Most Unprofessional Workplace & Shady Culture - Senior Customer Service Representative BMO Financial Group Employee Review

I’m sorry, this will be a long one. -Hiring managers were dishonest about job expectations during interview. -Overtime is never paid but always expected. Even for hourly employees. -Tellers & Advisors are frequently shamed (directly or indirectly) for taking their full entitled breaks. -Preach about service but extremely sales oriented. -Advancement is often based on nepotism, especially for management positions. -The work schedule is supposed to be out 2-4 weeks in advance but that is usually not the case. There were a few times when the manager posted the schedule on the Wednesday so nobody knew what time or if they were even working on Monday and Tuesday! Average in my experience with all branches I worked/helped out at was 0-2 weeks in advance. Sometimes they change it last min too. -Managers will insult, accuse, shame and berate their staff to please customers. Safe to say they never stand up for their own and use that opportunity to lower employees' performance record. I have never witnessed so many employees crying on the job in any of my past workplaces. -Only expect a raise when you are switching roles/getting promoted. Even then, don't expect much. -In-branch awards such as Brilliant at the Basics means nothing. Doesn't even count as anything in your performance review. When you're no longer new you realize there is nothing exciting about it lol. I lost count of how many I've been awarded and quickly stopped feeling proud. -BMO never pays for company or staff events. Management and staff are constantly pushed to attend events and often “teased” for not attending. (Staff events may be covered by Wealth Management department) -Management, regardless of which branch, are extremely unprofessional and two-faced. There is a trend of incompetent branch and assistant branch managers. Any time they mess up an advisor's deal, they blame others and don't take ownership. Super sweet and accommodating to clients, awful to staff, expect "their employees" to "take ownership" of unrealistic situations/promises management created. They half-ass the training, assuming they do any, and want current staff to mentor the newbies even if they are also new. Some BMs are exceptionally lazy and don't even now basic information and/or procedures. One of many reasons why majority of branches fail audit every year. Some BMs have no clue what goes on in their branch. Even turned a blind eye to workplace bullying. -Tellers can be heavily expected to perform "lobby leadership" duties, which is basically greeting people in a very scripted manner. Duties are dependent on branch. Script is heavily enforced. Saying your own genuine greeting can be considered unacceptable and ineffective. Must say "Welcome to BMO!" in an appropriate upbeat manner at all times. -BMO servers crash quite often. I've lost count of how many times we had to turn customers away or tell them to come back when everything is up and running again. -Lots of negative gossip between staff members, branches, and markets. Branch Managers are always talking smack about each other but super fake and friendly in person. There is only ONE branch manager I've met in the Vancouver market who is genuine and respectable. -HR department is not helpful at all. -Vacation approval is not based on seniority or how much time in advance you request time off. Christmas is the hardest. I formally (written and verbally) requested half a year in advance and was rejected on the second week of December. -Management give you tasks/news very last minute. You are the unprofessional one if you don't accommodate promptly. -There is no trust at BMO. Some of my former coworkers were scared to even answer the annual "confidential" workplace survey honestly because they didn't want to get in trouble. Managers always seem wary of their staff and often accuse them of lying if they call out. A coworker was in a car accident and management expected that person to come back to work a 9-hr shift within 2 days despite back and neck injuries. All of my direct coworkers and I were accused of lying when calling out sick. There was no history of staff lying about such things. No compassion was shown when a family member of an employee died. Note: I’m not saying I didn’t gain any skills/knowledge while working here. Unfortunately, BMO is not a healthy work environment. Find something different to place your loyalty. Also, keep track of your own stuff! Management will try to turn things against you/blatantly lie so I encourage you to keep everything in writing (email). Or, final suggestion: Don’t work at BMO. I sincerely hope this helped.