Pros
The benefits of this job are decent. There is lots of vacation time, sick days, paid holidays, and medical benefits for you and your family. At times the small town vibe of WAFD is enjoyable and our sister branches are very successful in their communities.
Cons
Regardless of benefits, there is no way to advance in the company, the pay is some of the lowest in the banking industry, and the at our branch management was very unqualified. The management there was the worst I have ever experienced. Our branch manager would show up to work an hour late every day, repeatedly leave work 1-2 hours early, took 2 hour lunches, napped for hours in the break room, watched television in their office, and called out sick at least once a week. Because they spent more time out of the office than in it the staff had to constantly make up excuses to clients as to why the manager was always absent. The manager also had no experience doing basic managerial duties. For example, we received several delinquent bills from the city because they forgot to pay. At one point the city threatened to cut off the buildings water and heat because of a delinquent bill. The manager was also unwilling to deal with any confrontation and didn’t even have teller experience. They had no prior training or knowledge to help the staff with the deposit side of the bank (which is half of the branches business). They actively avoided participating in the weekly deposit meeting and have never attended a single monthly deposit seminar. This lack of knowledge and unwillingness to learn how the deposit side functions has created many problems. All of this has been discussed with division management but no action has been taken. This lack of responsibility is very disappointing. The banks location was also very unsafe. During my time at WAFD I would repeatedly call the police department to report trespassers/squatters on the property. This doubled with the fact that I would enter the building alone every morning (because the manager arrived 1 hour late every day) created a high risk environment when opening the bank. This is unsettling because of the banks history with robberies and attempted robberies. Ironically the previous robbery also occurred when the manager arrived to the bank 1 hour late and a teller was forced to open the bank alone. But even a bank robbery wasn’t enough to change the habits of our banks manager or trigger disciplinary action from the higher ups. For example, the unwillingness of the manager to respond to the trespasser problem at the bank was so extreme that when a transient interrupted business by drinking alcohol in front of the main entrance on bank property, the manager ignored them for a long period of time and asked the staff to not take action. This level of irresponsibility is dangerous. The managerial irresponsibility and lack of accountability created a toxic work environment. There is no room for advancement, a dangerous location, low salary, and your complaints will fall on deaf ears.
