financial advisor

member services representative

branch manager

member experience specialist

customer service representative

Connect First Credit Union

I totally believe in the corporate values of Servus Credit Union and the services it provides both to its Members and the Community. This was why I mainly chose Servus as an employer. However the internal management structure and career growth is something to be desired. 

Don't work in anything QA/IT related as turnover is high, management is constantly changing and the people who have been there for a long time will be barriers to your career progression as I felt they were always trying to set me up for failure or do not like when new people have more potential than they do. It really felt like high school trying to compete with co-workers all the time. Shouldn’t an organization promote co-operative and group work in being effective and efficient? This was mainly why I could not progress further in this organization.

Furthermore, HR will not support any career development and/or their "steps" and policies to move up in salary grade is quite laughable. I constantly had to follow-up with HR and management regarding my progression. After more than a year, I had finally moved up a step which was a minimal increase to what I was making. Don’t get me wrong, I consistently overachieved in my role receiving awards as well as other recognitions. However, these rarely contribute to moving up in the company and an increase in salary. 

Similarly, the bonus structure is also something to be desired. The difference between an overachiever employee versus an employee that doesn’t do much work is only merely a few hundred bucks. So then you ask yourself, is it really worth it to give 110% or just do sufficient work? Remember, any bonus is taxed at a marginal tax rate over and above your salary so that few hundred bucks becomes significantly lower when given out. The effort to reward ratio is probably 4:1. In comparison, my current employment (which is no longer at Servus), I have already moved up 2 salary grades within a year as my work is being recognized and being rewarded accordingly. They are now willing to invest in further in my education and training. Something that NEVER occurred at Servus .

Don’t get me wrong, I have met some amazing people while working there and not all areas are like this. Branch staff are super nice and friendly, other operational areas in SCC are incredibly well run and managed.  Brilliant people do exist there however in the area I worked, it seems like it was more of an interim/transitional place once the shortfalls were realized as well as to gain experience before people had leaped forward to another employer. 

If you do decide to do anything IT related there, my advice is to do your research and look at industry standards in terms of education/wage and use it to bargain hard.  Ensure that you clearly define your expectations both short and long term. Then when things go sour, you have this all documented, signed and can hold the organization to those plans (assuming you have met the company’s expectations of yourself).

Good luck, perhaps you’ll have better luck than I have had.

Note: You actually get good rates being an employee (ie. loans, reduced services fees, mortgage) however with low rates now, it really isn't much of a savings.

Servus is an interesting mix of good to work for and awful to work for. I left on good terms when I needed to move for family reasons and I met and worked with some truly incredible people on the ground level. I wouldn't work there again but I'm also glad I did.
The pay, benefits and vacation are really good; they offer lots of continuing education as well. Training can be comprehensive depending on your role, but there are A LOT of gaps. You're also rarely given the time to complete mandatory training because it seems like they're always short-staffed.
This leads to my next point; staffing is a regular battle between intense workloads and upper management constantly cracking down on FTE/cutting hours while simultaneously harping on sales numbers and output. 
Because they are a credit union/cooperative they still really double down on being "small, community based and member focused" but they are 100% growth focused. Obviously that's the nature of business, but in this case it leads to this toxic positivity environment where it feels like they are trying to maintain this grassroots wholesome service image but other than profit shares and deposit guarantee they're ostensibly just a bank, it feels very "drink the kool-aid."
There is sort of good growth potential but they have a habit of having you make a career plan but then axing the positions you were working towards. 
There is also a very "us vs them" mentality between departments which can make communication very difficult. 
Between all of the above and a massive layoff this summer it has left a lot of people struggling to manage their workloads and maintain good morale, because of this the more experienced staff who are still there don't have a lot of capacity to help onboard new hires, so it can leave staff to have to fend for themselves, this struggle leads to slower learning which means the veteran staff have the most complex files dumped on them.
All in all, it can be a good place to gain experience and network but the environment will probably get to you in the end.

Servus provides great training @ time of hire and throughout career advancement and changes. The environment and culture is unlike typical banks and while there are competitive and somewhat aggressive sales targets to achieve, the main goal and focus is to improve the overall financial well-being of our membership. 
Typical day is having 3-5 booked (or walk-in) appointments with members for various needs such as loans and mortgages,  investments and retirement planning, new accounts, estates, etc.  Servus does all underwriting and most approvals in-branch and FAs even have their own lending limits in which they can approve deals without a higher-ups review. FAs also wear many hats and are required to be knowledgeable in many different subject matters compared to other banks. Management style of course changes from branch to branch and manager to manager but overall thr processes in place are fairly uniform and expectations are made clear.  Excellent benefits including staff discounted lending rates,  free banking , access to free advice for estate and tax planning, health spending account, 3 weeks paid vacation starting and up to 6 weeks paid after reaching milestone of 15 years of employment.  Decent salary,  paid sick time and emergency days, paid flex days, extended health and dental with 4 different levels of coverage to choose from, RRSP / pension matching starting @ 5% of salary 
(10% combined)  increasing every 5 years of employment by 1%. 
Beat part of the job is helping others achieve their goals  -  buying first car, home, or dream home, planning for and achieving retirement goals, helping them through tough times and making a true difference in their lives. Worst parts include stress- caused by workload,  meeting sales targets,  unrealistic expectations from some of the clients , and definitely the technology ( or lack thereof)
As a long time employee it would take a lot for me to consider leaving the company to go elsewhere.  


A typical day would start with, not knowing if everyone would be showing up for work that day, both employees and managers.  Would we be short staffed that day?  Would both Managers be in branch or working from home?  You must also be very careful of what you say and whom you say things too.  The Toxic environment of not knowing what each coworkers moods would be that day, the tensions and coworkers anxieties would set the tone for the work day.  Morale was very low and Managers did nothing to work on that.  Support from Managers or Head office during the past 2 years of COVID and the System Conversion was seriously lacking.  Be cautious of your Kronos time cards.  You are expected to complete your regular daily tasks, even if it goes past your Kronos schedule and you note that time out for the day.  Your Manager will edit/remove any Overtime and "Mgr Approve" your timecard to reflect that.  You do not have another opportunity to re-approve your timecard.  You also must be willing to accept verbal abuse and angry Membership, without Manager support.  The hardest part of this role was the fact that we had to teach ourselves the new system.  And since COVID there was no in classroom training which is difficult for many.  Finally, if this is a stepping stone job, you will be fine, build your resume and move on.  But, as a long term career, I would not recommend, after feeling like the head office was not interested in retaining and encouraging long term employees with mass lay offs of two departments, mid 2021.  This has the appearance of bringing in lower level, salary employees that say "YES" to everything they dictate is the way of the Company.  This Company no longer felt anything like a Credit Union, but, a regular Bank.  The bottom line is all that mattered, especially not the Employees who can make or break any Employer.

Oh my god. Don't get me started! 

The hiring process is a joke. They have someone in mind already, doing the interview with the two managers but its just for show. If you have a good relationship with the management, lucky you! you will get a faster route for the career even though you are new to the company or have no prior banking experience. It might be common in the workplace, guess what! Servus Credit Union is no better than any other organizations that I have ever worked with. Playing politics' even WORSE than Big 5 banks. Such a smaller close-minded corporate culture, no team work or whatsoever. 

Getting sales pressure for sure. You need to keep track of sales and calls on the EXCEL SHEETS. Servus is using outdated computer system (probably 1990s or early 2000 if I am being generous) and getting lots of complaints about online banking from the clients/members. It is hard to 'sell' due to the lack of brand recognition, incomparable products and services in the market.

I don't want to discourage people who are thinking of applying for a position at Servus... please...don't. I am so sorry to tell you that it is "SSDP". If I knew Servus Credit Union is worse than the Big 5... I would have stayed with old job (I eventually re-hired and went back to the old job/position. Learned how I appreciated what I had before)

The career switch was not as amazing as I hoped. My time with Servus Credit Union was about struggles and frustrations with the outdated systems and lending department. The management had no idea how to support their employees because of lack of competency. See what happens when politics wins. Incompetency is the bonus and coming along with the politics.
 
Wish this helps!

What is the best part of working at the company?
The benefits and  co workers, working from home is a perk sometimes!

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Everything, they expect us to be robots and are shifting from being member focused to automated sales robots asking for a sale on every call, strict call monitoring, big expectations between acw and taking the next call, max is 3 minutes but we have to do all the admin work. Too scripted, if we don’t say certain things on a call we get mark dinged. It’s so automated, high pressure sales and crazy hard to attain stats, weekly coaching with supervisors, you are tied to a headset and have to log every reason why you step away from your desk. The treatment is inhumane.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Huge culture shift all sales based, so high pressure in sales, heavily coached. No work life balance, always asking people to work extra hours because the turn over rate is so bad and the call volume is so high you never get a break. Zero work life balance especially with children, and so hard to get out of the contact center.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Logging in right on time if you don’t you get asked why. An start taking calls that don’t pertain to us, we are supposed to sell but all of our calls are people wanting a branch employee, people locked out of their online banking, or yelling at us over a technical issue. Then stressed over your stats, taking your break on time, and saying the right things on the call. 50 calls on hold and there is no breaks in between.

Servus is an impressive company with an impressive history that started falling behind a few years ago. I think that the new management has the correct vision and they are steering the best Credit Union in Alberta to be the best Credit Union in Canada. 

Servus is different from other financial institutions and banks, employees are accountable to the members, not shareholders in Toronto and around the world. We're accountable to members in the community. And You. You, if you're a member that is. Being a member is a big step, you have to be accountable, care about our vision and your community. Members get a profit share every year based on what products they have. More products, bigger share. When you're booking the appointment tell them to book with with an employee that can tell you all of the Pros. Bring at least $1, ID and your SIN.

When I first started at Servus, I talked to my new coworkers, there was a consensus. Servus is the best place to work but the technology is frustrating. You need to have patience to work here, but I think everyone needs patience, it's a good tool to have in your toolbelt for whatever you do in life. If the worst thing about Servus is needing to be patient, they are doing a pretty good job.

I feel so blessed to have found a new career and new home with the Servus CU family.  Changing careers  completely in mid life was a challenge in itself but finding a position with Servus helped me transition successfully.  I took a chance on a temporary  12 month contract with Servus with no guarantee of a position after the contract.  That was 10 years ago!  Things happen here for those who work hard and believe in Servus.  The opportunities for advancement are unlimited if your life permits a move.  If not, there are ways to keep your career a challenge especially when you come to work with one thing in mind; serving members and sharing your knowledge about financial fitness.  In the end we all want to be financial fit and be able to retire the way we had envisioned.  

My typical day at work is supporting and guiding our employees with everything HR.  There are times when my days are filled with different emotions as we work through situations but I work with a fantastic team who give me the support I need to forge ahead.

Servus supports me in my love for life long learning both financially and time away to complete my CPHR (Chartered Professionals in Human Resource) designation.  I am enrolled in Servus' Foundation Leadership Program which is a collaborate and blended 2 year program for all leaders at Servus, I attend various conferences and courses throughout each year and bring back all my learning to the teams I work with.

Servus isn't perfect but its super close if you are looking for a company that cares about people.

I work here because I have to, not because I want to. When I started with Servus in 2015, it had a very "small business" feel. Despite being one of the largest credit unions in Alberta, there was a really great culture and you felt good going to work. Our new CEO has stripped away this entire culture. You can see this in our past reviews, which used to be much more positive. However, we are now just another one of the big banks; profits and growth are the only focus. After laying off approximately one tenth of our workforce, we have been struggling as employees to stay afloat. We are very overworked and not compenstated nearly well enough for the work we do. In addition, our pay does not consider the inflation in this country, and a lot of the staff works two or three jobs to try and make ends meet. Sales targets are very high and the stress to meet your targets is not good for mental health. The favoritism and workplace politics are also a nightmare. If you don't have the "connections" you will not be considered for an advancement. Please consider your mental health before you decide to work here. 
Unfortunately, like many, my financial situation at present means I cannot leave this job. But trust me, I am looking for the door. 
To end on a positive note, staff do get good financial benefits. While the salary isn't great, you do get reduced interest rates and fees on your banking products and services. And the health insurance benefits are also very good. 
In my situation, the pros do not outweigh the cons. But at this point, a paycheck is a paycheck. 

the Culture of the company is good, but managers ruined it. if you have a gossip skills that will make you close to the managers and you will get promoted within no time. hard and seniors staff have no chance in this company, they let you go just from  a word of a mouth, no investigation or action taken. HR is useless and lazy. The more job you do outside of your roles the less chance you'ill get recognized for a higher position, favoritism has been highly practiced from managers and even DSL. The branch that I worked at the managers there are very hard working on their cell phones and listening to music on you-tube. I don't know how they hire branch managers and based on what but the BM and ABM at that locations are clueless and  unsupported. They gossip more than regular staff. Seven people left that location between ( let go, resigning, switching to other location, and or joined other FI) within a year period,  when you see so much turnover in a place that's mean its not the company or the staff it means the bad managements. Its too bad to work under unsecured  managers, they are not going to focus on the job but they will focus on any gossip to against you!   
As a former and good employee CFCU should focus on managers and ABM  because they're useless.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
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Member experience specialist 7 salaries reported	$39,571 per year
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