Workplace case study

Pioneer Federal Credit Union

Headquarters Campus | Design Build

the goals

Recruit the best talent in the region with a workplace that stands out as a great place to work.

Project Background

Pioneer Federal Credit Union’s mission is resonating with the people of Idaho, and as a result the team had outgrown their space. Much of this growth was in their contact center, where video tellers support expanding video banking services. This was a good problem to have, giving the credit union an opportunity to step back and create an operations space plan that truly works for both their staff and the community.

A Vibrant Campus in a Small Town

Pioneer’s main operations space is located in Mountain Home, Idaho, a small town about 45 minutes outside of Boise. With this expansion project they had the opportunity to build a facility in Boise, but the credit union chose to double down on their commitment to the community of Mountain Home, a town that is as much a part of Pioneer as Pioneer is a part of the town.

The project transformed the property into a campus, with Momentum completely renovating the existing headquarters and adding a new two-story building. The two buildings are brought together by a unique space called The Connector, an innovative space that also brings people together with areas to collaborate, eat lunch, or just have a coffee with a coworker. Booths also offer a space to get away and focus on tasks without distractions.

The entire campus is bright and open, and it features a balance of collaborative and private spaces with plenty of break and meeting areas. No matter where they sit, every employee has access to natural light and view of a window. And from the connector to the main break room and an outdoor seating area, there are plenty of opportunities to get away from it all to recharge.

Employee Driven Design

Happy and healthy workers are more productive, and providing a great workplace is a powerful recruiting tool. There is also the issue that many of the employees commute to work, and working in a small (but quickly growing!) town can be isolating.

This is why Pioneer and Momentum took an employee-driven approach to designing the campus. The process began with a survey from Leesman, our workplace data partner, where all existing employees shared what was working with their current workplace and what was important to them. This is an important step in workplace design, as 80% of wellness efforts fail due to not aligning with what's important to employees. By understanding what’s important, it’s possible to make successful investments by targeting them to employees’ specific needs.

One major insight that Pioneer and Momentum uncovered is that many employees work out in the morning, but that’s difficult to do in the morning before a drive in to work and there are no gyms near the campus. Momentum’s designers added a gym to the campus design to address this need, and now employees regularly bring gym clothes and get a workout in before work or during breaks!

Momentum Moment

Traditionally, it’s been difficult for people to truly understand the feel of walking through a building during the design process. In drawings and even renderings you can see the space, but it’s often not until construction is complete that you can gain an appreciation for how a space feels.

This led Momentum’s design team to invest in virtual reality technology that elevates the design process to a new level. Check out the virtual walkthrough below to see the level of detail and care that goes into transforming a clients’ vision into a physical space, and compare it to the photos to this rendering to see how accurately our project team brought this vision to life.