Pros
The company has a very competitive benefit package. Low health care premiums for a great provider (BCBS). FSA's for both health and dependent care. 401k with matching up to 4% and a generous biannual addition of 7%. 80 hours of vacation time annually for new employees (more after a certain number of years or with certain promotions). Washington Federal also doesn't have harsh quotas or sales expectations. It's very low stress, and you're able to suggest products to customers that you feel would truly benefit from them rather than just forcing them down each person's face. There are a lot of employees (usually supervisors or managers) who have been with the company for 10+ years, so you can really take advantage of their knowledge about the industry and company.
Cons
The pay is around 10% lower than industry standard. Especially considering employees are expected to wear many hats, they should be getting paid MORE not LESS than other companies. For example, the tellers (CSRs) are able to open and close accounts, service accounts, handle legal documents, and basically perform the functions of a personal banker at any other major banking institution. However, we're paid way less than a personal banker, and even a little less than some tellers (I guess because we get such a great benefit package?). The personal bankers here are expected to be IRA experts, open and close accounts, go marketing for new accounts, and handle loans (all of which is like 3 different jobs at another bank) and they barely get paid more than the CSRs. Branch managers are also the loan officers (which are usually 2 separate jobs) and get paid less than branch managers at other institutions. Because of the high expectations and low pay, the company has difficulty with hiring. Qualified applicants won't take the pay, and people that will take the pay tend to be way under-qualified, so we've seen an increase of staffing with people either not qualified for the job or they quit because they can't keep up. People that are qualified tend to leave once they find a better paying job within the industry.