Finally ending a 12-year prison sentence at this financial institution.
Pros
Brief, fleeting nostalgic feelings of the pre-RBS days - specifically, before employees were labeled as "colleagues." I'm talking about the days when employees were shown genuine appreciation; not just by generous benefits/decent salary and increases/time off/minimum of twice-annual employee appreciation events/random gifts, etc. BUT by management's genuine eagerness and frequency to thank deserving people for doing a good job and working hard. Unfortunately, when the present-day reality sets in, that nostalgia turns into loathing - both towards Citizens Bank and myself for staying at this company as long as I did. Long story short, ZERO PROS.
Cons
After the RBS took over and long after they were through destroying this place, so many good things have been stolen from employees; I'm not even sure if I can remember them all. Most of all, though, I'm sure that years of my life have been shaved off due to the overwhelming stress of dealing with a decade of politics, oppressive and unnecessary rules/policies, discrimination, stonewalling to outright months-long silent treatments from my boss, favoritism (of others), blatant double standards, etc. I could go on forever. The so-called "benefits" have been reduced to almost nothing. For example, since my start date in 2005, I've lost 10 vacation days that were once provided to employees as a loyalty bonus for each 5-year increment of employment. When Citizens rolled all sick time, vacation time, and personal days into "PTO," (i.e., paid time off) they surreptitiously took away 7 days of time off. The following year, they went on to remove the option to purchase 5 days of PTO time. So, in the 12 years of working here, I've actually never gained any paid time off; rather, I have actually lost paid time off the more time I've spent working here! Now, on to management... honestly, my job stopped being important to me long ago, once my mental and physical health were impacted by this toxic work environment, but that never translated into me not caring a great deal about the work I produced. Nothing drove me to madness more than the absolute laziness and disregard some coworkers' had for their jobs and my - and other - managers' ability to turn the other cheek when it was brought to their attention. Somehow, *I* became the problem child because I kept fighting for things to be done correctly and accountability of those doing wrong! Not only that, when I encountered several significant personal tragedies over the years, to include the suicide of a family member, I was basically exiled by my manager. Yes, he retained me as an employee, but his sheer lack to demonstrate any sort of compassion *EVER* for my situations - to which I had no control - was shocking. He actually replied to an email I sent him, confidentiality notifying him of a family member's death, with "k." Next, there's the issue of the physical workplace. Most people cringe when thinking about a typical office setting with cubicles. Frankly, I would have taken a pay cut to have my cubicle back. If you can picture Chinese sweatshop conditions, that is exactly how the my workplace facility is. There are literally hundreds of long tables with thousands of computers and office chairs filling the building... and nothing separating one person from the next. You can expect people invading your privacy non-stop all day, every day. There is never a moment of peace. Ever. It's just constant distractions by other people talking at/around you or slamming into your chair, while you're sitting in it, of course. No normal human being can work to even half capacity in those conditions. As one can imagine, illnesses are always being transmitted back and forth by people being forced to be in such close contact with each other. But what choice do they have? Employees are only allotted 4 sick days per year before being given a warning or written up. There are not enough bathrooms for the staggering number of employees in the building so you're often stuck waiting in line. It reminds me of a bad concert or crowded train station. Also, there's always at least one broken or overflowing toilet and one disabled hand soap container. At least once a day, but usually more, the stalls are out of toilet paper and seat protectors. To keep this review from violating the community guidelines, I will omit the horrific scenes that I've stumbled upon in the bathrooms more times than I'd like to admit. You would think that cro-magnons lived in the building... do these people actually do these wretched, vile things in their own homes? Anyhow, the final straw for me was/is my experience with human resources. The people in the Leave Program Office and Employee Relations are entirely devoid of any compassion and common sense. They do not exist to help employees UNLESS it fundamentally benefits the company in some way. I won't go into detail, but violating federal employment laws are commonplace. If you have a serious medical condition/disability, for instance, that requires Citizens to adjust their working conditions to help enable a person to do their job - and they don't like what you're asking - your federal civil rights will be violated. Reaching out to Employee Relations and to Citizens' (ironically-named) Ethics Hotline will get you nowhere. I suggest you start seeking the advice of a good attorney. Overall, Citizens Bank will do nothing but quickly run the average, honest, hard-working individual into the ground. You will, at the very least, question your self-worth and sanity by working here. Trust me, this is the epitome of a toxic work environment. The narcissistic trolls in management, who like to think of themselves as leaders, are just the icing on the toxic cake. Show that you love and value yourself by seeking employment elsewhere. It took me long enough, but I finally woke up and did just that.
