Pros
The people who have stayed.
Cons
So much of BECU’s retail culture has changed over the past decade and in particular this last year. At points in the past, I have been very proud of working at BECU. Now, I fear senior leadership is not steering the Credit Union in the right direction. Credit Unions are meant to be contributors to the betterment of a community’s overall financial health. Now it seems our values are just being used as a veneer for increased sales. Many staff members view much of the changes this past year as a step towards being more like a bank. BECU has become too dependent on bureaucracy. Members have sensed this and reflected on this via survey. Retail staff are too afraid to communicate with management because they fear being labeled as a resistor. The reason often why the credit union cannot keep new retail employees and why tenured employees do leave is that compensation is not truly commensurate to what is. At every level at retail, other financial institutions are compensated handsomely on incentive. Their staff have more vacation days, benefits, and better true work life balance. If proper exit interviews have been conducted, and changed implemented…there wouldn’t be such a high turnover rate. But…most importantly…the culture just isn’t the same as it was. Senior leadership needs to truly understand what front line staff go through. Front line staff are the lifeblood of any financial institution. As it currently goes, I do not believe retail staff feel supported.