Page 43 - BizVoice May/June 2013

Medium Companies
May/June 2013 – BizVoice/Indiana Chamber 43
P urdue Federal Credit Union (PFCU) was founded in 1969 by Purdue University employees
and is now a member-owned financial cooperative serving more than 60,000 people
across the country. Its founders would likely not only be pleased to see it thriving, but
also because PFCU places high in the Best Places to Work in Indiana rankings.
According to its leaders, PFCU’s commitment to service is a catalyst to being so highly
regarded by its staff.
“If you go to a place where you’re encouraged and applauded for taking
good care of your customers, I think that makes it a pretty comfortable place
to go to work every day,” contends CEO Bob Falk.
All about values
Jackie Hofman, vice president of human resources and marketing, explains
the staff is unified and attributes that to the organization’s hiring approach.
“It starts with our values, and we recruit around those values,” she clarifies.
“Our core values are honesty, integrity, private ownership and mutual respect.
And we ask our employees at least three times a year (via surveys) about how
we’re doing with our values. That’s a metric we use and our board sees it.”
Falk adds that he expects staff to hold leaders accountable for promoting
those values.
“About five years ago, we put more emphasis around them in our hiring,
and we surveyed staff,” he notes. “That’s a gutsy move, to ask how we’re
doing with them. You get an overall rating, and you also get some comments.
“Those comments sometimes hurt because you think you’re doing a great
job, and staff may say you could be doing a better job,” Falk admits. “You can
say they’re important all day long, but unless you act like they’re important,
they’re not. The bar gets raised too. As you get better at them, expectations
get higher – and that’s great.”
PFCU also offers a generous paid time off plan, as well as several hours
of volunteer time off so employees can feel the joy of giving back to the
community. Health screenings, weight loss challenges and reimbursing foot
race entry fees also help build a culture of wellness within the organization,
according to Hofman.
Success by design
Graphic designer Eric Korchnak has been with PFCU for over three years, and he revels in
its camaraderie.
“It seems like when I’ve worked at companies in the past, they’d say, ‘Oh, you should’ve
seen what it was like back in the old days,’ ” he recalls. “During the holidays, they’d have parties
and that feeling that everybody was a valued member – and it wasn’t just about getting the work
done and putting in your time.”
He says PFCU embodies that spirit each day throughout the year.
“I was here a week and someone asked me if I was coming to the kids’ Christmas party on a
Saturday,” remembers Korchnak, who has two young children. “It’s neat to see they put in the
time and effort – and have a Christmas party for the kids and a winter party
for the adults. And they have a summer picnic. It’s just great to see
somebody still does that kind of stuff.”
He adds the credit union’s open door policy isn’t just an empty promise.
“I’ll be walking up the stairs sometimes and I’ll see our CEO, and we’ll
just chat for a few minutes,” Korchnak relays. “You don’t feel like people are
in a certain class here and you’re not allowed to intermingle.”
Additionally, as a designer, he feels he’s offered more creative freedom than
others in his field at similar organizations.
Purdue Federal Credit Union
Boilering Up for Customers, Staff
By Matt L. Ottinger
Purdue Federal Credit Union
leaders participated in a 2012
managers’ retreat at Food
Finders Food Bank (and PFCU
also made a financial donation)
to help the non-profit prepare
to serve residents in the
Lafayette area. Staff was
treated to Kona Ice Day in the
summer to help stay cool.