How Atomic CU uses employee feedback to improve the organization

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Atomic Credit Union shuts down once a year, closing all offices for a single day with the sole purpose of training and educating employees as part of the annual “Atomic Credit Union Symposium.”

“Quality training and education is provided which enables our employees to perform their jobs at a higher level,” said Vice President of Human Resources Julie Maple.

Atomic Credit Union ranked No. 6 overall in the Best Credit Unions to Work For 2017 and was No. 1 in its asset class (CUs with assets of more than $200 million but less than $500 million).

Training and professional development for employees has proven to be a successful business model. To date, 91 percent of employees with two or more years of service at the CU have been promoted since their start date.

“Atomic Credit Union is a strong supporter of promoting from within and the symposium provides tools to our employees to assist them in growing with our organization,” said Maple.

President and CEO Tom Griffiths highly values employee input and feedback and maintains an open-door policy. In 2016, prior to the strategic planning session, he emailed a pre-planning questionnaire to all employees asking everyone to share their strategic thoughts, noted Maple.

“The questionnaire provided an opportunity for employees to express their own vision of our organization and contribute additional feedback,” she said.

Founded in 1955, Piketon, Ohio-based Atomic Credit Union currently operates 180 employees across 11 branches serving more than 44,000 members with $287 million in assets.