employees. Employees often talked about a previous employee that was treated so badly by her fellow coworkers and manager that it forced her to quit her job. As a financial institution I expected professionalism but witnessed a lack thereof.

Manager and other employees would mock customers behind their back questioning their judgement because of certain transactions. I never expected to hear these conversations at a bank. What a customer does with their money is their business and shouldn't be used for meaningless banter. 

It's very unfortunate that a bank would be capable of poor management and lackluster training. I was eager to learn but was not given the proper knowledge to do so. Upon asking questions I was met with a sigh and a response of "you don't know how to do that yet?" As a new employee I expected managers to help, making more of an effort to help me understand important procedures. In short, this bank expects the world out of their employees while disregarding important training and exemplifying a lack of professionalism. 


In regards to daily duties, basically we would be given the work of at least two people and paid less than one of those positions should (and are) paid for in this field. 

Management was a joke and workplace morale was extremely low. I was being verbally abused by a coworker (ie. name calling, cussing, lying to get me in trouble, etc) who would leave the teller line while we were busy so I would be the sole teller. I tried to make complaints numerous times and the manager would not let me do so, nor did she correct the problem. And I mean it was: hand held up to my face "we aren't going any further about this". 

I finally ended up quitting because I was so tired of the behavior. My last straw was a write up over an event I was not involved in, and this other employee lied to place blame elsewhere. I was never listened to, certain employees were singled out and others were treated better. The turnover rate during my 18 months there was higher than it should have been, and that is certainly attributed to management and low morale. 

It actually took me getting an exit package directly from HR when I quit before I was given the opportunity to file a complaint. How ridiculous. Not to mention the CEO is a DUI alcoholic with literally no sense.

Sunflower Bank used to be a great company to work for.  Unfortunately, they have gotten too big for their britches and no longer care about their employees.  They want to grow as an organization, but that comes with the expense of a revolving door for employment.  If you choose to apply, know that you will be just a number on the books.  Your work will not be valued and your job will not be secure.  They have one of the highest termination rates for employment that I have seen in years.  Management will address issues they see fit without due regard to more pertinent issues at hand.  False promises are their specialty as well.  They will tell you one thing but never follow through with it.  You will be expected to do much more than you ever dreamed of doing and will never be acknowledged or appreciated for all you have done.  If you choose to work for this horrid place, one thing is certain, you will be grateful you got out of there when you did!  If you need to pad your resume with a banking job, I highly recommend you look elsewhere.  I am ashamed to document that I ever even worked for Sunflower Bank.  Ask anyone that has ever worked for them, BEFORE you apply!  If you do not, you will find out yourself, and it wont take very long before you realize the mistake you made!

The interview process so great and provides a feeling of enthusiasm, and excitement. However once hired, it's a very different picture. The training process is extremely lackluster, and very confusing. You are placed in several different locations all across the metro area due to many of the branches being short staffed. Your schedule is very tentative and changes constantly. Most of the coworkers are very friendly but you get the impression that they are frustrated and doing the best under constant change. My trainer was very nice and knowledgable, but I always felt as if she didn't have time to actually train me, and constantly told me she's overworked and underpaid, and often gave a off a very negative tone. We have goals that are expected to be met, but many of the branches are very slow and are very short staffed, making it nearly impossible to reach them. As an entry level employee, I was paid less than many other jobs in the area, including food service. It was very rare that any branch employee was able to take our breaks and lunch breaks due to poor staffing. I was very excited to join the company, but it was a very disappointing experience. 

This is by far the worst place I have ever worked.  Upper management has their favorites and treats them like gods.  If you are not part of the inner circle or don't kiss their backside, than you had better watch your back.  Management is vindictive and takes great joy in firing people for no apparent reason.  Management only cares about themselves and their chosen ones.

They hire friends of their inner circle and put them in positions way over their heads.  Then when results don't go as expected they fire the sales people and support staff because the branch or department is not meeting their goals due to lack of proper management.

The lack of communication makes it hard to do your job because you never know what is going on or what is expected of you.  Everything is on a need to know basis and you don't need to know.  The training is severely lacking as well.

Sunflower Bank is the most biased, poorly run and hostile working environment I have ever been a part of. STAY AWAY!

Do not get fooled by the First National 1870 name, since Sunflower Bank, N.A. out of Salina, KS merged with The First National Bank of Santa Fe, The REAL First National Bank of Santa Fe has ceased to exist.  The Bank charter that was held since 1870 was given up in lieu of Sunflower Bank's charter and at that point The First National Bank of Santa Fe was no longer.  All of the Banks history was donated to UNM's Archives.  Since Sunflower has taken over they have systematically ousted most (if not all at this point) of the loyal First National Bank employees.  Sunflower has fired those employees under false accusations and bogus charges of misconduct so they do not have to pay unemployment benefits.  The new management is so lost, on any given day, they cannot tell you who is running what or is responsible for this or that because - they truly DO NOT KNOW.  DO NOT apply here.

I would not recommend working at this place. They do not care about their employees, everyone is replaceable in their minds. They throw you into the job and expect you to learn it on your own. Most of the employees are two faced and will not help the others out. They expect the tellers to have at least five conversations per day about trying to get customers to open accounts. If you don’t you get wrote up. Most of our customers already have accounts and the other ones come in to cash payroll checks every week. We hardly ever see new faces but that’s all management is focused on which stresses out the employees. It’s a very stressful place to work at but in the job interview they don’t mention all the goal requirements needed or you can get fired. I thought customer service was the main goal.

Management here made the difference for me.  When I was working under educated and professional management, I was very successful and was promoted quickly.  When they left, they were so desperate to fill their positions that they filled it with people who were inexperienced, e.g:  taking a produce manager from a grocery store and giving them a management position in Loan Operations. I did meet some wonderful people here, and some definitely not so wonderful.  This experience has given me the deep appreciation I have for my current position.  If you can focus on the task at hand, and not pay attention to the passive aggressive behavior, it is a good stepping stone.  

 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Teller 54 salaries reported	$19.31 per hour
Branch manager 21 salaries reported	$81,405 per year
Senior underwriter 26 salaries reported	$137,885 per year
Portfolio manager 2 salaries reported	$112,500 per year
Mortgage loan originator 2 salaries reported	$31.99 per hour

Working at Sunflower Bank: Company Overview and Reviews

Sunflower Bank

Sunflower Bank Ratings

Popular jobs at Sunflower Bank

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected