branch manager

member experience associate

front end developer

experience manager

financial advisor

Lake Trust Credit Union

If your life's ambition is to work in a call center, you can achieve that here. The pay is about the same as a shift lead at fast food restaurants, but your typical day consists of being on the phone non-stop with customers screaming at you because they can't figure out online banking while your bosses mark your scores down for taking too long. 

 At the same time you're also the one addressing every random issue/question/customer complaint that comes your way. As an MEA you are  treated as disposable. You deal with the issues that should really be handled by the experts in other departments but end up on you because other departments are exempt from talking to customers. You're left trying to communicate complicated answers from other departments and constantly having to go back and forth between lines. Then when the customers have questions that the other department would be able to answer immediately,  you have to go back to ask them and waste even more of the customer's time. For the broad knowledge base and oddly specific scenarios, the pay is way too low
 
Other departments are paid living wages, but good luck getting out of the contact center. That department is constantly hemorrhaging employees, and it's because it's underpaid, underappreciated, and a career dead end. They don't seem to actually understand what would significantly improve the role and help retention, such as working from home full time to offset the poor pay, and instead opt for 
constant  "contests" running to improve productivity and morale. However, they don't provide meaningful rewards with things that would make them worth it, it's just food and little trinkets. Providing even a small monetary bonus that month for being a top-perfomer or something similar would go a long way. 

Despite talking about all sorts of opportunities for advancement in the interviews, you're going to be stuck in the contact center. It doesn't matter how qualified you are. They can't retain employees in that department (you work 10x as hard as other departments dealing directly with customers, you're under 10x the stress because everything depends on your call metrics, and you're not being paid enough to afford a one bedroom apartment). 

For MEAs, this is a dead end job with bad pay and none of the perks of working in other departments. Unless you're very talented at tuning out constant conversation around you, you're going to struggle with the open-office concept, and they won't let you work from home. Go find better. 

This wasn’t the worst job I’ve ever had, but it was pretty high up there. Members are mean. Management allows little room for mistakes. When I started there want a selling quota. Right after my training ended they implemented a selling program where we had to meet a certain amount of referrals per month. I’m not good with selling so this was enormously stressful for me. I tried to move departments but that didn’t happen. I was going through some health issues and put in my two weeks before I got fired. Then, 2 days before my last day my appendix nearly killed me and I wasn’t  able to finish my two weeks. I didn’t get paid out for my remaining pto and there were no exceptions to this, even though what happened was 100% outside of my control. Overall, leaving was the best thing I did for my health both mental and physical and I’m much happier now. You can’t beat the pto and paid holidays in banking though. The building was super nice and the views were beautiful. 

There is a wide variety of tasks to do that are analytically challenging, making each day interesting. It can be stressful, as it is often times short-staffed. The organization as a whole is amazing, with great benefits and a great culture that emphasizes work-life balance and volunteering. I like the work that I do and the organization that I work for, however in my specific job, management is less than desirable. The manager of my specific department constantly degrades and belittles those around her, including employees coworkers, others in different department, and vendors. She knows very little of the department, and constantly gives incorrect information to vendors and other departments. She will contradict herself constantly and never makes sense. A real sentence said to me was "since you are good at learning new things, learning new things doesn't make you grow at all, since you are already good at the act of learning new things." I could go on.

Unfortunately, for being called Lake Trust, their culture lost what trust means when it comes to their employees. Management does not seem to trust at all. It felt like big brother was always watching your every move. Some supervisors would stand at the door to a department so if an employee would walk in a minute late they would confront them immediately. They would not even ask if they had a problem getting to work. For example, driving to work in a snow storm. One supervisor would just say "you're late" and never be concerned as to why. Some supervisors would micro manage their employees. For example, you could have food at your desk, BUT only if it was on a small snack size plate! It could have been a great place to work IF they simply would put some TRUST & respect into how the employees were treated.

A typical day at work starts off with member being incredibly rude over the phone. Management does nothing to help with rude members. Unless you are apart of the IN crowd you will have no option for advancement. Even if you are able to move departments its considered a "lateral move" due to the company's flat design. In the Contact Center micromanagement is a way of life, down to the very second. Benefits used to be good but recent change have made it very expensive for even the lowest amount of coverages. MEA position is stated to be the most important position yet it is paid the least and and asked to do the most. Experienced MEAs are paid the exact same as new hires. Promises are made by management with no intentions on keeping them.

The individuals you work with are absolutely amazing! However, you can feel the culture and expectations rapidly changing and morphing into features and beliefs that go against what many went to Lake Trust for. Many went to LT since it's a credit union, not a bank. Yet, it starts to feel more and more like a bank instead. Furthermore, while the benefits are great at a glance, there's very little to support individuals with disabilities who need certain accommodations. There are also people constantly leaving/getting laid off, which puts more pressure on the remaining staff, and for particular departments, managers will not or cannot get on to assist. In addition to the layoffs, it seems they also struggle with hiring people back in, as spots will be vacant for months, and I've noticed job positions will be taken down before they even get an interview for a position.

Lake Trust was the absolute worst place to work for EVER!!! From the lack of upper management direction (I was told to shut my door & tell employees not to bother us in management, and let them handle things on their own so I could be available to answer emails immediately) seriously what kind of an organization directs their management team to do that?, to what your employees don't know won't hurt them.  Again, not a productive reasonable way to handle business & staff members. They are run like a bank (I used to be in banking) and are NOT for the members whatsoever.  Many members left when the merger took place, and I feel that that was the best decision ever.    The merger between Huron River Area Credit union and Detroit Edison/Lake Trust was the worst business decision ever.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Benefits and PTO. Nothing else to look forward to at all honestly. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The amount of work and training one has to undergo to be successful here does not match the pay they will offer you. And even yearly raises are NOT a guarantee. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Toxic. If you’ve ever done anything you thought was confidential, think again. Your personal information was surely discussed between MEAS right at the teller line. Low professionalism from management at most branches. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Overwhelming, and that’s just because you will not be compensated fairly for the work you have to do.

I manage member accounts, this includes opening new and closing old accounts, and moving funds between them or externally. 

It has been a great experience organizing and maintaining memberships in the credit union. Often times I am able to recommend products or services the members are not aware of that will greatly benefit them in time or in finances. Every member has been a new challenge and experience to work with and the outcome is always rewarding.

It can be challenging dealing with different personalities, but more often than not with teammates we are able to find a solution to even the most difficult of problems.

New hire training is only 2 weeks long most learning is done while in the branch and this should be changed. There are not enough opportunities to advance in the company. They seem to always hire outside the company for management instead of promoting within and giving new grads of business who are tellers the chance for assistant management or management jobs. There is no enough opportunities for transferring between locations you have to go through a rehire process just to move to a new location.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Branch manager 5 salaries reported	$69,000 per year
Member experience associate 4 salaries reported	$18.00 per hour
Front end developer 8 salaries reported	$79,750 per year
Experience manager 3 salaries reported	$69,167 per year
Financial advisor 2 salaries reported	$54,057 per year

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