Pros
The benefits package is very good, and you will likely always feel much smarter than everyone else. There is a relative amount of job security here, as you really have to mess up before they will fire you. I never got written up for any of my little mistakes (all two of them in four years), and I watched people get away with much more egregious things than I could have imagined without receiving disciplinary action. After I quit, I was fully vested with the 401k plan, so every penny contributed by myself and matched by NFCU belongs to me. I also found out about two months after I left that I was vested in a pension plan I had no idea about, so I received several thousand dollars from that, which was like a complimentary dessert to make up for a bad meal. I do believe Mr. Dawson is a good CEO, but improvements need to be made down the management chain.
Cons
While the insurance benefits are good, the actual pay is lackluster, and it seems almost impossible to get a decent raise as the branch managers will not give you anything more than a milquetoast annual review, no matter how hard you work and accurate you are. If you consider working in a branch office, think again. The only way to work for this company is to work at headquarters or one of the call centers. Branch Operations is the largest part of NFCU, and consequently the branches get dumped on an awful lot when call volumes exceed the call center capacities, or mortgage applications exceed capacity, etc. The trouble is the branches are woefully under-staffed. The management calls this "right-sizing" the branches. So, when HQ or the call centers start asking for help, branch staff members are expected (and browbeaten) to disappear into the back and get on the phone, leaving one or two branch staff in the lobby to help with the very demanding members. Then, when twelve members all walk in at once, everyone gets into a mad scramble to try and appease them since they are all in an enormous hurry. One very aggravating thing is how the branch management and visiting executives laugh so loudly and obnoxiously where members cannot help but hear them. This makes dealing with angry members very difficult, as they become even more belligerant when they feel business is not being taken seriously in the office. I started work with this company as a member services representative and was promoted after 2.5 years to branch supervisor. Nearly all of the branch managers I worked for and interacted with were narcissistic and bullying. They would hold threats over employees' heads, would twist words and gossip fiercely within their own little manager's "club," and the first one I worked under tried to block my promotion for some unknown reason. That first branch manager of mine later got into trouble for not giving anyone at my first branch a raise in the first three years of being open, when the norm is six months, or at the very least one year. Nonetheless, the company does very little to get rid of bad managers, as that one remained a branch manager for quite a while afterward and is still employed in some equally high-paying position. I realize all of this sounds like normal workplace stuff, but when you also have federal regulations hanging over your head, are responsible for a half-million dollars or more in cash, another half-million in checks and other negotiable instruments, all while trying to stay accurate and watch out for scams while constantly exposed to the threat of someone coming in and robbing the place, it gets old. Or, at least, it got old to me after four years of nothing getting better.
