END OF AN ERA

August 26, 2013 (Lagos State) – I woke up super early, half excited and half frightened. That day was the beginning of my career journey at Access Bank Plc. I had gone through the interview process, learned patience while waiting to be called for training school, went through the rigorous training school, and was ready to begin a banking career I had longed for ever since undergrad. 

l remember leaving the house a bit too early that day, crossing the Ikeja overhead bridge while the day was still dark around 6:00 am with my white sleeves and green tie.

I got to the office way too early and had to wait till the break of dawn before the others came. I hated being the new guy. I sat at the customer’s waiting chair on the marketing floor, watching everyone come in till my team members arrived. I can’t exactly remember the details now, but I managed to survive the introductions that day. I wasn’t particularly excited about my unit (sales), I mean I had heard the gist about the tough targets, pressure to deliver, and how marketers get fired for falling short. 

Anyway, that was the beginning of years of learning to completely lean on God because all the wins have been nothing short of miracles. I know people will say maybe my tenacity and zeal played a part, but truth is, ‘Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain’ – (Psalm 127vs 1a).

April 01, 2022 (Benin City) – I woke up this day at my normal waking hour, one I had gotten accustomed to after seven years plus of working in Benin City following my redeployment from Lagos. Today was the beginning of my terminal leave, my unofficial last working day as a staff of Access Bank Plc. My official last day was effective 30th April.

After eight years and eight months which had me working in two states, three different branches, and teams, I bowed out on my terms. I had initially planned to leave in 2024 when I would have completed ten years but life happened and plans had to change.

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I had a plan to save up funds that will enable me comfortably afford a gap year after ten years of work experience, but investments went south, and then, certain unfriendly organizational policies hastened my resignation. 

By August 2021, after the painful selective salary increment implemented by the bank (ignoring that these same beneficiaries had already been compensated for their previous year’s performance with promotions and bonuses, and also ignoring the impact the covid year had on the peculiar business of sensitive teams like mine) I knew an early exit was going to happen, even if I didn’t have another job offer. I was ready to put in my resignation the following Monday but I couldn’t because I was yet to redeem my vested shares, especially as the wait for the shares to mature was part of the reason that previously prevented me from changing jobs. It was painful going to a job where I didn’t feel valued anymore but I had to persevere and wait for my shares to vest.

Beginning of January 2022, I told myself once I had gotten my vested shares, I was out. The timeline was the end of the first quarter. At the time of making this decision, everything seemed bleak concerning appraisals. The one thing that was going to make me stay was getting promoted. A huge part of me wanted it to happen, mostly because I wanted to stay in my comfort zone while working on other career advancement plans, while a tiny part of me was done and needed to go explore and work on my plans from the comfort of my home.

I was still learning how to surrender and was still watching God to see where his plans for me were headed. I wasn’t up to three months in my new team; the one team and branch I never wanted to work in. I was still navigating lots of changes in my life, still feeling unsettled and unsure of the path I was on and where it was leading.

Just when I had given up on promotion happening and made peace with the fact I’d be resigning to go sit at home at the end of March, things changed. I mean, from my over eight years of work experience, I always held the opinion that if you couldn’t get help by December 31, then your appraisals were cast in stone. But new team, new ways of doing things. I thought I was getting played when my new RM said to wait till January the following year but turns out she was being genuine. Ending January, I still don’t know how she got it done, but things were looking even better than I expected. I had the best closing figures I have ever had in my entire career, even way better than the indices I achieved during my best years. The promotion looked so sure.

The following month, the performance management unit released the appraisal final figures and it turned out that even without the help the team got, I would have still been very fine as my hope of benefitting from the loopholes of the system came through. Based on changing teams close to the end of the year, my performance from both teams was crashed and it favoured me greatly.

Anyway, it wasn’t long before the bank made modifications to the appraisal criteria (no surprises), turned out promotion was going to be a miracle. I had to revert to my initial plan of quitting and going to sit at home while working on other options. It didn’t make sense to me, I mean, I was like why did God make it all work out, and yet promotion still wasn’t going to be possible? Of what use was all that? I let go of my questioning and surrendered yet again to God’s will. 

A colleague mentioned another Top Bank was massively recruiting and they had favourable confirmation policies. I decided to give it a shot, to have something going for me while I worked on my plans, as this would be easier to explain to my folks and also seemed economically smart after the huge financial losses suffered the previous year. It was the fastest experienced hire recruitment process I had gone through, and in a week I had an offer for the grade I was hoping to be promoted to. 

The waiting game for the promotion began. But deep down I wanted out, I was at this point done and tired of a system that kept changing the rules at the last minute just to cheat staff out of their reward. I felt getting promoted and staying back at Access bank would be a hundred times easier than starting afresh as an experienced hire in another bank, especially as it’s not easy for marketers. You leave all you have built and go start afresh from ground zero. Scary! This had been one of my major career fears. 

 I told my zonal head about my plan, but he didn’t take me seriously. Funny thing, even till my last day, most people thought I was not going to leave. My resignation letter was repeatedly rejected by my Zonal head and he made it clear he didn’t want me to leave, but I explained I needed to be loyal to myself. He wanted me to stay till the promotion list was out, but I was over the bank. They had kept pushing the appraisal timetable and release of the promotion list. Alas! Nigerian companies will always be affected by the Nigerian factor of never keeping to deadlines no matter how big they are.  

I had gotten a better offer in another bank, I had done my time in Access Bank, paid my dues, and was fortunate to be amongst the few who enjoyed the benefits before certain persons started making unpopular decisions. I was leaving happy and fulfilled, there was no bad blood. I have always been a believer that if you don’t agree with the values of a system, leave instead of being saddened by the shenanigans going on. August 2021, the bank made me cry, and I knew my time left in the organization was short. The only thing I knew was going to compensate me, was getting promoted and being given my ‘selective’ salary increase. This increase was going to make my salary better than the next grade offer I had gotten at the other bank, a promotion without the increase was nowhere close especially with the payment structure when considering the time value of money.

Funny thing is, I had long said the day Herbert Wigwe resigns or retires as Managing director, I would leave the bank as I wasn’t sure I wanted to work under the obvious next MD. He became MD the year I joined the bank and based on the Central Bank of Nigeria’s regulations, he had just ten years to serve as MD. However, he had to resign early due to corporate restructuring and this was a sign that indeed what I said was coming to pass after all. This wasn’t my major decision for leaving anyway, fate just aligned things with my initial plan.

Leaving was indeed the best deal for me and I’m thankful I was bold enough to make the decision even though my Zonal head promised he’ll do all possible to get me promoted next year. I told my Zonal Head I had lost trust in the bank, and who knows what new goal post-shifting policy they will come up with by then? God knows I’d never forgive myself for not leaving. 

From what I’m hearing, even if I was promoted, due to some rather unconventional decisions yet again, I would not have gotten a good deal. Those promoted were not given the ‘selective’ salary increase, those with previous increases didn’t even have it maintained following their promotion. They earn less than what those they met in their new grade are earning. What a bank! 

I dropped my resignation on the portal when it was clear my Zonal head wasn’t going to ever take it from me.

That was the end of a journey; one filled with pain, joys, tears, commendations, lessons, and most importantly, personal growth. I came into that organization a young lad with strong opinions, no patience, and quick to anger but as the years went by, I learned that life wasn’t black and white, my faith in God grew more and I learned how to make space for myself and others, how to get along with people. I met colleagues who I can boldly call friends to date, gained exposure to various businesses and how they operate, and also grew my interest in finance.

Access bank though with its flaws, has been the perfect career foundation for me. It’s true what they say, you can work anywhere if you survived working in Access bank, just open your mind and don’t let the system break you. Look beyond sentiments and learn the needed skills to work through tight deadlines, crazy schedules and juggle multiple tasks among others. I am efficient in my tasks today, mostly because I started my career journey at Access Bank. That bank broke me and molded me.

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If there is one thing my years of working in Access Bank taught me, it will be to surrender fully and allow God. The times I tried to force things were the times I was always at my lowest. The times I let go, were the times I performed beyond expectations and surpassed targets. I have learned to play my part, put in the work, and allow God to lead the way. It’s still a miracle how from feeling lost and unsure of my path in the organization, I rose over the years, gaining technical skills and becoming an essential staff not just to my team members but also to my bosses. My self-confidence grew such that I became vocal in airing my opinions during meetings and also while liaising with other units and colleagues way higher up in rank. From being the guy plagued with health challenges that the then Executive Director asked to resign if I couldn’t cope, to being the same employee a year later who got a commendation mail from the very same Executive Director.

I had written towards the end of last year about how my eyes are watching God. I see it now, clearly. If certain things had not happened, like my being transferred to the last branch I worked out of, I probably would still be in Access Bank, in my comfort zone with a lack of zeal or drive to push myself to better opportunities. 

To crown it all, on the last days towards the end of my terminal leave, I got some perks I hadn’t gotten for two years. Over the years, colleagues have always said I have been lucky to get performance bonuses, but the last two years had sort of been a drought. Ivan used to tease that my luck had run out, but now I see these things all happened for real to make me uncomfortable and push me to make the bold move. Well, even though I had a part to play in the drought years because I was avoiding getting promoted to escape being transferred to another state where the business was DOA, it felt good leaving with an excellent appraisal grade and benefits I was used to getting, it was validation that I still had it, and no luck was lost. 

On my last working day, I got the final performance bonus from Access Bank. I knew I would get it, but due to some policy changes (yea, yet again, I know), I didn’t expect it to be huge. When I opened my banking app, omo! I leaped from my bed in excitement… it was reminiscing of my first bonus payment when I was just an Executive trainee…it came at night also and I ran out of the house in excitement. I smiled that night, I had come full circle. It was symbolic for me, getting it on my last day. I was leaving Access Bank settled and fulfilled.

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