Well, I come here today to express my experience with the Pittsburgh area's facilities. I was an employee there for many years. From the days of First Franklin, National City, Merrill Lynch and then taken over finally, by Bank of America. That was when all hell broke loose. It became the absolute worst place. Maybe not in the entire USA, but certainly locally. The management was cut-throat against each other and their subordinates. You could not count on anyone unless they were your buddy. You had to have connections in order to get anywhere. So that left a lot of good people left behind. Too many really good people were railroaded. Friends of friends of management were the ones to prosper in anything. Special projects were offered to those people. Not because they could do the job better, but because they had "friends". Management hid behind lies and deceit. They thought they were better than anyone else for the most part. The other management were relieved of their job duties and laid off. So the ones left are the friends of friends of upper management. That is true for all the employees left. They may be good employees but the fact is, they are all part of a click for the most part. I cannot say that it is all of them. I happen to have extremely high respect for one in particular with the initials of LP. She is and always had been the BEST supervisor. She was not in the click. She has earned her status there. Above and beyond. She is a beautiful person that knows how to treat her employees. She is respected by everyone. I cannot say that about any of the remaining managers. She was tough when she had to be, but at the same time, she was FAIR. Much more than I can say about the remaining management. They are pompous and think they are God's gift to the company. That is so wrong. Most of the remaining management talks about each other in such a demeaning manner. Not to mention how the employees feel about them. They are scared to death to say anything because of fear of retaliation. Some were really awesome. Then there were layoffs. They have conformed to the click and behind each others' backs, demean each other. This is seen by all the employees and they don't know what to do. They are either with them or they aren't. If not, then you are on their crap list. Is this any way to operate a business? I think not. Employees are on pins and needles wondering when the axe will fall on them. So as far as Pittsburgh prevailing, I think they are really biding time until there is a better opportunity. I know that when I was displaced, it made me so happy. No more sitting there wondering if I would be next. The day came and I gladly accepted to severance. It's been a long road to obtain another job, but I landed one making more and the benefits are so much better than that at Bank of America. I am so happy now. So all of you left at the Allegheny Center Office, I hope that you are doing whatever it is that you like/love. The others, I can say that there is life after Bank of America. I wish all of you the best in life. Never give up. You are worth more than you what you are given credit. Prayers to you all that you are happy. I am partial to Pittsburgh since I worked there. I love you all and miss you.
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It was all just the perfect storm with various acquisitions contributing to the chaos. There were also Bad loans in the legacy BAC portfolio, think Home Equity and bad self serving managers all around. Sadly they haven't learned anything and continue to put band aids on bad practices and processes and rewarding the bad behavior, remember when the "how's" in your PDP actually mattered? It may be time to give up the promise of severence and get out while the getting is still good.
Actually, It was the Countrywide acquisition that proved very costly.
ML's wealth management business was at least earning decently at the time other BAC's businesses were miserable. There were penalties due to toxic investments thoug
Let's not forget that the bank suffer tremendous setback acquiring Merrill. Merrill could have gone the way Lehman did if not for bofa. Just trying to put some perspective.
The culture is certainly in decline... As the freshly appointed incompetent manager of my group said, "There's so little work, so it's grab what you can from whomever you can!"
Great post and so true
Thank you OP
OP's capacity for introspection is greatly appreciated. Great reading not like the other post by a another poster the other day.
I do see similar pattern in our group. Adversity reveals character. Unfortunate for those who are deserving of recognition.
This culture of fear that is bred from instability/fear of layoff just seems to bring out the worst in many people. It's across the board-not just Pittsburgh. And it starts from the top(ish) and works it's way down. It's nice to see some love here instead of some of the hate filled comments as of recent. Kudos for that!
The article just written by the former Pittsburg employee is well done, its EXACTLY how BAC operates. As a legacy Fleet Bank employee, I had a real career there with opportunities to advance based on my good solid work performance, not whose assI stuck my nose up. But when BAC bought Fleet, it all went down from there, the last several years have truly sucked. Jerk offs that we trained soon got promoted over us employees who have brains, experience and knowledge.Too bad for us as they would say, don't like it then go find an exit sign and don't let the door hit you on the way out. Older employees really get sh-- on, and unfortunately age discrimination is tough to prove.