member services representative

branch leader

mortgage loan originator

loan specialist

collection representative

Canvas-Credit-Union

I was never a fan of the chummy "we're all family here" mentality at Canvas, but I recognize that if you're someone looking for a long-term career in finance this would be an excellent place for that. They provide ample training at the newly constructed HQ, great benefits packages, and promote from within. My managers and co-workers were friendly, there's always a ton of food around the office, and for the most part things ran efficiently. If you're working there just as a joe job, like I was, then your experience may be less fantastic. I've worked as teller before, but the amount of information I had to memorize and use daily was insane. They really want their tellers to be Do-It-All Whiz-Bangs who are extroverted, always-perky salespeople and can juggle literally up to 100 members a day. The expectations are high for tellers to get sales referrals, handle an increasing amount of transactions and customer service responsibilities, keep up with numerous changes since the big branding makeover from Public Service to Canvas, and be ready for the Real Big Change when they go to an "Apple Store-like model" for all their branches.  I didn't care for the long hours and yet how they always found a way to keep me from hitting 40 hours, despite being a full time employee. There were trainings down in Lone Tree, sometimes multiple days a week, which by train is well over an hour from Denver. You did get some compensation for this, if your manager remembered to plug in the extra commute time after you personally sent them an email reminding them to do so, but that didn't make up for the many hours I spent in commute for a job that I lived 2 miles away from. I found myself working and commuting ridiculous hours, paying full price for public transit only to be informed of a discounted bus pass after asking about it for 6 weeks. The company front lines are staffed with many young people and yet the company does little to incorporate the realities of being a young person in the Denver area into the job itself. There's a company culture of going out for birthdays, monthly outings to go like paintballing or go-karting, and other special events with your branch staff. All out of pocket, of course. If the company paid for those outings, I might have been more inclined to participate, but since the cost of living is so high in Denver, I couldn't afford going out like that so often on just $14.50/hour. That may sound like an attractive wage if you're not from a large city, but it will shock you how fast your money disappears after the basics like rent and food. Also a heads-up for cannabis consumers, as they do drug test, despite cannabis being legal in Colorado. It's not a problem if you test positive for THC, but it may cause some serious delays in your start date, as it did for me, because the company they contract with is woefully behind the ball in how they handle things.

The company of many changes! I appreciate a company willing to change themselves and better themselves through member service. But usually a company wide change  about 3-4 times a month is very tiring on employees and members.  A credit union in my perspective is for the benefit of the member and recently has changed for what is best for the company.  Most of the time the understanding of making the company a better place to work was under the motto, "Together We're Better!" I applaud the fact for positive change by moving with the current century technology, and updates in making the branches modern, but many times because we are short handed doing the job for 2-3 people ruins a companies name, and burn out for employees. 

Many issues were apparent in Senior Management and how out of touch they were with the employees and members, often forgetting who got them to where they are. Changes in financial institutions are mandatory but as stated this was done so much, it caused high turn over. Members get worried when their branches have high turn over and an unstable feeling is perceived by employees.  With a company this size it is understandable that everyone's input cannot be taken into consideration, but if the employees are not behind the change don't force it. Instead realize the mistake apologize and move forward! 

Those looking to work front line in the branches this is what to expect and it only goes on to sales, inefficient practices, and no open communication. My experience with upper management is like pulling teeth, but I hope for the best if you want to work for PSCU that you get the great qualities of helping the member and member connection. Creating your own staff is also rewarding because you make connections like you never have before and in most times they become your extended family. Use your own judgement.

Description of My Time There:
My time in the Member Success department was deeply frustrating due to a complete lack of organizational structure and misleading promises made during the hiring process. You are expected to be an immediate expert across a massive spectrum of complex financial products—including IRAs, business lending, HSAs, general loans, and HELOCs—with virtually no training provided to new associates. The expectation is that you will seamlessly navigate their referral system, yet there are no proper channels or written pipelines to actually execute this. You are left entirely in the dark to figure out a disorganized process on your own.
The environment is severely worsened by the management team. Leadership operates like a standoffish clique rather than a support system, and they have a habit of issuing write-ups completely out of left field rather than providing coaching or setting clear expectations. The most alarming issue is the blatant lack of professionalism from division leadership; the manager of this division was known to yell and physically put his hands in associates’ faces when upset. It creates an incredibly hostile and unpredictable work environment.
Furthermore, the role is advertised as hybrid, but the reality is highly inflexible. Leadership intentionally misleads candidates about the onboarding timeline. I was told the initial in-person training would last two months, but it was dragged out into a mandatory, full-time, in-person requirement for four months before anyone was allowed to transition to the supposedly promised schedule of working from home two days a week.

Typical day at work:

I come in and have a list of things that have to get done.  After that list is completed than I have to do.  Than I would call everybody on a list; and let them know that they “might have fraud on their card”.  

What I have learned:
•Good use of Excel
•Extensive note taking in different CRMs
•Multi/and dual mode CRMs which affect each other; can be hard to learn.
•Extensive procedural, redundancy eventually takes over; and it’s too much to keep up with (I found)  
•Given the volume of work; mistakes are bound to happen.

Management:

•Tends to be a pretty relaxed atmosphere
• They don’t seem to have personal problems with staff; however they do tend to choose favorites (which is pretty common now a day).
• Unreasonable work load.   At one point I was told to “call everyone who has fraud on   their card”.    
•The training that I received was good in certain areas; while in other areas it seemed to be lacking certain judgements, as well as criteria.

Co-workers

• Friendly for the most part
• Very knowledgeable (they have been working there for quite some time there).
• Good atmosphere
• Everybody is able to help each other out, and I really didn’t see any animosity.

Hardest part of the job:

•Overwhelming workload (at some point the body just gives out)
•A simple job; became overwhelming. As certain requests were just unreasonable.  

The most enjoyable part of the job was actually:

•The extensive use of Excel and procedures would actually prepare me for jobs down the road.  I just didn’t know it at the time.


.

This job is very busy, sometimes dauntingly so on Mondays. I understand the team is growing and there are daily goals for us to meet in number of calls, etc.

Things I like:

- better pay than many entry-level service jobs
- generally welcoming work environment
- mostly friendly members calling in
- easy to stay busy
- get to help a wide array of clients and for different purposes

Things I don't like:

- the 80 calls/day goal. It's unrealistic, as most reps don't even hit this consistently aside from some exceptional individuals. It also severely sacrifices quality of customer service for quantity with call numbers. First call resolutions are a more solid goal to have.
- not enough onboard training. The training workers were friendly and excellent at their jobs, so this is not their fault. However, some processes like form submissions, not clicking submit for certain pages, etc are easily avoidable. Could strongly benefit from more focus and time on pushback, specifically to mitigate calls that aren't really disputes/fraud. 
- it can be hard to interact and build good connections with coworkers given the fast-paced environment. Seems supervisors and managers all have their own group even for friendly talks the rest of us are excluded from. More welcoming environment for the regular reps would be appreciated.

Otherwise, it's among my top jobs I have worked so far. 

This company, on paper, sounds great because of their benefits, pay, and work-life balance.. 
In reality, I have never felt more out of balance with a job, than I have since working here. There is no such thing as work-life balance here , the way that they make the schedules is ridiculous. I am burnt out and sick of pretending it’s just me learning to adjust. The new hire training needs significant work. I get it, it’s all about the members.. but what about the employees who you urge to take care of them?? You get scolded if you someone wants a supervisor, you get micro managed if you aren’t the top performing representative. Yes they will give you extra training to “support” you, but all it is is an invitation to continue to scold you, watch your every move, and humiliate you because you aren’t making over 10000 calls a day. You have to be programmed a specific way to enjoy this job and excel at it. The lack of my performance was due to burn out and anxiety of coming in to work everyday. I am not a bad worker but this role truly felt like a huge blow to my work ethic and self esteem, let alone my mental health. The work from home option seems ideal when you are first onboarding, but the long hours and strict requirements make it difficult and not at all comfortable to be doing work from my home. I wish I could recommend this to anyone looking for a job, but call center work is toxic!! 

For a year and a half I worked here, turn over was crazy and I worked under 4 different managers. We were severely understaffed for the entire time and the tellers were expected to do EVERYTHING. The group I was hired on with has all stayed for a year plus with no raise, when we’ve been there longer than any manager or leadership position that has come through the branch. I learned a great deal in this role because I had to but I quickly realized people who put the member first got nothing in return and those who only sold products to line their own pockets were rewarded. I was promised training to be a successful sales person from every manager— but I never got it. It eventually got to the point where I was TRAINING people who were starting with zero experience in the same position as me, making 3+ dollars more an hour than me.... this was my breaking point.

While work hours at Canvas are comparable to industry standard, there is little room to live life outside of Canvas. If emergencies happened outside of work, I was told to re-prioritize my personal life to ensure that Canvas remained the priority. Fellow co-workers were "coached out" if they provided any degree of critical feedback regarding the company. When organizational changes were made that negatively impacted member service, front line staff were blamed for not being "adaptive" or "resourceful" enough to find solutions around obstacles that the company itself had created. I witnessed senior leaders tell us that it was inappropriate to sympathize with members who had experienced tragedy because such behavior "isn't very positive." I found it to be a toxic work environment that induced unnecessary amounts of stress due to un-responsive or unsupportive management. 

•	Explain, promote and sell all products including mortgages and services to current and prospective members. 
•	Open and close all types of transaction and deposit accounts.
•	Facilitate the lending process with members, to include documentation, interviewing and closing.
•	Resolve member’s issues in a timely, consistent and professional manner.
•	Actively promote and contribute to the achievement of branch and organizational goals.
•	Develop a well-rounded knowledge of all Credit Union departments and a solid ability to know how and when to refer members to internal business partners.
•	Work on teller line as needed, handle large amounts of cash and balance cash drawer.
•	Travel without any advance notice.

Hardest part of the day was working in the different branches, because each manager had a different work ethic.

I love what I do, but the management is horrible.  It seems like the female managers have a chip on their shoulder. The Regional manager walks into the branch and doesn't even greet the employees.  One feels vicitimized.  I was written up for something really silly and was told its in the employee handbook.  I checked and there was nothing.  There's a lot of favoritism which obviously causes a hostile environment among co-workers.  You get treated like you're in high school. There's never been a problem with my production, I've always exceeded my goals. .
Some days are extremely long.  when I open at  820am, i'm expected to work until close and on a day when we have to make calls from 615 to 715 , that is almost an 11 hour day shift.  Management is allowed to change your schedule on very short notice, but when you haves  an emergency,  you are not allowed to ask because you know your request is going to be denied.  As soon as i have time to look for another job, I'm out.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Member services representative 14 salaries reported	$21.06 per hour
Branch leader 1 salary reported	$71,065 per year
Mortgage loan originator 4 salaries reported	$50,000 per year
Loan specialist 9 salaries reported	$20.67 per hour
Collection representative 6 salaries reported	$21.00 per hour

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