—More than 50% of senior leadership has spent almost their entire careers at FHLBI, so they have little-to-know understanding of the real business world.
—For a member-based cooperative, you’d think leadership would be more concerned about making sure they were meeting member needs. Not the case here though. The top dogs are: the regulator and the Board, and they make sure to scratch those dogs’ itches.
— an example: despite the COVID environment demonstrating there is little need for physical office space, FHLBI has invested in high-rent office space in the heart of Detroit to show its bonafides to Michigan board members and the regulator.
— highly political. In a time of tight budgets and inadequate headcount (except in major cost centers such as IT — which has SEVERAL laters of management instead of producers — and Community Investments, and the consulting team that is the pet project of an executive), the bank has lost tons of talent in key operational areas due to burnout and stress and are unable to find replacements. This is not because of the “great reset” but because of the culture. The people that are staying have golden handcuffs and are biding their time until retirement or the 2022 bonus.
—horrible internal engagement scores. Employees are miserable. They are not trusted to do their jobs, are micromanaged, and work in fear constant fear of making a mistake.
