This fall, the Sacramento Business Journal named SAFE Credit Union a Best Place to Work—its seventh such designation since 2018. The honor is derived from employee surveys that explore, among other areas, company culture, which CHRO Colleen Nerius says is a driving force behind not only the award, but SAFE’s ongoing talent successes.
The organization’s 625 employees serve approximately 244,000 members; it’s a network of people, Nerius says, whose satisfaction and retention depend on one another, which is why the company culture is so people-centric. SAFE prioritizes employee development, internal mobility and flexibility, including driving up engagement and attrition, and contributing to stronger service to the organization’s members.
Nerius, who has spent more than a dozen years of her career leading HR in banking institutions, shared with HR Executive how SAFE brings to life, measures and maintains a strong company culture, even in a dynamic and changing landscape.
Nerius: I would define it as built on genuine connections and mutual respect. We’re member-owned, so we’re built on the philosophy of people helping people. At SAFE, that really flows through everything we do and how we treat each other. We’re collaborative, authentic, people-first. It’s really about consistently showing up for our employees—time after time.
HR Executive: What does that look like in the day to day?
Nerius: The first thing that comes to mind is how we invest in our leadership development. Managers are really cultural champions. They’re the ones leading all the employees day to day, so we have to ensure they have the development they need, and the tools and resources to invest in their people. And then it’s about creating spaces for celebration and connection.
We have different traditions and recognition programs that are really making sure employees feel seen and valued. We actively listen through our engagement surveys, and we act on what we hear. We believe that culture isn’t something you just do once or an activity. It’s something to be nurtured on a regular basis through authentic communication, consistently modeling the values and giving our people opportunities to grow.
HR Executive: How do you measure culture?
Nerius: Our engagement survey is obviously a good measurement. We also do stay interviews quarterly where we pick random groups and want to hear from them about why they stay at SAFE, what keeps them here, what they’d like to see us do differently. And we also do exit interviews; it’s important to hear why people are leaving and what we possibly need to change. Then there’s also ad hoc feedback from leaders. What are they hearing? What are they gathering from their employees in their one-on-ones?
HR Executive: Internal mobility is also a cornerstone of the company culture at SAFE. How has the organization been most innovative in this space?
Nerius: We have what we call an “intern” program. When we have temporary roles we need to fill in the back office, we open up those roles to people in the front office—branches and contact centers—and give them an opportunity to come and do something different. I have had these open roles in HR, training and development, employee engagement, payroll. People get an opportunity for six months to a year to learn and perform a different role. Unless we offer them something permanent, they go back to their frontline role. It’s a really cool way of getting exposure to different teams, different roles, and new responsibilities. It’s really been phenomenal to see the way our employees end up finding new career paths, new mentors and new ways of growing and stretching.
HR Executive: How is AI factoring into conversations about internal mobility?
Nerius: Technology obviously changes pretty rapidly, and in banking that’s also the case. From that standpoint, our IT and data team leaders have started conducting regular training sessions on AI, Microsoft products, other emerging tools—really ensuring that the workforce is up to date on what’s new out there. How do you use that for your role to speed the delivery of services, programs and processes—ultimately, to our members? We also sponsor external certification and training programs for role-specific upskilling. In our data analytics team, digital banking, IT, we really want to ensure that they’re consistently up to date on the evolving trends and tools. We don’t want any employees left behind.
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