Byline: Adrian Miles, labor-market reporter covering banks, insurance, and regional employers for 11 years
Last reviewed: June 28, 2026
FirstMerchants is best understood as First Merchants Corporation and First Merchants Bank, a regional banking employer whose 2025 Form 10-K reported 2,086 full-time equivalent employees. The hiring story sits between three data points: BLS May 2024 teller median pay of $39,340, First Merchants’ 18 percent 2025 turnover rate, and First Merchants’ 2026 acquisition-related costs that included employee retention bonuses and severance.
The timeline matters. A regional bank can be profitable, structured, and still face churn in branch and support roles.
What FirstMerchants is as an employer
First Merchants Corporation is the public financial holding company behind First Merchants Bank. Its investor profile describes the company as the largest financial holding company based in Central Indiana, with banking centers across Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio, a wealth management company, and $21.1 billion in total assets as of March 31, 2026.
This is not a one-role employer.
FirstMerchants has the job mix typical of a regional bank: branch service, personal banking, banking-center management, lending, commercial banking, credit, treasury, wealth, operations, compliance, risk, technology, and corporate support. That range makes broad hiring claims risky. A teller-style role and a commercial lending role do not sit in the same pay market, and a corporate risk job is not the same labor story as a branch service job.
The cleanest way to read FirstMerchants hiring is by timeline: what the wider bank labor market looked like in 2024, what the company disclosed about its workforce in 2025, and what 2026 acquisition activity added to the staffing picture.
2024 baseline: BLS shows a split labor market
The first layer is the national labor market. BLS May 2024 data reported a median annual wage of $39,340 for tellers. BLS also projected teller employment to decline 13 percent from 2024 to 2034.
That is the weak side of the bank labor market. Teller-style work remains necessary in many branches, but the long-term occupation signal is under pressure from digital banking, mobile deposits, online transfers, ATMs, remote account tools, and branch efficiency.
Financial clerks sit a little higher. BLS May 2024 data reported a $48,650 median annual wage for financial clerks, with employment projected to decline 5 percent from 2024 to 2034. That category may fit some account-support, new-account, loan-processing, and clerical bank roles better than the teller category.
The difference is not huge, but it is meaningful. The financial clerk median is $9,310 above the teller median. It is also still in a projected-decline occupation group.
The interpretation is blunt: entry and clerical bank work can create openings, but it does not carry the strongest long-term wage signal. The better hiring story begins when roles move toward lending, credit, treasury, wealth, risk, technology, and management.
2025: First Merchants reports 2,086 FTE employees
The First Merchants Corporation 2025 Annual Report on Form 10-K reported 2,086 full-time equivalent employees as of December 31, 2025. That number puts FirstMerchants in a mid-sized regional-bank employer lane.
It is large enough to have formal training, HR systems, employee engagement surveys, succession planning, benefit administration, and public-company reporting. It is not so large that local market conditions disappear. A branch in Indiana, a lending team in Ohio, and a support unit in Michigan can feel the labor market differently.
This is the first analytical point: FirstMerchants has the workforce infrastructure of a mature regional bank, but the employee experience is likely uneven by role, manager, department, and market.
The company’s headcount also matters because acquisitions and branch-network changes can shift staffing needs. A year-end FTE number is a snapshot, not a permanent staffing level. When a bank buys another bank, jobs can be added, consolidated, protected with retention bonuses, or cut through severance.
2025 turnover: the 18 percent signal
The 2025 Form 10-K reported an overall turnover rate of 18 percent in 2025. That is one of the most useful hiring indicators because it shows movement inside the workforce.
Turnover does not automatically mean a bad employer. Banks hire for many roles that naturally churn: service associates, call-center style support, branch roles, operations roles, and entry-level positions used as stepping-stones. Employees also leave for larger banks, credit unions, insurance companies, fintech firms, local corporate jobs, or higher-paid sales and lending roles.
But the number is not neutral. An 18 percent turnover rate means FirstMerchants has to keep recruiting, onboarding, training, and replacing employees. Hiring is not only about growth. It is also about backfilling the seats that open.
The filing does not break turnover down by job family, location, voluntary exits, involuntary exits, tenure, or department. That limit matters. A 30 percent turnover rate in branch service and a 5 percent rate in corporate risk would tell a different story from a flat 18 percent across the company. The public figure does not give that detail.
Still, the headline is clear: churn is part of the FirstMerchants workforce model.
Engagement and training: strong structure, not a guarantee
The 2025 Form 10-K also reported that 65 percent of employees were considered “highly engaged” in the company’s biennial Employee Engagement Survey, with an 85 percent response rate. It reported 99.7 percent required-training completion, more than 1,500 employees participating in the annual calibration process, and more than 55 employees participating in education assistance in 2025.
Those are stronger facts than a generic careers-page claim. Required training completion near 100 percent shows compliance discipline. The 9-box calibration process shows formal talent review and succession planning. The education assistance number shows measurable use of a benefit.
But the numbers should not be overread. “Highly engaged” is a company-defined survey result. More than 55 education-assistance participants is real, but against 2,086 FTE employees it is not evidence that most employees use that benefit. A 9-box process can identify talent and development needs, but it does not promise promotion.
The better reading is balanced: FirstMerchants has formal people systems, while turnover shows those systems still operate in a competitive labor market.
2026: acquisition costs put labor into the earnings story
First Merchants’ first-quarter 2026 results added another labor signal. The company reported net income available to common stockholders of $27.7 million for the first quarter of 2026, compared with $54.9 million in the same period in 2025. The release said current-quarter results included $17.0 million of acquisition costs, primarily employee retention bonuses and severance, contract termination charges, and professional fees.
That sentence matters because it puts labor costs directly into the acquisition story. Retention bonuses are used to keep selected employees through a transition. Severance is used when jobs are eliminated or restructured. Both are normal in bank mergers, but they are not normal wages.
This is the second analytical point: acquisition activity can make a bank’s hiring picture look busy and unstable at the same time. Some employees may be retained with extra payments. Some roles may be duplicated. Some functions may be consolidated. Some teams may need new hiring after integration.
A quarterly earnings release does not say what a teller earns or how many jobs will be opened. It does show that FirstMerchants’ 2026 labor costs included transition-related items, not just regular salary and benefits.
Pay timeline: where each role likely sits
A hiring article needs pay context, but it should not pretend FirstMerchants publishes a full wage scale. The company does not provide public job-by-job pay tables in the sources reviewed.
BLS gives the best national benchmark. Teller-style work starts around the $39,340 median. Financial clerk-style work sits around $48,650. Loan officer work, using BLS May 2024 data from the same occupational family, sits higher at $74,180. Glassdoor-style self-reported figures can give company-specific hints, but they are not official pay scales.
The role path is the important part. Service work is the entry band. Personal banking and financial clerk work can sit above it. Credit, lending, treasury, wealth, risk, technology, and management carry stronger pay signals. Executive and senior leadership compensation belongs in a separate disclosure category.
This is where a single “FirstMerchants salary” number misleads. It blends a branch counter job, a commercial loan role, a credit analyst, a wealth employee, an operations manager, and an executive into one fake average.
The proxy number and why it should not be used alone
The First Merchants Corporation 2026 Proxy Statement reported CEO total compensation of $2,398,488, median employee total compensation of $62,811, and a CEO-to-median-employee pay ratio of 38 to 1.
That $62,811 median employee figure is official, but it is not a job-posting salary. It is a pay-ratio disclosure under SEC methodology across a mixed workforce. It should not be described as what a teller, service associate, personal banker, or credit analyst earns.
A comparison helps. The proxy median sits above the BLS teller median of $39,340 and above the BLS financial clerk median of $48,650. It sits below the BLS loan officer median of $74,180. That placement makes sense for a mixed regional-bank workforce.
The practical reading: use the proxy median as a company-wide compensation marker, not a role-level wage.
| Data point | Named source | Figure |
|---|---|---|
| FirstMerchants workforce | 2025 Form 10-K | 2,086 FTE employees |
| FirstMerchants turnover | 2025 Form 10-K | 18 percent |
| Highly engaged employees | 2025 Form 10-K | 65 percent |
| Required training completion | 2025 Form 10-K | 99.7 percent |
| Teller median wage | BLS May 2024 | $39,340 |
| Financial clerk median wage | BLS May 2024 | $48,650 |
| Median employee compensation | 2026 Proxy Statement | $62,811 |
| Q1 2026 acquisition costs | Q1 2026 earnings release | $17.0 million |
Benefits in the hiring equation
First Merchants’ public employee benefits page lists a broad package: Retirement Income & Savings Plan 401(k), Employee Stock Purchase Plan, educational assistance, medical coverage, prescription drug coverage, dental, vision, wellness program, health savings account, flexible spending accounts, life insurance, disability coverage, paid time off, holidays, bereavement, accident insurance, and critical care insurance.
Those categories help explain how FirstMerchants competes for workers beyond wage alone. A regional bank may not win every role on base pay, especially against larger banks or specialized financial employers. Benefits, schedule, internal mobility, location, manager quality, and career path can become part of the employment equation.
The public page does not show premiums, deductibles, PTO accrual tiers, eligibility timing, or the detailed Employee Stock Purchase Plan terms. That is the limit. A benefits list confirms availability. It does not prove generosity.
Hiring reality by job family
The likely hiring reality splits into four lanes.
Branch service roles are the most visible entry point. They map closest to BLS teller data and face the weakest occupational outlook. These jobs may be useful for getting into banking, but the long-term wage signal is limited.
Account-support and personal banking roles sit closer to financial clerk or banker-adjacent work. They can offer a step above routine transactions, but still face pressure when tasks become automated or centralized.
Lending, credit, treasury, wealth, risk, and technology roles are the stronger professional lanes. They rely more on judgment, relationship management, analysis, compliance, and systems knowledge.
Management roles carry the widest internal spread. A banking-center manager is not paid for transactions alone; the job involves people leadership, customer outcomes, sales execution, compliance, and local market performance.
That role split is the cleanest employment takeaway from the public data.
Where the timeline misleads
The timeline can be misread in two ways.
The first mistake is treating turnover as proof of poor conditions. It may reflect role mix, entry-level churn, local market competition, acquisition integration, retirements, promotions, or exits. The public number does not break those pieces apart.
The second mistake is treating acquisition costs as ordinary payroll. Retention bonuses and severance are workforce costs, but they are transition costs. They do not reveal standard pay rates for continuing employees.
The third mistake is treating BLS wages as FirstMerchants wages. BLS gives occupation medians, not company payroll.
The fourth mistake is treating the proxy median as a branch salary. It is a company-wide pay-ratio figure.
Data limits
BLS reports occupational averages, not FirstMerchants-specific pay. SEC filings are authoritative for company-level workforce and compensation disclosures, but they do not provide wage bands by job title. Earnings releases explain financial performance and acquisition costs, not offer-letter terms. Public benefits pages list categories but omit employee prices and plan details.
Data reflects BLS May 2024 wage and outlook data, First Merchants 2025 workforce reporting, and 2026 proxy and earnings disclosures. Local hiring conditions, acquisition integration, branch staffing, and interest-rate cycles may shift the picture.
FAQ
Is FirstMerchants hiring tied to bank growth?
Partly. Hiring can come from growth, acquisitions, replacements, turnover, branch staffing, and specialized roles in lending, credit, treasury, wealth, risk, technology, and operations. The 2025 Form 10-K reported 2,086 FTE employees, while the 2026 earnings release showed acquisition-related labor costs.
What is the clearest FirstMerchants workforce number?
The clearest number is 2,086 full-time equivalent employees as of December 31, 2025, reported in the First Merchants Corporation 2025 Form 10-K.
What is FirstMerchants turnover?
First Merchants reported an overall turnover rate of 18 percent in 2025. The public figure does not break turnover down by role, branch, state, or department.
What do comparable bank jobs pay?
BLS May 2024 data reported $39,340 median annual pay for tellers and $48,650 for financial clerks. Those are national occupational medians, not FirstMerchants wage scales.
Does First Merchants disclose median employee pay?
Yes. The 2026 Proxy Statement reported median employee total compensation of $62,811 and a CEO-to-median-employee pay ratio of 38 to 1. That figure is not a role-specific salary.
What did Q1 2026 results say about employee costs?
First Merchants said first-quarter 2026 results included $17.0 million of acquisition costs, primarily employee retention bonuses and severance, contract termination charges, and professional fees.
Does First Merchants list benefits?
Yes. The public benefits page lists retirement, employee stock purchase, educational assistance, health, dental, vision, wellness, HSA, FSA, life and disability coverage, PTO, holidays, bereavement, accident insurance, and critical care insurance.
What is the practical hiring takeaway?
FirstMerchants looks like a structured regional-bank employer with real turnover, formal training systems, and acquisition-related workforce movement. The best career economics appear outside routine transaction work, especially in lending, credit, treasury, wealth, risk, technology, operations leadership, and management.