Pros
TLDR: For individuals who may be starting in a new field or are lacking experience, Addition Financial is a good professional setting to build your resume. If you are a student or branch staff looking to break into the ‘corporate’ side of things, this is also a good place for you. If you are mid-career/late-career or are highly skilled/experienced, this is probably not the place for you. The compensation and work environment leave a lot to be desired for more seasoned professionals. Compensation & Benefits: - Low healthcare premiums. - Automatic 5% Company contribution to 401k. Work Performed: - The job duties performed were true and accurate to what was advertised on the position. Company Culture and Work Life: - In general, the employees at the credit union are pleasant to work with and there is a spirit of general comradery. - The credit union provides opportunities to attend events at Addition Financial sponsored venues, this is generally done via raffles. - Opportunities for participating in community events and volunteering are available and promoted. - Addition Financial fills positions internally quite often. Branch staff would often make the jump to entry level roles in the operations center. - The building is in a nice area of Lake Mary with ample eating options. Management: - None.
Cons
Compensation & Benefits: - Average to below average compensation package. If you search around, you will notice Addition Financial has one of the lowest compensation packages for Credit Unions in Florida. - Cannot begin contributing to 401k until 6 months of employment. - Company contributions to 401k have a vesting schedule. - Unclear yearly raise structure. Raises are supposedly based off performance, but there is no clear path to achieve a higher raise. During my time here, no one I knew received a raise that would cover inflation. Work Performed: - The systems utilized and the procedures in place were often old, unintuitive, and inflexible. - The job duties became repetitive quickly and any attempts at improving the workflow was sidelined by poor management advocacy. Be prepared to hear about projects for process improvement that have been years in the making and are not out of the planning phase. - The department and team you work for is incredibly important to the experience you have at the credit union, and by extension it will determine if you perform meaningful and challenging work. It is noted that departments under the technology umbrella seem to have particularly poor internal satisfaction and talent retention. Company Culture and Work Life: - Adequate Staffing is a constant issue, be prepared to be a backup to 2 or 3 other positions within your team. The branches and contact center are constantly understaffed. - Since the credit union does not really offer competitive wages for top talent, you will experience a distinct lack of experience and expertise in some fields. This can mostly be seen in fields with high rates of internal promotion from the branches. - You will see high performers leave constantly. - Work from home is very conditional and not a permanent policy. You will be required to go into the office a minimum of one day a week. It was made very clear by the CEO that work from home was not the norm, and that the preference of the C-suite was that all individuals work from the office. - If you work from home, you will be provided with a single laptop and a mouse. No other equipment, and no stipend to purchase items like monitors, keyboards, docks, etc. - Depending on your position and department, you may be an hourly employee. This may be a big adjustment, as at least in my department there was very little flexibility in the working hours. This was not the case for multiple other departments, many of which performed equivalent work to us, but were salaried and could come and go within reason. - Depending on the team and department you may have to deal with questionable policies. Our department had a rule that you had to announce to another co-worker that you were going to the bathroom. We were not a member facing department. - You may be required to work Saturdays if your team supports the branches or contact center staff directly, even if your role falls outside of that support scope. Management: - Management is probably the biggest issue at Addition Financial. From the C-suite to middle managers, the way this credit union manages its employees leaves a lot to be desired. - We had a member of the C-suite personally come down from their office and address our whole department. They told us that COVID-19 was just a chest cold and nothing to worry about, this was at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. - When we were sent to work from home because of COVID the member of the C-suite that oversaw our department instituted a check in system. We had to email our manager every two hours with what work we completed in the past two hours. This info was then sent to the C-suite as a report. This occurred for nearly a year. - Our working hours were suddenly changed during the pandemic to better support the branch staff. We were tasked with working Saturdays on a rotating schedule. The policy was held in place even after the branches resumed normal operating hours.
