The declining economy and painful cost-cutting steps have taken their toll on employee ratings of three of the top five U.S. banks, as measured by Glassdoor.com, a website that allows workers to express their views about their workplaces. JPMorgan Chase experienced the biggest decline, seeing its company satisfaction rating slide 10 percent from 3.4 in the May-August period to 2.9 in the September-December time frame. Wells Fargo garnered a 3.3 company rating, down four percent, while Bank of America slipped two percent to a 3.2 rating. Citigroup’s rating rose six percent to 3.1, and Wachovia maintained a 3.1 mark.
Employees gave their CEOs higher grades, for the most part: Citi’s Vikram Pandit earned a 37 percent satisfaction rating, a 12 percent improvement; BofA’s Ken Lewis scored 62 percent, up six percent; and Wells Fargo’s John Stumpf advanced four percent to 65 percent. JPMorgan Chase employees lowered their CEO’s rating six percent, giving Jamie Dimon a 66 percent. Glassdoor cites a Citi director in New York as follows: “Time for a change at the top to somebody who can generate confidence in our product—not a technocrat.”
There is some blunt advice for the C-suite on the Glassdoor site. “Place more emphasis on hiring capable individuals at a fair salary rather than inept ones at a crap salary,” suggests a JPMorgan Chase credit analyst. “Solicit more opinions from employees regarding their immediate manager,” this employee continues. “Stop sending customer contact jobs overseas to people who are barley fluent in English; UPDATE THE TECHNOLOGY AND QUIT BEING SO CHEAP.”
