A Great Company in a Period of Transformation
Pros
Farm Credit has a lot going for it. It's a company with a good mission. It's a co-op, meaning the focus of efforts is on sustainability, not quarterly profits as a driving force. In fact, when profits are high, some of that money goes back to the people who borrowed through FCMA to begin with. The Heart of Coaching system and the coaching culture it facilitates, when engaged with honestly and fully, are truly powerful and transformative. There's a strong focus on technology at FMCA, and the organization is much more cutting edge than many financial companies. Members of IT are able to keep their knowledge and skills current, as the company keeps pushing for innovation and is willing to explore the tools and approaches necessary to sustain that innovation. IT staff have access to tons of resources to continue their learning. They have the ability to create goals of their own to reach year-to-year, and they are afforded time to dedicate to those goals. Benefits are overall great with a few caveats. 401K match is fantastic. Health plans are the sort of high deductible plans that many companies are going toward; while not great, FCMA's is better than most comparable consumer driven high deductible plans. Vacation time is decent, but it's accrued in a very outdated fashion. Sick time is plentiful, and employees get time to use when dependents are sick, which is really great.
Cons
The cons at FCMA are really no different than what you might find at any other rapidly modernizing company. The company is implementing new-to-it business processes, technologies, and personnel structures. With all of that change comes the pain of missteps and the uncertainty of future changes in direction for those who don't see the big picture of where the company is headed. Creature comforts: still hanging onto business casual for non-customer-facing roles, outdated vacation accrual scheme , and still committed to the open office floor plan for IT, despite it being proven to reduce productivity and collaboration and increase stress.
