Commerce Bank’s culture helps make it a great place to work.

Earlier this year, Commerce Bank announced that it had been recognized on Forbes’ “America’s Best Midsize Employers” list for 2022, marking the company’s fifth year in a row receiving the honor. This award is based on feedback from Commerce team members on factors such as working conditions, development opportunities, and how likely they are to recommend employment at the bank to others. Being named to this list is a recognition of the strong culture at Commerce and the positive impact that it has on the bank’s team members.

Beth Feuring, a senior vice president and director of talent development at Commerce, believes the company’s affirmation as a great place to work stems from the fact that the team member experience is firmly rooted in the bank’s core values and strong sense of purpose.

“It really starts from day one,” she says. “We’ve spent a lot of time making it so that you start to feel Commerce’s culture right away. We want new team members to feel truly welcomed, and that’s a big part of it.” In recent years, Feuring’s team developed a prescriptive roadmap for new hires that outlines key milestones and helps team members feel comfortable at Commerce as soon as possible. “It introduces important elements like our core values, the culture concepts that we use, our Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and other building-block elements,” she says.

As for those culture concepts, Feuring adds that they play a more important role than a new team member might realize. “They aren’t just words on a page; these concepts help establish a common language that really help to bring our core values and guiding principles to life,” she says. “We call these concepts and common language ‘EDGE,’ because we believe our culture gives us an edge and makes Commerce a place where people want to stay and build a career.”

All of these elements are geared toward creating a sense of belonging for all Commerce team members, new or veteran. “We encourage everyone to consider joining one of our ERGs, which really can help team members feel like they’re connected to a community,” Feuring says.

“We want team members to see and feel that sense of belonging. We have ERGs that support women, our LGBTQIA+ community, people of color and our young team members. Each one has activities and networking opportunities that give team members the ability to meet people from other areas of the bank and engage in authentic conversations about topics that matter most to them.”

Feuring notes that the ERGs also provide opportunities for professional development — and they are just one of many such opportunities at Commerce. “We’ve really tried to be intentional and provide resources for all team members based on where they are in their careers and what they want to do next,” she says. “For example, our Commerce Pathways program helps team members find mentors that are a good fit for them or to raise their hands to become mentors. We also have programs in place that help team members learn about other areas of the bank and broaden their horizons in that way. It’s all designed to help them meet others and learn from them.”

Commerce also has programs that cater to team members interested in leadership. “We can show them what it’s like so they can opt into the next step in our leadership development programs if it’s a mutual fit,” Feuring says.

“We have so many individuals who go above and beyond in their current roles, and we want to help them develop their talents.”

The bank doesn’t take its culture for granted. Every year, it surveys all team members to understand what’s working and where Commerce can improve. This survey measures team members’ sense of engagement, enablement, belonging and overall satisfaction with their careers at the bank. In 2021, the engagement and enablement scores exceeded those of other high-performing peer financial institutions.

As Feuring says, the work done every day to build and maintain a strong culture at Commerce is a source of pride. “We have a good system and foundation in place,” she adds. “It’s all about helping people feel like they belong at Commerce when they walk in, and that our culture shows up every time they interact with their colleagues.

If you think you may be interested in exploring job opportunities at Commerce, visit the bank’s career site at https://careers.commercebank.com/us/en/.