portfolio manager

teller

operations intern

operations associate

lending manager

Univest Financial Corporation

Univest might be a great place for you if: 1.You are particularly skilled at drinking Kool-Aid, 2. You know someone in management, 3. You are at a point in your life where career advancement is not a necessity, 4. You are independently wealthy and salary doesn't matter that much to you, and 5. You have a very strong internal sense of self worth - so much so that you don't need anyone else making you feel valued.

This may seem to be facetious at first glance.  However, after working at Univest for any substantial amount of time, you will discover that not a single bit of this is actually false or inflammatory.

Everything that Univest started as has fallen by the wayside in an effort to drive up revenue*.  They still call themselves a community bank with a focus on genuine care for delivering personal service.  Instead, over the last 5+ years they have ballooned in size through M&A - diluting their market presence and isolating segments of their customer/employee base, and traded the personal service for pitch lines and product pushing.  Customers are viewed more as income opportunities and less like actual human people who may be just fine without the "what else can we get this guy into" sales mentality.

Management (at least middle management) is weak, near-sighted and fickle.  Performance is judged on short term, current successes and largely ignore employees' history of high level performance or forward-thinking focus.

Opportunities for advancement are virtually non-existent, as are pay increases that are in any way meaningful or value based.  Canned, annual raises of 1.5% are considered generous, and bonuses are never the product of work ethic or work load.

There are myriad subtle ways that Univest shows how little they understand or appreciate their employees.  For example, PTO is given to employees of 10+ years at the same rate as new hires. This is great for the new hires who get a large amount at the beginning, but it should say something about what it takes for them to attract new talent.  Then, once employed, you will find out that none of the accrued PTO can be rolled forward or cashed out when you leave (even for retirees).  Officers of the bank are treated MUCH different than everyone else, but forget about "working your way up to officer;" it will save you lots of frustration.


*Univest is publicly traded, so providing shareholder value is important, but it shouldn't take the place of core values that the company was built on.

This place is more of a cult than it is a company.  What I experienced was a cliquish group of people who were promoted to management positions and were part of the 'in crowd'

Competance was not really valued as much as being the right 'type of guy' for that role.  The 'crowd' would often have similar interests and come from similar backgrounds. There was almost a patriotic like fervor for the company... like it was destined for greatness and could do no wrong.  The problem was that this was due to hiring a network of 'yes' men instead of competant administrators. 

The major frustration were expectations and communication. Whatever was verbally expressed never true.  My manager told me to sit on an assignment in order concentrate on the monthly close, but then I got reprimanded for taking too long to turn that assignment over.  Some assignments were given to me as low priority, but they turned out to be high priority, but this was never communicated to me. 

Management's ineptitude was one issue, but the outcasting and unfair treatment was much worse.  I tried to address the issues with management and human resources, but it made my problems much worse and eventually I was let go.  I am glad that I had this experience so I know what to avoid in the future.

Micromanaging, incivility, self-entitlement, ego-driven and hypocritical are the best way I can describe upper management.  The companies 18 fundamental's are not the true company culture everyone is sold, in reality they are only used as tools/weapons for disciplinary actions.  Once an opinion of you is derived whether true or not a label is slapped on your name and it's impossible to prove otherwise.  The image portrayed of giving and helping the community doesn't always filter through to certain struggling employees.  I have seen the company help employees but also seen assumptions made and actions taken to further damaging a person rather than try to help.  If you are in the "click" you have no worries but otherwise you are targeted and HR does little to assist when complaints are brought to their attention about managers.  Unless someone takes a deep, long, and hard dive into the way this company is managed and they make drastic changes Univest is going to have insurmountable problems that will likely destroy the business. Listen to hear not to respond is the best advice I have for their management team! 

Mail needs to be sorted 1st thing in AM between 5 local buildings and 31 Bucks & Montgomery County Branches. Prepare sorted mail for Couriers and then go to Post Office to obtain mail for 17 PO Boxes. Drop off and pick up Mail and supplies (boxes) to 5 local Bldgs. Repeat same a second time in early afternoon. Also assist Dock arrivals (Vendors) Fed-Ex, UPS, Staples, TSI, Global Freight Etc. with signatures and loading/unloading.

 If Mail Processor or a Courier has a scheduled day off or calls in sick, I am asked to cover for that person and assume their duties, which would require a full day. I currently back up 4 different people (2 Couriers, 1 Mail Processor and the 2nd shift Mail Sorter (sorts mail from returning Couriers). Flexibility for this is a must but can be disruptive to your life outside of work. Management does try to work with you on this.

The hardest part of the job is definitely the lifting, with boxes weighing sometimes 50 plus lbs. The most enjoyable part of the job is the sorting of mail.

Univest is a small local bank set in their ways and slow to implement  any kind of change to take themselves into the current financial environment.  Outside of keeping up with current government regulations, Univest consistently puts convenience over security, which is unrealistic to sustain.  

Change is hard to come by and as most employees are either new or have been with the company for decades, the common rhetorical theme is "this is how we have always done things".  Univest is attempting to stay afloat by implementing a sales program to keep up with other retail banks, but are hiring management who couldn't cut it at larger banks.  By taking the scraps from their larger competitors, they are getting exactly what they pay for (which is often times lower than the market benchmark) and it is starting to backfire since they are getting ready to close about 25% of their existing branches.

Company has a positive corporate structure. Employees are expected to pull their own as with any company, yet it seems that there is more positive energy working at Univest. Naturally everybody's thoughts/feelings are different. I like working at Univest; I've learned a lot and made many friends. Hardest part is sometimes feeling abandoned when the desk gets too busy and the struggle with some other employees that have the "entitlement" mentality as they have been there forever, so new rules don't apply to them...so they think. Most enjoyable part is the co-workers and he freedom to chat, take lunch, read, extra personal growth classes offered by HR (Weight Watchers, Lunch & Learns, etc). Big company has plenty of openings, but after all, it is a bank, so there are some things that appear will not be improved for one reason or another. Overall 4.5 stars. Note that each department is different!

I had many responsibilities other than teller. I had to help open the bank, open and process the night drop, the ATM, and the vault. I had to greet customers, remembering their names, and some things about them, research their accounts, taking note of many factors. We had to process their transactions with the utmost accuracy, while selling them other banking products and services. I had no problem telling customers about the products, but pinning them down to making the decision right now, without thought or consulting their spouses,while claiming them as MY conquest, that was the problem.  I learned a lot about customer relationships and services, counting money accurately, running several machines, including the banking software.  The management there are stressed, with all the changes going on. The co-workers are also stressed. The hardest part of the job, was the competitiveness, the best parts were learning new things, and most of the customers.

Employee beware.... I was brought in by an outside recruiter who poached me from a decent position.  The first week was getting your stuff in order such as equipment, passwords, etc.  The second was a couple of small assignments mixed in with New Employee Orientation.  The third week was training on a system I would be using,  Then I was called for a meeting at 8am and fired.... They told me that they were exercising an option so they would not have to pay the outside recruiter.   

To summarize:  This company poached me from another position and then fired me because they didn't want to pay the recruiter. Consequently, this made me unemployed because they are devious and selfish people who did not act in good faith.   So before making a decision to work at Univest, please understand the quality or more like lack of quality of the people and management who work here. 

]

There is a saying about how one hand doesn't know what the other is doing.  That is Univest Corp.  I've seen management commit to projects and people and then pull the plug within months, weeks, sometimes days.  There is a lot of human fallout.  

Working at a bank is a precarious situation to begin with and be extra careful about this bank which is located in an area where there is not much competition. This as mentioned earlier leads to strange hiring and firing practices you won't necessarily see in a place with more competition and more word of mouth. 

So far I have survived the purges, but each day it gets more and more nerve wracking.  Loyalty is something spoken but not practiced. Only come here if you have no other offers.  Best of luck in your search.

I have been at Univest for a couple of years.  The environment is tense and turnover which consists of layoffs and terms are very high.  

The culture is the #1 issue.  Managers and peers are normally friendly in daily interactions, but behind the scenes changes are made (normally negative) without regard to what's in the best interests in the employee and often the company.  Managers change priorities so frequently, it is very hard to get comfortable and confident in your role.  

Another criticism is diversity.  The company pays lip service to it and sends out emails frequently about the importance of it.  However, I do not see it in the workplace.  It would be nice to see more women and minorities in these positions and I think this would bring different ideas to the table.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Portfolio manager 6 salaries reported	$80,417 per year
Teller 2 salaries reported	$18.50 per hour
Operations intern 2 salaries reported	$20.00 per hour
Operations associate 5 salaries reported	$21.74 per hour
Lending manager 2 salaries reported	$20.00 per hour

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