Staff burnout a fallout of restructurings

More and more bank employees are feeling overwhelmed and underappreciated, according to many bankers interviewed for the Bankers’ Report Card. New alignments and strategies within the banks have been accompanied by layoffs and branch closures, and the bank’s front-line workers say they are finding it tough to deal with the pressure.

ATMs, telephone banking and online banking keep growing in popularity, and the best way to cut costs is to eliminate salaries and get rid of the people that collect them. If tellers, account managers and personal bankers aren’t nervous that they may lose their jobs, they may be at their wits’ end trying to complete the work that keeps piling up.

Further restructuring is on the horizon. Bill C-8 was passed last month, spelling out the process for mergers, and the government is promising that the market will be more open to new competition and making way for smaller banks to increase their market share.

Further mergers are almost inevitable, which, in turn, usually means branches will close and employees will be set free. But the victims of layoffs may actually be the lucky ones, bankers told IE.

Laurentian Bank of Canada managers seem to be among the most vocal about their job stresses.

An Ontario account manager with Laurentian, who recently returned to work after a short-term leave due to stress, may soon be out of the bank for good on long-term disability. The atmosphere and workload, she says, is too much to handle.

A self-proclaimed “tough, old-broad,” she attributes her first nervous breakdown to unbearable management with unrealistic expectations, and she says things are getting worse. She speaks from experience, having been in the industry for more than 20 years at more than one institution. She says the industry is in a sad state.

“A lot of good people have left,” she says. “They’re smart. There is no morale in this office. I’ve been called a liar to my face by management, we’re not allowed to have our doors closed, they told me not to be on the phone so much and most days I don’t get to take a lunch break because there’s no time.”

Another account manager at her branch was also on stress leave, and she says she knows people at head office in Montreal who have also had breakdowns. “There’s no coaching, no communication and no people,” the manager says. “We have 101 employees in our region and were allowed to have 118, but our area vice president won’t help. It’s the almighty buck for her.”

This Laurentian banker isn’t unique. A colleague from southern Ontari, who has been on anxiety drugs for the past 12 years, says it took more than drugs to help her feel better. She had to do a lot of self-analysis and figure out what the most important things in here life were. She realized her health and her family should be her priorities. She changed from being an account manager to a commercial account officer. The move was good because she doesn’t have as many clients and doesn’t have to focus on every product, although the portfolios she now has are demanding.

Some will leave

A 27-year bank veteran, she also went on short-term disability. In addition, her manager is also off right now, as are a couple of other people at her branch. She has been forced to put in a great deal of overtime, and she finally realized something had to give. “Those who can handle the stress will stay, and those who can’t will leave,” she says. “Most people want to work nine-to-five, they want a family life. It took me 20 years to realize I was at the point of breaking down and it’s not worth it.”

The blame lies with too many cutbacks and not enough staff. There isn’t a secretary or administrative assistant at her branch, and she has to open new accounts and do her own processing. And she doesn’t see any positive changes on the horizon. “The only benefits will go to stress-counselling companies, such as the one Laurentian sent me to. Management has to start taking mental health seriously, and not just three free visits with a psychiatrist. Families are falling apart.”.

An account manager in Manitoba with Royal Bank of Canada says the work just keeps piling up since administrative support was centralized a year ago, and sales support is severely lacking. “It’s not an effective use of my time. They pay me too much money to do administrative stuff; I should be working with clients,”she says, although she is hopeful her branch will eventually get some support.

Those who apply for medical leave tend to have more than 15 years’ experience, says a CIBC private banker in Edmonton. New university graduates, she says, are more likely to put in longer hours because they don’t have families and they have to prove themselves.

But bank workplace attitudes may be changing. Even new recruits realize there’s more to life than work.

“The overachievers will push themselves and they’ll stay after hours, but many won’t put up with the stress and they will leave. I’ve seen it here and we’ve lost a lot of good people,” says a Laurentian banker in Ontario. IE