First Niagara Financial Reviews

Former Employee – worked at First Niagara Financial full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Great Salary! I enjoyed working with people who had been in the business for a very long time. I was always learning something new.

Cons – Constant movements in management caused negativity with employees and unwelcome changes. The overall atmosphere of the job after some of these changes was negative. All employees in my office were VERY unhappy when I left.

Advice to Senior Management – Pay more attention to changes, peoples entire lives are affected by these changes. One person in the wrong position can cause serious loss of talent.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at First Niagara Financial

Pros – They offer good benefits, vacation, sick time.

Cons – Very little advancement in Pittsburgh area.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at First Niagara Financial

Pros – They allow you to balance your work with your daily live, have a great benefit package, provide overtime at the time of merger which means extra money in our pockets.

Cons – Sometimes the work load is too little for everyone to go thru the day, however when someone quits or gets fired they take a long time to get replaces and one time from 7 in a department we went down to 3 & the work load increased excessively as you may immagine, however they did nothing to hire someone to help.

Advice to Senior Management – It is important to treat everyone equally, even when you have differences with one or two employees, because it is greatly noticeable.

Current Employee – been working at First Niagara Financial

Pros – Good people to work with. Lunch is often provided at no cost. Recently acquired HSBC branches throughout north east. Cool logo.

Cons – Difficult to move up or even laterally. Some lazy people have found their way to the top. May be expanding to quickly.

Advice to Senior Management – Look to some of the youner employees during expansion. Some of the old guard still can't scan and e-mail a document in less than 5 minutes.

Former Employee – worked at First Niagara Financial

Pros – Helps you learn about banking.

Cons – Customer service is a big part of the job.

Advice to Senior Management – Longer hours, open later than 5pm.

Current Employee – been working at First Niagara Financial

Pros – Flexibility, Hands off Management, Good reputation, Limber to lend, Good people, Clients like us, Gowing with our clients

Cons – Pay/bonus and lack of careeer opportunities compared to other comparable banks is biggest downside.

Advice to Senior Management – Don't shortchange us. You'll start losing some of your best!

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at First Niagara Financial

Pros – They do have decent benefits at a good price! 401K Match, Health Insurance, 2 weeks paid vacation, 1 week sporadic time, floating Holidays, all federal holidays closed.

Cons – The company has really bad products to sell, which make the job hard! They have you cold calling non-stop as well as putting people into products that really they really don't need. The pressure for numbers is high.... QUANTITY OVER QUALITY!

Advice to Senior Management – Praise your employees! There is little to no recognition for good work.... and even if you do have a good day on Monday, they are on your case again about numbers on Tuesday. It's all about NUMBERS NUMBERS NUMBERS!

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at First Niagara Financial

Pros – good entry-level position to obtain basic experience

Cons – Hard to take advantage of training offered due to the immediate supervisor's lack of support
Lack of support in setting/achieving career goals
Lack of communication/respect towards anyone lower on the career ladder
Lack of response to employee concerns from both the immediate supervisors and the HR

Advice to Senior Management – make a greater effort to listen to front-line employes and address their concerns
assist in professional development and goal-achievement, do not simply issuing directives
be more aware of the day-to-day functioning of the offices

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at First Niagara Financial

Pros – Great community environment in the branches, sales goals are important as well as audits, but there is a community feel

Cons – There are people who work there that do not fit the mold of the company and the company does not get rid of them

Advice to Senior Management – keep going on the path that you are going with your personel and branches, fire people sooner when it is known there are problems.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at First Niagara Financial

Pros – medical/dental coverage costs life insurance great 401k plan, immediate vesting for the 401k plan

Cons – distance between employment and home is long

Advice to Senior Management – no advice