branch manager

manager

teller

senior universal banker

assistant manager

Trustco Bank

If you have low qualifications, are new to the banking industry, maybe failed out of college, you can get a job at Trustco Bank. Bonus points if you've had customer service experience in the past.

I started in the second half of last year, and in my six years of being fully employed with a variety of companies I have never seen a company as poorly run as Trustco Bank. The culture is fine I suppose, it does make you feel welcome when you start. The teller training that every branch employee has to take is also not bad! Once you're in branch though, you'll see through the curtains. There are an immense amount of decisions and situations a bank will face, and on many levels. The level in branch and in person, where your branch employees will need to make decisions with customers and regarding customers. There is a level beyond that where Branch Administration and other internal departments needs to make decisions. And a level beyond that where the heads of the entire corporation need to make decisions. You'll find that ultimately, no one is able to make decisions, and they are also simultaneously able to make any decision they want. This is confusing, I understand. That is the situation you face every day. The internal departments have no communication and genuinely don't understand what other departments do, as well as themselves. It is draining for the branch employees.

You will find that it is impossible to get anything done for a customer much too often. You have nearly no power in branch. Every single task you complete has to be forwarded through six departments in the back office and while this is happening (taking days to weeks by the way), the customer is calling you daily and berating you on the phone. You're clearly at fault because you have no power, right? The entire appeal, the ONLY appeal of Trustco Bank for our customers is the fact we're old school. Our technology, practices, everything is put out as "old school" and "hometown", even down to our customer service. It is an open desk policy in branch, and we don't do appointments. Anyone can walk in any time and sit down at your desk and talk to you about their problems. Or they can call you, as your branch number is listed publicly on the website. As well as emails! In fact, you are the only person that they can reach out to. Administration blocks themselves off from the customers entirely. If you give out any of their phone numbers, it can get you fired. So you have to face the brunt of the issues caused by customers, and caused to customers by Trustco Bank mistakes (where there are a lot of). Don't even bother with customer service, they will hang up on the customer, to which they will come to the branch and curse you out for the mistakes of customer service. Clearly it is your fault, right? Lets say you interact with a customer. They were charged a false $6 fee for return mail because your operations department had it shipped to the old address, even though you tried three times to update the customers address, to no response from your operations department. Branch administration won't refund the fee. In fact, you aren't even permitted to ask them. You have to write a letter to the SECRETARY OF THE CEO and mail it to her, which takes two weeks to get a response at a minimum due to policy. During this two weeks, the customer gets fed up and just closes their $100,000 account. Great, because now your administration gets a notice from their system that you've lose a $100,000 account. They notify your regional officer, who calls you and berates you on the phone for losing such a major account, such an important customer! Situations almost exactly like this have happened to me so commonly that I can't actually count the number.

Your job isn't secure in any way. You sign into an at-will employment contract, meaning Trustco Bank has the right to fire you at any point of any day for any reason. They actually do take up this option when they need. We currently have a policy in place where if you attempt to take time off without available PTO, they will accept it as your two weeks letter of resignation and immediately fire you. The reason for this new policy they instituted two weeks ago? The reason is because we're understaffed. We are horrendously understaffed, so their solution is to threaten the livelihoods of employees if they need to take time off for any reason, emergency or not. Great solution, right?

Speaking of solutions, they come up with the best ones. To try and open the door to new employees because of our understaffing, they held  an AXE THROWING HIRING EVENT. Not a pay increase, not a bonus incentive (we don't have bonuses or incentives, by the way), but an axe throwing event, where you could throw for thirty minutes if you placed an application. They also only gave us a week of notice for this event. As you'd guessed, it went horribly. Only three people showed, and one of which was already a Trustco Employee. Another solution they had back in March to try and keep our second platform employees (assistant managers) was to randomly give them $200. It was so random in fact that they accidentally sent out half the checks too early, and all branch employees found out about it. How can you prevent infighting when you only give a random section of employees $200, with no notice and no explanation, and no one else gets anything?

I mentioned understaffing a few times, let me elaborate. Trustco Bank has poor health insurance, no bonus incentives for any branch employees besides the manager themselves (it is also a very poor bonus structure which is very goal oriented with impossible goals), and already pays below the industry averages. All of this while simultaneously treating nearly every employee like a second-class citizen and expendable toddler. There are many contributing factors to the understaffing, as you could guess. So the solution for the understaffing was to change the job descriptions of every single branch employee, adding an asterisks that claims Administration can alter your job description at any point and any time with or without notice. They used this asterisks to add another paragraph at the very end of each description, saying Trustco can require you to float to any branch at any time to fill in slots. It is to the point where they request employees who DO NOT DRIVE, I REPEAT, EMPLOYEES WHO DO NOT DRIVE AND HAVE NO ACCESS TO A VEHICLE, to fork over bus fare and take a bus to a different branch to cover lunches, before returning to their own branch.

Regarding employees, you are expendable. Not only are you expendable, you are given all the responsibilities possible, as well as others. They also repeatedly add to this list of tasks for you in branch. Trustco Bank is the only financial institution where the mangers and loan originators/officers are the same position. Not only are they the same position, but Trustco Bank is also downsizing their closing department and having the managers also perform closings in-branch. There is also five branches currently that are being given Branch Administrations tasks to "help out", again without any additional pay or appreciation. This is a small example, there are many others regarding increasing tasks for employees, with time constraints.

I could genuinely write an entire book on all the experiences I've had at Trustco Bank. I have had a corrupted checking account that they made me since I started, to which my administration and operations told me they "don't understand what is wrong with it" and they "can't fix" it, which leads to me being unable to cash checks and unable to access my paycheck a majority of the time. I was denied my six month raise despite having a nearly perfect evaluation, with no explanation. I was given the position of Acting Branch Manager, which I've held for months, with no pay increase and ALL the responsibility and liability increase. Work actually follows me home now, rather than staying in office, which is terrifying and exhausting. I have had overtime hours quite literally removed from my time card because I had to use covid relief hours during the same two week pay period (we were contact traced the week prior), even though I had administration approval for overtime prior. I have seen departments do illegal and immoral things, I have seen corrupt practices. I have seen a blatant disregard for employee wellbeing and happiness on a daily basis. I saw a scrap of what could have been a good institution to work for, and saw it burnt before my own eyes. I have watched over 20 employees, in branch, administration, and in internal departments walk out in the last month alone. An ENTIRE branch walked out a few weeks ago. It is comical.

For your information, I had to list a random location on this review, as if I listed my actual branch location, I would be fired when they found this review. There is absolutely no reason to work for Trustco Bank other than that of necessity. If you NEED a paycheck right now to pay your bills, you can apply and get a job. If you have any other options, please exercise them. Good luck, and God bless. 

I worked at Trustco for about 12 yrs. managing a top level branch. Like many others, I found the initial training to be less than adequate.  However, because I was determined to do well, I trained myself by reading all the brochures and disclosures I could.  I opted to do this rather than resort to texting, complaining to my coworkers, talking on the phone etc.  As a result, I was managing within 6 months of being hired and then managing a top level branch within 6 months of that.  Although the base salary could have been higher, when coupled with bonus money, it was more than an ample salary.  Of course, you had to make goals in order to get a bonus .Mortgage goals , at least, were always easy because the bank probably has the best mortgage products out there so once you understood how to tailor the  products to the customer's needs, the mortgages sold themselves.  Sometimes, simply explaining what the APR represented was all that was needed to sell it!  Although I always had the highest goals, I missed the goals, and hence a bonus check,  only once in 12 yrs. but I did end up retiring way sooner than I would have because I thought  the goal structure was so unfair.  They are much more realistic now, however, according to current employees.  I also agree with others when they say that your superiors could be rude, but if you were a valued employee,  you could fire back with your own opinion without retaliation.  I do not agree with the people who say that the CEO does not care.  In fact, we had an opportunity to do a problem log on a weekly basis, and that went straight to the CEO.  You could voice complaints, make suggestions, relay customer comments or basically let the CEO know anything that you wanted him to know.  And, he made sure every single one was answered.  I saw many changes come about because of the problem logs that employees sent in.  He does listen and he does care and he rewards his performers quite generously.  I won a car, a rolex, a gold coin collection, trips to places like Vegas, Disney and the Ritz and monetary prizes as well.  Of course, he doesn't reward those who think that once they are hired, there is nothing more to learn or strive for .You are responsible for how well you do at Trustco, nobody else,  The job will be whatever you make it to be.  And I was hired with a medical background, not a finance background, and I don't know many companies who would have given me the same chance.  I also disagree with those who call  it a toxic environment.  Quite the contrary.  I met so many nice people and enjoyed helping and conversing with them on a daily basis.  Some of them still keep in touch and call for mortgage suggestions or even just to talk.  No work environment is perfect, and all I know is that I am collecting a comfortable retirement, thanks, in part, to Trustco bank.  No regrets here.

It is said, you get more honey from sugar than you do with vinegar. There's a lot of vinegar here. Nothing like low morale than a regional manager to throw you under the bus...High staff turn-over says a lot about a company. employees are tired of being thrown under the bus to make a division head "look good" blamed for things they have no control over, training is sub-par and then the expectations are great; new employees do make more than existing employees, but don't expect a raise, mention of such will get you written up, - thereby keeping you from any hope for one. It's viewed as a resume and experience builder place; all the while the bank brags about its financial success whilest the CEO is the highest paid CEO in the Capital Region. Nally a thanks in return, for making him a multi-millionaire, to the lowest level of employees. Acting manager is the most underpaid underappreciated position- all the responsibilities and headaches and goals of branch manager with the pay of a new teller higher.  Then there is the unpredictable schedule! You could be in 4 branches a week, sometimes 2 in a day. if less than 25 miles EACH way, they do not compensate milage... but if more, a meager $0.35/mile is given if you were not scheduled to report there initially, otherwise it is on you. Some managers do not work travel time into a schedule when traveling to branches other than a home branch, so be sure to add 7-10 hours uncompensated to your work week. 1/2 hour ONLY UNPAID  lunch, but unless you leave the building (if you have a enough staff to do so) and turn off your cell phone so as not to be contacted by staff with questions, you have an interupted lunch . Saturday hours 8:30-1:30. but not allowed to have an additional day off during week.  although you are expected to work 2 Saturday's on, 1 off, the short staff and constant schedule change has acting and assistant managers working every Saturday. - of course only FULL managers get a $50 Saturday compensation bonus, that no one else gets...
It's a great place for a mortgage or refi loan- but the personal checking and savings accounts and CD rates have little to offer a customer compared to  other banks... and the online banking is more than enough to be desired- staff spends a lot of (wasted) time apologizing to customers for the online banking that is not updated, and fails to give an accurate account balance throughout the day. It's 2018- real time in banking means something, and a banking app should work as it is intended. If I didn't know better, one could argue it is designed with the intention to misinform the customer so fees could be charged...

Trustco could be a good stepping stone for someone just starting out in the business, but it's not a good place to have a career or to learn what the rest of the industry does.
They offer good portfolio mortgage products, but learning them doesn't help you anywhere else in the rest of the mortgage world as an employee.
The everyday banking side of things (opening accounts, doing teller transactions, online banking...etc.) is so far behind the industry as far as technology goes. Their very outdated ways of doing things makes it difficult for the employees and frustrates the customers.
Communication is terrible between internal departments with each other and between the departments and the branches. Some departments are very difficult to get ahold of. Many staff, even upper management, do not seem qualified for their positions or capable of effectively training others. Depending on where you live and whether or not you want to be a branch manager, it can be very easy to move up. Too easy, which is part of the reason the company suffers.
As far as the schedule goes, Assistant Branch Managers have it the worst. The schedule listing which days you will work at which branches often doesn't come out until mid-late week the week before (so not knowing where you're going to be on Monday until the Thursday or Friday right before it...3 days notice). Even then the schedule changes so often, sometimes even day of. The hours you work are different every week too making it very difficult to plan any other part of your life around your work schedule.
The pay for every position is extremely low compared to other companies. I would say most positions are a good $10k behind where they should be. They have no problem spending money on pointless things to give employees (like a half dozen+ ugly tshirts every year) but can't seem to pay anyone appropriately.
Most branches are very slow, and many employees just spend their days sitting around. There is very little to motivate you.
They offer all of the common benefits, but the medial in particular is very expensive for the plans they offer. The Paid Time Off (PTO) setup is pretty bad too.
The pay, benefits, and atmosphere all show that Trustco does not care about its employees. How they handled COVID emphasizes this fact. Unsurprisingly, their turnover is VERY high. However this does lead to job stability because as long as you're not completely terrible, you won't get fired because they can't afford afford lose anyone.

Nothing like low morale than a regional manager to throw you under the bus...High staff turn-over says a lot about a company. employees are tired of being thrown under the bus to make a division head "look good" blamed for things they have no control over, training is sub-par to non and then the expectations are great; new employees do make more than existing employees, but don't expect a raise, mention of such will get you written up, It's viewed as a resume and experience builder place; all the while the bank brags about its financial success whilest the CEO is the highest paid CEO in the Capital Region. Nally a thanks in return, for making him a multi-millionaire, to the lowest level of employees. Acting manager is the most underpaid underappreciated position- all the responsibilities and headaches and goals of branch manager with the pay of a new teller higher. Then there is the unpredictable schedule! You could be in 4 branches a week, sometimes 2 in a day. if less than 25 miles EACH way, they do not compensate milage... but if more, a meager $0.35/mile . Some managers do not work travel time into a schedule when traveling to branches other than a home branch, so be sure to add 7-10 hours uncompensated to your work hrs. Saturday hours 8:30-1:30. but not allowed to have an additional day off during week. although you are expected to work 2 Saturday's on, 1 off, the short staff and constant schedule change had me work almost every Saturday for 4 months. online banking is more than enough to be desired- staff spends a lot of (wasted) time apologizing to customers for the online banking that is not updated, and fails to give an accurate account balance throughout the day. 
Managers are the one to get fired for anyone's mistake. They don't train them to function well in the branch. Most outdated system, still using calculators to post deposit, that too it's not live. Managers are fire every few months as they cannot meet their goals , well they don't have adequate coverage to make business calls. Was running the branch just with 1 teller, hardly any lunch coverages either. Do not work for this company. All promises are big lie. No one is happy. They do not pay your accrued vacation day if fired. They did not pay me in full either for my work hrs.

This bank is a large regional bank that has a convoluted outdated structure. It bleeds employees due to the excessively low pay and lack of innovation in its products and equipment. 

It was enjoyable working in the historical buildings and helping long time customers, building relationships with them was fun and enjoyable. Upper management is uncommunicative, except when they find something wrong.You are given very minimal training on complicated products and expected to swim on your own without anyone to help you. (call another branch manager is the advice they give you) Dial a friend!! Meanwhile the customer is getting poor service and many times issues with their money and accounts.

Entire banks are short staffed due to skeleton crews. They promote pretty easily, but this means most of the new managers know nothing. A gold name plate and access to the security codes doesn't make you manager material. Back office (operations) was terrible, resolving client issues took endless follow up and pestering. Many simple functions that you should have been able to resolve at a branch level required scanning actual paperwork to another department and waiting days/weeks to see a change. This resulted in irritated angry customers and I never blamed them. 
It has been 2 years since I left so maybe things have improved? Due to the company culture which is simply being proud of 'old fashioned' (not to mention cheap) I doubt it. 

If you need a job and don't mind dealing with all that, definitely go for it! It's much better than starving, once you get experience move on like everyone else. 

Working for Trustco Bank sounded great but once you got the job everything they told you was pretty much a lie. I was told you work every other Saturday. I went 9 weeks without a Saturday off. You were told if you worked Saturday that you can cut those hours during the week, but most of the time they dont have coverage for you to do that so you end up working overtime, and they dont ask if it's ok they just assume that you can and will. I took the position knowing that I could be sent to branches within Warren County (Floating CSR), no problem. What they don't tell you is they will call you up and send you literally anywhere they feel like. I was sent to branches that were over a 45 mintue drive one way for me. Great if you dont mind racking miles up on your car. You also dont get a schedule most weeks until Friday for the following week which makes it hard to plan in advance if you're not in a set branch, and even if you are there is no guarantee they wont move you anyway, without asking. The internal department is absolutely awful when it comes to communication and there is no structure at all. If you're having problems dont expect them to be resolved for a few days, or it might just get ignored all together. And you will never here anything like "good job" or "you're doing great" unless you are a top performer in a high volume branch. You pretty much dont even exist to Trustco if you're not one of them. You also have no job security as they just let people go whenever and give you no explanation. I saw it happen once but heard many stories of it happening to others. The job itself is pretty easy and in slower branches you pretty much just sit there for 8 hours and talk to your staff or look on your phone. In my opinion the only reason I would take a job here is if you want something on your resume to get into banking or to go some place better.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Trustco Bank is a horrible employer.  The Trustco Bank does not allow 'Direct Deposit' to any other Financial Institutions, does not allow the Tellers access to have professional email addresses,  Trustco Bank does not provide employees and even worse Trustco Bank does not allow customers to make Credit Card payments at the Teller Window.  The best part of working at Trustco is going home.  The customer complaints are consistent and the technology is lacking. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The most stressful part of working at Trustco Bank is the lack of technology and access to the necessary tools to be competitive.  Trustco Bank relies heavily on their clients not 'knowing' what is necessary to build credit or wealth.  The Tellers are unable to Advance Credits, Bankers have to fill out paper applications for Loan Products such as auto loans, and most Trustco Bank Assistant Managers have no knowledge of Credit or Asset Building beyond computer training.  Worse, the one employee handling Investments is not Licensed in the State of Florida; you can verify she's not listed on BrokerCheck.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Extreme Stress and Duress.  Constant loss of market share, client complaints, ATM Machines that only accept envelopes for deposit increase tensions.  Branchs are ill equipt, usually located in a Strip Mall or abandoned building, are seldom cleaned and have unclear water fountains.  

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Horrible.  From start to finish.  Lack of clients and goals / metrics make every day miserable.  Clients are smart no to bank with Trustco.

I worked at Trustco for about 2 years and can say it was an experience like no other. Trustco is a great bank to work for if you have little, or no banking experience. I started at Trustco as an Assistant Manager (ABM) and managed to become a Branch Manager (BM) in less than a year. They definitely promote from within 99% of he time. The role of the ABM is virtually identical to that of a BM, except you don't have any monthly goals to meet. It's a very safe position because the BM is the only person responsible for ensuring the branch's profitability. If you decide you want to move up to a BM position, expect to do A LOT of work. Now you will have to meet a few different goals every month or receive a "strike" for failing to do so...and 3 strikes in a row is termination. You must write a certain amount of loans/month, open at least 14 new accounts/month, and must grow your branch liquid deposits by about $200K/month. If you're in a busy branch, those goals are not too difficult to meet, but if you're in a "dead branch" as we called it, you'll have to work extra hard. Bank hours are great, and the benefits were mediocre at best. Dental and vision are great, but they only have high deductible health plans that are pretty pricey. Pay is okay for the role itself but compared to other banks, not so much. ABM's generally make 28-32K based on your experience while BM's make at least $40K plus bonuses for meeting your goals. BM's are given a lot of freedom to go out and acquire new business. In fact, you're expected to be out getting new business while your ABM takes care of day to day branch operations. 

I started at Trustco as an assistant manager and than put into an acting manager role for a branch. I had been in the role of manager for a year at a branch but only given the pay of an assistant manager. They say I was an “acting manager” even though there was no other manager ever planned for the location I worked. This was very clearly something that was said just so they could pay me less. This also happened to many of my coworkers if/when they moved up in a position. They would have the responsibilities of higher role with no pay increase. 
On top of that the branches were almost always understaffed and people were always leaving in droves. The upper management is demanding and talks to you in a demeaning way. They will also try and convince you that you need to work in your off time to try and drum up mortgages bank. They set high goals and like to yell at you when you don’t meet them. They have monthly meetings where they yell at you as to why we don’t have more mortgages. Even when you do get accounts and/or mortgages they will still ask “how come you don’t have more?”. The computers and technology is completely outdated and extremely slow. Even when you try and do your job it is infuriating trying to get things to work properly, things to not crash, and for internal staff to not lose the things you sent them. 
Only take this job is there is literally nothing else available to you.
I can’t wait for the inevitable day when this bank closes and no one will ever have to work here again.

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