member services representative

branch manager

manager

financial representative

financial advisor

Golden 1 Credit Union

This is a great entry level company if you’re new to the financial services industry or simply need to bulk up your resume while you look for the next best thing. It’s very hard to get fired from this company because they’re always so hard up for staff, and are regularly understaffed in several different departments. (Everyone is always leaving for other internal positions or they find better paying jobs outside of the company.) the supervisors and managers we do have tried their best to support the different departments, but they have no say over the workload and are unable to help us establish realistic expectations, and balance our professional and personal lives. You will regularly be stressed here, no matter the department or level you are (employee, supervisor, manager).

The level of service you have to turn out, be that managing employees, member services, and/or completing the numerous reports that are shoved on different teams are ridiculous. It’s easy to meet your KPI quotas, but it is hard to complete your work in a timely fashion, or the dates that they set. You are looking at several hours of overtime and weekend work, coming in on days you are supposed to be working remotely, etc.

The pay does not match the amount of work they put on your desk. The employees, supervisors and managers are always stressed out and constantly exiting the company. In the short tenure I have been with the company I have lost approximately four to ten colleagues to other departments or other companies. We have lost managers and several supervisors as well.

The ridiculous workload is made even worse if even one employee is out for a partial or full day or the mandatory five day vacation. We receive compliments on completing the work despite various setbacks, but the alternative is our managers being if we don’t (when it’s not their fault) and possibly being reprimanded ourselves, so the stress level is high. Regular employees are constantly training new hires instead of supervisors. New supervisors are not trained on proper duties and procedures from the ground up, so regular employees are also technically training them as well.

I have been a member with Golden 1 for years and was excited to work for what I thought was a great company, but I’m really surprised at how disorganized and stressed out almost everyone who works here is. There are very few departments and mini  teams that are not stressed out, especially if they are not working on the HQ fourth floor or above.

When I came in as a new hire, I felt extremely unwelcome and was trained via trial by fire. It was later explained to me that I came in when it was severely understaffed (it still is, and the team we have left doesn’t work well together), reports and other projects were late, among other things. And now that I’ve been here for awhile I see that the way new hires are “trained” is awful. I, and several other new hires most likely would’ve been fired if not for the fact that Golden 1 has a very slow hiring process, and has a hard time finding people in the first place to fill empty positions. The probationary period is approximately 90 days, but it will take much longer for you to be trained on basic stuff because your other colleagues are so busy with their own work and it’s not the supervisor’s job to teach you at G1. (The first company I’ve worked for where that’s the case.) The level of duties builds and builds each month; there is always something new, something massive, and some thing due on virtually short notice (in proportion to the amount of work each project requires).  You and the rest of the team may get extensions, but considering you have 1 million other reports due  as well those extensions do not mean much. You will always be stressed out here.

So, like I said, if you’re just trying to get your foot in the door with financial services, have experience, but need resume padding, or are that hard up for a job, go ahead and work here. Otherwise run in the other direction.

The training wasn’t the best. We trained on systems and took some time to understand only to switch to a brand new system months later. Constantly updating or changing systems and always experiencing delays systems down and never work it’s such a headache for employees and MEMBERS. If you have no banking experience you will definitely learn an overload of things. Just have in mind that there’s systems for every little thing and so much multitasking involved. There is a “support team” to “help” the employees with questions while having the member on phone. Depending on the persons mood or who you get on the other line can either get you so much help or no help at all or give so much attitude. It is a lot of information to retain and each call is different. I always felt so rushed to get a member off the phone because of the “average handle time” you have to worry about. Another thing is that you can easily get a write up here because of attendance, performances, or not reading scripts and many other factors. I’ve never been written up in any job but this job was the first one to write me up for calling in sick due to having a medical procedure done and not having sick hours left. I was told “they don’t accept doctor notes” I realized they could care less if I died. You just get treated like a robot here. 

Older members need help and not everyone is tech savvy it’s difficult explaining things over the phone. Everyday I learned something new. Company expects you to meet goals it can be very challenging. It’s very stressful being on the phone back to back nonstop especially on extremely busy days. The pay isn’t fair for what employees do and there is no bilingual pay either. It’s that’s not fair for reps that speak more than one language because it can be very difficult explaining banking terms or troubleshooting in Spanish. If you are bilingual you are expected to work past closing time while everyone else can clock off because there may be calls on hold in the queue that’s only Spanish speaking. I should’ve lied and said I didn’t speak Spanish to save me some stress and daily inconveniences. Supervisors I worked with were great no complaints on them. The issue is upper management and company as a whole. I use to like working here until things really went downhill with system issues, mandatory OT, hundreds of calls a day, being stuck on an ugly schedule which btw is impossible to change. Requesting time off was so hard!!! Even if you put it months in advance there is a chance someone else got it before you. You have to bid for a schedule change and it’s only done based on top performance. You will have no life or work balance here because you will do all the work stuck on that phone for hours feeling like a robot and not a human being. With time, I built high stress and had no patience left in me. It’s sad to say that I was happy here only for it to turn into me hating this place and job so much. NEVER AGAIN. 

Work-life balance
Work-life balance at Golden 1 Credit Union is okay hard to get time off at times.  Also base schedules off of performance not tenure.

Pay & benefits
My pay and benefits at Golden 1 Credit Union are okay, benefits are great however pay increases are not provided for everyone when pay structures change.  If you are tenured and make over a certain amount you do not get an increase like the rest of the staff making all your hard earned raises worth nothing.  What you’ve worked hard for others get for free.  Very unfair.

Job security and advancement
In terms of job security at Golden 1 Credit Union, I think there is none.  In recent months several employees are being written up without any verbal or written warning.  These changes haven’t been discussed with employees and it is evident that they are putting people on these write ups to avoid giving them increases in pay, annual bonuses, and other perks.  I no longer feel that my job is safe.  It looks as if Golden 1’s new culture is to get rid of tenured employees and bring in new people at a lower pay rate.  Advancement is no longer easy at Golden 1, knowledge and experience means nothing anymore.  It is all about who you know not about your competence and skill.

Management
In general, managers at Golden 1 Credit Union are terrible.  In empathetic and stern.  Same goes for HR. They do not care about their employees.

Culture
Collaboration with my colleagues at Golden 1 Credit Union is great.  I work with a great group of people.

Overall
My experience working at Golden 1 Credit Union has been rough and tumultuous.  I used to love working for Golden 1 and felt valued as an employee until the change of CEO.  Now employees are put on the back burner while growth and advertising is their main focus.  Members and employees alike are not treated with the same appreciation and respect.

When I first worked here, I thought I liked it, and I stayed mainly for the members. The members were the most meaningful part of the job and the only reason I remained as long as I did. The company does offer decent benefits, holidays off, and occasionally you can get a needed day off if you’re lucky, which are some of the few positives.

A typical day at Sunrise, however, was frustrating and unproductive. The branch manager often spent time on her phone gossiping instead of supporting staff. When questions came up, we were frequently told to call branch support or ask the ABM rather than receiving guidance directly. This made it difficult to learn or feel confident in the role.

What I learned from this job had little to do with professional growth and more to do with navigating a toxic work environment. Management, particularly at the branch level, was manipulative and dishonest. The branch manager presented herself as caring, but her actions showed otherwise. She frequently talked about members and coworkers behind their backs, lied directly to employees, and created unnecessary drama.

The workplace culture was extremely negative and emotionally draining. Gossip was constant, including gossip between branch managers, and it created an atmosphere of distrust and tension. Rather than feeling supported, employees were made to feel belittled and talked down to.

The hardest part of the job was dealing with management and the toxic environment on a daily basis. There was little accountability, poor communication, and no sense of genuine leadership.

The most enjoyable part of the job was interacting with the members—and honestly, going home at the end of the day. Aside from the benefits and golden points, there was very little that made this job worthwhile.

This is a really unique position and extremely part time so I'll say up front that it's not for someone who's looking for an every day/9-5 sort of thing. But if you're looking for a little extra cash on the side from time to time, plus the potential for some wild experiences, this is the place for you.

Show days are long. Expect to be working 14-16 hours typically. But for me, it doesn't feel that long. There's often a lot of downtime, but it really depends on what is needed that day. Some days you'll drive 200+ miles, other days you might just be on standby in your van the whole day. You are at the disposal of the tour for whatever they might need.

Management is amazing. There's been a bit of turnover in my time here, but everyone has always been so kind and helpful and supportive and, most of all, they don't breathe down your neck. They introduce you to your contact in the morning, check in once or twice throughout the day, and as long as you're doing alright, they let you do your thing. I really appreciate that kind of trust in the workplace.

The strengths you'll need here are time management, an ability to deal with anyone (often times you'll be paired with a tour manager who may have been on the road for a while, may not have slept, possibly a little grumpy), and an acute ability to problem solve on the fly. And attention to detail. Sometimes there are VERY specific requests and substitutions absolutely will not do and sometimes that turns into a wild time, but as long as you're committed to doing the job right, you'll do amazing.

Work is challenging but in a good way because we deal with fraud and dispute claims, our duty is to do the right thing and to save the company money by paying out legitimate fraud and dispute claims and not paying the claims in which our own members are trying to defraud our company. In my current role I have learned many investigative techniques to determine whether claims are legitimate or not. Our management team does a great job of encouraging and guiding us into being the best card investigations specialists possible. The workplace culture is great as we all work together as a team to provide a resolution as quickly and efficient as possible for members dealing with the stressful situation of having a fraud or dispute claim on their accounts. The hardest part of the job is being able to prove when some of our members are trying to defraud us by filing false claims because in some cases we are dealing with seasoned fraud operations that do it as a profession and are quite good at it but at the same time I love the challenge of it. The most enjoyable part of my job is when I get recognition from management and from my colleagues for meeting and exceeding my job expectations.

I call it a Bank, because unfortunately for me right upon the start of my employment, the new CEO decide that Golden 1 would gain so much more by acting and applying the sales aspect of the big Banks like BOFA and WF. Sadly for many us tellers, this was a hard adjustment. The reason people love credit unions is for the sole reason that although we have the products available for them to use, we don't hassle them like used car salesmen. Also, sadly the idea of hiring outside formal Bank Managers instead of advancing a qualified Credit Union employee did not make for a great work environment. I loved my co-workers and my members however, and I looked forward to coming to work everyday to say hi to all my favorites. I enjoyed learning about the financial world, laws and regulations. Also how to actually proper bank with your money! The best days where the ones were I came into work, the steady pace of members made the day go by swift, and I balance that night with 100% accuracy, balanced the vault and branch, and said good-night.

During a typical day at work I service roughly 200 customers with standard banking transactions (deposits, withdrawals, loan payments, transfers and cash advances). I also process wire transfers and IRA transactions, open new accounts and audit paperwork. Each day I must also balance my cash and my checks as well as the branch vault, all employee checks, cashier's checks, cash advances and visa gift cards.

I have worked with wonderful people and developed many strong friendships throughout my eight year career at Golden 1. I have also been blessed with positive and supportive managers.

I would say the hardest part of my job is when a customer is dealing with troubling financial situations that I am not able to help them with (people who have government levies on their accounts or have lost their jobs). The most enjoyable part of my job is being able to help a customer with a financial problem (account fraud, check theft, card theft, etc.). Many of these customers are worried and frantic when they enter the bank and I truly enjoy being able to calm them down and talk them through the process of fixing their situation. I also enjoy training new employees.

The climate of "Stronger Together" exists but it is mostly found among peers and first-level leaders. The motto starts to break down when you get to VP and above. The better leaders often fear making decisions without CEO approval. This weakens innovation, credibility, confidence, trust, and more.  Many employees don't feel trusted as even the smallest mistakes must find someone to blame. An emphasis is needed to develop mature and modern leaders, and allow them to challenge the status quo - at ALL levels. The CEO either doesn't get it or doesn't want to know. Engagement surveys are useless. They don't ask the right questions and many employees are not fully truthful in order to avoid the attention. Stop blaming the great resignation. Most employees leave because of management. The only thing that seems to change at Golden 1 are the excuses. These problems aren't new and existed long before COVID. It is really very sad because there are some wonderful people who work there. 

It’s a great place to work if you’re looking for a stepping stone into financial. There is a lot of room for opportunities and they provide a lot of scholarships for school. Managers and leads are very encouraging on obtaining a degree.

At first it was amazing, fun and interesting because I got to build myself in the process. Once I got acquainted with the position everything changed. There’s a staffing problem working in the branch. A lot of the time you’re working alone dealing with hundreds to thousands of member. Many time I find myself alone on the teller line or on the platform alone. Everyone is always on vacation, leaving early or always on breaks. 

They are really pushy for sales even though they preach the “not a sales person.” Which are credit cards, personal loan, etc.

Don’t take shortcuts, shortcuts will always lead to a write up. The institution wants fast and accurate transaction. So follow the rules and you’ll do amazing. Always review your work.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Member services representative 10 salaries reported	$21.32 per hour
Branch manager 3 salaries reported	$81,667 per year
Manager 3 salaries reported	$102,333 per year
Financial representative 1 salary reported	$20.01 per hour
Financial advisor 1 salary reported	$75,171 per year

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