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.