teller

member services representative

personal banker

senior teller

branch manager

Lake Michigan Credit Union

What is the best part of working at the company?
The best part was that everyone understood the importance of working as a team and work together well. Even on stressful days you’re workmates will be there for you readily assist you with whatever you need and in a pretty quick manner. I loved being able to interact with people from different races, backgrounds and languages, and give them the best customer service as they may not have been from the states or may not have had English as their first language. To see how kindness transcended those barriers really put a smile on my face and theirs!

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
I worked at the second busiest branch in the district so it  could get very hectic very fast being there the longest a lot of the responsibility fell on me to get members in and out of the door faster since there were a lot of newcomers that needed to develop their skill I’ll be finished and see along with working in a fast pace. Sometimes members were irate with you over issues that you did not personally create but handling it in a mild manner help to diffuse things and help the customer to leave in a better frame of mine and state.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
They are very helpful and willing to work with you as best as they could. Very friendly professional, and pretty easy to get along with since the culture promoted was very open and inclusive with various different people.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Very busy. Often times people would be waiting in line outside of the door and in the drive-through well before we opened this was almost a daily occurrence, but especially on payday and on the third. Because I was the longest eye often I had customers of my own, but also assisted other tellers to help them complete their tasks as best as I could and assist them in order to keep the light moving and flowing so as to help each member appropriately and in a timely manner. For the most part, we got out on time the only time we did not cash drawers didn’t balance  but the day went by pretty  fast because it’s always so busy.

A typical day depends on where you are at.  Some branches are busy with lines out the door all day, others are slow.  Most of the people there are decent.  Most people get along on the retail side of things.  If you have a good attitude and enjoy the company of others, you should be able to succeed here.

There is a lot to learn when entering into a financial services job so prepare to feel a bit overwhelmed if you are new to it but you typically will get a lot of support here which is nice.  Most start as a teller and become the face of LMCU right from the start.  There is so much you need to know as a teller.  Every position builds upon the others and for most it takes years to have a strong working knowledge of all of the branch services.

There are early meetings every Friday.  Most of the entry level retail jobs are part time M,W,F or Tu,Th,F with rotating Saturdays.  The hours are predictable.  Sometimes you might have to go help a different branch though, and its not always close. 

Hardest part of the job is sometimes getting upset or challenging members.  Float tellers also have to go to different branches every day which can be hard to balance with home life (travel).  The most enjoyable part is the comradery with teammates and helping members find solutions/benefits.

Benefits seem ok to me for full time employees.  Based on what else is out there for similar roles, the pay could be better, but there's definitely other financial places that don't pay as well.

LMCU’s virtual footprint has since fast-tracked to the point where it can now match almost any brick-and-mortar branch, task for task.
There’s only one way this bus travels – forward. As a corporation, LMCU has committed itself to being an early adopter of digital technology. Our leading edge position puts us squarely up against major national competitors. LMCU’s steady upward growth has enabled us to invest in the digital technologies that will shape the financial industry for the foreseeable future. We aren’t scrambling to keep up. We’re leading the way.

“Our goal is to make sure that technology continues to drive new memberships, and retain and grow existing relationships. By studying the market and our competitors, we look to develop and implement systems that will keep LMCU growing.”
 “Our big initiative in 2014 was realization of our “virtual branch” concept – that members would be able fulfill all of their banking needs without ever setting foot in a brick-and-mortar branch. Branded LMCU Anywhere, this capability includes integration with mobile platforms for lending and account opening. No computer needed. Just a smartphone with our mobile app. Early returns have been very promising. In 2014, we fielded over 650 account applications and over 5,700 lending applications through our mobile architecture alone. Over $6 million in loans were underwritten to new members in 28 different states.”

The management team and your associates are very friendly. They try to make you feel valued. 

However, they are very strict about attendance… If you’re late or need to use your sick time, you do get punished meaning no bonus, no employee of the month, etc. Which can be very stressful when the pay isn’t that great.

Which comes to the pay… It starts out decent. But you don’t even get an inflation increase. They give you the small raise every year (very, very minimal) and expect you to be happy. It should be an automatic inflation increase plus a raise. Even if you work your butt off, they think you’re just meeting expectations and give you a small amount for the year with little chance of getting more and send you on your way.

They are super strict with their call monitors (where they listen to and grade your calls). One small screw up and it looks terrible on you. The whole team will see your scores, your metrics, and everything so it’s definitely embarrassing if you have one bad month.

Last and honestly the most important, they make constant changes to everything and they do not care about your opinion about the changes at all. If you’re upset, they try and get you to talk to them for them to tell you basically that “it is what it is.” You definitely will feel like the low person on the totem pole here. 

Standard 9-5 banking type job with room to move around in the company. I started as a teller, to msr, to a corporate position. Retail has significant less flexibility with scheduling and remote options. Working in corporate many people had a variety of shifts to fit their needs but that depends on management. It felt like there was a barrier to move from branch to corporate and i’d heard some managers say they don’t like to hire from branches even though it’s internal. Remote work is not offered fairly between departments as some had been working fully remote since 2020 and other departments are just now allowed on a hybrid schedule. Managers at lmcu are usually promoted based off knowing someone else and not on their performance or ability to manage people both in branches and corporate. They did do some pay increases but at least in the role I was in, it was still so low. Lmcu is consistently growing and making more in assets yet won’t give their employees a living wage. Additionally, promotions can get dangled for employees so that they’ll take on extra work without the extra pay, just be careful. 

This credit union is the worst one I have worked for in my several years of working in credit unions.   This company is very disorganized and does not care about employees, they only care about money.  They let abusive members continue to verbally abuse their employees without doing anything.  Training is a joke, and management will play favorites.  If you are part of the favorites list, you can work tons of overtime and take excessive breaks,work from home if you'd like.  If you aren't part of that list, you will be ignored and not approved to work from home.  This is the first place I have worked where management will literally walk by you and not even make eye contact. Corporate management really has a special type of arrogance, they honestly think that this is a good company for people to work for, despite the constant turnover and chronically stressed out employees.  They have been hosting job fairs because they cannot keep people around.  Beware to anyone thinking of working here, your talents will be better utilized and respected elsewhere.

Most of the departments are great to work in. Retail, Mortgage, IS and others, are all incredibly well run with room for advancement and compensation. The company provides lackluster compensation in the hopes that the company culture and other benefits will make up for it. LMCU offers a pension plan as well as different 401k options which are hard to find, but the compensation is typically well below the area average. 

That being said, there is a devastating problem with the "silo" effect in that communication between departments is virtually non-existant. Also most of the managers, including my own, were woefully under-qualified for their position, simply earning it because they were there long enough. 

I recommend working at LMCU as the culture is pretty strong, but be wary of the upper management... some can be very petty and childish (Mortgage, Finance, IS, and Retail all have great leaders; the others...) LMCU is very conservative both to its advantage and detriment, do not expect to earn much more than your hiring salary.

The pay, depending on the position, can range from okay too horrible. The turnover in most positions is very high, even for the type of work it is. Upper management is absolutely awful in most departments. Mortgage, IT, Retail Banking, HR... In HR, there are as many mangers as there are regular employees. IT has a very flat management structure and the CIO most know the dirty secrets of the CEO as he isn't qualified to manage an organization of that size. Most employees in IT know this but the CIO eliminates employees if they happen to disagree with his opinion. "Do what is best for IT, not what is best for the Credit Union" has been heard from his mouth on multiple occasions. It has created a toxic culture. Most departments would rather use third party software than let IT develop a solution and this creates a lot of tension between different departments. 

The Board and CEO are not doing a good job at all. This institution has the potential to do great things but there are some key people ruining things for everyone.

A typical day truly depends on your position, most start as a teller and move their way into management or supervisory roles. There is a lot of training provided and they aim to get you where you want to go and help you reach your goals through coaching. I have learned a lot about the banking industry, credit, remaining professional and friendly/ build rapport with any of our members. We think of everyone more as family or friends than customers. We have two culture movements within LMCU of PRIDE (passionate, respectful, innovative, dependable, and empowered) and I am LMCU which is an act of kindness program that allows LMCU to give back to our members and the surrounding community. The hardest part of the job is watching people go through really tough life moments like divorce or death of a family member but on the flip side that is the most enjoyable part to share in the joy and happiness in a new child or new marriage. We get to experience those with our members and help support them even if it is in the tiniest way.

I joined for the culture, which I learned benefits the member (as it should) but does so far more than it does the employee. The Florida region is seen as a side project, even though it's rapidly growing. It's the red-headed stepchild. In reality, we are the seed that's been planted and not watered, expected to thrive without nurture. What's definitely not growing is the staff to support the growth. They are going to be in a pickle going forward as they expand even further into Florida markets (which they've not taken the time to understand or research; it's expected to be just like Michigan). There is not enough support in the branches and next to none from leadership so turnover is rampant. There is an overwhelming lack of diversity among staff; the demographics are very telling in terms of the amount of turnover and the quality of service provided by most departments. The good? They have good products and actually do some amazing things for their members. The bad? Everything else. In other words, bank here but don't work here. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Teller 3 salaries reported	$16.37 per hour
Member services representative 8 salaries reported	$20.96 per hour
Personal banker 1 salary reported	$20.13 per hour
Senior teller 5 salaries reported	$18.39 per hour
Branch manager 3 salaries reported	$69,167 per year

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