Our unique values-based culture commits to employees’ financial health and well-being through workforce development, comprehensive benefits, learning opportunities and a vibrant, professional culture. Here’s what we accomplished together in 2022.
Embraced Change
We not only welcomed new members — we also hired more employees committed to serving you.
In 2022, we onboarded 665 new employees, bringing our total BECU family to over 2,800. In fact, despite attrition in a tough hiring market, we achieved an 8.5% net employee growth.
One of our newest 2022 hires is also our new leader. In December, Beverly Anderson joined the credit union as our CEO and president as we said goodbye to CEO and president Benson Porter, who retired after 10 years of service to BECU.
In June, Benson Porter announced his retirement and a search for a replacement commenced. During Porter's time at the credit union, BECU's assets tripled from $10 billion to more than $30 billion, while membership grew from over 800,000 members to over 1.28 million.
After a nationwide search considering internal and external applicants, the BECU Board of Directors' CEO Succession Committee selected Beverly Anderson.
Anderson joined BECU in December. She brings more than three decades of experience in the financial services, payments and technology industries, and a Master of Business Administration with distinction from Harvard Business School.
Anderson previously held leadership roles at Equifax, Wells Fargo and American Express, and serves on the board of directors of Expedia Group, Accion and Sword Health.
“I am honored and humbled to lead the BECU team. BECU is unapologetic in its devotion to its members and the communities it serves. Its purpose aligns with my core passion of financial well-being,” said Anderson.
Porter transitioned to CEO emeritus, supporting Anderson's onboarding through the end of the year. With Anderson’s leadership, BECU continues innovations to improve the member experience and its path forward in bringing membership to new communities.
Developed Next-Gen Talent
We offered opportunities to engage in the real-world learning of behind-the-scenes credit union services.
In 2022, we marked the 15th year of our summer internship program. Our virtual internship experience engaged 14 students from local and out-of-state universities to learn more about credit union leadership, the organization and our service to members. A typical day might involve morning job shadowing and a virtual lunch-and-learn with an executive, followed by an afternoon community service project.
Positions ranged from commercial and business services roles, digital analytics and environmental sustainability to risk administration and indirect lending. We select interns in April — watch for our next group of future talent soon.
My experience at BECU has been amazing. My team always encouraged me to be a meaningful contributor and even had me leading meetings a couple weeks after starting.” — Katie R., BECU Summer Intern, Indirect Lending
Celebrated Employees
BECU recognized our incredibly dedicated employees for their commitments to members and our credit union values.
In August, our seventh annual Being BECU Awards recognized outstanding individuals going above and beyond to demonstrate BECU’s core values:
In 2022, 14 peer-nominated employees were chosen from more than 180 nominations. Each employee offers a unique contribution and commitment to our members-first approach, whether working as a member consultant, financial advisor or in community engagement, business solutions, or user experience design (UX).
Since its inception in 2016, the Being BECU Awards have recognized nearly 100 employees through peer nominations. We thank our coworkers for demonstrating a commitment to BECU, our members and the communities we serve.
Committed to Equity and Inclusion
Employee and Culture Equity Commitment: We embrace organizational and cultural changes for our employees and culture, working together toward becoming a more inclusive and equitable organization.
We advocated and furthered equity and inclusion to improve BECU. A more diverse and equitable workplace makes for better member service, positive community impacts and a sense of belonging for all our employees. Here's more about our efforts.
Expanded Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)
In the past two years, we've doubled our ERG groups to make more employees feel at home. Our ERGs are employee groups with common interests and issues. Employees support each other, build community, share concerns and identify solutions to further the mission, vision and values of BECU. ERGs include:
Nearly half of all employees (more than 1,300) participated in our ERGs through regular meetings and over 70 community events throughout the year. A few examples of 2022 events (both virtual and in-person) include:
- Cooking with chef Tina Fahnbulleh from Gold Coast Kitchen during Black History Month in February.
- Meeting with retired NFL quarterback Jack Thompson during Asian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Month in May.
- Marching in the Seattle Pride Parade during Pride Month in June.
- Meeting with Seahawks General Manager John Schneider and his wife Traci to learn about their creation of Ben’s Fund in partnership with the Seattle Foundation during National Disability Employment Awareness Month in October.
- Building Drum Sticks during Indigenous Heritage Month in November.
ERGs also offer educational discussions, career development opportunities and more.
Dialed in Our Dashboard
We want our recruitment and retention to reflect the diversity of our communities and provide equitable employee access. Our internal dashboard updates employees on representation and employee demographics — making visible and transparent our progress toward aligning with community demographics.
Quarterly demographic tracking reports for senior leadership included current employees at all leadership levels, job candidates and employee mobility/attrition. Our progress is real, but we recognize opportunities to boost racial and gender representation among the director and vice president roles.
Sought Out Next-Gen Leaders
In 2022, our Multicultural Emerging Leaders Program (MEL) pilot program began developing the next generation of diverse business leaders. Representation at all organizational levels relies on closing BECU's director-level BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) underrepresentation gap. MEL provided knowledge and resources supporting BIPOC employee success.
The cohort’s 11 pilot participants:
- Discussed various cultural topics.
- Attended workshops hosted by internal and external facilitators.
- Worked with senior leaders on a cohort project.
- Utilized cultural assessment results to learn different communication styles, motivators, energizers, life priorities and more.
More than 1,000 BECU employees — three times as many as last year — attended our second annual Equity Summit. Bestselling author Ijeoma Oluo provided the keynote speech on “The Need for Racial Equity.”
BECU’s Office of Equity and Inclusion hosted the summit, providing learning opportunities for crucial Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) concepts while developing individual leadership and collective unity in moving our work forward.
Special guests included:
- Cliff Avril, 2016 Seahawks Walter Payton Man of the Year
- DarNesha Weary, CEO of Black Coffee Northwest Grounded
- Laura Clise, Founder and CEO of Intentionalist
- Paul Lwali, President and CEO of Friends of Youth
- Roxana Pardo Garcia, Alimentando al Pueblo Executive Director
- Sue Bird, former Seattle Storm basketball player
The summit opened with a small-business discussion panel on building authentic partnerships. In two 90-minute blocks, other workshops educated employees on key topics through the following sessions:
- DEI Foundation
- Gender Inclusivity
- Unpacking Ableism and Allyship
- Cultivating an Inclusive Workplace Culture
- Transformation Through Inclusive Product Design
- Advancing DEI to Better Serve Multicultural Communities
BECU must reflect the diversity of the communities we serve. A more diverse, equitable and inclusive organization builds deeper and more meaningful relationships with its members and delivers better business results.” — Beverly Anderson, BECU’s President & CEO
Cared for Our Communities
BECU leveraged our funds to give back to our communities while supporting causes employees are passionate about.
In 2022, employees contributed to nonprofit organizations by donating and volunteering time with nonprofits across the country. The result was over $1.3 million directed to more than 1,420 causes. And the work didn’t stop there.
BECU Cares Programs
BECU demonstrates our shared commitment to causes our compassionate employees care about by offering matching funds for charitable contributions and rewards for volunteer service. In fact, we saw a 30% increase in tracked employee volunteer hours last year, thanks to the April launch of Volunteer Rewards. This new program awards $15 for each hour of volunteer service recorded by employees, which they can use to distribute to the nonprofit of their choice.
In addition, employees get up to 24 hours of paid time off annually to volunteer. Those who serve on nonprofit boards receive reward funds to donate in recognition of their service, and teams of five or more employees who volunteer together can elect to receive a reward to donate to the nonprofit they served. We appreciate the 350 employees who made a measurable and transformative impact on their communities last year by volunteering 16,400 hours.
Some of the nonprofits supported by employees through gift match and volunteering include:
- Alimentando al Pueblo: An organization supported by our Conexión Latinx ERG that is focused on providing food and healing to Latinx communities in South King County, Washington.
- Asian Counseling and Referral Service (ACRS): A nonprofit promoting social justice and the well-being of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in King County, Washington, and a partner of our Asian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander ERG.
- Education-focused, Seattle Colleges Foundation: Provides opportunities for students in King County, Washington in support of Seattle Colleges’ three comprehensive college campuses and five specialty training centers.
- Hunger-relief organization, Second Harvest: Serves communities in Spokane, Washington by bringing resources together to feed people in need through empowerment, education and partnerships.
- You Grow Girl!: An organization committed to empowering female-identifying youth and is a partner of the Black Alliance Cooperative ERG.
BECU Cares Day
Our branches close in observance of Indigenous Peoples' Day, but employees work behind the scenes to serve the community. In 2022, almost 2,700 BECU employees created 27,000 personal care, cleaning supply and school supply kits for 10 nonprofit partners:
- Alimentando al Pueblo
- Asian Counseling and Referral Service (ACRS)
- Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Lowcountry, South Carolina
- Chief Seattle Club
- College Success Foundation
- Housing Hope
- Junior Achievement of Washington
- Raising Girls
- Rise Above
- Spokane Neighborhood Action Partners (SNAP)
This was my first BECU Cares Day and I love that BECU does this! No other company I’ve ever worked for does anything nearly this amazing.” — Andrea H-M., BECU Employee
Built Sustainability
Every day, BECU is becoming a more sustainable organization in partnership with employee goals and actions.
Our sustainability program works with employees to discover what they care about most. Then, we provide tools, resources and actions to support those environmental priorities. Here's how.
ERG Energy
Our new Environmental Sustainability ERG brings together employees passionate about environmental sustainability. Across BECU's departments, these employees drive change from the ground up through advancing efforts in our three pillars: people, profit and planet.
Everyday Change
In 2022, we invited employees to sign up for the new pilot EarthUP program and app, which reduced 53 tons of CO2 — the primary driver of climate change. Employees discovered ways to cut carbon, reduce impact and improve the health of working and living spaces. Using the app, employees could:
- Read articles about the environment.
- Take quizzes to test knowledge and find their eco-personality.
- Find cool, new sustainable products.
- Learn about local environmental tours or volunteer events.
I started my career at BECU 25 years ago. Though I have seen a lot of changes, BECU has always shown strong support and care for its employees, members and our communities.” — Rebecca B., BECU Employee
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