Since going public, the company has been in decline...profits and numbers are more important than anything. Their core values supposedly include "integrity" and "respect." However, in just ONE example (there are many) of how they fail to uphold these values, Equity has recently forced employees to open a checking account with the bank in order to receive direct deposit paychecks. Furthermore, if you opt for a paper check, you will not get paid even close to on time. Last, other than the glaringly obvious overstepping of what an employer should ask of their employees to get paid in a fair way and on time, it also feels that you're participating in dishonest practices. They claim this is to represent the bank and "know our products," but the real reason is so they can meet lofty goals that they set before the bank went to NYSE and make accounts/deposit numbers look better than they really would be (it sounds dangerously close to the realm of misleading the shareholders, doesn't it?). Other downsides include being forced to work 2 of the 10 paid federal holidays a year, one of which you're attending a corporate propaganda conference where they pat their backs and "entertain" you with childish skits, being constrained by 1950's workplace rules (covering tattoos, they don't like you to have beards, etc), even if you're a back office worker who never interacts with the public, the CEO literally swears AT people and yells and low-level employees, he overrides decisions that he doesn't understand and makes no attempt to understand, their benefits are a joke compared to other companies of similar size, most departments are severely understaffed which leads to poor work/life balance and high stress, upper level management turnover is rapidly increasing as people get sick of dealing with Brad (CEO), this turnover is leading to constant restructures of departments to the point that people are overseeing departments in areas in which they have little to no knowledge or experience, the main office (Kellogg and Rock road) constantly has vehicles in the parking lot getting vandalized (tags stolen, catalytic converters cut out), this list could be a mile long. Simply put, Equity has become a "what can our employees do for us" type of workplace rather than "how can we support our employees." It's very disappointing, because this used to be a fantastic place to be, but greed and power have taken precedence over "integrity and respect."
