The branch is central to almost everything a credit union does, from service to staffing and beyond. So naturally, the conversations and presentations at this year’s Future Branches conference in Austin, TX, have been about a whole lot more than just branch location and design. Read on for highlights from the Day 2 of the event.
1. Succession Planning Is Not Just For CEOs
Struggling to attract new employees? Try doing it in Hawaii.
“The lifestyle of Hawaii [is that] people would rather be surfing than coming to the office,” says Patrick Twohy, senior regional manager at Hawaii Sate Federal Credit Union ($2.4B, Honolulu, HI). “It’s really hard to sell people on the office life.”
Hawaii State’s 5 Keys Of Promotability
- Progression
- Performance
- Perseverance
- Perception
- Passion
The solution, says Twohy’s colleague Reid Hinaga, division manager for Hawaii State, is to develop people internally with succession plans so the organization can promote from within. Hinaga offered a simple formula: Structure + engagement = succession planning. The key, he adds, is to help people think of their work not just as a job but as a career.
With such an emphasis on culture, Hinaga says the North Star has to be high performance with high support. Although there are sales goals with some pressure and high expectations, for example, there’s also engagement, money, and the possibility of promotion, which is key to making a better life for employees outside the office.
“Annual raises aren’t going to get your employees to a better standard of living,” Hinaga says. “Promotions are.”
Celebrating success is key to increasing engagement, Hinaga says, noting that when front-line employees move to the back office, the promotion should come with some kind of a celebration. Not only has that employee progressed in their career, but now branches have another champion in a supportive role.
“Recognizing good work and other things to be celebrated creates goodwill across the organization,” he says.
2. Best Practices For Recruitment And Retention
Many financial institutions hire for a cultural fit rather than a skills fit, and United Heritage Credit Union ($1.6B, Austin, TX) is no exception. But hiring managers there aren’t just relying on instinct.
Soft skills are more important than ever, thanks to the rise of digital banking and declining branch visits, says Laurie Roth, learning and development manager. With that in mind, the credit union conducts online assessments during the hiring process to get a sense of learning agility, perseverance, and more. Additionally, behavioral interview questions — such as, “Give us a specific example of a time you had to relearn a skill completely” — help test whether an applicant is the right fit.
State Bank of Southern Utah takes a similar approach, even going so far as to ask teller applicants whether they’re enjoying the interview process or if those interactions are challenging.
“We ask if they’re introverted or extroverted, and they’re honest with us,” says Brady Williams, branch administration manager. “Sometimes it saves the interview — we might back fill and refer that person to other departments [where they might be a better fit].”
Both institutions are looking for candidates who want to make a career there, and Roth says United Heritage has adopted a career lattice model to help employees think about sideways career moves in addition to upward moves. That, as well as a job-shadowing program to expose staff to other departments, has helped retain employees.
The key, she says, is not to overcomplicate the recruitment and retention process. Agility and emotional intelligence can’t always be trained, but if credit unions focus on those elements they can retrain staff on new technologies as needed.
A job-shadowing program at the Kansas City-area credit union has boosted internal promotion rates and helped less-tenured employees advance their careers. Read more in “Observation Leads To Opportunity At CommunityAmerica.”
3. DEI Done Right
Diversity, equity, and inclusion have been major buzzwords in recent years, but such initiatives also have come under intense public scrutiny.
White men comprise an overwhelming majority of credit union employees, management, and boards, according to NCUA’s most recent diversity assessment, but there’s a misperception that DEI excludes white men, says Tapiwa Mutumhe, senior DEI advisor at Fannie Mae.
“You’re part of diversity,” he says, noting that DEI includes not only race and gender but also age, ability, and more. “It includes everyone but says there might be some other folks who aren’t in the rooms who we need to include.”
Some organizations have implemented employee resource groups to help drive DEI initiatives forward, and Mutumhe notes that staff who participate in those bodies are more likely to stay at the firm and build a better culture there. After all, if people are spending one-third of their lives at work, he says, why can’t we build a better environment to enjoy that time?
4. Positive Experiences Pay Dividends
Bank Five Nine, a $2 billion-asset institution headquartered in Wisconsin, garnered accolades and goodwill with a social media campaign aimed at introducing its new CEO.
After CEO Tim Schneider came on board in late 2022, the community bank launched a campaign on Facebook and Instagram to help ingrain him in the community and support its small business customers. Each month, a different branch manager selects a nearby small business that works with the bank, and Schneider spends part of his day at that business meeting with employees and introducing himself to local consumers — including paying for their purchases.
Schneider has visited hair salons, gas stations, and even the humane society as part of the “Tim’s Treat” campaign. The FI directs approximately $500 per month toward those visits — an annual total of just $6,000 — and the result has boosted brand awareness and social engagement for the bank. Participating businesses post about the visits on their social media channels, and those posts often do even better than the bank’s own posts.
That’s not surprising, says Heather Dewey, the bank’s social media manager. Followers are already interested in that business, and the campaign shows how far a campaign can reach when partners are involved.
The major takeaway, she adds, is that memorable experiences lead to emotional loyalty, which is often a stronger bond than transactional loyalty.