Columbia Banking Reviews

Pros

Company has a strong commitment to employees with low employee turnover, generous vacation/sick leave, and accessibilty to senior management. Company is well-respected in the community.

Cons

Company compensation of employees is not communicated very well. Company has had an unofficial salary freeze for most employees the last two years.

Advice to Senior Management

Company management could improve its frequency of employee reviews. Company could also perform 360 degree feedback of managers and employees along with annual reviews.

Pros

Columbia Bank provides good job stability, a conservative culture, and reasonable benefits. The company also emphasizes work/family balance and is flexible in providing time off. Since it is a bank, employees get all the bank holidays off, as well as a floating day for their birthday. Management does not micro-manage and most departmental and branch managers seem to have a pretty laid back approach. Internet and email use, while monitored, is largely unfettered. Fellow employees are mostly happy, laid-back people. The company is willing to pay for some education, as long as the employee commits to a minimum number of additional months or years at the bank.

Cons

Compensation is below market, as has been shown in a recent employee survey and in my own experience. The company is resistant to change and grows slowly; as a result, there is little opportunity for advancement. The resistance to change shows up in lots of little ways: senior management does not seek out employee input and largely ignores it when received; managers often "pass the buck" for problems not in their direct area of oversight; ineffective ways of doing things are held on to because that's the way they've always been done. Also, careerists tend to be less than ambitious, and there are more than a few lazy types spread throughout.

Advice to Senior Management

Be open to input and advice from the lower ranks. If you offer a competitive wage, you'll have better human resources -- if people are really the company's most valuable asset, then you should make that asset as valuable as possible.