Tellers are one of the least happy careers in the United States.
At CareerExplorer, we conduct an ongoing survey with millions of people and ask them how satisfied they are with their careers. As it turns out, tellers rate their career happiness 2.5 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 4% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy tellers are to similar careers in the industry. Take a look at the results below:
Salaries and satisfaction ratings in similar careers
| Career | Satisfaction | Avg Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Office clerk | 2.6 | $37k |
| Actuary | 2.5 | $106k |
| Financial clerk | 2.5 | $46k |
| Loan officer | 2.5 | $63k |
| Underwriter | 2.5 | $76k |
| Teller | 2.5 | $36k |
| Host and hostess | 2.5 | $25k |
| Auditor | 2.5 | $77k |
| Food server | 2.4 | $26k |
| Postal service worker | 2.4 | $52k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are tellers happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do tellers find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as tellers?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are teller’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are tellers making the best use of their abilities?
Are tellers happy with their salary?
Tellers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.6/5. Tellers tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked tellers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.6 out of 5 stars
3177 tellers
5% of tellers rated their compensation 5 stars
19% of tellers rated their compensation 4 stars
30% of tellers rated their compensation 3 stars
25% of tellers rated their compensation 2 stars
21% of tellers rated their compensation 1 stars
Do tellers find their jobs meaningful?
On average, tellers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.0/5. The majority of tellers struggle to find any sort of meaning in their work, likely resulting in less satisfaction with the career overall.
We asked tellers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.0 out of 5 stars
3188 tellers
3% of tellers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
6% of tellers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
20% of tellers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
30% of tellers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
42% of tellers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as tellers?
Tellers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.5/5. The majority of tellers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked tellers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.5 out of 5 stars
3430 tellers
26% of tellers rated their career fit 5 stars
30% of tellers rated their career fit 4 stars
24% of tellers rated their career fit 3 stars
12% of tellers rated their career fit 2 stars
9% of tellers rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a teller’s work environment?
As a whole, tellers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.1/5. Most of them tend to enjoy, or at least not be actively bothered by, their work environment.
We asked tellers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.1 out of 5 stars
3418 tellers
15% of tellers rated their work environment 5 stars
27% of tellers rated their work environment 4 stars
27% of tellers rated their work environment 3 stars
19% of tellers rated their work environment 2 stars
12% of tellers rated their work environment 1 stars
Are tellers making the best use of their abilities?
Former tellers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 2.3/5. Most feel that their skills are being underutilized in the career, probably leading to more general dissatisfaction with being a teller.
We asked tellers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
2.3 out of 5 stars
3438 tellers
7% of tellers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
11% of tellers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
21% of tellers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
28% of tellers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
33% of tellers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars