Bellco Credit Union Reviews

Pros

Friendly atmosphere and caring co-workers. Management assisting you on making the best you can out of your career while you are there and seeing improvement. Overall a good place to work.

Cons

Pay could be higher, Incentives and compensation could also be higher and more beneficial to keep motivation and a happy work environment.

Advice to Senior Management

Management to be more involved with the lower level employees and interact more with them to make the working environment in some areas friendlier and comfortable for everyone. I would have to say to make the employee feel appreciated more.

Pros

Bellco offers a very good benefits package with substantial reductions on consumer and mortgage loan rates. The 401k match was very nice. It is also a very stable company and to my knowledge has never laid anyone off. The work environment is very predictable and change occurs very slowly, which may be good for some people. Pay is in line with competitors.

Cons

Bellco's organizational structure is rigidly hierarchical. There is a sharp distinction between lower level, mid-level, and executive staff that does not exactly facilitate buy-in to the organization. Mid-level managers seem fearful of the executive staff in particular, which regularly manifests in frantically reactive responses toward lower level staff. Even though I worked in the same building as the CEO many years, he did not even say hello in the hallway. To me, this speaks volumes.

Decisions are often made without a consideration of how they would impact employee morale. A decision to cut bonuses for back-end employees but not for front-line employee, for instance, substantially increased intra-organizational hostility. If you are looking to get promoted into management, especially senior management, look elsewhere. Human Resources generally hires managers from banks from the outside, which also seemed to breed resentment among employees.

Security cameras are everywhere and are used to spy on employees. For example, branch employees are called as they are observed on camera and asked things like, "why aren't you standing closer to the front door?" Speaking in hushed tones around cameras at the corporate office is the norm. In the call center, employees have to raise their hand to get assistance and are not permitted to directly approach leads or managers to ask questions. The overall message here is that employees are not to be trusted or respected as adults.

Advice to Senior Management

Hire an industrial organizational development consultant. While the executive staff are clearly technically informed, they also possess organizational information that permits them to influence and manipulate: that is, they not only have skills that have allowed them to obtain a position of power but, once there, have such a central place in the flow of information that they are able to reinforce their position to the detriment of open and effective communication. The more rigid the authority structure of an organization, the more stringent are the precautions against open commentary about processes that in many cases are outdated and ineffective. This is certainly the case at Bellco Credit Union.

Pros

Bellco is a stable and a financially secure comany that offers a great entry level opportunity for someone looking to enter the banking industry. Terrific benfits and loan rate discounts are a few of the perks or working for this company.

Cons

Bellco offers a decent base pay however their incentive/commission program is below industry averages. Also for those with management aspirations, prepare to wait 5+ years and be passed over for candidates outside the company. Promote from within does not apply here.

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to your employees ideas and feedback. In order to hang onto the talented and loyal employees you need to offer training and the opportunity for promotion!

Pros

no layoffs during recession; decent health benefits; pretty good focus on allowing work/life balance (and not overworking people). Good corporate office location (DTC).
tuition reimbursement, but only a few thousand a year, and not for graduate degrees. Loan discount (only if you have really good credit, though). There are some very nice people there but its not a really great place to work. I think its good if what you want is a decent average employer thats pretty rooted in how companies worked in decades past -- very structured and formal, with a dress code. Lots of separation between top people and the worker bees, they don't interact. People don't work late, either -- the main office is a ghost town by 5:15 pm every day. Thats nice because you get to have a life and not work long hours.

Cons

Pay is lower than anything you'd find on Glassdoor.com listings (they talk up their benefits package, but if you don't have a high credit score, you cannot get the best benefits, the loan discounts). Very rigid and old fashioned management style, seems more like 1970's company. Top management staff is totally invisible to employees, they never walk around and talk to people, especially the CEO. Feels like they don't care about staff. Getting expanded training opportunities is non-existent (no attending seminars, etc.). Worst is that they don't promote people or update titles, especially if you are support staff, forget about a career path. Plus, they watch everything you do-cameras everywhere. I have heard a lot of complaints from customers but also that lots and lots of customers love the company and get great service.

Advice to Senior Management

You should pay people better than you do. It would be nice to have town hall meetings with CEO, I don't understand why he never stops by to say hello or see what we are doing. At other companies, I felt like the top boss respected us, but I have heard that he never walks around the company. I wish he would-how can he know what we do if he never comes to see us directly?

Pros

Credit Union feels and treats everyone not like they are a number - but more like a person. And they care about you as a person. This goes for employees and members alike

Cons

For a $2 Billion company there is not a lot of opportunity because those that are in the higher level jobs have been with the company for a long time

Advice to Senior Management

Reward your branch managers for their hard work and accomplishments

Pros

Respectable name in the Credit Union industry
Job stability
Branches have larger staff sizes than many competitors

Cons

Most management positions are way overworked.
There is no room for a work/life balance.
Everything is manual tracking - not up to date systems
No opportunity for rewarding advancement

Advice to Senior Management

Streamline responsibility. You need to align appropriately so your management teams don't began feeling stressed.