I may have become too bitter over the years, but I think everything was much more professional in the past. Where has all the professionalism gone? It is as if the standards have been lowered to the maximum. I just hope to go into retirement before this becomes just a shadow of the former company.
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Communication skills have also lacked in recent years. There are numerous emails that come through that almost read likes text messages. Professionalism inside and out from communication to your dress to how you treat others, it’s all part of the same package. I know this year I assigned several communication classes to my staff because what was coming through an email was appalling. It concerns me that how we were communicating with our customers was even worse. People want to be treated like people, no matter if they have $6.00 in the bank or $600,000. They are all customers
Interesting the last commenter assumed the post was directed at professional appearance. Granted, the word "looked" might lead one to that conclusion; I thought more about how people present themselves on the telephone and in written correspondence. There was actually a script at one time for telephone voicemail greetings that were supposed to be updated daily.
Customer facing roles have also fallen down in service quality and behavior. It used to be expected that all branch staff would pitch in and assist customers if the line or wait times were long. People have commented to me on numerous occasions that people behind the service counter ignore the long line of customers. One told me he'd observed the drive-up teller just sat there watching as one customer was taking a long time with the only other teller on duty. He left the building and went through the drive-through after standing in line for 20 minutes because that same customer was still at the counter!
People in general do not have the same standards for their appearance or behavior they did when I started working. There were dress codes but there were also OSHA rules that regulated apparel as well. You didn't wear sandals or come to work in shorts or old clothing; it just wasn't done. Of course working from home affected how people interacted and dressed but the norms once observed in all aspects of professional demeanor, speech and decorum have all been eroded over the past few decades. While this is not exclusive to US Bank, I worked there since the late 1990's and concur with the original statement.
For years, non-customer facing staff has been told to dress and act a certain way. When everybody went home to work in Spring of 2020, it became very clear that how you dressed didn’t mean squat on your work production. There’s an awful lot of staff, customer facing and non-customer facing, that work to get things done. Face to face meetings are somewhat a thing of the past for staff knowing that it’s production of work and not how you’re dressed. At one time we had a memo floating around my office indicating what professionalism was. It was very stringent and allowed little to no individuality. It was all about the appearance. But frankly the appearance doesn’t mean jack. Now I am not saying that pajama pants and flip-flops are acceptable, however suit and ties, heels and hose are maybe a thing of the past in a lot of areas. Don’t get me wrong, I grew up in suits and ties and heels and hose era. And I conformed for a number of years, but that is not what makes a good employee in my opinion. Communication has changed to evolve around the generations and how they communicate best. From Gen X to Baby boomers, it’s what works best for each individual. The rigidness is gone and for a lot of people that has allowed them to relax and flourish.