Pros
Addition Financial offers some of the best benefits in the industry. The premiums are affordable and the coverage is excellent when compared to other employers. The vast majority of coworkers are awesome people. There's a great sense of teamwork and camaraderie at this company. Most everyone wants to see their peers succeed and are there to support one another as a friend AND as a coworker. Paid time off accrual (vacation and sick time) is a little more generous than other companies. 401(K) employer contribution is also excellent at 5%, regardless of what you put into the plan.
Cons
Unfortunately, there are more cons to working for this company than there are pros. I'll list out those that I would give the most weight for those thinking of working here. For starters, the compensation package and annual "raises" if you can call them that are abysmal. Annual raises are basically a cost of living adjustment. I have had numerous offers to work for bigger/better companies at nearly 20-30% more than my current salary. However, I remain with Addition Financial due to other circumstances in my life that prevent me from leaving at this time. Second, the systems you will be required to use here are OLD OLD OLD! Get ready to go back the 1990's in terms of technology. None of the systems integrate with one another well and break down constantly. This leads to extreme inefficiency. The only time anything gets upgraded is if business will cease without doing so. That's practically it. No matter how much you need or want an upgrade you will always be given the BS excuse of "no room in the budget." Yet, there is always room in the budget for wasteful expenditures (IE: hiring a company to dust the plant leaves in the lobbies). Next, you have an arrogant, rude and "holier than thou" Executive management team that is not up to speed with the times. Never in my life have a worked for a company that has such incompetent leadership. There is a disjoint in strategic objectives and vision from one Executive to another. When you push the boundaries or challenge their vision it is not uncommon to be berated and belittled. To that same extent, you will be asked for input and to complete proposals/projects. When it's time to present said project/proposal get ready for it to be thrown out the window without regard to the time, effort or intellect required to complete it. The mentality is that "I'm right, you're wrong" for virtually every scenario. There's only one possible solution at AFCU....that of the Executive(s) you are dealing with. Sadly, this attitude trickles down to upper management and middle management. On that same note, It is not uncommon for department VP's and/or managers to micromanage you to death. For example, some departments require employees to verbally announce bathroom and water fountain breaks. These are not positions that are public-facing, and generally require college education. We are not in preschool here, so I expect to be treated like a college educated adult. If an employee abuses the system, they should be dealt with individually. Work is also highly scrutinized by your immediate management for no reason other than to be nit-picky. There is a difference between constructive criticism and just criticism. AFCU management favors the latter. Furthermore, project management at this company is non-existent, despite having a Project Management Department. The merger of AFCU and Fidelity Bank of Florida was a total cluster fudge and is an ongoing disaster that never seems to end. The same goes for ALL major enterprise projects. No vision. No strategic management. No planning. All of the above leads to sloppy execution with tons of errors and mistakes. The company claims to "pride itself" on an "agile culture" but it is anything but that. Finally, staffing and turnover is a very large issue. The Executive team claims we are "overstaffed," so people are working harder and harder because of the vacancies when others leave. This leads to terrible work-life balance. It is not uncommon for salaried employees to work 60, 70, 80 or more hours in a week. As a side note, the furniture is hideously uncomfortable. The chairs at the corporate office feel like they are eventually going to give me scoliosis. At least 80% of our chairs are broken or have no seat padding left in them. This is not healthy when you have to sit for 8+ hours a day. I personally am at wits end and am ready to leave at the first opportunity. I hope this advice is useful for those thinking of applying to AFCU.
