Banking employment is in crisis. Bank branches are struggling to recruit and retain their employees, more than half of whom resign before 5 years. How did we get here ? To better understand, we collected the testimony of Nathalie, a financial advisor for thirty years.
Retail banking is no longer able to retain its financial advisers in branches. According to figures from the SNB CFE-CGC, the first banking union, 30% of employees joining the sector resigned after two years. And 60% are gone after five years. “Since the Covid, the bank has experienced a hypertension on the job confirms Frédéric Guyonnet, national president of the SNB. “There are holes everywhere, in all banks and all regions. »
In 2021, latest figures available (1), 4 departures of employees on permanent contracts out of 10 were resignations. And more often than not, it’s for leave the banking sector. “A new phenomenon”, believes Frédéric Guyonnet. “Before the Covid, there were already resignations. However, these employees remained in the sector, they only changed banks to progress in their careers. »
How to explain that so many workers are fleeing this once valued profession? To try to understand, we collected the testimony of Natalie (2). She started working in a bank branch about thirty years ago. First as reception officer for a regional mutual bank then, after a career break, as account manager in a major national brand, for fifteen years. She has since changed employers, returning to a regional mutual bank.
On condition of anonymity, she agreed to tell us about her disappointments and her doubts. His testimony, of course, is not representative of all the experiences of financial advisors. But it provides a good overview of the difficulties of the job.
Chronically understaffed
In her 30-year career, Nathalie has witnessed the profound upheavals experienced by the banking industry, particularly as a result of its increasing digitization. “The choice of digital is quite old, but the transformation has accelerated since 2015. Since then, advisors have had strong incentives to leave and they are less and less in the branches. »
Result : customer service has deteriorated. “Previously, in the agency where I worked, all clients could be received easily,” continues Nathalie. “This is no longer the case today: they have to make an appointment to meet with us, and we tend to favor clients with wealth. The others are sent to the application or the website. We are more and more like an online bank. Yet customers continue to pay the rate of a face-to-face bank. »
“We are looking more and more like an online bank. »
Downsizing is one thing. But there is also absenteeism. “During my last year with my former employer, between resignations and sick leave, we shot with 50% of the workforce in my agency,” explains Nathalie. “To compensate, we had to work a lot of overtime. “A work overload that convinced Nathalie to change sign.
The cult of GNP
GNP, for ” Net banking income », or the equivalent of the turnover in the world of banking. A concept now ubiquitous in the daily life of financial advisors. “In commercial banks, such as BNP Paribas or Société Générale, the permanent quest for GNP, and the pressure that goes with it, has been present for a long time”, explains Frédéric Guyonnet. “This is not the case in regional mutual banks, where this commercial shift is more recent. Some profiles are struggling to adapt to it.
This is not the case with Natalie. “Having goals to achieve is the principle of sales,” she explains. “But today, we are only being told about PNB”. The pressure also weighs on the shoulders of the branch managers, and, faced with it, not everyone responds in the same way. “Some manage to stay human, some don’t. I have witnessed practices that resemble moral harassment, and which have also led to layoffs. »
More than commercial pressure, it is the lack of autonomy that Nathalie finds heavy. “We are forced to work on specific targets, we are constantly asked to raise our figures, we are put under pressure on the number of appointments… I know my client portfolio, I also know my production objectives , I am able to manage alone. »
“Managers put us in competition, it is part of the malaise at work. »
Another problem: the internal competition. In the bank where Nathalie currently works, financial advisors must report, in a shared computer space, all their sales in real time. At his former employer, figures were reported daily and were used to feed a rankingweighted according to sales targets set by management.
A ranking published every week, “for all to see”. Clearly, everyone can permanently know the sales figures of colleagues. “Managers put us in competition, it’s part of the malaise at work,” explains Nathalie. “When you’re at the top of the table, it’s fine. You are even congratulated. But when that’s not the case, sometimes just because you’re in a less buoyant sector, it’s very hard to live with. »
The risk of lack of advice
This system of competition leads to abuses. “When you’re behind in the rankings, you can be tempted to focus on the product you need to sell rather than the one that’s the most suitable. »
A temptation to which Nathalie has never succumbed: “I am straight in my boots, I refuse to change sidewalks when I meet a customer in the street. “She was, on the other hand, witness to very problematic practices. She gives us an example: “One of my predecessors advised life insurance with an equity management mandate to clients who wanted to invest the money from the sale of their house for a few months, while waiting to buy it back. A totally unsuitable product, since presenting a risk for the capital, but which he was encouraged to sell, because it brings in a lot of GNP. »
“No bank dismisses for a lack of results. »
“It is clearly a lack of advice “, reacts Frédéric Guyonnet, of the SNB CFE CGC. “It should be remembered: no bank fires for lack of results. On the other hand, one can be dismissed for having sacrificed the lack of advice. Banks, in principle, prohibit individual rankings according to business results. These may be local initiatives on the part of managers wishing to achieve their objectives. »
(1) Source: French Banking Association (AFB), which represents commercial banks, excluding mutual banks. (2) At the request of our witness, his first name has been changed. No indication concerning his geographical location and his employers has been kept.