Advia Credit Union

2.0

Oct 28, 2021

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

On the ground level of the org. chart, employees working directly with members (meaning face-to-face) DO want to take care of people - "people" meaning both their coworkers, as well as the membership base/community. Their hearts are in the right place and align with the company's supposed "values"... The health insurance was also decent... These were the only positive aspects of being an employee at this organization.

Cons

Credit unions in general are "not for profit" organizations (meaning their profits must be funneled back into the business, rather than given to the C-level employees). However, this one runs just like a bank in terms of pushing high-pressure sales to meet the lofty goals they set! If you don't like sales, BEWARE!!! They won't tell you in the interviews or onboarding - but you'll find out as soon as you step in-branch for your first real day on the job! They have every single member of in-branch staff selling, selling, selling! And you WILL be penalized if you don't meet their unrealistic standards - this goes for part-timers and full-timers! As a teller, you won't be given any forewarning, but you'll be expected to be part of the sales machine. You won't be given the product knowledge you need to succeed in sales, either, unless you're lucky enough that your manager takes a vested interest in helping you. And that's IF you even have a manager! The company will leave leadership positions open for months on end, forcing the would-be subordinates to freestyle their way through the workday and to their goals. Especially once the pandemic hit, and this organization had to try to recoup the money being spent on building a MASSIVE new headquarters in 2019-2020, the focus turned completely away from people and the community, and it became entirely about profits. The outbound sales teams work tirelessly to hit their goals, are heavily scrutinized and understaffed (often filling in as management for the multiple mgmt. openings, resolving member issues, all while being expected to get their regular work done.. but told they are "not qualified" when applying/interviewing for mgmt. positions). They are threatened with probationary measures or termination if their goals aren't met, and worst of all: their base compensation is FAR LESS than the INBOUND sales teams who work from home and don't have to deal with constant interruptions and disgruntled members. The member base would agree this organization has completely turned to a money grab, as they constantly cited the new headquarters building as a reason for their pitifully low dividend returns - ESPECIALLY once the US economy began to recover somewhat from the pandemic, and the organization internally bragged about exceeding its goals, higher than ever before. The senior level management is entirely out-of-touch with what creates a good member experience AND employee experience. They work from home, relying solely on gossip and sales stats (never considering the other factors and job responsibilities outside of sales) to get their intel on lower-level employees. You'll have almost zero chances for upward mobility.

Advia Credit Union Response

Thank you for taking time to review us as an employer. I care about the feedback you shared and am very sorry that you felt your experience was negative. I appreciate you stating how our team really does take care of each other, our members, and our community. I’m very proud of that and feel it’s a defining aspect of Advia’s culture. However, other comments you made misalign with the culture we work to cultivate and protect. I want to address those as it’s extremely important to us that our team feels valued. Our member engagement efforts are an important aspect of how we help our members save money. We value reaching out to members and celebrate when we help them save. This year, we’ve been able to save 4,600 members over $10 Million in transferred loan interest payments. This effort is something we track every day because it’s one of the best ways we can quantify our give-back. Even though the word “sales” may be used when we talk about our team’s efforts, it really is about our members’ bottom line … not ours. The pandemic has been challenging – and I can completely understand if you felt frustrated with the fact that some team worked remotely while others weren’t afforded that opportunity. As a financial institution, we need to be available for our members, and have had an amazing group of branch staff remain present at our locations while we navigated stay-at-home orders and have continued to protect our team and members from unnecessary exposure whenever possible. We are working to get everyone back safely, and I’m proud that our HR team did everything in their power to provide additional incentives to our frontline team to help thank them this past year. With 2021 being called “The Great Resignation” year, it’s true that we’ve experienced challenges, like most organizations, in recruiting staff. To help, we work with industry experts to review our incentive and compensation package annually to make sure we are competitive. We also want to do the best for our team regarding insurance coverage benefits, so thank you for commenting that ours is fair in that aspect. One of our most treasured core values is our commitment to having integrity, and our mission is to provide financial advantages for our members and community. We are excited about our new headquarters, which was started in 2018, well prior to the pandemic. We have great need for this expanded space, as we have outgrown our headquarters in Parchment, MI. The investment we’re making into this building is an example of our commitment to our team, our growing membership, and our community. There has been no change in our deposit rates, loan rates, or community involvement outside of nationwide pandemic constraints and economic trends. Members are saving more, and loan rates are at historic lows. Finally, I want to address your comment about our senior leadership team’s commitment to building and maintaining a strong culture. We review internal culture surveys regularly, we review member sentiment surveys continually, and we connect with our full team at roadshows (in-person again in January of 2022). Every business decision we make is with our members and our team in mind. Our goal truly is to live to our core values, including building strong relationships with our members and our team. We would appreciate the opportunity to follow up with you about your concerns by emailing us at hr@adviacu.org.

Organizational Goals Have Zero Focus On People, 100% Focus On Profits - Financial Solutions Specialist Advia Credit Union Employee Review

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