- Top Workplaces
- Bell Bank
Bell Bank
Beginning as a small Fargo, N.D., bank in 1966, we have grown to one of the nation’s largest family- and employee-owned banks – creating a place to work and do business in a family atmosphere and a comfortable setting that feels different from other banks. Our “Bell family” is focused on doing the right thing, going the “extra mile” to help other people. Our core business is full-service banking: deposit accounts, personal loans and mortgages, business loans (including specialty lending niches) and treasury management. We offer wealth management, institutional investments and insurance, as well as operational support for health savings accounts (HSAs) across the country through our HealthcareBank division. Our bankers get to know our customers personally - offering the financial capabilities of big banks, but with a level of service you don’t often find. More than that, we pay it forward, empowering thousands of dollars in giving wherever our employees see the greatest need.
Purpose
Our “bottom line” mission is an unusual one, especially for a financial company. It’s “Happy employees! Happy customers!” We exist for the simple purpose of helping others, and we do that by being a bank that’s the best place to work and do business because of how we treat each other, our customers, and those in our communities. As our president and CEO, Michael Solberg, puts it: “We know that if we have a culture where our employees love what they do and are proud of where they work, they will take great care of our customers – and the numbers take care of themselves.” It’s “the million little things” our employees do every day, Michael adds, that create a place where people want to work and bank. We are not transactional, but transformational – and our team members understand that each of them has the capacity to brighten people’s day in small ways, or to impact them in ways that can truly change lives.
Vision
Our vision is to have continued growth and success, as we strive to become the nation’s largest and most successful privately owned bank. However, that level of success must always happen alongside (and because of) actions that reflect our core values of family atmosphere, unequaled service and paying it forward. We know that when our company succeeds, we positively impact the lives of not only our more than 2,000 employees and their families, but also of our customers and so many others in the communities we serve.
Mission
Our mission is enshrined in our “bottom line” statement: “Happy employees! Happy customers!” We exist to help other people – and when we create a great workplace with a family atmosphere, so people are proud of where they work and what they do, our people in turn take great care of our customers.
Treating people well, in everything we do, translates naturally to so many other actions our employees take, with giving hearts – whether reaching out to help a co-worker, spending volunteer time for a cause, or paying it forward to help an individual, family or organization in need in an even more powerful way through our Pay It Forward program.
We have countless narratives, through Pay It Forward, How Bell of You and our Bell Value Awards, that tell the story of what makes Bell different and how our employees can have this kind of impact in their day-to-day work.
Treating people well, in everything we do, translates naturally to so many other actions our employees take, with giving hearts – whether reaching out to help a co-worker, spending volunteer time for a cause, or paying it forward to help an individual, family or organization in need in an even more powerful way through our Pay It Forward program.
We have countless narratives, through Pay It Forward, How Bell of You and our Bell Value Awards, that tell the story of what makes Bell different and how our employees can have this kind of impact in their day-to-day work.
Additional Culture Details
We want our teams to work hard and do a great job while they’re here, and we also want them to have fun doing it. You spend a lot of time at your workplace, so you need to have some fun together with your teammates and customers and bring that balance. Especially in the financial industry, it’s easy for companies to take themselves seriously. We try not to do too much of that, even as we strive to exceed customer expectations.
Our managers and team members take to heart the idea of working hard and playing hard, knowing they will be supported. They initiate their own team-building events and projects. You can’t help but impact productivity in positive ways when you have teams of people who know each other well, get along and work collaboratively.
Our managers and team members try hard to give each other grace, interacting from a place of understanding that we’re on the same team – and everyone’s situation may be different on any given day. One small act of kindness may be the thing that can change someone else’s day for the better.
Our managers and team members take to heart the idea of working hard and playing hard, knowing they will be supported. They initiate their own team-building events and projects. You can’t help but impact productivity in positive ways when you have teams of people who know each other well, get along and work collaboratively.
Our managers and team members try hard to give each other grace, interacting from a place of understanding that we’re on the same team – and everyone’s situation may be different on any given day. One small act of kindness may be the thing that can change someone else’s day for the better.
Values
- Family Atmosphere
- Promoting and sustaining our family atmosphere
Recent Awards
Company Snapshots
