“Heather-

While working for this company, management placed extreme pressure on employees to sell credit cards to our customers and our customer’s needs were never a consideration.

With every customer I met, I was directed to review their account to see if they’d been preselected for a credit card and sell it to them.  If the customer had no preselected offer, I was to encourage them to sign up for a card because “credit is so important.” It didn’t matter if the customer had terrible credit, their needs were not a concern and I was told that if I did not attempt a credit card sale with every customer, I would be disciplined. I was a top performer and committed employee, and overtime my responsibilities increased such that I was often tasked to cover as acting Branch Manager when our manager was away on leave or not at the bank. Given my experience and successes, I asked to be promoted several times, however, (the Sales Performance Manager, formerly Operations Manager) denied me, citing, “You aren’t ready.”  He offered no suggestions or constructive feedback, just that I wasn’t ready.

I felt disheartened and to make matters worse, I watched less experienced male employees be promoted instead of me.

As a result, I interviewed with another bank and was immediately offered a Branch Manager position, which I accepted.

I met with (the Sales Performance Manager, formerly Operations Manager) and Heather Bryant for my exit interview and (the Operations Manager) asked me what it would take for me to stay.  I told him that I was leaving because after working for the this company for eight years in (mostly) the same position and because of him, I was never promoted.

He asked me to take a quiz and if I passed, he’d “consider” me for a promotion, which I felt was humiliating, so I showed him my offer letter from new employer and left the meeting. Since my separation from this company less than three years ago, I’ve been promoted twice.”

(Identity withheld for protection)