Citadel Credit Union reviews

First let me make clear, it is apparent that Human Resources usually comments back on these Glass Door posts and defends the company, which is proof that they are not open to employee feedback. To all prospective employees, I suggest that you listen to the advice of the current and former employees that have taken the time to provide you with valuable insight on the truths that you won’t hear from the Human Resources department. 1. Stop talking about how wrong it was for Wells Fargo to sell products and services behind customers backs, but then make a culture at Citadel that is nothing but sales. Sales are a majority of what your pay raises are based on. Citadel is so focused on sales, that you are written up as soon as you are "behind pace" for your yearly sales goal. If you really want to do what's best for the customer and provide "Citadel Class Service", then stop forcing employees to sell, sell, sell. Don't let Citadel tell you otherwise that they do what's best for the customer…it’s not always best for the customer to be forced into opening products or services just to give Citadel income and sales numbers. 2. Care about each and every employee, not just the ones that suck up to upper management. There are no advancement opportunities here, period. If you don't bust your butt being fake to those in higher up positions, you're not going anywhere. Raises are minimal…maximum salary increase per year is 5%, and nobody gets that. 95% of people get 2 or 3% increases (which is basically 30 cents). The key to a good company is one that cares about each employee and helps them grow in the company instead of only promoting those who drink the Kool-Aid. 3. Take a hard look at your branch managers and your Human Resources department…they are best buddies. Again, don't let them tell you otherwise, because I'm sure they will try to defend themselves on this post. I encountered numerous instances where employees sincerely went to their managers or Human Resources about an issue...and somehow the employee always ended up as the "wrong party" in the end. Human Resources is supposed to be a neutral base for the employee to feel comfortable going to. Unfortunately at Citadel, management and Human Resources will always side with eachother, which makes for an unfair work environment. 4. Give your employees more time off and better benefits. Most banks are closed on Martin Luther King Jr Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, and Presidents Day…not Citadel. "Oh but we give you floating holidays to use on your own time"...don't fall for it. Citadel is also open until 2pm on Saturdays, unlike most community credit unions or banks that are closed by noon. And health benefits? Don't fall for the trap of, "we now offer 2 medical plans for employees because we listened to employee feedback saying that they want a choice of more than 1 plan.” No…Citadel now offers 2 HIGH DEDUCTIBLE medical plans instead of 1 HIGH DEDUCTIBLE medical plan. That's like a grocery store saying they offer a variety of fruit but simply offer Red Delicious apples and Granny Smith apples. 5. Stop expanding. Citadel was known for over 80 years as a small community credit union...which is what people loved about them. Unfortunately in the past year or so, Citadel has completely lost control of that. They are trying to compete with the big banks and want to gain over $8 billion in assets in less than 10 years...those are bank numbers, not small community credit union numbers. When you cut staff levels and don’t hire a new employee after someone leaves the company, transfer employees from branch to branch constantly to save money, open new branches at an alarming rate, and even outsource your contact center...you know you're getting too big. Don't just say you are focusing on the customers...actually do it.

Increasingly over aggressive sales culture approaching the likes of the Wells Fargo and Bank of America type banking institions. The company is expanding too fast and does not have the proper infrastructure to support the increased footprint in the Philadelphia suburbs. Senior Management does not function in an objective way and regularly makes decisions based more on personal relationships versus merit and objective assessment of employee performance. The Human Resources Department does not function as an independent body between the employees and management. They take a clear stance in favor of management regardless of the issue at hand. The sales culture at Citadel is steadily becoming overly aggressive and sales goals are being established that are at times unreasonable and unattainable. In addition, they do not provide any type of solid sales training program. The training team instead offers very limited courses in this area as well as very limited resources to increase an employees ability to be successful. For decades Citadel operated with less than ten offices primarily in Chester County. Within the past five to six years they have more than doubled that footprint with no straight forward explanation or reassurance as to what is motivating this surge towards expansion. Due to this extreme shift in focus, Citadel is becoming less focused on people, this is resulting in unreasonable expectations for sales results and diminishing staffing levels per office to assist in paying for their expansion. Senior Management handles situations and decision making based all too much on their personal relationships and unsubstantiated perceptions of employees. I have witnessed and become aware of several situations in which good employees were dismissed based on this sort of behavior. The Human Resources Department similar to Senior Management does not function with objectivity. Due to my position I was aware of mutiple situations including racial slurs and medical hardships in which HR did not work to make sure the employee was comfortable in their working environment. Instead HR regularly takes a stance of backing management blindly and does little to address serious issues with diligence and an objective eye.