Pros
Excellent inside knowledge on how colleagues and clients get ahead. Good combination of DBPP and ESOP, with option to be a contributory pensioner plus max 6% of salary into share ownership which they match 50%. The wise would realize that its basically two pensions, and defined benefit and defined contribution. They truly believe in qualifying the advisor by using constant requirements for continued education. Excellent product suite and very good departmentalization support (for units dedicated for employee support) Decent pay, but not the best. Managers are usually a wealth of experience (could be good and bad)
Cons
A huge disconnect between the pay scales for the levels of job. Seniority does play a role, but the jobs are very similar. Extremely unrealistic performance metrics. Sure, your a Financial Advisor (salesman/lady) and your job is to sell. Terrible amounts of cold calling (don't let them tell you its a warm call they are only kidding themselves) Goals and metrics based on how/if/when your customers use mobile/online banking. Yes they give you targets on "demonstrating" how to use non-branch banking options. And your either clawed back or rewarded based on If that customer uses the non-branch solution. Not to mention your customers also have to "use" their product prior to you receiving full credit for your sale.(not commission, but tracked sales) They use a tactic for customer experience by calling a recent visited customer to complete a survey on how their experience was. Problem is that they use way too small of a sample size for these goals/actuals to be a true reflection, and the output effects your Annual Appraisal as a branch, which we all share whether its good or bad. Dog eat Dog with other advisors and VERY clicky (watch where you plant your flag) There is not an open door with the manager regardless of what they say. You even "get in trouble" for calling HR with your concern before consulting your manager. No transparency at all. Managers all have their own sets of rules and definitely have their favourite employees. Terrible core benefits, and very expensive upgraded benefits.